USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Volume I > Part 7
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"Our wagons were soon discharged in the warerooms of the custom-house; and a few days' leisure being now at our disposal, we had time to take that recreation which a fatiguing journey of ten weeks had rendered so necessary. The wagoners, and many of the traders, particularly
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the novices, flocked to the numerous fandangoes, which are regularly kept up after the arrival of a caravan. But the merchants generally were active and anxiously engaged in their affairs- striving who should first get his goods out of the custom-house and obtain a chance at the 'hard chink' of the numerous country dealers, who annually resort to the capital on these occasions. * * * The derechos de arancel (tariff imposts) of Mexico are extremely oppressive, averaging about a hundred per cent upon the United States' cost of an ordinary 'Santa Fe as- sortment.' Those on cotton textures are par- ticularly so. According to the arancel of 1837 (and it was still heavier before), all plain-woven cottons, whether white or printed pay twelve and one-half cents duty per vara ; besides the derecho de consumo (consumption duty) which brings it up to at least fifteen. * *
"For a few years, Governor Armijo of Santa Fe established a tariff of his own, entirely arbi- trary-extracting five hundred dollars for each wagon-load, whether large or small-of fine or coarse goods! Of course this was very advan- tageous to such traders as had large wagons and costly assortments, while it was no less onerous to those with smaller vehicles or coarse, heavy goods. As might have been anticipated, the traders soon took to conveying their merchandise only in the largest wagons, drawn by ten or twelve mules, and omitting the coarser and more weighty articles of trade. This caused the gov-
ernor to return to the ad valorem system.
*
*
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"The arrival of a caravan at Santa Fe changes
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the aspect of the place at once. Instead of the idleness and stagnation which its street exhibited before, one now sees everywhere the bustle, noise and activity of a lively market town. Taking the circuit of the stores, I found that they usu- ally contained general assortments, much like those to be met with in the retail variety stores of the west. The stocks of the inexperienced merchants are apt to abound in unsalable goods -mulas, as the Mexicans figuratively term them."
In his "Commerce of the Prairies," from which the most of the above has been drawn, Dr. Gregg estimates the amount of merchandise in- vested in the Santa Fe trade from 1822 to 1843, inclusive, as follows :
1822 $ 15,000
1833.
$180,000
1823
12,000
1834.
150,000
1824.
35,000
1835 140,000
1825
65,000
1836. 130,000
1826.
90,000
1837
150,000
1827.
85,000
1838.
90,000
1828
150,000
1839.
250,000
1829
60,000
1840
50,000
1830
120,000
1841
150,000
1831.
250,000
1842.
160,000
1832
140,000
1843
450,000
In 1846 or 1847, passenger stages were placed in operation between Santa Fe and Independ- ence, Missouri, each month. A stage would start from Santa Fe and Independence at the same time. Passenger traffic increased and trips were then made semi-monthly, then weekly, and, fin- ally, three times a week. The stages were drawn
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by six animals. As the demand for quicker trips increased, the animals were changed more fre- quently, about every twenty miles while crossing the mountain range. The trip, barring acci- dents, was made in about two weeks. The fare was $250 for each passenger who was permitted to carry forty pounds of baggage free. For every extra pound, fifty cents was charged. Passengers were boarded en route. The fare was rough, being chiefly hardtack and pork, and such wild game as could be killed on the road. The stages ran day and night without interrup- tion. The only sleep possible was what might be obtained while seated in the rolling vehicle. Later, stage stations were established at various points along the route at which rough accommo- dations were provided. During periods when the Indians were on the warpath, both the freight trains and passenger coaches were accompanied by escorts of military over the portion of the trail where the greatest menace existed. The Indians preferred to make their attacks during the daylight, and for this reason the stage drivers aimed to cover the most dangerous part of the road at night.
The opening of the Santa Fe trail made Santa Fe the mart for the exchange of all the products of New Mexico, Northern Chihuahua, Sonora and what is now Arizona, and also part of Cali- fornia, for immediately thereafter this section of the country was scoured by adventurous men, trappers, who explored every foot of the hitherto unknown country lying to the west. Trails were made on to Arizona and into Cali-
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
fornia by such men as Jedediah Smith, the Pat- ties, Bill Williams, Felix Aubrey, Pauline Weaver, Kit Carson and others. The first and only published record we have is that of the Patties, who obtained permission from the New Mexican Governor to trap along the Gila River, and organized a small party for that purpose. Leaving Santa Fe on November 22nd, 1824, they passed down the Rio del Norte to Socorro, and then struck across the country to the Gila, visit- ing en route, the famous copper mines of Santa Rita. This trip extended through nearly five months, and these hunters, as far as is known, were the first Americans to visit the upper Gila Valley. Many of the natives never having seen a white man, fled at the approach of the party, but others more bold, viciously attacked them with their arrows. They returned to Santa Fe, where, securing supplies, the party set out to bring in their buried furs from the Gila, only to find that the Indians had rifled their cache, and all their hardships and suffering were without recompense. Returning to the mines, they re- pelled an attack thereon by the hostile Apaches, which ended in a treaty that insured the peaceful workings of the deposits.
Sylvester Pattie, the father of James, being acquainted with the American method of reduc- ing these ores, succeeded in obtaining a lease upon the mines, which proved very profitable. The younger Pattie, finding life at Santa Rita too monotonous, and despite the remonstrances of his father, on January 26th, 1826, set out with a few companions for the Gila Valley, where he
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had already suffered and lost so much. During the following eight months, the range of the trappers' journey was wide. Passing down the Gila to its junction with the Colorado, young Pattie ascended the banks of the latter stream, seeing in its now world-famed canyons only walls of highly colored rock which debarred them from the water's edge. They crossed the conti- nental divide at South Pass, and emerged upon the plains, where once more they hunted the buffalo in the "cow country."
The adventurers then turned north and pur- sued an ill defined course, coming back upon the upper Arkansas, and crossing to Santa Fe, where Pattie was again deprived of the harvest of furs gathered with such wearisome labor, the Spanish governor claiming that the young man's former license did not extend to this expedition. There- upon young Pattie joined his father at Santa Rita.
The winter and spring were spent in occasional hunting expeditions and visits to the Spanish settlements. In the spring, a new turn was given to the fortunes of the Patties by the em- bezzlement and flight of a Spanish subordinate, through whom they lost the savings of several years. They abandoned mining operations and the father and son sought to rehabilitate them- selves by another trapping expedition, and set forth with a company of thirty, again in the direction of the Gila. Engagements with hostile Indians were of frequent occurrences. Early in November, 1828, many of their party having de- serted, and all of their horses having been stolen
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
by the Yumas, the remainder built canoes and embarked upon the Colorado river. The only way of communicating with the Indians was through the sign language, and our adventurers understood the Indians to say that Spanish set- tlements existed at the mouth of the Colorado. In expectation of finding succor there, they con- tinued down that waterway to its mouth, but found nothing but deserted shores and tidal waves, which alarmed and disturbed these fresh- water voyagers. Finding it impossible to as- cend the swift current, they buried their stores and furs, and struck across the rugged peninsula of Lower California, to the Spanish settlements on the Pacific Coast. The story of their suffer- ings in the salt lakes and deserts of this barren land is told in vigorous language by the younger Pattie. Arriving at a Dominican mission on the western slope of the mountains, the travellers were received with suspicion, placed under sur- veillance and forwarded to San Diego, then the residence of the governor of the Spanish settle- ments of California. Their residence in Cali- fornia under the Mexican regime makes a very interesting story. According to Pattie's account, he and his companions were treated with sever- ity, being imprisoned at San Diego for lack of passports, and there detained for many months. The elder Pattie died in his cell without being permitted to see the son, for whose presence he piteously pleaded in his last hours. Young Pattie, in recognition of his services as an inter- preter and that he might vaccinate the natives at the missions, among whom a smallpox epi-
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demic was prevailing, was released. He gives a graphic picture of the pastoral life of the neophytes and rancheros at each mission and pre- sidio along the coast where he traveled upon his northern journey. He arrived at San Francisco and pushed on to the Russian fort at Bodega Bay, returning to Monterey in time to partici- pate in the Solis revolt of 1829. He declined Mexican citizenship and, upon the advice of his new found friends, he was induced to make a formal statement of his injuries and the losses which he had sustained by the refusal to permit the securing of his furs. Pattie embarked for Mexico in May, 1830, with the revolutionists who were being sent to the capital for trial. The companions of this long and adventurous jour- ney he left settled among the Mexicans, most of them making California their permanent home.
In the city of Mexico, Pattie applied to the American diplomatic representative, also to the President of the Republic, but failed to obtain redress for his losses and injuries. He made his way to Vera Cruz, and there obtained passage to New Orleans where, through the kindly help of compatriots who loaned him money to pay for his boat passage, he ascended the Mississippi to Cincinnati and his early Kentucky home. Here the narrative closes. The only clue we have in reference to his after life is one given by Ban- croft, who thinks he was again in San Diego after the American advent. (Bancroft, Hist. of California, iii, p. 171, note 44.)
Dellenbaugh says that the younger Pattie, in his trapping expedition of 1828, down the Gila 7
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
river to its junction with the Colorado, up the Colorado to the Grand Canyon, was the first white man who ever discovered the Black Can- yon of the Colorado. Continuing, he says: "they made the first extended trip along the Grand Canyon and the other canyons of the Colo- rado, but whether they passed up by the north or the south, I am unable to determine. My im- pression is that they passed by the north, as they would otherwise have met with the Havasupai in their canyon, with the little Colorado, and with the Moki."
Captain Jedediah S. Smith, was the first white man to enter Arizona from the north. In Au- gust, 1826, he started from Salt Lake, passed south by Utah Lake, and keeping down the west side of the Wasatch and the High Plateaus, reached the Virgin River in Arizona, near the southwestern corner of Utah. This he called, in honor of the President of the United States,
" Adams River." Following it southwest through the Pai Ute country, in twelve days he came to its junction with the Colorado. He entered the country of the Mohaves, who gave him a friendly reception, and he and his com- panions remained with them for some time, re- cuperating their stock. Leaving the Mohaves, he crossed the desert to the California coast, where he had troubles with the authorities, which, however, did not prevent him from re- turning again, after a visit to his northern ren- dezvous. While crossing the Colorado, the Mo- haves who, it is said, had been instigated by the Spaniards to harass the Americans, attacked his
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expedition, killing ten men and capturing every- thing. Smith escaped and was afterwards killed on the Cimarron by the Comanches.
In 1830, William Wolfskill and a party of trappers, opened a route to California, going north from Santa Fe, crossing the headwaters of the San Juan, then crossing Grand and Green Rivers, the latter in what is now known as Gun- nison Valley, thence across the western base of the Wasatch Range, and south through Moun- tain Meadows and across the Beaver Dam Mountains. Thence they followed down the Virgin River almost to the Colorado, where they struck across the desert to Los Angeles. For many years afterwards, this route was used and known as the "Old Spanish Trail." Wolfskill afterwards settled in Los Angeles, and planted a vineyard, which became famous. Bell says : "he was a hero. A man of indomitable will, in- dustry and self-denial; an American pioneer hero; one who succeeds in all he undertakes, and is always to be trusted. He died in 1866, leav- ing a very large fortune."
To follow the exploits of these trappers, who were the early explorers of the Great West, would require volumes. I have only room here to note those who afterwards identified them- selves with Arizona history. The records of many are incomplete. Pauline Weaver, as will be afterwards shown in the progress of this his- tory, identified himself with the prosperity of Arizona; Felix Aubrey gave his name to locali- ties in the State, probably in the early 30's. Of him we know little beyond the fact that he be-
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
came identified with the Santa Fe trail first in 1824; that after the discovery of gold in Cali- fornia, he made several trips into that State through the northern route, and first gave to the world the knowledge that a railroad could be built over that country, as afterwards it was con- structed, along the line of the present Santa Fe railroad. In 1846 he made a famous ride from Santa Fe to Independence, Missouri, an account of which is given by Major Henry Romeyn, U. S. A., as follows :
"Felix Aubrey was a Canadian by birth, of French extraction, and prior to the Mexican war had been in New Mexico as trapper and hunter with Beaubien, Maxwell and others, and was well acquainted with the plains, as well as along the mountains, from Winnepeg to Santa Fe; and even south of that place. When Tobin's ride from Santa Fe to Fort Leavenworth, in Au- gust, 1846, had made him known all over the ter- ritory, Aubrey asserted that the time he had re- quired could be reduced one-third, and when doubts were expressed, offered to back his opin- ion with his money. He soon found men who were willing to accept his wager, and arrange- ments were at once made for the attempt.
"No limits were fixed as to the number of mounts he might use-he was to get there, and at his own limit of time; he must do so in seven days and eight hours. Trains which had taken supplies for the army to the territory were re- turning eastward, and Aubrey, selecting half a dozen good horses, sent one by each train, to be led with it till he overtook it; the first one leav-
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ing about two weeks before he started. For the first stage he rode a beautiful blooded mare, which he kept as a racer, and, owing to the fact that the empty train had travelled more rapidly than he had anticipated, he did not get his first relay till he had passed Wagon Mound, about a hundred and fifty miles from Santa Fe. He halted only long enough to change his saddle to his fresh mount and procure some food, which he ate as he rode, and he dared not halt for sleep on account of danger of too lengthy a delay, and of being discovered by Indians, and only found another mount, food, and a few hours for rest at the camp of the next train, at a ford of the Ar- kansas, since named for him, and near where the west line of Kansas now crosses that stream.
"There were plenty of Indians along the route, not only on the Arkansas, but in the valley of the Kaw, after he had crossed the divide, be- tween it and the big bend of the Arkansas, and they wouldn't hesitate to lift the hair of any lone white man, if opportunity offered, espe- cially if he rode a good horse. As he was to make the entire journey on horseback, he could sleep with safety only when he found a train in camp, and he made only three halts for that purpose, and in five days and fourteen hours from the time he left Santa Fe, he rode into Independ- ence, Missouri, about two miles east of where Kansas City now stands, that place being the starting point at that time for civilian trains for Santa Fe. He had ridden about 830 miles, had used seven horses, and if he had taken no time for sleep and meals, would have ridden about six
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
miles an hour during the entire time. It was a wonderful test of endurance for both man and beast. There were wagers on the actual time, enough to give him something of a bonus above the main stake, of five thousand dollars."
Bill Williams was another of the trailmakers, and for him Bill Williams' Mountain and Bill Williams' Fork are named, and bear his name to this day. He was an old trapper, and knew every crook and turn of every river and every mountain range west of the Missouri River. He was the pilot for Fremont in 1848, when Fre- mont, against the advice of Williams, his guide, attempted to cross, with his pack animals, a range of mountains covered with snow, and lost a large portion of his command. The only ac- count that I have been able to find of Bill Will- iams is contained in Ruxton's "Life in the Far West," which borders on the romantic, and is as follows:
"The leader of the party was Bill Williams, that old 'hard case' who had spent forty years and more in the mountains, until he had become as tough as the parfleche soles of his moccasins. * * Williams always rode ahead, his body bent over his saddle horn, across which rested a long, heavy rifle, his keen gray eyes peering from under the sloughed brim of a flexible felt hat, black and shining with grease. His buckskin hunting shirt, bedaubed until it had the appear- ance of polished leather, hung in folds over his bony carcass; his nether extremities being clothed in pantaloons of the same material (with scattered fringes down the outside of the leg-
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which ornaments, however, had been pretty well thinned to supply 'whangs' for mending moc- casins or pack saddles), which, shrunk with wet, clung tightly to his long, spare, sinewy legs. His feet were thrust into a pair of Mexican stir- rups made of wood, and as big as coal scuttles; and iron spurs of incredible proportions, with tinkling drops attached to the rowels, were fastened to his heels-a bead-worked strap, four inches broad, securing them over the instep. In the shoulder belt which sustained his powder- horn and bullet-pouch, were fastened the vari- ous instruments of one pursuing his mode of life. An awl, with deer-horn handle, and the point defended by a case of cherry-wood, carved by his own hand, hung at the back of the belt, side by side with a worm for cleaning the rifle; and under this was a squat and quaint-looking bullet- mould, the handles guarded by strips of buck- skin to save his fingers from burning when run- ning balls, having for its companion a little bottle made from the point of an antelope's horn scraped transparent, which contained the 'medi- cine' used in baiting the traps. The old coon's face was sharp and thin, a long nose and chin hob-nobbing with each other; and his head was always bent forward, giving him the appearance of being humpbacked. He appeared to look neither to the right nor left, but, in fact, his little twinkling eye was everywhere. He looked at no one he was addressing, always seeming to be thinking of something else than the subject of his discourse, speaking in a whining, thin, cracked voice, and in a tone that left the hearer
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
in doubt whether he was laughing or crying. On the present occasion, he had joined this band, and naturally assumed the leadership (for Bill ever refused to go in harness), in opposition to his usual practice, which was to hunt alone. His character was well known. Acquainted with every inch of the Far West, and with all the Indian tribes who inhabited it, he never failed to outwit his red enemies, and generally made his appearance at the rendezvous from his soli- tary expeditions, with galore of beaver, when numerous bands of trappers dropped in on foot, having been despoiled of their packs and animals by the very Indians through the midst of whom old Williams had contrived to pass unseen and unmolested. On occasions when he had been in company with others, and attacked by Indians, Bill invariably fought manfully, and with all the coolness that perfect indifference to death or danger could give, but always 'on his own hook.' His rifle cracked away merrily, and never spoke in vain, and in a charge-if ever it came to that-his keen-edged butcher knife tickled the fleece of many a Blackfoot. But, at the same time, if he saw that discretion was the better part of valor, and affairs wore so cloudy an aspect as to render retreat advisable, he would first express his opinion in curt terms, and de- cisively, and, charging up his rifle, would take himself off and 'cache' so effectually, that to search for him was utterly useless. Thus, when with a large party of trappers, when anything occurred which gave him a hint that trouble was coming, or more Indians were about than he con-
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sidered good for his animals, Bill was wont to exclaim :
"'Do'ee hyar now, boys, thar's sign about! This hoss feels like caching,' and, without more words, and stoically deaf to all remonstrances, he would forthwith proceed to pack his animals, talking the while to an old crop-eared, rawboned Nez Perce pony, his own particular saddle-horse, who in dogged temper and iron hardiness was worthy companion of his self-willed master."
Another account is that he was a Methodist preacher in Missouri in his early life, after which he became a trapper and explorer. He was said to be rather misanthropic in his man- ner, and did most of his trapping and exploring alone. He was the indefatigable foe of the Indians.
The "Prescott Miner" of August 13th, 1870, says: "Bill Williams, for whom Bill Williams' Fork and Bill Williams' Mountain were called, was killed by Utes while trying to relieve the Fre- mont expedition which was searching for Co- chetope Pass, which both Senator Benton and Colonel Fremont thought was the best pass for a railroad. Williams was 60 years old when killed. Dr. Kent was with Williams and both were shot by Utes while quietly smoking in camp, by a party of twelve bucks who entered the camp, professing friendship. The Mexicans in camp were unarmed. This statement is from Dr. H. R. Wirtz, Medical Director for Arizona, 1870."
Kit Carson, the greatest of the trailmakers, was born in Madison County, Kentucky, on the 24th day of December, 1809. His parents set-
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tled in Howard County, Missouri, when he was an infant. When about sixteen years old he was apprenticed to a harnessmaker, but, attracted by the wild stories of the great West, he ran away from home and, in 1826, joined an expedi- tion to Santa Fe. At that time there had been little change in the western country from the time of the explorations of Lewis and Clark and of Zebulon M. Pike, except that the capital of Mexico had been transferred from Madrid to the City of Mexico. All that territory com- prised in the States of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, a large portion of Wyoming and Colorado, belonged to Mexico. Oregon, Wash- ington, Montana, and the major part of Wyo- ming and Idaho were claimed by Great Britain, and remained in dispute until 1846.
Carson, for the next five years, was on the plains continually. He made one expedition from Sante Fe to El Paso, and from thence to Chihuahua, and several trips across the con- tinent into California and Oregon. He became familiar with other portions of this compara- tively unknown country. He explored the headquarters of the Columbia River, the Mis- souri River, the Arkansas River, and almost every foot of what is now the States of New Mexico and Arizona. Although from 1832 to the time of his death he made his home in New Mexico, yet his name and fame and exploits are as much a part of Arizona and other of the great Western States as of New Mexico itself. He was the soul incarnate of that spirit of en- terprise which carried the American flag across
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