Part 10 (1/2)
It was now the beginning of July; in the latter part of which month Captain Bonneville had appointed a rendezvous at Horse Creek in Green River Valley, with so year He now turned his thoughts in that direction, and prepared for the journey
The Cottonois were anxious for him to proceed at once to their country; which, they assured him, abounded in beaver The lands of this tribe lie immediately north of those of the Flatheads and are open to the inroads of the Blackfeet It is true, the latter professed to be their allies; but they had been guilty of so many acts of perfidy, that the Cottonois had, latterly, renounced their hollow friendshi+p and attached themselves to the Flatheads and Nez Perces These they had accorations rather than rees of the Blackfeet They were now apprehensive that thesetheir absence and destroy the beaver; this was their reason for urging Captain Bonneville to round The latter, however, was not to be teements required his presence at the rendezvous in Green River Valley; and he had already formed his ulterior plans
An unexpected difficulty now arose The free trappers suddenlyand weary journey; the route lay through Pierre's Hole, and other mountain passes infested by the Blackfeet, and recently the scenes of sanguinary conflicts They were not disposed to undertake such unnecessary toils and dangers, when they had good and secure trapping grounds nearer at hand, on the head-waters of Salmon River
As these were free and independent fellohose will and ere apt to be laho had the whole wilderness before them, ”where to choose,”
and the trader of a rival company at hand, ready to pay for their services--it was necessary to bend to their wishes Captain Bonneville fitted theround in question; appointing Mr Hodgkiss to act as their partisan, or leader, and fixing a rendezvous where he should ade consisted of twenty-one free trappers and four or five hired eanized is composed of two thirds trappers whose duty leads theame; and one third camp-keepers who cook, pack, and unpack; set up the tents, take care of the horses and do all other duties usually assigned by the Indians to their women This part of the service is apt to be fulfilled by French creoles from Canada and the valley of the Mississippi
In thecompleted their trade and received their supplies, were all ready to disperse in various directions As there was a formidable band of Blackfeet just over a kiss and his free trappers would have to pass; and as it was known that those sharp-sightedevery lers or weak detachments, Captain Bonneville prevailed upon the Nez Perces to accokiss and his party until they should be beyond the range of the enemy
The Cottonois and the Pends Oreilles deterether at the same time, and to pass close under the mountain infested by the Blackfeet; while Captain Bonneville, with his party, was to strike in an opposite direction to the southeast, bending his course for Pierre's Hole, on his way to Green River
Accordingly, on the 6th of July, all the ca its separate route The scene ild and picturesque; the long line of traders, trappers, and Indians, with their rugged and fantastic dresses and accoutrements; their varied weapons, their innumerable horses, soes, others following in droves; all stretching in lengthening cavalcades across the vast landscape,for different points of the plains and erous 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
AS the route of Captain Bonneville lay through as considered the ers, he took all his measures with military skill, and observed the strictest circu party was thrown in the advance to reconnoitre the country through which they were to pass The encareat care, and a watch was kept up night and day
The horses were brought in and picketed at night, and at daybreak a party was sent out to scour the neighborhood for half a ive shelter to a lurking foe When all was reported safe, the horses were cast loose and turned out to graze Were such precautions generally observed by traders and hunters, we should not so often hear of parties being surprised by the Indians
Having stated the ements of the captain, we may here mention a mode of defence on the open prairie, which we have heard from a veteran in the Indian trade When a party of trappers is on a journey with a convoy of goods or peltries, every man has three pack-horses under his care; each horse laden with three packs Every man is provided with a picket with an iron head, a mallet, and hobbles, or leathern fetters for the horses The trappers proceed across the prairie in a long line; or sometimes three parallel lines, sufficiently distant fro At an alarm, when there is no covert at hand, the line wheels so as to bring the front to the rear and forround in the centre, fasten the horses to thes, so that, in case of alarm, they cannot break away Then they unload them, and dispose of their packs as breastworks on the periphery of the circle; eachnine packs behind which to shelter himself In this promptly-formed fortress, they await the assault of the enee bands of Indians at defiance
The first night of his march, Captain Bonneville encamped upon Henry's Fork; an upper branch of Snake River, called after the first American trader that erected a fort beyond the mountains About an hour after all hands had come to a halt the clatter of hoofs was heard, and a solitary fe up She was ed by a long rope hitched round the under jaay of bridle Dis, she walked silently into the round, still holding her horse by the long halter
The sudden and lonely apparition of this woman, and her calm yet resolute demeanor, awakened universal curiosity The hunters and trappers gathered round, and gazed on her as so mysterious She remained silent, but maintained her air of calmness and self-possession
Captain Bonneville approached and interrogated her as to the object of her mysterious visit Her ansas brief but earnest--”I love the whites--I will go with thee, of which she readily took possession, and from that time foras considered one of the camp
In consequence, very probably, of the military precautions of Captain Bonneville, he conducted his party in safety through this hazardous region No accident of a disastrous kind occurred, excepting the loss of a horse, which, in passing along the giddy edge of a precipice, called the Cornice, a dangerous pass between Jackson's and Pierre's Hole, fell over the brink, and was dashed to pieces
On the 13th of July (1833), Captain Bonneville arrived at Green River
As he entered the valley, he beheld it strewed in every direction with the carcasses of buffaloes It was evident that Indians had recently been there, and in great nuht, he came to a halt, and as soon as it was dark, sent out spies to his place of rendezvous on Horse Creek, where he had expected today Early in thethe spies made their appearance in the camp, and with them came three trappers of one of his bands, from the rendezvous, who told hihter a the buffaloes, it had been made by a friendly band of Shoshonies, who had fallen in with one of his trapping parties, and accoence, the three worthies fro of ”alcohol,” which they had brought with the The liquor went briskly round; all absent friends were toasted, and the party h spirits
Theof associated bands, who have been separated from each other on these hazardous enterprises, is always interesting; each having its tales of perils and adventures to relate Such was the case with the various detachether on Horse Creek Here was the detachment of fiftymonth of November, to winter on Snake River They hadhunt, not so much from Indians as from whiteparties, particularly one belonging to the Rocky Mountain Fur Co stories to relate of their manoeuvres to forestall or distress each other In fact, in these virulent and sordid competitions, the trappers of each party werethe to pieces the beaver lodges, and doing every thing in their power to mar the success of the hunt We forbear to detail these pitiful contentions
The most lamentable tale of disasters, however, that Captain Bonneville had to hear, was fro year, with twenty h the outskirts of the Crow country, and on the tributary streams of the Yellowstone; whence he was to proceed and join him in his winter quarters on Salmon River This partisan appeared at the rendezvous without his party, and a sorrowful tale of disasters had he to relate In hunting the Crow country, he fell in with a village of that tribe; notorious rogues, jockeys, and horse stealers, and errant scamperers of the mountains These decoyed most of his men to desert, and carry off horses, traps, and accoutrements When he attempted to retake the deserters, the Croarriors ruffled up to hiood friends, had deter them, and should not be molested The poor partisan, therefore, was fain to leave his vagabonds a too weak in nuerous pass across the mountains to meet Captain Bonneville on Salmon River, he hborhood of Tullock's Fort, on the Yellowstone, under the protection of which he went into winter quarters
He soon found out that the neighborhood of the fort was nearly as bad as the neighborhood of the Crows Hisaway thither, hatever beaver skins they could secrete or lay their hands on These they would exchange with the hangers-on of the fort for whiskey, and then revel in drunkeness and debauchery