USA > Wyoming > The history of Wyoming from the earliest known discoveries > Part 6
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After the expeditions of Lewis and Clark in 1804 and Capt. Zebulon Montgomery Pike in 1806, no further official explorations of the west were made until 1819. The United States Government at that time organized an expedition which was fitted out at great expense and provided with military officers and men of science. Major Stephen H. Long was placed in command, and the expedition started from Pittsburg, May 30, 1819. The party wintered at Coun- cil Bluffs and the following spring explored the Platte Val. ley; reaching the south fork of this river, they proceeded up this branch and pretty generally explored the country which is now Colorado. Long and his scientific associates proved themselves to be the most stupid explorers that had ever been in any country. They were not only stupid, but like most men of this class, were opinionated. They pronounced the whole country between the 39th and 49th parallels a worthless desert, extending for 500 miles east of the Rocky
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The First American Explorers.
Mountains. The strange part of all this is that they found innumerable streams flowing from the mountains over these vast plains, and the water courses had sufficient fall cover a large extent of territory. Evidently these scientific gentlemen had never heard of irrigation, although it had been in vogue for thousands of years. The stupidity of Long made a blotch on the map of the United States. After he made his report to the government, all that portion of the country from the Rocky Mountains to a point near the Mis- souri river, was noted on the map as the Great American Desert and this misleading statement resulted in untold in- jury to the West and kept the development of the country back for half a century. Major Long's explorations were of some value, it is true, but his opinions proved him to be a man of superficial attainments. That country marked "Great American Desert" on the map, is still remembered by all persons over forty years old. The sandy, worthless desert now contains hundreds of thousands of the best culti- vated farms in the United States. If our government sent out an explorer with a full staff of scientific assistants who reported the country as worthless, is it any wonder that con- servative members of the United States senate and of the House of Representatives should argue that the Rocky Mountain country, including Oregon, beyond it, was not worth possessing? Fortunately, Major Long and his stupid assistants did not enter the Wyoming country, and I should not have referred to this expedition at all had it not been for the blighting effect of the official report.
I have mentioned the successful expeditions of Sir Alexander McKenzie in 1789-1793, but if I were asked if this intrepid explorer was the first to cross the mountains to the Pacific, I should be obliged in all fairness to answer "No." Poets, great military commanders, as well as ex- plorers, are born with God-given powers in their particular line of work. Even among savage tribes, history shows that great leaders come to the front with full developed powers. They are not numerous, I will admit, but occa- sionally there is a born leader in these tribes who in intel-
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lect compares with the best developed white men of the times. They may be called warriors, but they are often statesmen. One of the most remarkable of these characters was an American Indian-a native of the Mississippi Valley belonging to the Yazoo tribe of Indians. He was called by the French L'Interprete, because he spoke many languages. He had for years, it is said, wondered from whence he came, and spent much time in trying to solve the problem of life. He visited neighboring tribes in search of knowledge. He found the shores of the Atlantic and then turned to the westward in 1745, and in due time crossed the mountains at or about the place Lewis and Clark followed more than sixty years later. He finally reached the sea, and when he beheld it his astonishment knew no bounds. In telling the story to M. Le Page du Pratz, a French savant, he said: "When I saw it I was so delighted that I could not speak. My eyes were too small for my soul's ease. The wind so disturbed the great water that I thought the blows it gave would beat the land in pieces." The waves of the ocean were his great puzzle, and when the tide rose and the water approached his camping place he believed that the world would be engulfed, but when the tide began to recede he stood for hours watching the water until his companions felt sure that he had lost his mind. He told his story, when he returned, of the long river beyond the mountains that flowed into the ocean.
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The Famous John Colter.
CHAPTER V.
THE FAMOUS JOHN COLTER.
THE FIRST AMERICAN TO ENTER WYOMING-A MEMBER OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION-REMAINS IN THE VICINITY OF THE YEL- LOWSTONE FROM 1806 TO 1810-HE TRAPS ALONG THE BIG HORN, BIG WIND RIVER, AND CROSSES THE RANGE TO THE PACIFIC SLOPE IN 1807-RETURNS BY WAY OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, OF WHICH HE WAS THE DISCOVERER - HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE BLACKFEET-A RACE FOR LIFE-RELATES HIS STORY TO CAPT. CLARK, BRADBURY AND OTHERS.
In the previous chapter I mentioned the name of John Colter and his discharge from the Lewis and Clark expedi- tion at Fort Mandan. From that date this member of the exploring party has been identified with the country which in later years became Wyoming. Colter while with Lewis and Clark won the respect of the explorers and was often called upon to perform important service where bravery and cool-headedness were required. I regret that so little is known of his early history and that nothing is chronicled of his old age and death. No braver man ever entered the Rocky Mountain country. All that is known of his early life is that he was a hunter and woodsman and in his line had won renown before he joined Lewis and Clark. Nothing is to be learned of his education, but the chances are that like most hunters of his day, he was unlettered. It is with satisfaction that we read in the journal of the expedition, under date of August 14th and 15th, 1806, the following:
"In the evening we were applied to by one of our men, Colter, who was desirous of joining the two trappers who had accompanied us, and who now proposed an expedition up the river, in which they were to find traps and give him a share of the profits. The offer was a very advantageous one, and, as he had always performed his duty, and his services might be dispensed with, we agreed that he might go provided none of the rest would ask or expect a similar indulgence. To this they cheerfully answered that they
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wished Colter every success and would not apply for liberty to separate before we reached St. Louis. We therefore sup- plied him, as did his comrades also, with powder, lead and a variety of articles which might be useful to him, and he left us the next day."
This request on the part of Colter evidently produced a profound sensation at Fort Mandan; the incident was so remarkable that it was not passed over without further com- ment; the journal makes this additional reference to the subject :
"The example of this man shows us how easily men may be weaned from the habits of civilized life to the ruder but scarcely less fascinating manners of the woods. This hunter has now been absent for many years from the frontier, and might naturally be presumed to have some anxiety; or some curiosity at least, to return to his friends and his country; yet just at the moment when he is approaching the frontier, he is tempted by a hunting scheme to give up those delight- ful prospects, and go back without the least reluctance to the solitude of the woods."
The names of the two trappers with whom Colter went into partnership do not appear in the Lewis and Clark jour- nal but I learn from other sources that they were Dixon and Hancock, whose homes were on the Illinois River. They were trappers, and in 1804 made a trip up the Missouri and trapped on the headwaters of that stream until 1806. It so happened that they met the Lewis and Clark expedi- tion on its return that year and persuaded Colter to join them. The newly organized trapping outfit followed up the Missouri and trapped on the Yellowstone and its branches. Thus passed the balance of the season of 1806. The follow- ing spring he and his companions started down the Missouri river with the intention of going to St. Louis. When they arrived at the mouth of the Platte, they met Manuel Lisa, sometimes called de Lisa, and that enterprising trader persuaded Colter to return with him to the Yellowstone country, where he had reported an abundance of beaver. The fur expedition went up to the mouth of the Big Horn, where Lisa erected a fort. A small party was organ- ized and with Colter at its head was sent out to trap and
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The Famous John Colter.
trade among the Crows. In this expedition he was evidently successful. His party trapped in all the tributaries of the Big Horn, including Stinking Water, where he discovered a boiling spring with a strong odor of sulphur and tar, which gives rise to the name Stinking Water. Colter is in no wise responsible for the name however, as it is of Indian origin, being thus interpreted by explorers. They trapped on the Grey Bull, Shell Creek, No Wood, Kirby Creek, Owl Creek, Little Wind River, Beaver Creek and all the forks of the Popo Agie. The party then went up Big Wind River to its source and crossed over one of the low passes to the Pacific slope. Capt. H. M. Chittenden in his work on the Yellow- stone National Park, follows Colter closely in his meander- ings on the west side of the Wind River Range. He says: "From the summit of the mountains he descended to the westward; crossed the Snake River and Teton Pass to Pierre's Hole, and then turned north, recrossing the Teton Range by the Indian trail in the valley of what is now Con- ant Creek, just north of Jackson Lake. Thence he contin- ved his course until he reached Yellowstone Lake, at some point along its southwestern shore. He passed around the west to the northernmost point of the Thumb, and then resumed his northerly course over the hills, arriving at the Yellowstone River in the valley of Alum Creek. He fol- lowed the left bank of the river to the ford just above Tower Falls, where the great Bannock trail used to cross, and then followed this trail to its junction with his outward route on Clark's Fork. From this point he recrossed the Stinking Water, possibly in order to revisit the strange phenomena there, but more probably to explore new trapping territory on his way back. He descended the Stinking Water until about south of Pryor's Gap, when he turned north and shortly after arrived at his starting point."
Capt. Chittenden, in his work, assumes that Colter, on this expedition, was alone or possibly with Indians. I think this an error. We must come to the conclusion that Colter did not make this trip as an explorer but as a trapper. There is evidence to show that he was engaged by Lisa when these two met at the mouth of the Platte to go back into the country from whence he had just come and there to trap for the benefit of Lisa. When we study the character
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of this fur trader we must naturally infer that his engage- ment with Colter was strictly a matter of business and that he fitted him out for a trapping expedition. Lisa was one of the most enterprising fur traders ever in the Rocky Mountain country. From first to last he pushed his trappers up all the principal streams and covered the territory thor- oughly; he sought new fields of enterprise and by his superior diplomacy captured the Indian trade. Colter was simply the agent of this enterprising Spaniard. Two cir- cumstances occurred in the life of Colter which resulted in handing his name down in a sort of half-hearted way to posterity. First, when on a trip to St. Louis he met one of his old commanders, Capt Clark, and told him of his explor- ations and that gentleman traced his route on a map which was soon to appear in connection with the Lewis and Clark expedition. Capt. Clark evidently received Colter's story with great allowance and he accordingly avoided saying anything about it in his publication. It is quite certain that Colter's story of hot springs, boiling lakes, geysers, etc., was regarded by his old commander as beyond belief; therefore he contented himself with tracing on his map what he denoted as the Colter route of 1807. At this day we feel thankful for even this slight recognition of the services of John Colter. Besides Capt. Clark, Colter told his story to John Bradbury, a scientific gentleman, who accompanied Wilson P. Hunt's expedition a part of the way up the Missouri in 1811. To this latter gentleman we are indebted for a story of surprising bravery and thrilling ad- venture that deserves a place in the history of pioneering by white men in the Rocky Mountains. This incident in Colter's life will be told further on.
While Colter had been on his expedition, Manuel Lisa had returned to St. Louis and organized, or re-organized, I am not certain which, the Missouri Fur Company. At any rate he had secured additional capital, with the idea of mo- nopolizing the fur trade of the tributary waters of the Mis- souri River. This time he brought with him from St. Louis a large number of recruits for his trapping service and among
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The Famous John Colter.
others, John Potts, who has been mentioned in connection with the Lewis and Clark expedition. Potts was of course an experienced mountainman, knew the Indian character in detail, and was brave even to rashness. Colter and Potts being re-united naturally made their plans to trap together during the season of 1808. I take it that they were free trappers attaching themselves to Manuel Lisa's company. Colter evidently led the way and the two went up and trapped on the northern tributaries of the Missouri.
In Bradbury's "Sketches of the Northwest, (London, 1812), the writer claims that Colter came to St. Louis in May 1810, in a small canoe from the headwaters of the Miss- ouri, a distance of three thousand miles which he traversed in thirty days. "I saw him on his arrival," says Bradbury, "and received from him an account of his adventures after he had separated from Lewis and Clark's party. One of these I shall relate. On the arrival of the party on the head- waters of the Missouri, Colter, observing that there appeared to be an abundance of beaver there, got permission to re- main and hunt for some time, which he did in company with a man named Dixon, who had traversed alone the im- mense tract of country from St. Louis to the headwaters of the Missouri. Soon after, he separated from Dixon and trapped in company with a hunter named Potts; and, aware of the hostility of the Blackfeet Indians, one of whom had been killed by Capt. Lewis, they set their traps at night and took them up early in the morning, remaining concealed during the day. They were examining their traps early one morning on a creek about six miles from that branch of the Missouri called Jefferson's Fork, and were ascending in a canoe, when they suddenly heard a great noise resem- bling the tramping of animals, but they could not ascertain the fact, as the high perpendicular banks on each side of the river impeded their view. Colter immediately pro- nounced it to be occasioned by Indians, and advised an in- stant retreat, but was accused of cowardice by Potts who insisted that the noise was caused by buffaloes, and they proceeded on. In few moments their doubts were removed
-(5)
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by a party of five or six hundred Indians presenting them- selves, and beckoning them to come ashore. As retreat was now impossible, Colter turned the head of his canoe to the shore, and, at the moment of its touching, an Indian seized the rifle belonging to Potts, but Colter immediately retook it and handed it to Potts who remained in the canoe, and, on receiving it pushed off into the river. He had scarcely quitted the shore when an arrow was shot at him " and he cried out, 'Colter, I am wounded!' Colter remon- strated with him on the folly of attempting to escape, and urged him to come ashore. Instead of complying, he in- stantly leveled his rifle at an Indian, and shot him dead on the spot. This conduct may appear to be an act of madness; but it was doubtless the effect of sudden and sound reasoning, for, if taken alive, he must have expected to be tortured to death, according to their custom. He was instantly pierced with arrows so numerous that, to use the language of Colter, 'he was made a riddle of.' They now seized Colter, stripped him entirely naked, and began to consult on the manner in which he should be put to death. They were first inclined to set him up as a mark to shoot at; but the chief interfered, and, seizing him by the shoul- der, asked him if he could run fast. Colter, who had been some time among the Keekatsa or Crow Indians, had in a considerable degree acquired the Blackfeet language and was well acquainted with Indian customs. He knew that he now had to run for his life, with the dreadful odds of five hundred or six hundred against him-those armed Indians. Therefore he cunningly replied that he was a bad runner, although he was considered by the hunters as remarkably swift. The chief now commanded the party to remain sta- tionary, and led Colter out upon the prairie three or four hundred yards and released him, bidding him to save him- self if he could. At that instant the horrid war-whoop sounded in the ears of poor Colter, who, urged by hope, ran at a speed which surprised himself. He proceeded toward the Jefferson Fork, having to cross a plain over six miles in width abounding with the prickly pear, on which he was
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The Famous John Colter.
every instant treading with his naked feet. He ran nearly half way across the plain before he ventured to look over his shoulder, when he perceived that the Indians were very much scattered and that he had gained ground to a consid- erable distance from the main body; but one Indian who carried a spear was much before all the rest, and not more than a hundred yards from him. A faint gleam of hope now cheered the heart of Colter. He derived confidence from the belief that escape was within the bounds of possibility ; but that confidence was nearly proving fatal to him, for he exerted himself to such a degree that blood gushed from his nostrils and soon almost covered the fore part of his body. He had now arrived within a mile of the river, when he distinctly heard the appalling sound of footsteps behind him, and every instant expected to feel the spear of his pursuer. Again he turned his head and saw the savage not twenty yards from him. Determined, if possible, to avoid the expected blow, he suddenly stopped, turned round, and spread out his arms. The Indian, surprised at this sudden action, and perhaps at the bloody appearance of Colter, also attempted to stop; but, exhausted with running, he fell while endeavoring to throw his spear, which stuck in the ground and broke in his hand. Colter instantly snatched up the pointed part, with which he pinned him to the earth, and continued his flight. The foremost of the Indians, on arriving at the place, stopped till the others came up to join him, when they set up a hideous yell. Every moment of this time was improved by Colter, who, though fainting and exhausted, succeeded in gaining the skirting of the cottonwood trees on the borders of the Fork, through which he ran and plunged into the river. Fortunately for him, a little below this place was an island, against the upper point of which a raft of drift timber had lodged. He dived under the raft and after several efforts got his head above water among the trunks of the trees, covered over with smaller wood to the depth of several feet. Scarcely had he secured himself when the Indians arrived on the river, screeching and yelling, as Colter expressed it, 'like so many devils.'
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They were frequently on the raft during the day, and were seen through the chinks by Colter, who was congratulating himself upon his escape until the idea arose that they might set the raft on fire. In horrible suspense he remained until night, when, hearing no more of the Indians, he dived from under the raft, swam silently down the river a long dis- tance, when he landed and traveled all night. Although happy in having escaped from the Indians, his situation was still dreadful. He was completely naked under a burning sun. The soles of his feet were entirely filled with the thorns of the prickly pears. He was hungry and had no means of killing game, although he saw abundance around him, and was at least seven days from Lisa's Fort on the Big Horn branch of the Roche Juan river. Those were circum- stances under which any man but an American hunter would have despaired. He arrived at the Fort in seven days, having subsisted upon a root much esteemed by the Indians of the Missouri, now known by naturalists as the Psoralea esculenta."
Irving, in "Astoria," also tells this story, yet makes no reference to Bradbury as the author, but as he wrote it many years before Irving published his Astoria, I prefer to place the credit where it belongs.
It is not necessary for my history to trace Colter's life further. I will only say that he remained another year in the mountains, but whether he trapped in Wyoming in 1809, or in some other locality, I do not know. Bradbury, it will be observed, says that he returned to St. Louis in May, 1810.
Washington Irving says that John Colter met the As- torians on their way up the Missouri in 1811 and kept with the party all one morning, and would have returned with them to the mountains had it not been for the fact that he had married since his return.
John Colter, from the most authentic accounts, was the first American to enter Wyoming, and is also the discov- erer of the Yellowstone National Park. Other white men had been in Wyoming, but they were not Americans. Had Colter been employed by the government and provided with
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The Famous John Colter.
a scientific outfit so as to have made an official record of his travels and discoveries, his name would have rung down the ages along with those of Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, John C. Fremont and others equally famous in the annals of history. Unfortunately, he had to deal with people who were too narrow-minded to comprehend the wonders of the headwaters of the Yellowstone. His associates for the most part were ignorant trappers who heard his stories with de- risive laughter and referred to the locality of the Park as "Colter's Hell." Why Bradbury, with his great enterprise and love of adventure, did not investigate for himself the locality, it is hard to say; or that the celebrated English traveler, Mr. Nuttall, who heard Colter's story, should think it unworthy of investigation, is strange indeed. H. M. Brackenride, who knew Colter well and talked with him about his travels, seems to have imbibed the opinions of the ignorant trappers. He mentions Colter in his writings. and speaks of his discovery of a low pass through the moun- tains, but fails to give any account of our hero's discoveries at the head of the Yellowstone. Here were three men who went out in 1811 in convoy of fur traders, and each had an opportunity to make his name immortal by investigating Colter's discoveries, but they did not take advantage of the knowledge they possessed. Colter will, without their aid, be known and recognized as the discoverer of that wonder- land which has been set apart by the American govern- ment for the use and benefit of the American people. Other men have done much in the way of exploring this world- renowned Park and bringing it to the attention of the peo- ple, but John Colter is without doubt the first white man to behold the wonders of nature grouped together in that part of Wyoming. At some day a monument will be erected in the midst of this national pleasure ground, and on it will be inscribed the name of John Colter, the discoverer of the Yellowstone National Park, 1807.
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History of Wyoming.
CHAPTER VI.
EZEKIEL WILLIAMS' PARTY IN WYOMING.
THEY FOLLOW UP THE YELLOWSTONE AND ARE ATTACKED BY BLACKFEET -CROSS OVER TO THE BIG HORN AND GO SOUTH-REACH THE SWEETWATER-ANOTHER ATTACK BY INDIANS - RETREAT SOUTH ACROSS THE LARAMIE PLAINS AND REACH THE HEADWATERS OF THE SOUTH PLATTE-COMANCHES ATTACK THE PARTY AND KILL ALL BUT THREE-WILLIAMS RETURNS TO ST. LOUIS AND THE TWO OTHERS GO TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA-THE LEADER AGAIN VISITS THE SWEETWATER IN 1809.
Captain Lewis, when ready to leave Fort Mandan on his return trip, invited the chief of the Mandan tribe, Big White, to accompany him to Washington. The chief prom- ised to do so, and to take his wife and son with him, pro- vided he was assured of an escort up the river on his return. He feared warlike tribes who lived lower down on the river. Captain Lewis readily promised that the government would send a sufficient escort to guarantee their safety past the dangerous tribes who infested the Missouri lower down the river. The president made good Captain Lewis' promises. Twenty hardy Missourians who had all seen service were selected to form the escort. The command of the expedition was given to Ezekiel Williams, a man of large frontier expe- rience-a hunter of renown who had the reputation of being an excellent rifleman, cool, determined and brave. The party left St. Louis on April 25, 1807. They were outfitted for two years' stay in the mountains, it being understood that they were first to return the Mandan chief and his family to their native village, after which they were at lib- erty to trap as long as they saw fit. The party was not only well selected but well equipped, and they entered upon their journey with enthusiasm, feeling satisfied that they would bring home many thousand dollars' worth of rich peltries. It was their intention to trap for a time on the
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