History of Colorado; Volume I, Part 7

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 954

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"'Sir, the Governor of New Mexico, being informed that you had missed your route, ordered me to offer you in his name mules, horses, money, or what- ever you may stand in need of, to conduct you to the head of Red River; as from Santa Fé, to where it is sometimes navigable, is eight days' journey, and we have guides and the routes of the traders to conduct us.'

"'What,' interrupted I, 'is not this the Red River?' 'No, sir, it is the Rio del Norte.' I immediately ordered my flag to be taken down and rolled up, feel- ing how sensibly I had committed myself in entering their territory, and was conscious that they must have positive orders to take me in. He now added that he had provided one hundred mules and horses to take in my party and baggage, and stated how anxious his excellency was to see me at Santa Fé. I stated to him the absence of my sergeant, the situation of the rest of the party, and that my orders would not justify my entering into the Spanish territories. He urged still further, until I began to feel myself a little heated in the argu- ment, and told him in a peremptory style that I would not go until the arrival of my sergeant, with the remainder of my party. He replied that there was not the least restraint to be used, only that it was necessary his excellency should receive an explanation of my business on his frontiers; that I might go now, or on the arrival of my party; but that if none went at present he should be obliged to send in for provisions. He added that if I would now march, he would leave an Indian interpreter and an escort of dragoons to conduct the sergeant into Santa Fé. His mildness induced me to tell him that I would march, but must leave two men in order to meet the sergeant and party to instruct him as to coming in, as he would never do so without a fight, unless ordered.

"I was induced to consent to the measure by conviction that the officer had a positive command to convey me in; and as I had no orders to engage in hos- tilities, and indeed had committed myself, although innocently, by violating their territory, I conceived it would be better to show a will to come to an explanation, rather than to be put in any way constrained. Yet my situation was so eligible, and I could have so easily put them to defiance, that it was with great reluctance I suffered all our labor to be lost, without once trying the efficacy of it.

"My compliance seemed to spread general joy through the Spanish party, as soon as it was communicated. But it appeared to be different with my men, who wished to have had a little dust (as they expressed it), and were likewise fearful of Spanish treachery.

"My determination being once taken, I gave permission for the lieutenant's men to come to the outside of the works and some of mine to go out and see them. Immediately the hospitality and goodness of the Creoles and Mestis began to be manifested by their producing their provision and giving it to my men; at the same time covering them with their blankets.

"After writing orders to my sergeant, and leaving them with my corporal and one private who were to remain, we sallied forth, mounted our horses, and

HISTORY OF COLORADO

went up the river about twelve miles to a place where the Spanish officers had made a camp deposit, from whence we sent down mules for our baggage."

Pike's experiences with the Spanish do not form a part of the history of Colorado, but are interesting in demonstrating the attitude of the Spanish toward the Americans. Pike and his men were conducted to Santa Fé and there cour- teously received by Governor Allencaster. The governor questioned Pike mi- nutely and examined his papers, but notwithstanding the good treatment accorded him, Pike felt himself a prisoner. From Santa Fé the Americans were taken to El Paso and from there to Chihuahua, where they were again questioned, this time by General Salcedo. Leaving Chihuahua eventually, Pike and his men were escorted by a roundabout course through the northeastern part of what is now Mexico to the lower part of the Rio Grande, then by way of San Antonio across Texas to Natchitoches, where they were released on July 1, 1807.

PIKE'S SINCERITY

The name of Zebulon M. Pike has been associated with one of the most treasonable plots ever contemplated in the United States-that originating in the minds of Aaron Burr and Gen. James Wilkinson. Pike has been treated as equally treasonable by some writers of history, but on the other hand has had staunch apologists who have endeavored to show that he was a spirited young military officer who believed he was following orders. There is no doubt that the expedition of which he was the leader was formulated by Burr and Wilkin- son and was a move for the purpose of planning a seizure of a great part of the Mississippi Valley and much of New Spain, and there to establish another empire with Burr in supreme command. Wilkinson, who was proved a traitor and of the blackest character not only in this, but in other schemes, readily fell in with Burr's schemes and immediately began to learn the attitude of his younger officers. Wilkinson was at this time at the head of the United States Army. Whatever Pike's participation in this plot was, it is certain that he was aware of the real purpose of the expedition which he led to the Rockies. Cer- tain features of the journey prove that it was not an exploring expedition, but something more sinister and deeper.

After the trial of Burr, Pike wrote: "There have not been wanting persons of various ranks who have endeavored to infuse the idea into the minds of the public that the last voyage was undertaken through sinister designs of General Wilkinson; and although this report had been amply refuted by two letters from the secretary of war, yet I cannot forbear, in this public manner, declaring the insinuation to be a groundless calumny, arising from the envenomed breasts of persons who, through enmity to the general, would, in attempting his ruin, hurl destruction on all those who, either through official stations or habits of friend- ships, ever had any connection with that gentleman."

Harry B. Tedrow, of Denver, who has studied the subject of Pike's life with extraordinary thoroughness, in an article on "Zebulon M. Pike and Aaron Burr," (Colorado Springs Gazette, August 18, 1901), states :

"His intimacy with Wilkinson at the time that bombastic general was hand in hand with Aaron Burr tinges his reputation with a suspicion that even the glory of his soldier's death cannot remove. It is almost too much to believe that Vol. 1-4

HISTORY OF COLORADO

Pike was ignorant of Wilkinson's ulterior designs in sending him to the Rocky Mountain region. At the same time the duty of a soldier admitted of no ques- tioning and he might have gone, as soldiers usually go; not because they would, but because they must. He (Pike) stands convicted by his own story."

In regard to the ostensible object of Pike's smoking the peace-pipe with the Indians, Tedrow says:

"But other evidence tends to show that Wilkinson also gave some instruc- tions which stopped short of nothing less than premeditated invasion of Spanish ground. It takes no extraordinary imagination to believe that the general antici-' pated the capture of Pike and his men."

It is altogether probable that Tedrow's article was one of the first published which actually attempted to establish Pike's connection with the Burr conspiracy, although Elliott Coues, in his "The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike," (1895), established Pike's connection with Wilkinson and Burr and his duplicity of motive.

It is not the purpose here to set forth in detail the arguments pro and con in regard to the Pike expedition. The History of Colorado is concerned more with the adventures of this courageous soldier in the Rockies, which have been described in preceding paragraphs. The world-famous Pike's Peak has been named after him, although he did not succeed in ascending this mountain, nor was he the first white man to see it. The Spaniards had looked upon its majestic grandeur, fur traders and trappers had gazed upon it, and undoubtedly the first American who saw the peak was James Purcell, whose trail led near it about eighteen months before Pike's arrival.

Zebulon Montgomery Pike was born in Lamberton, New Jersey, January 5, 1779, and was the son of Zebulon Pike, an officer in the Revolution. At fifteen years of age young Pike joined his father's regiment as a cadet and at twenty-one years of age received a lieutenant's commission. Before his death he reached the rank of brigadier general. After his expedition to the Rockies, Pike served under Gen. Henry Dearborn in the campaign against York (Toronto), Canada, in the spring of 1813. On April 27th he led an attack against the British there and dispersed the garrison. As the English fled they blew up their powder magazine and a piece of masonry, hurtling through the air, mortally wounded the gallant Pike. A few hours later he died. His body was first interred at Sackett's Harbor, New York, then in 1819 removed to the military cemetery at Madison Barracks, New York, where it now lies.

In the collection of the Colorado State Historical and Natural History Society at the Historical Building in Denver is the sword which Pike wore at the time of his death.

LONG'S EXPLORING EXPEDITION

The exploring expedition commanded by Maj. Stephen H. Long in the year 1820 was the logical successor of the "Yellowstone Expedition" of 1818. The pur- poses of the expedition were to explore the Mississippi River above the mouth of the Missouri, then the Missouri, the Arkansas and Red rivers; to conciliate the Indians; to locate sites for military posts on the Upper Missouri and to locate exactly certain notable points in the western country. This so-called

MAJ. STEPHEN HARRIMAN LONG

This portrait is reproduced from a photographic enlargement of an engraved copy of a daguerreotype of him that was made in or near the period of our war with Mexico. Major Long was of the old corps of the Topographical Engineers of the United States Army, and a native of New Hampshire. It was for him that Long's Peak was named, and he commanded a well organized and efficient exploring expedition into the Colorado section of the Rocky Mountains in the year 1820. He died at Alton, Illinois, September 4, 1864.

HISTORY OF COLORADO

Yellowstone expedition was directly in the interest of the people, as it was to decide largely whether or not the western country was worthy of settlement.

A small military force, under command of Col. Henry Atkinson, was sent to the site of Leavenworth, Kansas, in the fall of 1818 and there passed the winter, expecting to cooperate with Long. The Western Engineer, the second steamboat to navigate the Missouri, left Pittsburgh on May 5, 1819, with Long and his party on board, arrived at St. Louis on the 19th and on the 21st began the trip up the river. Progress was slow and not until September 17th did the boat reach winter quarters, which had been established about twenty miles above the present City of Omaha. Major Long went back East for the winter, returning in the spring of 1820. In the meantime, Congress had become aggravated over the delay and issued new instructions, changing very much the original purposes of the expedition. An exploration of the West to the headwaters of the Platte, Arkansas and Red rivers, formed the new plan. A treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 decided the location of the Spanish boundary line in the Southwest; Colorado's present area west of the Continental Divide and south of the Arkansas River was thereby made Spanish ground.

Long soon had his party organized for the long march to the Rockies. The personnel of the expedition was as follows:

Stephen H. Long, major of the U. S. Topographical Engineers; J. R. Bell, captain of Light Artillery, U. S. A .; W. H. Swift, lieutenant of Artillery Corps, U. S. A., assistant topographer ; Dr. Thomas Say, zoologist ; Dr. Edwin James, botanist, geologist and surgeon; T. R. Peale, assistant naturalist; Samuel Sey- mour, landscape painter; Stephen Julien, French and Indian interpreter; H. Dougherty, hunter ; D. Adams, Spanish interpreter; Zachariah Wilson, baggage master; J. Oakley, civilian; J. Duncan, civilian; John Sweeney, private, Artillery Corps; William Parish, corporal; Peter Barnard, private; Robert Foster, pri- vate; Charles Myers, private; Mordecai Nowland, private; Joseph Verplank, private.

On June 6, 1820, the expedition started westward through the present State of Nebraska, passed through and tarried at the Pawnee villages in the Loup River district, and on the 22d reached the forks of the North and South Platte rivers. From here they moved along the South Platte and, according to Doctor James' map, crossed the northeastern corner of Colorado on the 26th. Animals in great number were seen in this territory, including bison, deer, badgers, wolves, hares, eagles, buzzards, ravens and owls. Doctor James records that "This barren and ungenial district appeared, at that time, to be filled with greater numbers of animals than its meager productions are sufficient to support. It was, how- ever, manifest that the bisons, then thronging in such numbers, were moving towards the south. Experience may have taught them to repair at certain sea- sons to the more luxurious plains of the Arkansas and Red rivers."

"On the 30th," writes Doctor James, "we left our encampment at our accus- tomed early hour, and at 8 o'clock were cheered by a distant view of the Rocky Mountains. For some time we were unable to decide whether what we saw were mountains, or banks of cumulous clouds skirting the horizon, and glittering in the reflected rays of the sun. It was only by watching the bright parts, and observing that their form and position remained unaltered, that we were able to satisfy ourselves that they were indeed mountains. Our first views of the

HISTORY OF COLORADO

mountains were indistinct on account of some smokiness of the atmosphere, but from our encampment at noon we had a very distinct and satisfactory pros- pect of them. Snow could be seen on every part of them which was visible above our horizon." Shortly after this, the party noticed "three conic summits, each apparently of equal altitude. This we concluded to be the point designated by Pike as the 'Highest Peak.'"

However, it was not the mountain peak which had been described by Pike. This was the lofty peak which at present bears the name of Major Long. From the point of view obtained by Long's party, there appeared to be three peaks, as a view from the north now will give. Long's name was not given to the peak at this time, but within the next decade trappers and traders began to call it Long's Peak, an appellation which has been maintained.

On July Ist the Long party went into camp on the bank of the South Platte, a short distance below the mouth of the Cache a la Poudre River, and on the 3d the march was resumed, crossing made of the Poudre, Big Thompson and Vrain creeks. No side trip was made to the high peak, which was fully forty miles distance on the 3d. On Independence Day the camp was made near what is now the county seat of Adams County and a fitting celebration held in honor of the day. The next day the party ascended the Platte River about ten miles and again rested. According to Long's map this brought them to the site of . Denver.

On the morning of the 6th the party left this encampment and "crossed Ver- million Creek, a considerable tributary from the south." This stream has been identified as the present Cherry Creek. In the reports Long describes a "Cannon- ball Creek" also, which must have been Clear Creek. Doctor James records that : "Opposite the mouth of Vermillion Creek, is a much larger stream, from the northwest, which is called Medicine-Lodge Creek, from an old Indian medicine lodge which formerly stood near its month. A few miles farther, on the same side, is Grand Camp Creek, heading also in the mountains. About four years previous to the time of our visit, there had been a large encampment of Indians, namely, the Kiawas, Arrapahoes, and Kaskaias or Bad-hearts, had been assem- bled together, with forty-five French hunters, in the employ of Mr. Choteau and Mr. Demun of St. Louis. They had been assembled for the purpose of hold- ing a trading council with a band of Shiennes. These last had been recently supplied with goods by the British traders on the Missouri, and had come to exchange them with the former for horses. The Kiawas, Arrapahoes, etc., who wander in the extensive plains of the Arkansas and Red rivers, have always a great number of horses, which they rear with much less difficulty than the Shiennes, whose country is cold and barren * * * Two miles beyond Grand Camp Creek is the mouth of Grape Creek, and a little above on the opposite side that of Defile Creek, a tributary to the Platte, from the south, which has its course in a narrow defile, lying along the base of the mountains."

The names of the creeks mentioned in James' report are not those at present applied to these streams. It is even hard to identify the streams as described by the historian. It has been presumed, however, by modern writers, that Grand Camp Creek is the same as Bear Creek, Grape Creek the present Deer Creek, and Defile Creek the Plum Creek.

By noon of the 6th the party arrived at the foothills and at the entrance of

HISTORY OF COLORADO

Platte Cañon remained for two days. Doctor James and others expected to ascend the distant mountains and return the same day, but, as Pike had been, were deceived by the telescopic condition of the atmosphere. Having obtained the height of one ridge, the others appeared just as far in the distance, so the party returned to the camp.

They left the Platte Canon camp on the morning of the 9th of July, ascended Willow Creek to its source, then crossed a ridge to Plum Creek and followed this stream for some distance, before making camp. Pike's Peak first came into view on the 9th, while the explorers were upon the top of a mesa "elevated about one thousand feet, about eight hundred yards in length and five hundred in breadth, the summit of which was of an oval form." On the Ioth the expedition discovered and named Castle Rock, of which Doctor James remarks: "One of these singular hills, of which Mr. Seymour has preserved a sketch, was called the Castle rock, on account of its striking resemblance to a work of art. It has columns, and porticos, and arches, and, when seen from a distance, has an astonishingly regular and artificial appearance."

A southern course was then taken, Monument Creek forded, and toward evening of the IIth the discovery was made that the base of Pike's Peak had been passed. As it was the intention of the party to make an ascent of this height, in order to obtain the altitude, a stop was made at this point. Of their view Doctor James says: "From this camp we had a distinct view of 'the Highest Peak.' It appeared about twenty miles distant, towards the northwest; our view was cut off from the base by an intervening spur of less elevation, but all the upper part of the peak was visible, with patches of snow extending down to the commencement of the woody region. As one of the objects of our excursion was to ascertain the elevation of the peak, it was determined to remain in our present camp for three days, which would afford an opportunity for some of the party to ascend the mountain."

FIRST ASCENT OF PIKE'S PEAK

The journey to the summit was begun early on the 13th of July. Doctor James, Lieutenant Swift, the French guide, Bijeau, and four soldiers comprised the party. The doctor and two men were to make the last climb to the top, while the others were to remain at the base to obtain measurements to assist in com- puting the elevation of the peak. Noon found the party at the foot of the peak, whence James and his two men started upon the last lap, carrying a supply of provisions and blankets. Slide rock, loose sand and gravel impeded their course very much during the afternoon and at night they were forced to make camp among the fir trees. The next morning the doctor established a cache at this point and continued up the mountain, passing the timber line about noonday. The summit was attained about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. So, the first white men, according to all history, had reached the summit of Pike's Peak. Doctor James describes the impression made by the wonderful view: "To the east lay the great plain, rising as it receded, until, in the distant horizon, it appeared to mingle with the sky. * * * The Arkansas with several of its tributaries, and some of the branches of the Platte, could be distinctly traced as on a map, by the line of timber along their courses. On the south the mountain is con-

HISTORY OF COLORADO

tinued, having another summit at the distance of eight or ten miles. This, how- ever, falls much below the High Peak in point of elevation, being wooded quite to its top. Between the two lies a small lake, about a mile long and half a mile wide, discharging eastward into the Boiling-spring Creek. A few miles farther towards the south, the range containing these two peaks terminates abruptly." After a half-hour's rest upon the summit the three men began the descent. They were forced to camp for the night without food or covering, hav- ing left their luggage at the cache among the fir trees. These supplies, which had been hung in a tree, were found to have been burned by some agency when they reached them the next morning.

The bubbling springs at Manitou, and the beads which were thrown into the waters by the Indians, were of great interest to the explorers, also a "large and frequented road" which passed the springs into the mountains. This road was an old trail through the Ute Pass. Lieutenant Swift, after allowing 3,000 feet altitude for the base, estimated the summit of Pike's Peak to be 11,507.5 feet above the sea level. His measurement of 8,507.5 from the base to the top was not far wrong, but his error was made in the altitude of the base, which should have been 5,700 feet.

The journey was then resumed and on the evening of the 16th camp was made on the north bank of the Arkansas, near the mouth of Turkey Creek. The next morning Doctor James, Captain Bell and two others started the ascent of the Arkansas to the mountains. The first day they reached a point some dis- tance below the site of Canon City and the next day reached the lower end of the Royal Gorge. Here their journey up the Arkansas was halted by the im- passable condition of the gorge. After a short stay here James and his men returned to the Turkey Creek camp, and then preparations were made for the return journey. The journey was begun on the 19th, following down the Ar- kansas along the north bank. Pueblo's site was crossed during the day. The party proceeded down the Arkansas to about the one hundredth parallel at the intersection with the Arkansas. Keeping upon the American side of the Span- ish boundary line, they continued their journey to the end. Camping places within Colorado's domain were frequently made and the line of the state crossed on the afternoon of July 31st.

Although Long's expedition was a noteworthy one in point of view of the ascent of Pike's Peak and geographical observations, his reports gave a grossly exaggerated account of the "Great American Desert" a vast outlay of land be- tween the Missouri and the Rockies, which he claimed to be an arid waste of sand and stone. Many years passed before actual settlement in this territory began, due in principal part, to this erroneous impression given by the Long ex- ploring expedition. The existence of this American Sahara was taught in the public schools of the East and it is said that, even to this late day, there are typical Easterners who believe in the existence of this "desert." Although Major Long gave the name of James' Peak to our Pike's Peak, this title did not last long. Doctor James was undoubtedly the first white man to reach the summit of this elevation, but Pike's personal popularity among the traders and trappers led them to use his name whenever speaking of the peak and so it has come down in history as Pike's Peak. Some of the early map-makers gave it the name of Doctor James, but the practice was of short duration. However, Doctor James'

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name has since been given to another peak of the Continental Divide in the southeastern corner of Grand County. This peak is 13,283 feet in height.

How little these explorers knew of the real worth of the country through which they passed, or how little they wished to know, may be understood by the following quotations from Doctor James' record:

"We have little apprehension of giving too unfavorable an account of this portion of the country. Though the soil is in some places fertile, the want of timber, of navigable streams, and water for the necessities of life, render it an unfit residence for any but a nomad population. The traveler who shall at any time have traversed its desolate sands, will, we think, join us in the wish that this region may forever remain the unmolested haunt of the native hunter, the bison, and the jackal."

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History of Colorado; Volume I, Part 7

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Number of Pages: 954

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 954