USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 11
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SMITH, JACKSON & SUBLETTE
On July 18, 1826, Ashley and Henry sold out to Jedediah S. Smith, David E. Jackson and William L. Sublette. who had been associated with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company from the beginning, and who continued the business under the old name. Although Jedediah S. Smith was really, the promoter of the new firm, William L. Sublette soon became the controlling spirit. He was one of four brothers-Andrew, Solomon P., Milton G. and William L .- of Kentucky stock and all engaged in the fur trade. Andrew, William L. and Mil- ton G. answered Ashley's advertisement in the spring of 1822 and became asso- ciated with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company from the time of its organization Andrew was killed by the Blackfeet Indians in 1828, Milton died at Fort Laramie on December 19, 1836, after two amputations of his leg on account of an injury,
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and William L. died at Pittsburgh on July 23, 1845, while on his way to Wash- ington, after having accumulated a fortune in the fur trade.
On August 22, 1826, "Jed" Smith, as he was commonly called, set out with his rifle and Bible to explore Southwestern Utah and Colorado, going from there to California. Sublette and Jackson divided their employees into several small companies, led by Robert Campbell, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Moses Harris, James Bridger and James Beckwourth. Three of these men-Campbell, Bridger and Beckwourth-are deserving of more than pasing mention, on account of the prominent part each took in the work of the fur companies and the development of the Great West.
Robert Campbell was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1804 and came to St. Louis when he was not quite twenty years of age. In 1825 he experienced some trouble with his lungs and decided to go to the mountains. He therefore joined Ashley's men and within twelve months had completely regained his health. Major Henry once remarked that "Bob Campbell takes to the Indian trade lika a young duck takes to the water," which must have been true, as he became one of the lieutenants of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company before he had been with it two years. After returning to St. Louis he became one of the city's leading busi- ness men ; was president of the old State Bank, which was afterward reorganized as the Merchants National Bank, of which he was also president for several years; was United States commissioner to negotiate several treaties with the Indians, and was influential in many ways in promoting the industrial interests of St. Louis. He died in that city on October 16, 1879, aged seventy-five years.
James Bridger, who has been called the "Daniel Boone of the West," was born in Richmond, Virginia, March 17, 1804, and went to St. Louis when he was eight years old. At the age of thirteen he was apprenticed to a blacksmith, which occupation he followed until he joined General Ashley's trappers in 1822. He quickly developed into a skilful trapper, learned the Indian customs just as quickly, was a dead shot with the rifle, paid more attention to the geography of the country than did most of the others, all of which had a tendency to increase General Ashley's confidence in him, and the two men became firm friends.
Bridger had very little book learning, but he completed the course of study in the broader school of Nature. Army officers and Government explorers always found him reliable as a guide and he probably knew more of the West in his day than any other living man. For several years after the firm of Smith, Jackson & Sublette was dissolved he was associated with Benito Vasquez in trapping for the American Fur Company. In 1843 he built Fort Bridger, in what is now Uinta County, Wyoming, and continued trapping for several years. In 1856 he bought a farm near Kansas City, Mo., and expressed his inten- tion to settle down and pass the remainder of his life in quiet pursuits. But the "call of the wild" was too strong, and, although more than fifty years of age, he was soon back at Fort Laramie. He was then employed by the United States Government as guide, which occupation he continued to follow until he grew too old to stand the hardships of plains life, when he retired to his farm and died there on July 17, 1881.
James Beckwourth, one of Ashley's first company, came to the mountains in 1822. He was born in Fredericksburg, Va., in April, 1798. He was always
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fond of boasting that his father had been a major in the Revolutionary war, but of his mother he said little, because she was a negro slave. When Ashley sold out to Smith, Jackson & Sublette, Beckwourth went with the new company. Thomas Fitzpatrick sent him to open up a trade with the Blackfoot Indians, which up to that time had not been a success, but Beckwourth married a daughter of the chief and for some time did a thriving business with the tribe in consequence. He then joined the Crow nation and was made a chief. Some of the trappers charged him with instigating the Indians to steal the traps, furs and horses of the fur companies, but he always claimed that he was innocent of the charge.
While living with the Crow Indians he had about a dozen wives. When Fremont passed through the Platte Valley in 1842, he found at Chabonard's ranch a Spanish woman who claimed to be the wife of Jim Beckwourth. After several years with the Crow nation, Beckwourth went to California, where he opened a hotel. His house was suspected of being the headquarters of a band of horse thieves and he was compelled to leave California to save his life. Return- ing to Wyoming, he remained there a short time and then went to Denver, where he engaged in the mercantile business, built a good house and married the daughter of a negro washerwoman. He never took the trouble to contradict the report of his numerous marriages. About 1867 he visited the Crow tribe, where he was given a cordial reception and a great feast. When the Indians learned that it was his intention to go back to Denver, they poisoned him rather than have him again desert them. Beckwourth was given to magnifying his exploits, and one of his biographers speaks of him as the "Baron Munchausen of the Plains." Notwithstanding this and other faults, he was a brave man. a successful trapper, knew the country well and was a reliable guide, in which capacity he was frequently employed.
In 1827 the firm of Smith, Jackson & Sublette, or the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, had about four hundred men engaged in trapping in Wyoming, North- ern Colorado and Utah. This year the rendezvous was at the mouth of Horse Creek, near the line between Lincoln and Fremont counties, in Wyoming. Jed Smith returned to the Pacific coast, Sublette remained in the country until fall, when he went to St. Louis to dispose of the season's furs and obtain a new supply of goods, and Jackson spent the winter in the valley south of Yellow- stone National Park. When Sublette found him there in the spring of 1828, he named the valley "Jackson's Hole," and the lake there he called "Jackson's Lake," in honor of his partner. These names still apply to the locality.
The rendezvous of 1829 was near the mouth of the Popo-Agie River. This year the supplies for the trappers and goods for the Indian trade were brought to the rendezvous in wagons drawn by mules. These were the first wagons ever brought to Wyoming. They came up the Platte and Sweetwater valleys, and returned to St. Louis loaded with furs.
On August 4, 1830, Smith, Jackson & Sublette sold out to a new company composed of Milton G. Sublette, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Henry Fraeb, Jean Bap- tiste Gervais and James Bridger, who continued the business under the old name of Rocky Mountain Fur Company. The old partners then engaged in the Santa Fé trade until Jed Smith was killed by the Indians in Southwestern Kansas in 1831. Jackson then formed a partnership with David E. Waldo and went to California, and William L. Sublette went to St. Louis, where for some time he
JIM BAKER, THE NOTED SCOUT
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furnished the supplies to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and marketed their furs.
The Rocky Mountain Fur Company came to an end in 1834. The next year Thomas Fitzpatrick, Milton G. Sublette and James Bridger formed a partner- ship, bought the post that had been built by Sublette & Campbell on the Laramie River, and entered the service of the American Fur Company. This firm was dissolved by the death of Milton G. Sublette in 1836. Bridger, Fitzpatrick, Henry Fraeb and Benito Vasquez then associated themselves in the fur trade and con- tinued in business together for several years. Associated with them as an employee was the well known scout, trapper and guide, James Baker.
Jim Baker, as he was familiarly called, was born at Belleville, Ill., Decem- ber 18, 1818. When he was about twenty years of age he joined a company of ninety recruits for the American Fur Company and came to Wyoming. The rendezvous that year (1838) was at the mouth of the Popo-Agie River. Baker's first trip as a trapper was up the Big Wind River to Jackson's Hole. After nine years with the American Fur Company he entered the employ of Bridger, Fitz- patrick, Vasquez & Fraeb, with whom he remained until the firm wound up its affairs. He was in Wyoming during the cold winter of 1845-46, when many of the wild animals froze to death. In 1857 he was guide to Colonel Johnston's Utah expedition, and later was chief of scouts under Gen. William S. Harney. In 1859 he built a home on Clear Creek, near Denver, where he lived until 1873, when he removed to a farm near Dixon, Wyo., in the southwestern part of Carbon County. His death occurred there in the spring of 1898, he having passed sixty years upon the western frontier.
By the act of February 13. 1917, the Wyoming Legislature appropriated the sum of $750 to remove the "Jim Baker cabin" from section 13, township 12, range 90, in Carbon County, to a suitable site at or near Cheyenne, where it might be preserved as "a relic of public interest." Later in the same year the cabin was taken down, the logs carefully numbered and moved to Cheyenne, where the cabin was rebuilt exactly in its original form in the grounds of Frontier Park, near the main entrance, where it stands as an interesting monu- ment to the memory of the brave old frontiersman.
COLUMBIA FUR COMPANY
When the Hudson's Bay and North-West companies were consolidated in 1821, a number of employees were dropped from each force. One of these was Joseph Renville, an experienced trader, who invited a number of the best men thus discharged to join him in forming a new company. Among those who accepted the invitation were Kenneth Mckenzie and William Laidlaw. The result was the organization of the Columbia Fur Company, with Kenneth Mc- Kenzie as president. This company established its headquarters on Lake Traverse, in what is now the State of Minnesota, and in a short time became a strong competitor of the older companies. Under the act of Congress, approved on April 29. 1816, foreigners were not permitted to engage in the fur trade within the limits of the United States, chiefly for the reason that they were accustomed to sell liquor to the Indians in exchange for furs. The Columbia Company, which was composed chiefly of foreigners, evaded this law by per-
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suading Daniel Lamont and other citizens of the United States to become stock- holders. These citizens acted as a subsidiary company under the name of "Tilton & Company." Their agents visited the upper Missouri and Yellowstone valleys, and possibly operated to some extent in Wyoming. In July, 1827, the Columbia Company was merged with the American Fur Company, Laidlaw, Mckenzie and others going with the latter.
THE MACKINAW COMPANY
This company was organized early in the Nineteenth Century by Fraser, Dickson, Cameron and Roulette, for the purpose of trading with the Indians about the Great Lakes. Gradually it extended its field of operations westward, and at the time the Hudson's Bay and North-West companies were united it was firmly established in the country west of the Great Lakes as far as the Mississippi River. Not long after that Astor and certain former members of the North-West Company purchased the interests of the Mackinaw Company and changed the name to the Southwest Fur Company. The object in changing the name was to make it correspond with the section to which it was intended to extend the trade, but when an effort was made to engage in the trade in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, Ashley and others were found to be so firmly entrenched that the project was given up and the Southwest Company was disbanded.
TRADING POSTS IN WYOMING
One of the earliest (perhaps the first) trading establishments within the limits of the present State of Wyoming was located near the junction of the north and south forks of the Powder River, in the southern part of Johnson County. Capt. W. F. Raynolds, who explored this part of the country in 1859-60, with Jim Bridger as guide, gives the following account of this post in his report : "On September 26, 1859, after a ride of about fifteen miles, we came to the ruins of some old trading posts known as the 'Portuguese Houses,' from the fact that many years ago they were erected by a Portuguese trader named Antonio Mateo. They are now badly dilapidated and only one side of the pickets remains standing. These, however, are of hewn logs, and from their character it is evident that the structures were originally very strongly built. Bridger recounted a tradition that at one time this post was besieged by the Sioux for forty days, resisting successfully to the last, alike, the strength and the ingenuity of their assaults, and the appearance of the ruins renders the story not only credible, but also probable."
Fort William, so named for William L. Sublette, was built at the confluence of the Platte and Laramie rivers by the firm of Smith, Jackson & Sublette in 1834. The following year it was sold to Fitzpatrick, Sublette & Bridger, and after the death of Milton G. Sublette became a post of the American Fur Com- pany. This was the first trading post in Wyoming built by a citizen of the United States.
Fraeb's Post, established about 1837 or 1838, was built by Henry Fraeb and James Bridger on St. Vrain's fork of the Elkhead River, a short distance west
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of the Medicine Bow Mountains. Fraeb was killed by Sioux Indians in August, 1841, and the post was soon afterward abandoned. At the time Fraeb was killed the post was attacked by a large war party of Sioux. In the action the Indians lost ten killed and a number wounded, and the whites lost five. The post stood almost on the line between Wyoming and Colorado.
Fort John, a post of the American Fur Company, was built not far from Fort William in 1839 and was named for John B. Sarpy, an agent of the company. The name was subsequently changed to Fort Laramie. The post was abandoned and the buildings demolished about 1846.
Fort Platte, situated on the right bank of the Platte River, on the tongue of land between that stream and the Laramie River, was built about 1840. Two years later, when Fremont passed through Wyoming on his way to the Rocky Mountains, he mentioned this fort in his report as a post of Sabille, Adams & Company. A year later it passed into the hands of Pratt, Cabanne & Company and a few years later was torn down.
Fort Bridger, one of the best known and most enduring of the early posts, was built by James Bridger and Benito Vasquez in the fall of 1843. On Decem- ber 10, 1843, Bridger wrote to Pierre Chouteau, Jr., at St. Louis, ordering certain goods for the Indian and emigrant trade, and in the letter said :
"I have established a small fort with a blacksmith shop and a supply of iron in the road of the emigrants, on Black's Fork of the Green River, which promises fairly. They, in coming out, are generally well supplied with money, but by the time they get here are in want of all kinds of supplies. Horses, pro- visions, smith work, etc., bring ready cash from them, and should I receive the goods hereby ordered I will do a considerable business in that way with them. The same establishment trades with the Indians in the neighborhood, who have mostly a good number of beaver among them."
Bridger evidently received the goods, as he remained at the fort for several years after that time, and the post became a landmark to guide emigrants on their way westward. The fort afterward became a military post of the United States.
Fort Davy Crockett and Fort Uintah, just across the line in Colorado, were posts that commanded a goodly share of the Wyoming fur trade, and Fort Bonneville, near the headwaters of the Green River, was another early post, but it was abandoned almost as soon as it was completed. An account of it will be found in the chapter on Explorers and Explorations.
CHAPTER VIII
EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS
EARLY EXPLORATIONS IN AMERICA CHIEFLY ALONG THE COAST-CORONADO'S EXPE- DITION-ON TO QUIVIR.\-OTHER SPANISH EXPEDITIONS-VERENDRYE-LEWIS AND CLARK-HANCOCK AND DIXON-LIEUTENANT PIKE-EZEKIEL WILLIAMS- LONG'S EXPEDITION-NATHANIEL J. WYETH-WYETH'S SECOND EXPEDITION -CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE-FATHER DE SMET-JOHN C. FREMONT-HIS SECOND EXPEDITION-CAPTAIN STANSBURY-WARREN'S EXPEDITION-CAPTAIN RAY- NOLDS.
In an earlier chapter of this work reference is made to the early European explorations in America, and the conflicting claims to territory that arose, based upon the discoveries made by these explorers. Most of these early Europeans confined their efforts to the lands along the Atlantic coast, though at least two Spanish expeditions penetrated far into the interior about the middle of the Six- teenth Century. One of these was the expedition of Hernando de Soto, who discovered the Mississippi River in the spring of 1541, an account of which is given in the previous chapter mentioned, and almost contemporary with it was an expedition from Mexico, led by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. Neither of these expeditions touched what is now the State of Wyoming, but they exerted an influence upon subsequent events, in that they gave the first information con- cerning the interior of the American continent.
CORONADO'S EXPEDITION
The leader of this expedition, a native of Salamanca, Spain, was appointed governor of New Gallicia, one of the northern provinces of Mexico, about 1533 or 1534. He has been described as "cold and cruel, ambitious, and always look- ing for an opportunity to distinguish himself and win favor with his royal master." Such an opportunity came to him shortly after he had been appointed governor, when four men reached the City of Mexico, after having spent some time in wandering among the Sierra Madre Mountains and the sandy plains farther to the northward. One of these four, called Estevan or "Stephen the Moor," gave a circumstantial account of an expedition of some four hundred men which left Florida eight years before, but had been reduced by hardships, toil and captivity among the natives to the four men who had at last escaped and found their way to the Spanish settlements in Mexico. This Estevan also told of opulent cities, known as the "Seven cities of Cibola," of which he had heard frequent mention while among the Indians, but which he had never seen.
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In these reports Coronado saw a chance to win fame and establish himself more firmly at court. He sent out a small expedition under Father Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan friar, to reconnoiter the seven cities, Estevan acting as guide. The Moor, with a few men, went on in advance and afterward claimed to have reached the cities before the friar and the main body had covered half the dis- tance. Incited by that avarice which was a distinguishing characteristic of the early Spanish explorers in America, Estevan and his companions proceeded to plunder the houses and killed some of the natives who refused to give up their property. The entire population then took up arms against the invaders, with the result that the Moor and his associates were compelled to abandon their loot and beat a hasty retreat.
Upon meeting Father de Niza, they told him of what had happened and advised him to proceed no farther. From this point accounts of the expedition differ. The friar, doubtless for the purpose of retaining the good will of the governor, reported that he went on until he came to an eminence, from which he could see plainly the cities of Cibola, the lofty houses, the abundant evidences of the great wealth of the inhabitants, etc., but some of the private soldiers who accompanied him reported that he turned back in great fright. In the light of subsequent events, the latter report seems to be the most plausible.
Coronado, however, did not abandon the idea of leading an expedition to the fabled cities and appropriating their great wealth. Accordingly, in the spring of 1540, with 300 Spanish soldiers and 800 natives, he left new Gallicia and took up his march for the seven cities. Three accounts of the expedition were afterward published-one by Coronado himself, one by his lieutenant, Jara- millo, and the third by a private soldier named Castaneda. While the reports do not harmonize in many essential particulars, all agree that they reached the cities of which they had heard so much and found only seven insignificant native villages, with no lofty buildings, no gold and silver, no jewels. Some writers have attempted to show that the cities of Cibola were located northeast of Zuni. N. M., and that the Zuni ruins are the remains of the cities of which Coronado was in search. It is also asserted by some that a detachment of Coronado's troops under Lopez de Cardenas, discovered the grand canyon of the Colorado in August, 1540.
Fearing the ridicule of his friends if he returned to New Gallicia empty- handed, Coronado asked the natives of the villages if there were not other cities within reach that it might be profitable to visit. Glad of the opportunity to rid themselves of the Spaniards, they told him of a rich province about one hundred leagues to the eastward. To this province Coronado led his followers, only to meet with another disappointment. True, he found some Indian villages, but the inhabitants were no more opulent than those he had just left. In his chagrin he made war upon the natives of these villages and practically annihilated their dwellings. Castaneda's account says they spent the winter at this place, which he calls Cicuye, and which archaeologists have located in the Pecos Valley, not far from the present Town of Puerto de Luna.
ON TO QUIVIRA
While the expedition was at Cicuye an Indian, who claimed to be a prisoner, came to Coronado with an air of great mystery and gave a glowing account of
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a country called Quivira, some three hundred leagues farther to the northeast, in which there was a great river, nearly three leagues wide, with fish in it as large as horses. He said the ruler of this country was an old man named Tar- tarrax, quite wealthy, who worshiped the image of a woman and a cross of gold, and who prayed by means of a string of beads. He told his story in an impres- sive manner and proposed to Coronado that if the Spaniards would connive his escape he would guide them to this rich province. The offer was accepted and on May 5, 1541, the expedition left the Pecos Valley for the realm of Tartarrax.
The Spaniards called their Indian guide "the Turk," because of some real or fancied resemblance to that people. Some of the more observing members of the expedition noticed that when they met some wandering party of Indians on the plains, if the guide was the first to talk to them, they confirmed his story of Quivira, but if the white men were the first to question them they knew nothing of such a province. This has led to the theory that the Turk was not a prisoner at Cicuye, but that his story was concocted for the purpose of luring the Spaniards away from that place, the guide being a member of the tribe who was willing to sacrifice his life, if need be, for the safety and comfort of his people. His life was sacrificed, for when Coronado reached the conclusion that the guide had deceived him he ordered the Indian to be hanged. Just before his death the Turk insisted that the cities to which he was guiding the expedition were "just a little farther on."
A great deal of speculation has been indulged in regarding the location of Quivira. In his own report, Coronado says he went as far north as the fortieth degree of north latitude. If he was correct in his estimate, the northern limit of his travels was somewhere near the boundary line between Kansas and Nebraska. Attempts have been made to show that Quivira was somewhere near the head of the Gulf of California, and several places in Colorado claim the honor. Some think that the ruins called "Gran Quivira," in New Mexico, mark the site of the mythical province of Tartarrax. Near Junction City, Kan., a monument has been erected to mark the northernmost point of Coronado's wanderings. The engineers engaged in building the Union Pacific Railroad found near the mouth of the Loup River, in Nebraska, mounds and other evidences of once populous villages, which support to some extent the dying statement of the Turk, that the cities of which he had spoken were "just a little farther on."
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