USA > Wyoming > The history of Wyoming from the earliest known discoveries > Part 17
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plies provided by Captain Bonneville, and even sold the furs taken on the journey to furnish means to keep up their feast- ing and mad revelry. When Captain Bonneville received these reports, his indignation knew no bounds; the worse than failure of the expedition pricked him to the quick, as it had cost him a large amount of money which he could ill afford. The great Salt Lake still remained unexplored. The expedition he had led into the wilderness was not turning out to be a money-making venture. At this juncture Mr. Cerre arrived at the rendezvous with supplies for the season direct from the east, and after these had been distributed detachments were sent out on another trapping campaign. Montero, with his band, proceeded to the Crow country to trap; he was then to go through the Black Hills and follow south to the Arkansas, where he was to winter. Cerre and Walker started with a number of men to convey the furs they had taken the past season to St. Louis. The Captain started for the Columbia country, where he expected to winter, then recross the mountains and join Montero the following July on the Arkansas, where the rendezvous was fixed for the next season. Accordingly, the various compa- nies separated on July 3rd for their different destinations. Captain Bonneville's trappers worked all the streams on the way to the Columbia. He had hoped to do a thriving trade with the natives on this river, but on arriving there he dis- covered that the Indians had been influenced by the Hudson Bay Company not to trade or hold any communication with him. The farther he proceeded the more marked became this disposition on the part of the natives to obey their mas- ters, the agents of the rival company. He was unable to buy even the necessary provisions for his party and conse- quently he retraced his steps to the headwaters of the Port- neuf, where they found abundant game and good pasturage for their horses. Arriving there about November 1st, they remained until the 17th, when, having received two mes- sengers from Montero's party who had been sent after sup- plies, the Captain broke up his camp and started for his caches on Bear River to procure the articles called for. By
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these messengers he countermanded the order previously given to the Montero party to rendezvous on the Arkansas, changing the place to the Wind River Valley on the forks of the Popo Agie. After the departure of the messengers, Bonneville remained in camp several days to trade with a band of Shoshones in the neighborhood. He then moved up Bear River to the place selected for his winter encampment, where his brigade enjoyed peace and plenty during the cold weather. On the 1st of April, 1835, he broke up his camp. Passing down Ham's Fork to Green River, he trapped along that stream until June 22, when he set out with his party for the rendezvous in the Wind River Valley. Montero arrived in good time and reported a successful trapping expedition in the Crow country. He had had one encounter with the Blackfeet and lost some of his horses. The united parties celebrated the 4th of July at the rendezvous in true patriotic style. Captain Bonneville had erected three cab- ins for the use of his men and in which to store his goods. These cabins were long a landmark in the lower valley and are known to this day as the "Three Cabins." Major Noyes Baldwin, when he received his permit in 1866 to trade with the Shoshones, moved his family and goods into these cab- ins, and it was on this spot that he first set up business in that country. Montero, having drawn his supplies, placed himself at the head of his brigade of trappers and again started on another campaign, while Bonneville, with the residue of his command, turned south and reaching the Sweetwater followed the course of that stream to the North Platte, and so on to civilization.
This renowned trader, trapper and explorer is worthy of a biographical sketch in these pages, which is herewith appended.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
Captain Benjamin Louis Eulalie Bonneville was born in France, 1796. His father was a man of superior educa- tion and the owner of a printing establishment in Paris at
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the time Bonneville was born. He was a Republican and belonged to a Paris club organized by Tom Paine. During our Revolutionary War with England there were many pamphlets published at the Bonneville printing establish- ment which were in the interest of the Americans, and these publications contributed not a little to the building up of a sentiment favorable to the struggling colonies. When Na- poleon came into power he took measures to control the press of Paris and tracing some offensive pamphlets to the Bonneville press, he ordered the proprietor imprisoned in the "Temple." After a time he was released and he ex- pressed a desire to go to America with his family, but Na- poleon ordered him kept under surveillance by the police and that he be not allowed to leave France. Tom Paine, who had been in Paris for some time, was informed by friends that he was in danger of arrest; he therefore secretly left France, taking with him, by desire of her husband, Madame Bonneville and her son Benjamin, then a small boy. On arriving in New York, Mrs. Bonneville and her son were sent to the country residence of Tom Paine, New Rochelle. The elder Bonneville after a time escaped from Paris and joined his wife and son in New York City, where she had opened a school for young ladies. When young Benjamin was old enough, Tom Paine secured his appoint- ment to West Point, from which institution he graduated in 1819. When General Lafayette visited America in 1824 he looked up the Bonneville family and evinced a deep in- terest in them. This becoming known to the War Depart- ment, young Bonneville, out of compliment to General La- fayette, was appointed an aide on the staff of the distin- guished and much beloved visitor, and the young man ac- companied the General on his tour through the United States. When Lafayette returned to his home, he asked that young Bonneville be allowed to return with him to France as his guest. How long he remained abroad I do not know, but on his return to America he was appointed a Lieutenant and went into service on the frontier, and it was here he acquired a desire to penetrate the wilderness. In
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course of time he was promoted to a Captaincy. From time to time he met trappers and traders from the Rocky Moun- tains, and it soon became the ambition of his life to lead an expedition across the continent with the object of studying the character of Indian tribes, the discovering of a road for the use of emigrants and the making of a correct map of the country through which he passed. He believed that such an expedition could be made self-sustaining by trading with Indians and by trapping, provided he could secure the capi- tal necessary for the outfitting and the purchase of goods to be used in trading with Indians. The Captain fortunately had wealthy friends who were willing to advance the money needed. He applied to General Macomb for leave of ab- sence, giving in detail his plans. His request was promptly granted.
Three years and four months from the time of his de- parture from Fort Osage, on the Missouri, Captain Bonne- ville reported to General Macomb at Washington and asked permission to file his report of the expedition he had con- ducted into the interior of the continent. He was informed that the war office had eagerly looked for his return for a long time, but had finally come to the conclusion that he and his companions had met death in the wilderness, and he had therefore been dropped from the rolls of the army. The Captain was dumfounded when informed that he had been deposed, but he promptly demanded reinstatement. He was told that this was irregular, and as it concerned a large number of officers who were anxious for promotion, his request was denied. His return created a profound sen- sation in army circles, but there was not an officer who would espouse his cause. He was told that he had been en- gaged in a private enterprise for his own profit and emolu- ment and that he could not expect to be restored to his rank after having overstayed his leave of absence nearly two years. Bonneville now went to the President, General Jack- son and laid the case before him. The old hero and states. man heard him with kindness and attention, and knocking the ashes from his cob-pipe said: "You were absent from
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duty for specific objects, such as information in regard to the wild tribes, the mountain routes and passes and maps of the country. Have you these maps to prove this service?" "I have, sir." "Let me examine them." Jackson put on his spectacles and was absorbed in them some time. "By the eternal, sir," he said, "I'll see that you are reinstated to your command. For this valuable service you deserve a high promotion." Bonneville was restored. Soon after his restoration he was given command of Fort Gibson, and later was ordered to Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, and while there met Miss Annie Lewis, a daughter of Judge Lewis of that place. The gallant soldier was an ardent ad- mirer of this young lady and in due course of time he mar- ried her, and soon after was ordered to Jefferson Barracks. By this union they had one child, a girl. This daughter's name was Mary, and she is spoken of as a beautiful and ac- complished young lady, but at the age of eighteen she died. A few days after the death of Mary her grief-stricken mother died also, and the two occupied graves side by side in a St. Louis cemetery. At the breaking out of the Semi- nole war Captain Bonneville played a conspicuous part and was promoted to Major of the Sixth Infantry, for merit- orious service. He went with his command to Mexico and again distinguished himself and was promoted Lieutenant- Colonel of the Fourth Infantry and in 1852 was ordered to the Pacific coast. February 3, 1855, he was promoted Colo. nel of the Third Infantry. He was retired from active ser- vice September 9, 1861. At the breaking out of the war he volunteered his services to the government and was ordered to Jefferson Barracks and made mustering officer, which position he held until the close of the war. On March 13th, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier-General. He was married a second time late in life and at the close of the war went to live on his farm, located at Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he died on June 12, 1878. The photograph which appears on another page was taken in the year 1873.
The Indians of the Rocky Mountains called Bonneville the "Bald Headed Chief," as he was in fact very bald. In
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the latter years of his life he wore a wig, as will be noticed in his published portrait. His widow is still living at Fort Smith.
CHAPTER XVI.
SKETCHES OF TRAPPERS AND TRADERS.
TRAPPERS FIRST PERMANENT SETTLERS IN WYOMING-PERSONAL MENTION JIM BECKWOURTH-NATHANIEL J. WYETH-JAMES BRIDGER-KIT CAR- SON-JEDEDIAH S. SMITH-JOSHUA PILCHER-GEORGE W. EBBERTS- ROBERT NEWELL-CAPTAIN WILLIAM SUBLETTE-THOMAS FITZPATRICK -FRAPP-JERVAISE-FONTENELLE- JENNINGS-LEROY - ROSS - SIN- CLAIR BROTHERS-DRIPPS-VASQUES-GOODALE-PAPPEN-TULLECK.
It will be clearly established in the minds of those who read the early history of Wyoming that to the trappers be- long the credit of having first made permanent homes in this country. Many of the men who came out with Ashley, Sublette, Bonneville and other renowned heroes, conceived the idea of making the mountains their abiding place. They paid dearly for their temerity, and the estimate is that three-fifths of this number met violent deaths at the hands of the savages. A majority took Indian wives, but this only protected them from the particular tribes to which their wives belonged. The hereditary enemies of such tribes scalped these white men whenever the opportunity offered. When Fremont came into the country he found numerous white men who had married among Indians, and he es- pecially mentions the fact that as a result of such marriages there was an abundance of half-breed children. I can im- agine that some of my readers will be inclined to the opinion that these white men had become by association little bet- ter than the natives; but this by no means follows; nor was it the case. Those who settled down to make homes in the wilderness, far from civilization, were the bravest of the brave; they lived for the most part honorably with their na-
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tive wives and provided abundantly for their offspring. Their surroundings did not permit them to give to their children the advantages of education and civilization, and yet it is only fair to say that their homes were the abodes of love and tenderness. In those days educa. tion was not the privilege of all, even in the states. The most of the trappers were men without education and their lot was no worse in the mountains than it would have been at home, except for the dangers inci- dent to their calling. It must be admitted that even savage women have their charms, under certain circumstances. The fair daughters of the mountain chieftains of Wyoming were no less charming than those of Powhatan, who wed Pocahontas to a white man, and polite society approved. The daughter of the Virginia chieftain, it is true, saved Cap- tain John Smith from the murderous war club of her savage father. Are there any to claim that the princesses of the mountains were less powerful to protect white men? Hu- manity is alike to some extent in all countries and all ages, and the white men who came to Wyoming in the first half of the century were no exception to the rule. To live with a squaw was the custom of the country, and besides, the un- lettered trappers were not the only white men who indulged their fancy in this particular. Men highly educated did the same thing. "The Free Trapper's Bride" is pictured in ele- gant prose by Washington Irving in his story of Captain Bonneville, and Bancroft, who loses no opportunity to stab Irving's hero, says in his "Adventures of Nathaniel J. Wy- eth," in 1834: "They also reached Powder River the 28th and on the 31st arrived at Grand Ronde, where they found Bonneville and his company. This amateur forester, with a troop of Nez Perces and Cayuses at his heels, visited Wy. eth's camp, and by his broad, genial good humor, which then happily possessed him, and his French manners, created a favorable impression. Meanwhile, flitting in the distance, astride a sleek bay horse, gayly caparisoned, the mane and tail tied full of scarlet and blue ribbons, was a beautiful damsel, glittering in finery, loaded with bells, beads, and
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rings fastened to bands of scarlet cloth, and who managed her horse as being part of it, but held aloof as the property of one who brooked no familiarity in the matter of mis- tresses."
I have no desire to apologize for the personal conduct of the early trappers. They came into the country and took their chances, braved the dangers, and a majority of them, as has been said, lost their lives. Their social relations with the Indian tribes have no bearing on the subjects discussed in this volume. Their alliances with the daughters of the mountains are mere incidents in the history of these men.
The introduction of spiritous liquors was an evil far. reaching, not only among the trappers but also to the Indian tribes. Of course this traffic added to the profits of the trader, and yet the injury it inflicted on the whites, half- breeds and natives was beyond calculation. Whole tribes were demoralized, white men brutalized, and all because of the greed of those who came to the mountains to build up fortunes. It was the one great blot on the character of the heroes who established commerce in the wilderness. Fu- ture generations, when they come to sum up the moral worth of the trader and trapper, will see no great difference between the men who sold skins for whisky and those who bartered whisky for skins.
In this chapter I desire to group together many of the trappers and traders and tell their experiences while in Wyoming. I shall be obliged in most instances to barely mention names. The task has been a difficult one. My pur- pose from the first was to give the names of these men in connection with incidents relating to the fur trade, and this has been done wherever possible. It should be understood that the fur trade, first and last, employed in this state seve- ral thousand people, and only a very small percentage of these have left any record, and that record very imperfect. Full names are the exception, as I find them mentioned in publications relating to the fur trade.
Jim Beckwourth, who came to the mountains under Ashley and was known among the trappers and traders as
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one of the bravest of the brave, led a life of adventure such as few men of his day could boast. He served at first under Ashley and then under Sublette. While serving the latter he joined the Crow nation and by his bravery became a powerful chief. After joining the Crows he was charged by trappers with instigating that tribe to steal furs and horses from the trappers of the Rocky Mountain and American Fur Companies. This he has denied many times. He never contradicted, however, the many marriages charged to his account. Being sent to trade with the Blackfeet tribe on one occasion by Fitzpatrick, he prepared the way by marry- ing the daughter of the chief, after which he opened up and did a thriving business. While he was with the Crows he had fully a dozen wives. Fremont in 1842 met at Chabon- ard's ranch on the Platte a young Spanish woman who he said was the wife of Jim Beckwourth. It has been charged that he on one occasion infected some goods with the germs of smallpox and then sent them to a camp of Black- feet, and the result was that a large number of the savages took the disease and many died. I have carefully exam- ined many of the charges made against Beckwourth, and have come to the conclusion that he was one of those charac- ters who delight in telling monstrous stories about them- selves, but they are really not as bad as they make out. He was constantly boasting about the number of Indians he had killed on various occasions, and he tried to make people be- lieve that, like David, he had slain his tens of thousands. The real facts are, he had killed a number of Indians, it is true, but he was fond of exaggeration. He had some good traits; this cannot be denied. After living with the Crows a number of years he went into the service of the American Fur Company on the Yellowstone, but later withdrew and went to California. At one time he kept a hotel, but falling under suspicion of being connected with a band of horse- thieves, he was obliged to leave California; returning to Wyoming. When Denver was first settled he went to that place and opened a store but did not continue long in busi- ness. W. N. Byers informs me that at the time he came to
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Denver, in 1859, he took up a ranch in what is now a popu- lous part of the city, and his next neighbor was Jim Beck- wourth. He had located on a quarter section of land and lived on it in a cabin. Beckwourth afterward built a good house and while living there married a daughter of a col- ored washerwoman in town. The Crow Indians sent him many pressing invitations to come and see them, as they were in need of his advice. This tribe claimed that he was their "good medicine." Finally Beckwourth resolved to pay his old friends a farewell visit. Mr. Byers thinks that this was about the year 1867, but he does not feel certain as to the date. The tribe at this time was in Montana and re- ceived Beckwourth with open arms. The Crows before this period had met with great misfortunes. Between war and disease the tribe was greatly decimated, and they attributed their bad luck of late years to the absence of Beckwourth. He was feasted in all their villages and his visit was one grand ovation. Finally he announced his intention of re- turning to Denver and the head men of the tribe made this the occasion of a grand farewell feast. There was boiled puppy and all the choice dishes of the Indian epicure and Beckwourth was seated in the center of the feast while good cheer went the rounds. The memories of happy days when the Crows were a numerous and powerful nation, were re- vived, and stories told of battles fought and victories won while Beckwourth was their chief. At last the feast drew to a close, when one more choice dish, prepared for the hon- ored and loved former chieftain, was pressed upon him. Of this he ate and dropped dead! He had been poisoned. They explained afterwards that in spite of all their entreaties Beckwourth was determined to return to Denver. He had always been "good medicine" to the tribe, and if they could not have him alive they resolved to have him dead, that his bones might be kept with them. Thus perished one of the most remarkable characters ever in the Rocky Moun- tains. He was born April 26, 1798, at Fredricksburg, Virginia, his mother being a slave woman and his father a white man. Beckwourth took great pride in the fact that
HUAMES BRIDGER
(APT.B.L.E.BONNEVILLE
FATHER
ESMET.
D.P.WIGGINS.
NATHANIEL P LANGFORD
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his father was a major in the War of the Revolution. The following interesting story is told of Beckwourth's services to white men who suffered capture among the Indians:
"During 1834, Captain Stuart, an English army officer, who had served under the Duke of Wellington, Dr. Ben- jamin Harrison, a son of the first President Harrison, Colo- nel Charles A. Wharfield, a Mr. Brotherton and several other gentlemen who were in search of adventure, were with Thomas Fitzpatrick's trappers. They had appeared at the rendezvous on Green River that year and followed Fitz- patrick through the Wind River Valley, down the Big Wind River, and had finally reached the Big Horn Basin, where they were all captured by a band of Crows. Jim Beck- wourth, who was then working for the American Fur Com- pany, happened to be with the Crow party who made the capture. Fitzpatrick appealed to Beckwourth to get him- self and friends out of the scrape. Beckwourth called upon his relatives, Indians related to him by marriage, for each warrior to mount a horse and take a prisoner behind him, while he gathered up the horses and goods belonging to the white men. Captives according to the laws of war among Indians are safe while being conducted to or from the camp, and a captive mounted behind a warrior, that warrior is directly responsible for his safe keeping. While the white captives were being mounted, Captain Stuart declared he would not get on behind a murdering, thieving, red rascal. Col. Wharfield and Dr. Harrison told the English blusterer that he was using very unbecoming language and that he was endangering the lives of the whole party as well as his own. Thus persuaded, Captain Stuart meekly mounted be- hind an Indian. After much difficulty, Beckwourth secured all the property belonging to the white men, returned it to the owners, and sent an escort with them several miles. The party once out of the Indian village remounted their own horses and went on their way. These pleasure-seekers during that same season visited Captain Bonneville in his camp near Solomon River."
I have explained the presence of Nathaniel J. Wyeth in Wyoming during the spring of 1832, and his disappearance beyond our borders. His twenty-two men had dwindled down to eleven, yet he persisted in going forward to fulfill the dream of his ambition; that is, to build trading posts and ship to Boston, by way of the Columbia, furs and salmon.
-(13)
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Previous to his leaving Boston, he had sent a ship around Cape Horn, calculating that the vessel would meet him on the lower Columbia about the time his expedition by land should reach there. Concerning the trials and tribulations of Mr. Wyeth on the Pacific coast, my history has nothing to do. He remained there during the fall and winter of 1832 and then bent his steps back across the mountains and appeared at Green River, having failed in his enterprise, but like the true New Englander, he was more enthusiastic than ever. From Green River he went in convoy of Robert Camp- bell and Captain Bonneville, through the Wind River Val- ley, down the Big Horn River to the Yellowstone, and after constructing a bull-boat floated down the Yellowstone to the Missouri-thence back to St. Louis and on to Boston by the usual modes of conveyance. He had failed, but that did not prevent his Boston friends furnishing all the money he needed for a second expedition. Another ship was fitted out, well loaded with merchandise and dispatched to the Columbia. He raised 200 men and started by land to make his second journey up the Platte, through South Pass, boldly pushing forward to Snake River, down which stream he took his course. Seventy-five miles below Henry's Fort he stopped to build his first post in the interior. This post was a log structure with ample accommodations for the business for which it was intended. The logs were squared with a broad-ax, and consequently his buildings when com- pleted presented a creditable appearance. He named the place Fort Hall and it became famous as the years went by, first as a fur-trading establishment, then as an important station on the old overland emigrant and stage route, and still later as a military post; though our government finally moved Fort Hall a few miles up the river. Wyeth built other posts and pushed his business with true Yankee spirit and persistence, but it was too late in the history of the fur trade for it to be a success. The fur-bearing animals were fast disappearing from the streams, and besides he had to encounter a well organized competition of the power- ful Hudson Bay Company. He shipped salmon and furs,
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