THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE

Digested from his journal

by Washington Irving

Originally published in 1837

CONTENTS

Introductory Notice

1. -- State of the fur trade of the—Rocky Mountains—American enterprises—General—Ashley and his associates—Sublette, a famous leader—Yearly rendezvous among the mountains— Stratagems and dangers of the trade—Bands of trappers— Indian banditti—Crows and Blackfeet Mountaineers—Traders of the—Far West—Character and habits of the trapper

2. -- Departure from—Fort Osage—Modes of transportation—Pack- horses—Wagons—Walker and Cerre; their characters—Buoyant feelings on launching upon the prairies—Wild equipments of the trappers—Their gambols and antics—Difference of character between the American and French trappers—Agency of the Kansas—General—Clarke—White Plume, the Kansas chief—Night scene in a trader’s camp—Colloquy between— White Plume and the captain—Bee-hunters—Their expeditions—Their feuds with the Indians—Bargaining talent of White Plume

3. -- Wide prairies Vegetable productions Tabular hills—Slabs of sandstone Nebraska or Platte River—Scanty fare—Buffalo skulls—Wagons turned into boats—Herds of buffalo—Cliffs resembling castles—The chimney—Scott’s Bluffs Story connected with them—The bighorn or ahsahta—Its nature and habits—Difference between that and the “woolly sheep,” or goat of the mountains

4. -- An alarm—Crow—Indians—Their appearance—Mode of approach —Their vengeful errand—Their curiosity—Hostility between the Crows and Blackfeet—Loving conduct of the Crows— Laramie’s Fork—First navigation of the—Nebraska—Great elevation of the country—Rarity of the atmosphere—Its effect on the wood-work of wagons—Black Hills—Their wild and broken scenery—Indian dogs—Crow trophies—Sterile and dreary country—Banks of the Sweet Water—Buffalo hunting— Adventure of Tom Cain the Irish cook

5. -- Magnificent scenery—Wind River—Mountains—Treasury of waters—A stray horse—An Indian trail—Trout streams—The Great Green River Valley—An alarm—A band of trappers— Fontenelle, his information—Sufferings of thirst— Encampment on the Seedskedee—Strategy of rival traders— Fortification of the camp—The—Blackfeet—Banditti of the mountains—Their character and habits

6. -- Sublette and his band—Robert—Campbell—Mr. Wyeth and a band of “down-easters”—Yankee enterprise—Fitzpatrick—His adventure with the Blackfeet—A rendezvous of mountaineers— The battle of—Pierre’s Hole—An Indian ambuscade— Sublette’s return

7. -- Retreat of the Blackfeet—Fontenelle’s camp in danger— Captain Bonneville and the Blackfeet—Free trappers—Their character, habits, dress, equipments, horses—Game fellows of the mountains—Their visit to the camp—Good fellowship and good cheer—A carouse—A swagger, a brawl, and a reconciliation

8. -- Plans for the winter—Salmon River—Abundance of salmon west of the mountains—New arrangements—Caches—Cerre’s detachment—Movements in—Fontenelle’s camp—Departure of the—Blackfeet—Their fortunes—Wind—Mountain streams— Buckeye, the Delaware hunter, and the grizzly bear—Bones of murdered travellers—Visit to Pierre’s Hole—Traces of the battle—Nez—Perce—Indians—Arrival at—Salmon River

9. -- Horses turned loose—Preparations for winter quarters— Hungry times—Nez-Perces, their honesty, piety, pacific habits, religious ceremonies—Captain Bonneville’s conversations with them—Their love of gambling

10.-- Black Feet in the Horse Prairie—Search after the hunters— Difficulties and dangers—A card party in the wilderness— The card party interrupted—“Old Sledge” a losing game— Visitors to the camp—Iroquois hunters—Hanging-eared Indians

11. -- Rival trapping parties—Manoeuvring—A desperate game— Vanderburgh and the Blackfeet—Deserted camp fire—A dark defile—An Indian ambush—A fierce melee—Fatal consequences—Fitzpatrick and Bridger—Trappers precautions —Meeting with the Blackfeet—More fighting—Anecdote of a young—Mexican and an Indian girl.

12. -- A winter camp in the wilderness—Medley of trappers, hunters, and Indians—Scarcity of game—New arrangements in the camp—Detachments sent to a distance—Carelessness of the Indians when encamped—Sickness among the Indians— Excellent character of the Nez-Perces—The Captain’s effort as a pacificator—A Nez-Perce’s argument in favor of war— Robberies, by the Black feet—Long suffering of the Nez- Perces—A hunter’s Elysium among the mountains—More robberies—The Captain preaches up a crusade—The effect upon his hearers.

13. -- Story of Kosato, the Renegade Blackfoot.

14. -- The party enters the mountain gorge—A wild fastness among hills—Mountain mutton—Peace and plenty—The amorous trapper-A piebald wedding—A free trapper’s wife—Her gala equipments—Christmas in the wilderness.

15. -- A hunt after hunters—Hungry times—A voracious repast— Wintry weather—Godin’s River—Splendid winter scene on the great—Lava Plain of Snake River—Severe travelling and tramping in the snow—Manoeuvres of a solitary Indian horseman—Encampment on Snake River—Banneck Indians—The horse chief—His charmed life.

16. -- Misadventures of Matthieu and his party—Return to the caches at Salmon River—Battle between Nez Perces and Black feet—Heroism of a Nez Perce woman—Enrolled among the braves.

17. -- Opening of the caches—Detachments of Cerre and Hodgkiss Salmon River Mountains—Superstition of an Indian trapper— Godin’s River—Preparations for trapping—An alarm—An interruption—A rival band—Phenomena of Snake River Plain Vast clefts and chasms—Ingulfed streams—Sublime scenery—A grand buffalo hunt.

18. -- Meeting with Hodgkiss—Misfortunes of the Nez Perces— Schemes of Kosato, the renegado—His foray into the Horse Prairie—Invasion of Black feet—Blue John and his forlorn hope—Their generous enterprise—Their fate—Consternation and despair of the village—Solemn obsequies—Attempt at Indian trade—Hudson’s Bay Company’s monopoly—Arrangements for autumn—Breaking up of an encampment.

19. -- Precautions in dangerous defiles—Trappers’ mode of defence on a prairie—A mysterious visitor—Arrival in Green River Valley—Adventures of the detachments—The forlorn partisan —His tale of disasters.

20. -- Gathering in Green River valley—Visitings and feastings of leaders—Rough wassailing among the trappers—Wild blades of the mountains—Indian belles—Potency of bright beads and red blankets—Arrival of supplies—Revelry and extravagance —Mad wolves—The lost Indian

21. -- Schemes of Captain Bonneville—The Great Salt Lake Expedition to explore it—Preparations for a journey to the Bighorn

22. -- The Crow country—A Crow paradise Habits of the Crows— Anecdotes of Rose, the renegade white man—His fights with the Blackfeet—His elevation—His death—Arapooish, the Crow chief—His eagle Adventure of Robert Campbell—Honor among Crows

23. -- Departure from—Green River valley—Popo-Agie—Its course— The rivers into which it runs—Scenery of the Bluffs the great Tar Spring—Volcanic tracts in the Crow country— Burning Mountain of Powder River—Sulphur springs—Hidden fires—Colter’s Hell-Wind River—Campbell’s party— Fitzpatrick and his trappers—Captain Stewart, an amateur traveller—Nathaniel Wyeth—Anecdotes of his expedition to the Far West—Disaster of Campbell’s party—A union of bands—The Bad Pass—The rapids—Departure of Fitzpatrick— Embarkation of peltries—Wyeth and his bull boat—Adventures of Captain—Bonneville in the Bighorn Mountains—Adventures in the plain—Traces of Indians—Travelling precautions— Dangers of making a smoke—The rendezvous

24. -- Adventures of the party of ten—The—Balaamite mule—A dead point—The mysterious elks—A night attack—A retreat— Travelling under an alarm—A joyful meeting—Adventures of the other party—A decoy elk—Retreat to an island—A savage dance of triumph—Arrival at Wind River

25. -- Captain Bonneville sets out for Green River valley—Journey up the Popo Agie—Buffaloes—The staring white bears—The smok—The warm springs—Attempt to traverse the Wind River Mountains—The Great Slope Mountain dells and chasms— Crystal lakes—Ascent of a snowy peak—Sublime prospect—A panorama “Les dignes de pitie,” or wild men of the mountains

26. -- A retrogade move Channel of a mountain torrent—Alpine scenery—Cascades—Beaver valleys—Beavers at work—Their architecture—Their modes of felling trees—Mode of trapping beaver—Contests of skill—A beaver “up to trap”—Arrival at the Green River caches

27. -- Route toward—Wind River—Dangerous neighborhood—Alarms and precautions—A sham encampment—Apparition of an Indian spy— Midnight move—A mountain defile—The Wind River valley— Tracking a party—Deserted camps—Symptoms of Crows—Meeting of comrades—A trapper entrapped—Crow pleasantry—Crow spies—A decampment—Return to Green River valley—Meeting with Fitzpatrick’s party—Their adventures among the Crows— Orthodox Crows

28. -- A region of natural curiosities—The plain of white clay— Hot springs—The Beer Spring—Departure to seek the free trappers—Plain of Portneuf—Lava—Chasms and gullies— Bannack Indians—Their hunt of the buffalo—Hunter’s feast— Trencher heroes—Bullying of an absent foe—The damp comrade—The Indian spy—Meeting with Hodgkiss—His adventures—Poordevil Indians—Triumph of the Bannacks— Blackfeet policy in war

29. -- Winter camp at the Portneuf—Fine springs—The Bannack Indians—Their honesty—Captain—Bonneville prepares for an expedition—Christmas—The American—Falls—Wild scenery— Fishing Falls—Snake Indians—Scenery on the Bruneau—View of volcanic country from a mountain—Powder River— Shoshokoes, or Root Diggers—Their character, habits, habitations, dogs—Vanity at its last shift

30. -- Temperature of the climate—Root Diggers on horseback—An Indian guide—Mountain prospects—The Grand Rond— Difficulties on Snake River—A scramble over the Blue Mountains—Sufferings from hunger—Prospect of the Immahah Valley—The exhausted traveller

31. -- Progress in the valley—An Indian cavalier—The captain falls into a lethargy—A Nez-Perce patriarch—Hospitable treatment—The bald head—Bargaining—Value of an old plaid cloak—The family horse—The cost of an Indian present

32. -- Nez-Perce camp—A chief with a hard name—The Big Hearts of the East—Hospitable treatment—The Indian guides— Mysterious councils—The loquacious chief—Indian tomb— Grand Indian reception—An Indian feast—Town-criers— Honesty of the Nez-Perces—The captain’s attempt at healing.

33. -- Scenery of the Way-lee-way—A substitute for tobacco— Sublime scenery of—Snake River—The garrulous old chief and his cousin—A Nez-Perce meeting—A stolen skin—The scapegoat dog—Mysterious conferences—The little chief—His hospitality—The captain’s account of the United States—His healing skill

34. -- Fort Wallah-Wallah—Its commander—Indians in its neighborhood—Exertions of Mr. Pambrune for their improvement—Religion—Code of laws—Range of the Lower Nez Perces—Camash, and other roots—Nez—Perce horses— Preparations for departure—Refusal of supplies—Departure— A laggard and glutton

35. -- The uninvited guest—Free and easy manners—Salutary jokes— A prodigal son—Exit of the glutton—A sudden change in fortune—Danger of a visit to poor relations—Plucking of a prosperous man—A vagabond toilet—A substitute for the very fine horse—Hard travelling—The uninvited guest and the patriarchal colt—A beggar on horseback—A catastrophe—Exit of the merry vagabond

36. -- The difficult mountain—A smoke and consultation—The captain’s speech—An icy turnpike—Danger of a false step— Arrival on Snake River—Return to—Portneuf—Meeting of comrades

37. -- Departure for the rendezvous—A war party of Blackfeet—A mock bustle—Sham fires at night—Warlike precautions— Dangers of a night attack—A panic among horses—Cautious march—The Beer Springs—A mock carousel—Skirmishing with buffaloes—A buffalo bait—Arrival at the rendezvous— Meeting of various bands

38. -- Plan of the Salt Lake expedition—Great sandy deserts— Sufferings from thirst—Ogden’s—River—Trails and smoke of lurking savages—Thefts at night—A trapper’s revenge— Alarms of a guilty conscience—A murderous victory— Californian mountains—Plains along the—Pacific—Arrival at—Monterey—Account of the place and neighborhood—Lower— California—Its extent—The Peninsula—Soil—Climate— Production—Its settlements by the Jesuits—Their sway over the Indians—Their expulsion—Ruins of a missionary establishment—Sublime scenery—Upper California Missions— Their power and policy—Resources of the country—Designs of foreign nations

39. -- Gay life at Monterey—Mexican horsemen—A bold dragoon—Use of the lasso—Vaqueros—Noosing a bear—Fight between a bull and a bear—Departure from Monterey—Indian horse stealers— Outrages committed by the travellers—Indignation of Captain Bonneville

40. -- Traveller’s tales—Indian lurkers—Prognostics of Buckeye Signs and portents—The medicine wolf—An alarm—An ambush The captured provant—Triumph of Buckeye—Arrival of supplies Grand carouse—Arrangements for the year—Mr. Wyeth and his new-levied band.

41. -- A voyage in a bull boat.

42. -- Departure of Captain Bonneville for the Columbia—Advance of Wyeth—Efforts to keep the lead—Hudson’s Bay party—A junketing—A delectable beverage—Honey and alcohol—High carousing—The Canadian “bon vivant”—A cache—A rapid move Wyeth and his plans—His travelling companions—Buffalo hunting More conviviality—An interruption.

43. -- A rapid march—A cloud of dust—Wild horsemen—“High Jinks” Horseracing and rifle-shooting—The game of hand—The fishing season—Mode of fishing—Table lands—Salmon fishers—The captain’s visit to an Indian lodge—The Indian girl—The pocket mirror—Supper—Troubles of an evil conscience.

44. -- Outfit of a trapper—Risks to which he is subjected— Partnership of trappers—Enmity of Indians—Distant smoke—A country on fire—Gun Greek—Grand Rond—Fine pastures— Perplexities in a smoky country—Conflagration of forests.

45. -- The Shynses—Their traffic—Hunting—Food—Horses—A horse- race—Devotional feeling of the Skynses, Nez Perces and Flatheads—Prayers—Exhortations—A preacher on horseback Effect of religion on the manners of the tribes—A new light.

46. -- Scarcity in the camp—Refusal of supplies by the Hudson’s Bay Company—Conduct of the Indians—A hungry retreat—John Day’s River—The Blue Mountains—Salmon fishing on Snake River Messengers from the Crow country—Bear River Valley— immense migration of buffalo—Danger of buffalo hunting—A wounded Indian—Eutaw Indians—A “surround” of antelopes.

47. -- A festive winter—Conversion of the Shoshonies—Visit of two free trappers—Gayety in the camp—A touch of the tender passion—The reclaimed squaw—An Indian fine lady—An elopement—A pursuit—Market value of a bad wife.

48. -- Breaking up of winter quarters—Move to Green River—A trapper and his rifle—An arrival in camp—A free trapper and his squaw in distress—Story of a Blackfoot belle.

49. -- Rendezvous at Wind River—Campaign of Montero and his brigade in the Crow country—Wars between the Crows and Blackfeet—Death—of Arapooish—Blackfeet lurkers—Sagacity of the horse—Dependence of the hunter on his horse—Return to the settlements.

Appendix

Wreck of a Japanese Junk on the Northwest Coast

Instructions to Captain Bonneville

Introductory Notice

WHILE ENGAGED in writing an account of the grand enterprise of Astoria, it was my practice to seek all kinds of oral information connected with the subject. Nowhere did I pick up more interesting particulars than at the table of Mr. John Jacob Astor; who, being the patriarch of the fur trade in the United States, was accustomed to have at his board various persons of adventurous turn, some of whom had been engaged in his own great undertaking; others, on their own account, had made expeditions to the Rocky Mountains and the waters of the Columbia.

Among these personages, one who peculiarly took my fancy was Captain Bonneville, of the United States army; who, in a rambling kind of enterprise, had strangely ingrafted the trapper and hunter upon the soldier. As his expeditions and adventures will form the leading theme of the following pages, a few biographical particulars concerning him may not be unacceptable.

Captain Bonneville is of French parentage. His father was a worthy old emigrant, who came to this country many years since, and took up his abode in New York. He is represented as a man not much calculated for the sordid struggle of a money-making world, but possessed of a happy temperament, a festivity of imagination, and a simplicity of heart, that made him proof against its rubs and trials. He was an excellent scholar; well acquainted with Latin and Greek, and fond of the modern classics. His book was his elysium; once immersed in the pages of Voltaire, Corneille, or Racine, or of his favorite English author, Shakespeare, he forgot the world and all its concerns. Often would he be seen in summer weather, seated under one of the trees on the Battery, or the portico of St. Paul’s church in Broadway, his bald head uncovered, his hat lying by his side, his eyes riveted to the page of his book, and his whole soul so engaged, as to lose all consciousness of the passing throng or the passing hour.

Captain Bonneville, it will be found, inherited something of his father’s bonhommie, and his excitable imagination; though the latter was somewhat disciplined in early years, by mathematical studies. He was educated at our national Military Academy at West Point, where he acquitted himself very creditably; thence, he entered the army, in which he has ever since continued.

The nature of our military service took him to the frontier, where, for a number of years, he was stationed at various posts in the Far West. Here he was brought into frequent intercourse with Indian traders, mountain trappers, and other pioneers of the wilderness; and became so excited by their tales of wild scenes and wild adventures, and their accounts of vast and magnificent regions as yet unexplored, that an expedition to the Rocky Mountains became the ardent desire of his heart, and an enterprise to explore untrodden tracts, the leading object of his ambition.

By degrees he shaped his vague day-dream into a practical reality. Having made himself acquainted with all the requisites for a trading enterprise beyond the mountains, he determined to undertake it. A leave of absence, and a sanction of his expedition, was obtained from the major general in chief, on his offering to combine public utility with his private projects, and to collect statistical information for the War Department concerning the wild countries and wild tribes he might visit in the course of his journeyings.

Nothing now was wanting to the darling project of the captain, but the ways and means. The expedition would require an outfit of many thousand dollars; a staggering obstacle to a soldier, whose capital is seldom any thing more than his sword. Full of that buoyant hope, however, which belongs to the sanguine temperament, he repaired to New-York, the great focus of American enterprise, where there are always funds ready for any scheme, however chimerical or romantic. Here he had the good fortune to meet with a gentleman of high respectability and influence, who had been his associate in boyhood, and who cherished a schoolfellow friendship for him. He took a general interest in the scheme of the captain; introduced him to commercial men of his acquaintance, and in a little while an association was formed, and the necessary funds were raised to carry the proposed measure into effect. One of the most efficient persons in this association was Mr. Alfred Seton, who, when quite a youth, had accompanied one of the expeditions sent out by Mr. Astor to his commercial establishments on the Columbia, and had distinguished himself by his activity and courage at one of the interior posts. Mr. Seton was one of the American youths who were at Astoria at the time of its surrender to the British, and who manifested such grief and indignation at seeing the flag of their country hauled down. The hope of seeing that flag once more planted on the shores of the Columbia, may have entered into his motives for engaging in the present enterprise.

Thus backed and provided, Captain Bonneville undertook his expedition into the Far West, and was soon beyond the Rocky Mountains. Year after year elapsed without his return. The term of his leave of absence expired, yet no report was made of him at head quarters at Washington. He was considered virtually dead or lost and his name was stricken from the army list.

It was in the autumn of 1835 at the country seat of Mr. John Jacob Astor, at Hellgate, that I first met with Captain Bonneville He was then just returned from a residence of upwards of three years among the mountains, and was on his way to report himself at head quarters, in the hopes of being reinstated in the service. From all that I could learn, his wanderings in the wilderness though they had gratified his curiosity and his love of adventure had not much benefited his fortunes. Like Corporal Trim in his campaigns, he had “satisfied the sentiment,” and that was all. In fact, he was too much of the frank, freehearted soldier, and had inherited too much of his father’s temperament, to make a scheming trapper, or a thrifty bargainer.

There was something in the whole appearance of the captain that prepossessed me in his favor. He was of the middle size, well made and well set; and a military frock of foreign cut, that had seen service, gave him a look of compactness. His countenance was frank, open, and engaging; well browned by the sun, and had something of a French expression. He had a pleasant black eye, a high forehead, and, while he kept his hat on, the look of a man in the jocund prime of his days; but the moment his head was uncovered, a bald crown gained him credit for a few more years than he was really entitled to.

Being extremely curious, at the time, about every thing connected with the Far West, I addressed numerous questions to him. They drew from him a number of extremely striking details, which were given with mingled modesty and frankness; and in a gentleness of manner, and a soft tone of voice, contrasting singularly with the wild and often startling nature of his themes. It was difficult to conceive the mild, quiet-looking personage before you, the actual hero of the stirring scenes related.

In the course of three or four months, happening to be at the city of Washington, I again came upon the captain, who was attending the slow adjustment of his affairs with the War Department. I found him quartered with a worthy brother in arms, a major in the army. Here he was writing at a table, covered with maps and papers, in the centre of a large barrack room, fancifully decorated with Indian arms, and trophies, and war dresses, and the skins of various wild animals, and hung round with pictures of Indian games and ceremonies, and scenes of war and hunting. In a word, the captain was beguiling the tediousness of attendance at court, by an attempt at authorship; and was rewriting and extending his travelling notes, and making maps of the regions he had explored. As he sat at the table, in this curious apartment, with his high bald head of somewhat foreign cast, he reminded me of some of those antique pictures of authors that I have seen in old Spanish volumes.

The result of his labors was a mass of manuscript, which he subsequently put at my disposal, to fit it for publication and bring it before the world. I found it full of interesting details of life among the mountains, and of the singular castes and races, both white men and red men, among whom he had sojourned. It bore, too, throughout, the impress of his character, his bonhommie, his kindliness of spirit, and his susceptibility to the grand and beautiful.

That manuscript has formed the staple of the following work. I have occasionally interwoven facts and details, gathered from various sources, especially from the conversations and journals of some of the captain’s contemporaries, who were actors in the scenes he describes. I have also given it a tone and coloring drawn from my own observation, during an excursion into the Indian country beyond the bounds of civilization; as I before observed, however, the work is substantially the narrative of the worthy captain, and many of its most graphic passages are but little varied from his own language.

I shall conclude this notice by a dedication which he had made of his manuscript to his hospitable brother in arms, in whose quarters I found him occupied in his literary labors; it is a dedication which, I believe, possesses the qualities, not always found in complimentary documents of the kind, of being sincere, and being merited.

To JAMES HARVEY HOOK, Major, U. S. A., whose jealousy of its honor, whose anxiety for its interests, and whose sensibility for its wants, have endeared him to the service as The Soldier’s Friend; and whose general amenity, constant cheerfulness, disinterested hospitality, and unwearied benevolence, entitle him to the still loftier title of The Friend of Man, this work is inscribed, etc.

WASHINGTON IRVING

1.

IN A RECENT WORK we have given an account of the grand enterprise of Mr. John Jacob Astor to establish an American emporium for the fur trade at the mouth of the Columbia, or Oregon River; of the failure of that enterprise through the capture of Astoria by the British, in 1814; and of the way in which the control of the trade of the Columbia and its dependencies fell into the hands of the Northwest Company. We have stated, likewise, the unfortunate supineness of the American government in neglecting the application of Mr. Astor for the protection of the American flag, and a small military force, to enable him to reinstate himself in the possession of Astoria at the return of peace; when the post was formally given up by the British government, though still occupied by the Northwest Company. By that supineness the sovereignty in the country has been virtually lost to the United States; and it will cost both governments much trouble and difficulty to settle matters on that just and rightful footing on which they would readily have been placed had the proposition of Mr. Astor been attended to. We shall now state a few particulars of subsequent events, so as to lead the reader up to the period of which we are about to treat, and to prepare him for the circumstances of our narrative.

In consequence of the apathy and neglect of the American government, Mr. Astor abandoned all thoughts of regaining Astoria, and made no further attempt to extend his enterprises beyond the Rocky Mountains; and the Northwest Company considered themselves the lords of the country. They did not long enjoy unmolested the sway which they had somewhat surreptitiously attained. A fierce competition ensued between them and their old rivals, the Hudson’s Bay Company; which was carried on at great cost and sacrifice, and occasionally with the loss of life. It ended in the ruin of most of the partners of the Northwest Company; and the merging of the relics of that establishment, in 1821, in the rival association. From that time, the Hudson’s Bay Company enjoyed a monopoly of the Indian trade from the coast of the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains, and for a considerable extent north and south. They removed their emporium from Astoria to Fort Vancouver, a strong post on the left bank of the Columbia River, about sixty miles from its mouth; whence they furnished their interior posts, and sent forth their brigades of trappers.

The Rocky Mountains formed a vast barrier between them and the United States, and their stern and awful defiles, their rugged valleys, and the great western plains watered by their rivers, remained almost a terra incognita to the American trapper. The difficulties experienced in 1808, by Mr. Henry of the Missouri Company, the first American who trapped upon the head-waters of the Columbia; and the frightful hardships sustained by Wilson P. Hunt, Ramsay Crooks, Robert Stuart, and other intrepid Astorians, in their ill-fated expeditions across the mountains, appeared for a time to check all further enterprise in that direction. The American traders contented themselves with following up the head branches of the Missouri, the Yellowstone, and other rivers and streams on the Atlantic side of the mountains, but forbore to attempt those great snow-crowned sierras.

One of the first to revive these tramontane expeditions was General Ashley, of Missouri, a man whose courage and achievements in the prosecution of his enterprises have rendered him famous in the Far West. In conjunction with Mr. Henry, already mentioned, he established a post on the banks of the Yellowstone River in 1822, and in the following year pushed a resolute band of trappers across the mountains to the banks of the Green River or Colorado of the West, often known by the Indian name of the Seeds-ke-dee Agie. This attempt was followed up and sustained by others, until in 1825 a footing was secured, and a complete system of trapping organized beyond the mountains.

It is difficult to do justice to the courage, fortitude, and perseverance of the pioneers of the fur trade, who conducted these early expeditions, and first broke their way through a wilderness where everything was calculated to deter and dismay them. They had to traverse the most dreary and desolate mountains, and barren and trackless wastes, uninhabited by man, or occasionally infested by predatory and cruel savages. They knew nothing of the country beyond the verge of their horizon, and had to gather information as they wandered. They beheld volcanic plains stretching around them, and ranges of mountains piled up to the clouds, and glistening with eternal frost: but knew nothing of their defiles, nor how they were to be penetrated or traversed. They launched themselves in frail canoes on rivers, without knowing whither their swift currents would carry them, or what rocks and shoals and rapids they might encounter in their course. They had to be continually on the alert, too, against the mountain tribes, who beset every defile, laid ambuscades in their path, or attacked them in their night encampments; so that, of the hardy bands of trappers that first entered into these regions, three-fifths are said to have fallen by the hands of savage foes.

In this wild and warlike school a number of leaders have sprung up, originally in the employ, subsequently partners of Ashley; among these we may mention Smith, Fitzpatrick, Bridger, Robert Campbell, and William Sublette; whose adventures and exploits partake of the wildest spirit of romance. The association commenced by General Ashley underwent various modifications. That gentleman having acquired sufficient fortune, sold out his interest and retired; and the leading spirit that succeeded him was Captain William Sublette; a man worthy of note, as his name has become renowned in frontier story. He is a native of Kentucky, and of game descent; his maternal grandfather, Colonel Wheatley, a companion of Boon, having been one of the pioneers of the West, celebrated in Indian warfare, and killed in one of the contests of the “Bloody Ground.” We shall frequently have occasion to speak of this Sublette, and always to the credit of his game qualities. In 1830, the association took the name of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, of which Captain Sublette and Robert Campbell were prominent members.

In the meantime, the success of this company attracted the attention and excited the emulation of the American Fur Company, and brought them once more into the field of their ancient enterprise. Mr. Astor, the founder of the association, had retired from busy life, and the concerns of the company were ably managed by Mr. Ramsay Crooks, of Snake River renown, who still officiates as its president. A competition immediately ensued between the two companies for the trade with the mountain tribes and the trapping of the head-waters of the Columbia and the other great tributaries of the Pacific. Beside the regular operations of these formidable rivals, there have been from time to time desultory enterprises, or rather experiments, of minor associations, or of adventurous individuals beside roving bands of independent trappers, who either hunt for themselves, or engage for a single season, in the service of one or other of the main companies.

The consequence is that the Rocky Mountains and the ulterior regions, from the Russian possessions in the north down to the Spanish settlements of California, have been traversed and ransacked in every direction by bands of hunters and Indian traders; so that there is scarcely a mountain pass, or defile, that is not known and threaded in their restless migrations, nor a nameless stream that is not haunted by the lonely trapper.

The American fur companies keep no established posts beyond the mountains. Everything there is regulated by resident partners; that is to say, partners who reside in the tramontane country, but who move about from place to place, either with Indian tribes, whose traffic they wish to monopolize, or with main bodies of their own men, whom they employ in trading and trapping. In the meantime, they detach bands, or “brigades” as they are termed, of trappers in various directions, assigning to each a portion of country as a hunting or trapping ground. In the months of June and July, when there is an interval between the hunting seasons, a general rendezvous is held, at some designated place in the mountains, where the affairs of the past year are settled by the resident partners, and the plans for the following year arranged.

To this rendezvous repair the various brigades of trappers from their widely separated hunting grounds, bringing in the products of their year’s campaign. Hither also repair the Indian tribes accustomed to traffic their peltries with the company. Bands of free trappers resort hither also, to sell the furs they have collected; or to engage their services for the next hunting season.

To this rendezvous the company sends annually a convoy of supplies from its establishment on the Atlantic frontier, under the guidance of some experienced partner or officer. On the arrival of this convoy, the resident partner at the rendezvous depends to set all his next year’s machinery in motion.

Now as the rival companies keep a vigilant eye upon each other, and are anxious to discover each other’s plans and movements, they generally contrive to hold their annual assemblages at no great distance apart. An eager competition exists also between their respective convoys of supplies, which shall first reach its place of rendezvous. For this purpose, they set off with the first appearance of grass on the Atlantic frontier and push with all diligence for the mountains. The company that can first open its tempting supplies of coffee, tobacco, ammunition, scarlet cloth, blankets, bright shawls, and glittering trinkets has the greatest chance to get all the peltries and furs of the Indians and free trappers, and to engage their services for the next season. It is able, also, to fit out and dispatch its own trappers the soonest, so as to get the start of its competitors, and to have the first dash into the hunting and trapping grounds.

A new species of strategy has sprung out of this hunting and trapping competition. The constant study of the rival bands is to forestall and outwit each other; to supplant each other in the good will and custom of the Indian tribes; to cross each other’s plans; to mislead each other as to routes; in a word, next to his own advantage, the study of the Indian trader is the disadvantage of his competitor.

The influx of this wandering trade has had its effects on the habits of the mountain tribes. They have found the trapping of the beaver their most profitable species of hunting; and the traffic with the white man has opened to them sources of luxury of which they previously had no idea. The introduction of firearms has rendered them more successful hunters, but at the same time, more formidable foes; some of them, incorrigibly savage and warlike in their nature, have found the expeditions of the fur traders grand objects of profitable adventure. To waylay and harass a band of trappers with their pack-horses, when embarrassed in the rugged defiles of the mountains, has become as favorite an exploit with these Indians as the plunder of a caravan to the Arab of the desert. The Crows and Blackfeet, who were such terrors in the path of the early adventurers to Astoria, still continue their predatory habits, but seem to have brought them to greater system. They know the routes and resorts of the trappers; where to waylay them on their journeys; where to find them in the hunting seasons, and where to hover about them in winter quarters. The life of a trapper, therefore, is a perpetual state militant, and he must sleep with his weapons in his hands.

A new order of trappers and traders, also, has grown out of this system of things. In the old times of the great Northwest Company, when the trade in furs was pursued chiefly about the lakes and rivers, the expeditions were carried on in batteaux and canoes. The voyageurs or boatmen were the rank and file in the service of the trader, and even the hardy “men of the north,” those great rufflers and game birds, were fain to be paddled from point to point of their migrations.

A totally different class has now sprung up:—“the Mountaineers,” the traders and trappers that scale the vast mountain chains, and pursue their hazardous vocations amidst their wild recesses. They move from place to place on horseback. The equestrian exercises, therefore, in which they are engaged, the nature of the countries they traverse, vast plains and mountains, pure and exhilarating in atmospheric qualities, seem to make them physically and mentally a more lively and mercurial race than the fur traders and trappers of former days, the self-vaunting “men of the north.” A man who bestrides a horse must be essentially different from a man who cowers in a canoe. We find them, accordingly, hardy, lithe, vigorous, and active; extravagant in word, and thought, and deed; heedless of hardship; daring of danger; prodigal of the present, and thoughtless of the future.

A difference is to be perceived even between these mountain hunters and those of the lower regions along the waters of the Missouri. The latter, generally French creoles, live comfortably in cabins and log-huts, well sheltered from the inclemencies of the seasons. They are within the reach of frequent supplies from the settlements; their life is comparatively free from danger, and from most of the vicissitudes of the upper wilderness. The consequence is that they are less hardy, self-dependent and game-spirited than the mountaineer. If the latter by chance comes among them on his way to and from the settlements, he is like a game-cock among the common roosters of the poultry-yard. Accustomed to live in tents, or to bivouac in the open air, he despises the comforts and is impatient of the confinement of the log-house. If his meal is not ready in season, he takes his rifle, hies to the forest or prairie, shoots his own game, lights his fire, and cooks his repast. With his horse and his rifle, he is independent of the world, and spurns at all its restraints. The very superintendents at the lower posts will not put him to mess with the common men, the hirelings of the establishment, but treat him as something superior.

There is, perhaps, no class of men on the face of the earth, says Captain Bonneville, who lead a life of more continued exertion, peril, and excitement, and who are more enamored of their occupations, than the free trappers of the West. No toil, no danger, no privation can turn the trapper from his pursuit. His passionate excitement at times resembles a mania. In vain may the most vigilant and cruel savages beset his path; in vain may rocks and precipices and wintry torrents oppose his progress; let but a single track of a beaver meet his eye, and he forgets all dangers and defies all difficulties. At times, he may be seen with his traps on his shoulder, buffeting his way across rapid streams, amidst floating blocks of ice: at other times, he is to be found with his traps swung on his back clambering the most rugged mountains, scaling or descending the most frightful precipices, searching, by routes inaccessible to the horse, and never before trodden by white man, for springs and lakes unknown to his comrades, and where he may meet with his favorite game. Such is the mountaineer, the hardy trapper of the West; and such, as we have slightly sketched it, is the wild, Robin Hood kind of life, with all its strange and motley populace, now existing in full vigor among the Rocky Mountains.

Having thus given the reader some idea of the actual state of the fur trade in the interior of our vast continent, and made him acquainted with the wild chivalry of the mountains, we will no longer delay the introduction of Captain Bonneville and his band into this field of their enterprise, but launch them at once upon the perilous plains of the Far West.