USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. I > Part 39
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Quite a large settlement grew up around this spot-wives of the half savage men and their half naked children. Here were the Indian wife and children of many of them, and the gambling fever raged all the time, day and night. Many a trapper, who had worked and frozen in the mountains all the previous winter, came here to drop his pile of money so quickly that he had no time to think of where more was to come from. The trappers of all the castern slope of the mountains were, with few excep- tions, in the power of the fur companies; because the latter took advantage of them when they had gambled away all they pos-
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sessed by advancing them a fresh outfit upon the condition that the furs they should bring in must go to the company. The wild families assembled here lived almost wholly on dried buffalo meat at first, and not infrequently the hunters had to go fifty miles before the buffaloes were encountered.
James Bridger became a member of Colonel Ashley's expedi- tion in 1826, and in 1843 built Fort Bridger in the mountains of Wyoming, which became an important rendezvous. It consisted of two adjoining log houses, with sod roofs, and surrounded with palisades eight feet high, and was located on an island in the Black fork of Green's river, in the southwestern part of what is now Wyoming. It is famous to this day. Ere long there gatlı- ered around this fort a considerable settlement. It seems that Vasquez had an interest in the fort and no doubt assisted in erect- ing it. Fort Platte was built on the left bank of the North Platte about three-fourths of a mile above the mouth of Laramie river by the American Fur Company, at the head of which was John Jacob Astor. Fort Platte and Fort John ( Laramie), being thus close together, there was intense rivalry between them to see which should get the major share of the furs brought in by the trappers. The trappers usually arrived about the same time, and were immediately the targets of the agents of the fur com- panies. Whisky, though four dollars a pint, flowed like water, and often the season's catch was staked on the turn of a card. The- agents resorted to any and every means to get the most furs, even to the extent of winking at crime. Possibly, worse might be said with perfect truth. It is known that occasionally laudanumand arsenic were employed to carry their point; could all the truth be known, stories that would curdle the blood would come to the surface. In 1853 the Mormons scattered the people at Fort Bridger.
In June, 1855, Gen. W. S. Harney assembled six thousand troops at Fort Leavenworth preparatory to their march over the Platte route to Utah as the "Army of Occupation." They took with them an immense supply train, and thousands of cattle. Supply contractors were made rich out of this expedition, and favoritism ran rampant through the army commissary depart- ment. In 1857 a train of over one hundred persons from Mis- souri and Arkansas, with thirty wagons, six hundred cattle, and thirty horses and mules, crossed the plains over the Platte route, but in September of the same year nearly all were slaughtered by the Mormons in what has since become called "The Mountain Meadow Massacre."
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The expedition of Robert MeKnight, James Baird and Samuel Chambers with a stock of goods to Santa Fe in 1812 resulted in failure, the merchandise being confiscated and the men -. twelve in number-imprisoned by order of the Spanish authorities. The same penalty was visited on the party under A. P. Chouteau and Julius De Munn in 1815-17; indeed, Chouteau came near being shot by order of the Spanish governor of New Mexico. The policy of Spain opposed all commercial intercourse with the Americans, who were forbidden to enter New Mexico with Amer- ican goods. All such merchandise was contraband; but in spite of the interdiction considerable quantities were smuggled across the lines to T'aos and Santa Fe, and other quantities were taken there by the Indians to whom they were sold in the mountains. It is customary for shallow thinkers to criticise the government for not taking steps to redress the alleged wrongs inflicted on the American traders who thus sought to enter the province of New Mexico with forbidden goods in contravention of the Spanish law ; but it cannot be denied that Spain had the right to pass such laws and to enforce them if she saw fit. Those American traders who sought to evade the Spanish law took their chances, and should not have expected the intervention of the government in their behalf, except to see that they received no more than their just deserts. After 1821, when Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, the law was changed, and American traders were permitted under certain restrictions to send their goods to Santa Fe.
The attainment of independence in 1821 rendered possible the immense general trade which set in immediately thereafter between St. Louis and Santa Fe. Not only were large supplies of merchandise sent to Santa Fe, but large herds of Spanish horses and mules were brought back and sold largely to the settlers now rapidly crossing the Mississippi. In order to insure safety, traders found it necessary to unite and cross the plains in large caravans, taking west merchandise of every description, which found its way far down into Mexico and the Central Amer- ican provinces, and bringing back mainly live stock. While the trans-Mississippi fur trade flourished from 1807 to 1843, the Santa Fe trade did not begin until after 1821. During the above period of forty years, the annual fur trade at St. Louis amounted to between two hundred thousand and three hundred thousand dollars ; and after 1821, the general trade with Santa Fe probably amounted to about half as much. After the War of 1812, Gen- eral Ashley did more than any other person to revive the fur
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trade on the upper Missouri and to thwart the machinations of the alert representatives of the Canadian fur companies. From first to last the policy of the Americans toward the Indians was clumsy, illogical, unreasonable and unsuccessful. Not so with the British policy, which imitated that of the old Canadian voy- ageurs.
It is generally conceded that William Becknell of Missouri was the founder of the Santa Fe trail and the father of the Santa Fe trade. No sooner did he learn of the independence of the Mexi- can provinces, than he prepared to cross the plains to Santa Fe with a large stock of goods. Prior to 1822 all goods taken west had been carried on the backs of horses and mules ; but Becknell took out the first train of wagons, besides his pack animals. He passed up the valley of the Arkansas, but finally struck across to the Cimarron, thence to San Miguel, and thence to Santa Fe. The old route led up the Arkansas to the mountains, thence across to Taos, and thence down to Santa Fe. Col. Braxton Cooper also took out a trading expedition, or caravan, to Santa Fe in 1822, and also another the following year; he used wagons mainly, but took along a few pack animals. In 1824 an expedi- tion under A. Le Grand numbered eighty-one men, twenty-five wagons, one hundred and fifty-six horses and thirty thousand dollars' worth of merchandise. This was the first expedition to use wagons exclusively. In 1824 an expedition of twenty-six Spaniards from Santa Fe crossed the plains to Council Bluffs to conclude a treaty with the Pawnees. The Santa Fe trail was greatly aided by Senator Benton, who managed to get an appro- priation of ten thousand dollars to mark the route, and twenty thousand dollars to secure the rights of transit from the Indian tribes. In 1825 several large expeditions to Santa Fe were out- fitted at Franklin, Mo., one with one hundred and five men, thirty-four wagons and two hundred and forty horses and mules, and another with eighty-one men, two hundred horses and thirty thousand dollars' worth of merchandise. Many caravans crossed the plains in 1826. The following year Ezekiel Williams took out one hundred and five men, fifty-two wagons and a large num- ber of horses and mules. During the same year one caravan brought back over eight hundred head of stock, worth twenty- eight thousand dollars.
In 1827 General Ashley and a party of sixty men with a 4-pounder left Lexington, Mo., crossed the plains in the valley of the Platte, passed over to Great Salt Lake, and returned to Lexington in September ; but again left for the same destination,
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using the same pack animals. In 1828 two parties took to Santa Fe merchandise of the value of one hundred and ninety thousand dollars. With a military escort under the command of Major Bennett Riley, a caravan of seventy men and thirty-five wagons was taken up the Arkansas by Capt. Charles Bent in 1829. The Gregg caravan of 1831 consisted of nearly two hundred persons, one hundred wagons, two small cannon, and two hundred thou- sand dollars' worth of merchandise; it was prepared at Independ- ence, Mo. In 1831 and 1832, Capt. Charles Bent took up large caravans, the proceeds of the former year being one hundred and ninety thousand dollars and of the latter one hundred thousand dollars in specie. It is said that the town of Franklin on the Missouri "was the cradle of the Santa Fe trade." Under the act of congress, the Santa Fe trail was surveyed by Benjamin Reeves, George C. Sibley and Thomas Mather; but instead of going by San Miguel, they continued up the Arkansas to the mountains and then across to Taos. The caravans followed. the former route. They did not escape the bullets and arrows of the Indians. In 1830 Milton G. Sublette conducted probably the first caravan to use wagons over the Oregon trail. His party consisted of eighty-one men mounted on mules, ten wagons loaded with merchandise, and twelve or fifteen head of cattle, taken along to subsist on until they should reach the buffalo country. Almost the first caravan to use ox-wagons was the one conducted west by Captain Bent in 1831. "His party consisted of from thirty to forty men, and if he succeeds with his ox-wagons, the oxen will answer the tripple purpose, Ist, of drawing these wagons ; 2d, the Indians will not steal them as they would horses and mules ; and 3d. in case of necessity part of the oxen will answer for provisions." Soon after this Spanish mer- chants from the New Mexico were seen on the streets of Pitts- burg, Pa., where they went to buy iron products particularly. They had learned that they could obtain them for a much less price by buying them in Pittsburg and taking them across the plains at their own expense, instead of buying them from the St. Louis merchants put down in Santa Fe. The military expe- ditions which crossed the plains in the "fifties" reported seeing in New Mexico many wagons that had been manufactured in Pittsburg. The railroads soon annihilated the old order of trade.
The stage lines which threaded the plains and the mountains in early times were marvels of enterprise in regions inhabited only by savages, save at centers of settlement by white people. The one conducted by Russell, Majors & Waddell in the "fifties,"
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had stations ten or twelve miles apart. The horses were driven at a gallop, and no stop was made, day or night, except for meals. Butterfield's was another famous line, extending from the Mis- souri river to Sacramento. Railways carried the Eastern mail to the Missouri, whence it was conveyed by stages to the Pacific coast. The best time that could thus be made from New York to San Francisco was twenty-two days. The pony express was first tried as an experiment, but proved so successful that it was not only continued, but greatly improved. It reduced the time of the passage of mail from New York to Sacramento to eleven days. There were one hundred and ninety stations from St. Joseph to Sacramento. Five hundred horses were used, and there were in all about eighty riders. Two hundred men were required to guard and take care of the stations ; but in the Indian country more than one station was destroyed and the guards were killed and the horses stolen. Each rider rode approximately thirty-three miles on three horses, and returned on three others, each horse being required to go about eleven miles at his best speed. Sometimes the riders were ambushed and killed by the Indians; at others they were fired at from thickets and chased, but being splendidly mounted they usually had no difficulty in distancing the savages. For the dangerous Indian districts, the swiftest horses were selected : to this locality, also, were assigned the most daring riders, those who would not hesitate for any report of hostile bands to make their usual rides. It occasionally happened, owing to the death of the rider of one district, that his nearest neighboring rider would have to cover the dead man's dis- triet, in order that the mail might not be delayed. Such riders were sometimes required to travel at full speed nearly two hun- dred miles, without stopping for a moment and without a mouth- ful of food. In such cases, the riders were obliged to cross the dangerous Indian country where the other rider had been killed, and not infrequently they, too, were attacked by the same band of savages. Everything carried by each horse was made as light as possible. The riders were small men, with courage at an inverse ratio to their sizes. The saddles were small and light. The heaviest articles were a light rifle and one revolver. The charge for cach letter carried the whole route was five dollars, and every letter was required to be written in small compass on tissue paper : all the letters were bound in a single package, thoroughly wrapped from the weather and securely fastened to the saddle. In March, 1861, extra efforts were made to carry
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President Lincoln's message through in record-breaking time. It required seven days and seventeen hours to carry it by pony express from St. Joseph to Sacramento. Ere many years a greater wonder, the modern railway, terminated the usefulness of the pony riders.
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CHAPTER XII
Explorations by the United States
T HIE cession of Louisiana by France to the United States in 1803 had scarcely been ratified by congress before the gov- emment perceived the necessity of taking immediate steps to circumvent the encroachiments of Spain on the southwest bor- der, to explore the various river courses preparatory to settle- ment and to make friends of all the Indian tribes within the borders of the new territory. Accordingly, late in 1804, an expe- dition under the command of Dr. John Sibley was sent up Red River of Natchitoches for the purpose of reporting fully on the designs of the Spaniards in that quarter and of locating the Indians in the valley of that stream. With a small party lie set out, passed the village of Natchitoches, and in due time arrived at the villages of the Caddoes in what is now southwest Arkansas. He continued to ascend Red river, exactly how far is not known, but certainly as far as the Pawnee villages nearly to the mouth of the North Fork. He learned that there were few, if any, Spaniards, on the river, encountered no serious opposition from the Indians, and finally returned, having added much to the general knowledge of that section.
One of the earliest expeditions sent into the Louisiana Pur- chase was that under Messrs. Dunbar, Hunter and others; which passed up the Washita of Louisiana and Arkansas in 1804. The party of about a dozen men reached the mouth of Red river on October 17 of that year, and two days later arrived at the mouth of the Washita or Black. At the mouth of the Catahoula, a Frenchman named Hebard had a large plantation. Up a con- siderable distance stood Fort Miro, that had served the Spanish well against the Indians. At Villemont's prairie was quite a
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French settlement, some of the grants there having been made prior to 1762. Here and there scattered along the river in what is now Louisiana, were other French and Spanish settlers, with plantations in all stages of improvement. Post Washita was reached November 6. Near this was the large grant to the Marquis de Maison-Rouge. On the IIth of November, they arrived at the plantation of Baron Bastrop, where there was a settlement of about three hundred people. The baron's grant aggregated about one million French acres. On November 15, they passed the Island of Mallet, just south of the line between the Territories of Orleans and Louisiana, which civil divisions had just been created by the Government of the United States. They passed the mouth of the Little Missouri on the 24th, that of the Cadodoqui on the 30th, and reached the Chuttes on Decem- ber 3. On December 6, they arrived at Ellis' camp within three leagues of Hot Springs, their objective point. On December IO, the springs were thoroughly explored, and later excursions into the surrounding country were made for purposes of discovery. About the 6th of January, they returned down the Washita, up which they had come. This expedition was the means of sending many settlers into that portion of the Purchase.
In 1806 a force consisting of seventeen privates and five or six commissioned and non-commissioned officers, all under the com- mand of Captain Sparks and Lieutenant Humphrey, left Natchez in several barges and small boats, intending to go to the sources ' of Red river. They entered Red river on May 3, and sixteen days later arrived at Natchitoches. Here they received intelli- gence that the Spanish had sent a large force to intercept them and drive them back from the upper branches of Red river. They were accordingly strengthened by a force of twenty men under Lieutenant Deforest. They carried with them a supply of flour sufficient to last nine months and other provisions in proportion. They left Natchitoches June 2, and five days later a message was received from that town saying that a large force had left Nacogdoches to intercept them at the Caddoe villages. When they arrived at a point twenty miles above the great raft of the Red, they learned positively from the Indians that over three hundred Spanish dragoons were encamped at the Caddoe town prepared to prevent their advance any farther in that direction. On July Ist, other messengers arrived and confirmed the former news. They reported that the Spaniards had used every endeavor to make friends with the Caddoes ; but that the latter had refused under the pretext that they did not intend to side with either the
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Spanish or the Americans, and that both must go elsewhere if they wished to fight ; that neither could remain in the country of the Indians. They also reported that the Caddoes were willing for the United States to advance up Red river to its sources for purposes of exploration and discovery, and to visit the Pawnees and other tribes there.
On July 26 word was received that the Spanish forces were one thousand strong and that the American flag which had been flying at the Caddoe villages had been supplanted by that of Spain. The next day they "cached" their extra provisions, papers, baggage, etc., to be in readiness for emergencies and continued to advance. On the 28th the Spanish guns were heard in the distance ahead. On the morning of the 20th they saw they were not far from the Spanish camp, and were kept fully posted by the Caddoe runners. Everything was put in readiness, and they continued to advance as if they did not know of the presence of the Spaniards. An outpost was first encountered which fled to the main camp, and soon afterward a deputation appeared. The Americans camped and prepared for dinner, and in the meantime a conference was arranged for. The Spanish commander and Captain Sparks conferred for over half an hour, the former showing that he had a force ten times as strong as the latter, and insisting that the American must retreat, as he was under orders to prevent at all hazard the advance of the Ameri- cans up the valley of the Red. The Americans weighed all the chances, and finally concluded the wisest course was to go back and later return with a much stronger force. They accordingly retreated down the river. This conference took place at a point six hundred and thirty-five miles by water from the mouth of Red river.
As soon as possible after the War of 1812, or in 1816, congress took steps to quiet the Indians in the territory beyond the Missis- sippi and to check the illicit trading of the Hudson's Bay and Northwest companies. In 1819 Col. Henry Leavenworth, with about a hundred soldiers, went to the mouth of the Minnesota river and established Fort St. Anthony, afterward named Fort Snelling, at the suggestion of General Scott. In December, 1818, a contract was made between the government and Col. James Johnson, of Kentucky, by which the latter agreed to provide two steamboats and transport a large force of soldiers up the Mis- souri to certain stations to be established at Council Bluffs, the Mandan villages and elsewhere. Colonel Johnson failed to ful- fill his agreement, but nevertheless the soldiers to the number of
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one thousand one hundred and twenty-seven under Col. Henry Atkinson were sent up the river. At Council Bluffs Fort Atkin- son was promptly built. Fort Clark was built at the Mandan villages. 'This was called the Missouri expedition to distinguish it from the Mississippi expedition under Colonel Leavenworth.
An important expedition was sent up the Missouri river in 1819 under Maj. S. H. Long, of the Topographical Engineers, by order of the War Department, for the purpose of thoroughly examining the country, conciliating the Indians and otherwise benefiting the government. A steamboat built near Pittsburg, called the Western Engineer, was well loaded with supplies of provisions and presents for the Indians and dispatched down the Ohio, and about June Ist reached the Mississippi. After reach- ing St. Louis, where they remained a few days, they started up the Missouri. On July 5 the village of Cote Sans Dessieu was reached, on the 13th Franklin, on July 22d Chariton, and Au- gust Ist Fort Osage. A full report was made of the topography, fanna, flora, minerals, soils, climate, timber, wild animals, Indians, settlements, streams, etc. Excursions were occasionally made into the surrounding country, the better to examine the character- istics. At Fort Osage a detachment under Thomas Say, eleven men in all, was sent up the Missouri and the Kansas rivers to examine the country and communicate with the Indians. They made several detours, and left the mouth of the Kansas Au- gust 13th. Upon reaching the Kansas villages, below the moutli of Blue Earth river, they were well received after the usual . fashion of the Indians. Passing on up the river, they were soon intercepted by a large war party of Pawnees, who robbed them of everything they had-horses, baggage, arms, trinkets, and were thus forced to return. Later the Pawnees guilty of this attack were brought to account and the most of the stolen prop- erty was recovered.
On the Western Engineer was Major Benjamin O'Fallon, the Indian agent for the government, on his way up the river to hold peace treaties with the various Indian tribes and punish them for their many misdemeanors of the recent past. On the Mis- souri a short distance above the mouth of the Kansas, was an encampment of white hunters, a number of whom had fled from the vengeance of the law farther to the east; they were little less wild than the savages themselves, and were shunned by the honest trappers. At this time Fort Osage was the rendezvous for much of the western country. It was situated near the pres- ent town of Sibley and had been established in 1808. Colonel
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Chambers was the commander. Near Diamond Island about five miles above the mouth of the Little Platte, was the ruin of an old French fortification or stockade. Below Independence river were the old Kansas villages on the west side of the Missouri. At this place they found Captain Martin with three companies of riflemen, who had left St. Louis in September, 1818, had arrived in October at Isle au Vache and had remained there ever since, nearly all the time without provisions, subsisting almost wholly on the game which they killed. In that time they had killed from two thousand to three thousand deer, many bears and turkeys, and a few buffaloes, the latter having migrated farther west. They were given a plentiful supply of provisions from the boat.
It was determined to hold a council here with the various Indian tribes, and accordingly messengers were sent to their villages inviting them to send delegates to the meeting to be held at Isle au Vache on August 24. There came one hundred and sixty-one members of the Kansas tribe and thirteen of the Osage. They were sharply taken to task for their many offenses against the whites by Major O'Fallon, the Indian agent; but they prom- ised in the most abject manner possible to be "good Indians" ever afterward, and thereupon were given valuable presents of cloth, tools, trinkets, weapons and ammunition. They returned to their villages doubtless rejoicing, ready for another attack upon the white settlers and trappers; for they knew that thus atten- tion would be called to them again, and another supply of pres- ents would specdily follow.
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