USA > Wyoming > The history of Wyoming from the earliest known discoveries > Part 7
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Ezekiel Williams' Party in Wyoming.
headwaters of the Missouri and then cross the mountains and try their luck on the other side. The party, after leav- ing St. Louis, passed up the Missouri river without incident until they reached the mouth of the Platte, when William Hamilton, one of their number, was taken violently ill with a fever. In his delirium, he raved about home and loved ones. His associates gave him the tenderest care and ad- ministered such remedies as a well-selected medicine chest contained, but all to no purpose. He died and was buried by his comrades on the west bank of the Missouri, just below the Platte. The party proceeded on up the river and by the good management of Williams successfully passed the war- like Sioux country and finally landed the chieftain at his village. The Mandan people were greatly rejoiced when they saw that their chief had been returned to them accord- ing to the promise of Captain Lewis. They were loud in their praises of Captain Lewis and the white people gene- rally because they would not lie. They had pledged their word and had kept it. Williams and his party remained a week at the village, resting from their toilsome journey against the current of the Missouri. From here they went on up the river to the mouth of the Yellowstone, and turn- ing up that stream, trapped in all its tributaries. The party was well organized and well armed. Williams was a good commander and possessed the confidence of his men. The whole party, however, seemed to have entered the Indian country with altogther a mistaken idea of the natives. They were trappers, and did not expect to fight their way through the country. They trapped successfully and finally reached a locality which they considered an ideal one for the trap- per and hunter. All the streams were filled with beaver, and on the plains were thousands of buffalo. A camp was formed and the business of trapping was carried on without intermission. One day ten of the party went out buffalo hunting, some distance from the camp, and were attacked by a band of Indians whom they believed to be Blackfeet. The appearance of Indians was entirely unexpected, and the hunters being spread out over the prairie were unable
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to defend themselves. They killed one Indian, but five of the white men were slain, and the remaining five only saved themselves by fleeing to the camp. The Indians being in overwhelming numbers, Williams broke up his camp and made a rapid march to the south to escape from the country of the Blackfeet. They finally fell in with a band of Crows, and as these Indians treated them in a most friendly manner, they were loath to leave the Crow country. One of their number, Edward Rose, decided to remain with the tribe. This man was the first American to take up a permanent residence in the Big Horn country. He, in 1810, went to St. Louis to market furs, but returned to the Crow tribe in the spring of 1811 in company with Wilson P. Hunt and party, whom he served as interpreter until they reached the Crow nation. Rose, it has been claimed in St. Louis, was an outlaw before he joined the Williams party, but that explorer knew nothing of this part of his history previous to engaging him. I might as well say here that Rose re- mained with the tribe, which adopted him, until 1823. Af- ter that date he was guide to Thomas Fitzpatrick and Will- iam Sublette. Many harsh things have been said of him; he being called unprincipled, treacherous, and a brawler. He is mentioned by many writers as being of unsavory char- acter, and in fact I have been unable to find but one person who speaks well of him, and that is Jim Beckwourth, and as his character is about the same as that of Rose, his testi- mony will hardly be taken.
After Rose left the Williams party, there remained but thirteen men, and these took a southerly course, presumably up the Big Horn River, and must have crossed the Wind River Valley, as they went to South Pass. On reaching what they called the headwaters of the North Platte (the Sweetwater), they encountered, as they supposed, another band of Crows. These freebooters first ran off all the horses belonging to the party, and in an unsuccessful at- tempt to recover them Williams lost five more of his men, but succeeded in killing twenty of the Indians. The trap- pers were now reduced to eight men-these on foot and con-
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Ezekiel Williams' Party in Wyoming.
sequently in a deplorable condition, as they were in a hos- tile country. They had a considerable amount of valuable furs which they cached, together with such other property which they could not carry, and moving rapidly south they in due course of time reached the headwaters of the South Platte and were out of Wyoming. They must have passed over the Laramie Plains and made their way to the South Platte at a point near where Denver now stands. Fate seemed to follow them, for they were next attacked by Comanches and in a short time their number was reduced to three, these being Ezekiel Williams, James Workman and Samuel Spencer. The three lone wanderers now resolved to get out of the country and return to St. Louis, but an- other misfortune soon happened them. They quarreled and finally separated, Williams going down the Arkansas and after many adventures finally reaching St. Louis. He returned to the Sweetwater in 1809 with a party of trappers and recovered the furs cached in that locality. Workman and Spencer on leaving Williams also bent their steps to- ward the Arkansas, which they mistook for the Red River. They went up this stream, expecting to discover a practi- cal route to Santa Fe, but they wandered many months in the mountains, and after a time joined a Mexican caravan bound for California. The following year they returned with the same caravan to Santa Fe, where they remained until 1824. I am indebted for these facts to a little volume published by David H. Cozner in 1847 under the title of "The Lost Trappers." From other sources I learn that Williams served as a volunteer in the war of 1812, but what fate finally befell him I do not know.
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History of Wyoming.
CHAPTER VII.
THE ASTORIA EXPEDITION.
THE TONQUIN SAILS FOR THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA-WILSON P. HUNT ORGANIZES A LAND EXPEDITION AND GOES UP THE MISSOURI- THE PARTY REACHES THE COUNTRY WHICH IS NOW WYOMING- NUMEROUS ATTEMPTS MADE TO CROSS THE BIG HORN MOUNTAINS --- FINALLY ASCEND THE MIDDLE FORK OF THE POWDER RIVER AND REACH THE NO WOOD-JOURNEY UP THE BIG HORN AND BIG WIND RIVERS-CROSS SHERIDAN PASS TO THE HEADWATERS OF GREEN RIVER-FIRST VIEW OF THE GRAND TETONS-CROSSING THE GREEN RIVER VALLEY. THEY REACH THE HEADWATERS OF THE COLUMBIA.
The expedition of Wilson P. Hunt was organized in 1810 by John Jacob Astor, native of Waldorf, Germany, who came to America in 1783 and on his arrival entered the fur trade. Mr. Astor was a clear-headed business man, and he early saw an opportunity to compete successfully with the Northwestern Fur Company for the profitable trade in furs in the Rocky Mountain country. Mr. Astor in 1809 procured from the New York Legislature a charter for a company to be known as "The American Fur Company," with a capital of $1,000,000, with the privilege of increasing it to two millions. This company had a board of directors, but these gentlemen were mere figure-heads. Mr. Astor furnished the money and conducted the business. His only object in using the name of a company was to place his operations on a par with the great Northwest Company, whose domain he was about to enter, and secure for him- self at least a part of the profitable trade. This shrewd business man sought an interview with the representatives of the United States government and laid before them a plan whereby a large share of the fur trade within the boundaries of the United States should come into the hands of American citizens, and he offered, providing he could receive the protection of the government, to turn the whole
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The Astoria Expedition.
of this lucrative business into American channels of trade. We are told that the President warmly approved of his plans, but he was informed that the government could not, directly, aid in the undertaking. Astor's plan was to send one expedition up the Missouri, across the mountains, and down the Columbia River to the mouth of that stream. An- other was to go by sea, around Cape Horn, and thence by the Pacific to the mouth of the Columbia. He fitted out the ship Tonquin, a fine vessel of 290 tons burden. This vessel was loaded with merchandise suitable for trading with the natives, and also carried the ready-made parts of a schooner which was to be put together at the mouth of the Columbia and used in the coasting trade. Lieutenant Thorn of the United States navy, on leave of absence, was given command of the vessel. Previous to the departure of the Tonquin, "The Pacific Fur Company" was organized by Mr. Astor and Duncan McDougal, Alexander McKay and Donald Mc- Kenzie, three ambitious gentlemen who had long been con- nected with the Northwest Fur Company, and had be- come dissatisfied with that corporation, because they were not promoted to high salaried positions, became partners in the new company. Mr. McKay was a man of great ex- perience in the far west, having accompanied Sir Alexander Mckenzie on both of his expeditions to the Northwest coast in 1789 and 1793. Wilson Price Hunt of New Jersey also joined the company. David Stuart and his nephew, Robert Stuart, became members of the corporation. Of Mr. Hunt and Robert Stuart I shall have much to say hereafter, as they become conspicuous characters in the early history of Wyoming.
After the formation of the Pacific Fur Company, Wil- son Price Hunt was given charge of the expedition which was to cross the Rocky Mountains, and his instructions were to note places where interior trading posts might be established. The partners had agreed that this gentleman should be placed in charge of the establishment at the mouth of the Columbia, when the two expeditions should form a junction at that point. From all accounts, Mr. Hunt
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History of Wyoming.
was a man of upright character, fair in all his dealings, amiable in disposition, and a representative business man, though he had no experience with Indians or with Indian trade. For some years he had been engaged in business at St. Louis, which was at that time a border settlement, and by this means it must be that he had acquired considerable information regarding the mountain country and its in- habitants. In July, 1810, we find Mr. Hunt in Montreal, Canada, recruiting Canadian voyageurs for his expedition. Late in the same month he arrived in Mackinaw, at the confluence of Lakes Huron and Michigan. Here he was joined by Ramsey Crooks, a Scotchman, who had been engaged for some years with the Northwest Company, but later had been trading with the Indians on the upper Mis- souri on his own account, in company with a man named Mclellan. These two men had been on the upper Missouri and had been robbed in detail, first by Sioux Indians and again by Blackfeet. Crooks, being out of employment, gladly joined the expedition. Mr. Hunt left Mackinaw on the 12th of August, having with him Crooks and his Cana- dian voyageurs. They went by the then popular route of Green Bay, Fox and Wisconsin rivers, to Prairie du Chien, and thence by the Mississippi, arriving in St. Louis on Sep- tember 3rd. Joseph Miller, another independent fur trader, here joined the company. He was a Baltimorean by birth, well educated, and had been an officer in the United States army. Years before he had applied for a furlough, and be- ing refused, took, as the saying is, French leave; that is, hastily resigned his commission, and then engaged in trap- ping and trading on the frontier. After securing a number of other additions to his party, Mr. Hunt started in three boats, one a Schenectady barge, down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, thence up that stream 450 miles to the mouth of the Nodowa River, where they arrived on the 16th of November. As winter was now coming on, the weather being cold, the party resolved to go into winter quarters. The place selected was an ideal winter camp. There was abundance of timber for log huts, and the coun-
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The Astoria Expedition.
try abounded in game. Under Mr. Hunt's practical man- agement and with the able assistance of his partners, the party was soon well housed. At this place Robert Mclellan, Ramsey Crooks' old partner, put in an appearance and was easily persuaded to join the expedition. He rather liked the opportunity of going back into the Indian country with a strong force. This man Mclellan, Washington Irving in his Astoria describes as a remarkable character. That au- thor says: "He had been a partisan under General Wayne in his Indian wars, where he had distinguished himself by his fiery spirit and reckless daring, and marvelous stories were told of his exploits. His appearance answered to his character. His frame was meagre, but muscular, showing strength, activity and iron firmness. His eyes were dark, deep-set and piercing. He was restless and fearless, but of impetuous and sometimes ungovernable temper. He had been invited by Mr. Hunt to enroll himself as a partner and gladly consented, being pleased with the thoughts of pass- ing, with a powerful force, through the country of the Sioux and perhaps having an opportunity of revenging himself upon that lawless tribe for their past offenses."
At this same place another man joined the party who from his many remarkable qualities as hunter, explorer and all-around heroism is deserving of even more than a passing notice. This was John Day, an ideal hunter from Virginia, who had drifted over to the Missouri river and had been in the employ of Ramsey Crooks and other small traders. Day is described as being forty years old, six feet two inches in height, a handsome fellow, of manly bearing. He had made money in the wilderness to spend it royally in the town. He was one of nature's rangers in the mountain; never lost his bearings, his courage, or his presence of mind. Joined to his other qualities, he was bold, an unerring shot and an agreeable companion. Crooks knew him well, and it was because of his strong recommendation that Mr. Hunt was pleased to have him in the party. Mr. Hunt had numer- ous conferences with Messrs. Crooks, Mclellan, Miller and John Day in regard to their journey through the wilderness,
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and these all advised him to employ more men for the expe- dition. He saw that the Canadian voyageurs, while they were well enough as boatmen, could not be depended upon in fighting their way through the wilderness if perchance the natives should choose to be hostile; so on the 1st of January, 1811, he set off on foot on his return to St. Louis with the avowed purpose of procuring a number of Ameri- can hunters possessed of the game spirit of the west. After proceeding 150 miles on foot, he secured horses and made the balance of the journey on horseback. In due course of time he procured the necessary additions to his party and took his way back to his winter encampment.
Among the men engaged for the expedition was one Edward Rose, who claimed to have a knowledge of moun- tain life, and who looked like a man of experience. Mr. Hunt was prejudiced slightly against this individual on account of his dark looks, sour visage and general aspect, but he realized that the hardships he might have suffered in the mountains and the solitary life of a hunter which he had led, might have marked his nature, but he thought the chances were that the man might be possessed of good qualities which the wilderness would develop, and so he accordingly engaged him. Had he acted on his first im- pressions he would have saved himself many days of wor- riment.
His greatest difficulty had been to secure a Sioux inter- preter. He finally procured the services of a half-breed named Pierre Dorion, who would consent to accept the po- sition of interpreter and hunter provided Mr. Hunt would permit him to take his squaw and her two children along. To this Mr. Hunt agreed. Washington Irving thus capitally describes Mr. Hunt's Sioux interpreter: "Pierre was the son of Dorion, the French interpreter who accompanied Messrs. Lewis and Clark in their famous exploring expedi- tion across the Rocky Mountains. Old Dorion was one of those French Creoles, descendants of the ancient Canadian stock who abound on the western frontier and amalgamate or cohabit with the savages. He had sojourned among
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The Astoria Expedition.
various tribes, and perhaps left progeny among them all; but his regular or habitual wife was a Sioux squaw. By her he had a hopeful brood of half-breed sons, of whom Pierre was one. The domestic affairs of old Dorion were conducted on the true Indian plan. Father and son would occasionally get drunk together, and then the cabin was the scene of ruffianly brawl and fighting, in the course of which the old Frenchman was apt to get soundly belabored by his mongrel offspring. In a furious scuffle of the kind, one of the sons got the old man upon the ground, and was on the point of scalping him. 'Hold! my son,' cried the old fellow, in im- ploring accents, 'you are too brave, too honorable, to scalp your father! This appeal touched the French side of the half-breed's heart, so he suffered the old man to wear his scalp unharmed."
On Mr. Hunt's journey back to the encampment, he mentions in his journal having met the renowned hunter, Daniel Boone, who was then in his eighty-fifth year. The old man listened with deep interest to the plans of Mr. Hunt's proposed journey through the wilderness to the shores of the Pacific, and his eye kindled with the fire of youth as he hearkened to the story which Mr. Hunt had to tell, and it was with a feeling of regret that he realized that he was too old to join the party. This same journal notes the meeting with another remarkable character the day after the encounter with Daniel Boone, and this was John Colter, of whose experiences in Wyoming I have related to my readers in a previous chapter. Colter remained with the party several hours, during which time he gave much valu- able information to Mr. Hunt regarding the Blackfeet In- dians, through whose country the expedition would be obliged to pass.
After Mr. Hunt's arrival at the winter encampment, preparations were made for the journey up the Missouri. There were now about sixty persons in the party, and of these, forty were Canadian voyageurs and a full comple- ment of hunters. The expedition was composed of four boats fitted with oars and sails. The largest boat contained
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History of Wyoming.
a swivel gun and four howitzers. On the 28th of April, 1811, they reached the mouth of the Platte River, where Omaha now stands. Could they have known the many hardships they would escape by following the Platte River west they certainly would have adopted this route, but as it was they were bent on following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, which led them many hundreds of miles to the north, and consequently added greatly to their journey.
During the balance of the month of April and all of the month of May they worked their way up the Missouri, and on the 11th of June encamped on an island six miles below the Arickara village. The next day they went up to this village, where they remained until the 18th of July, trading with the Indians for a supply of horses. Mr. Hunt determined to leave the river at this point, so as to avoid hostile Indians. It should be here mentioned that the party had been joined lower down on the river by Benjamin Jones and Alexander Carson, two experienced trappers who had passed two years on the headwaters of the Missouri and were now on their way to St. Louis. They were easily per- suaded to enter the employ of Mr. Hunt and go with him to the mouth of the Columbia. A few days after this acqui- sition three more all-around hunters and men of reputation in the mountains, as well as lower down the river, joined the party. These men were Edward Robinson, John Hoback and Jacob Rizner. The three had been in the employ of the Missouri Fur Company and had seen much service. Robin- son was sixty years old and had been one of the first settlers in Kentucky. He had been in many Indian fights in the Blue Grass country, and in one of these battles had had the misfortune to be scalped. He wore a handkerchief tied on his head to take the place of the scalp lock.
The village of the Arickaras was located near where Pierre, S. D., now stands. On the 18th of July, Mr. Hunt and his party, composed of sixty men with a full pack train, took up their line of march to the northwest, but soon changed their course, keeping to the southwest, as they desired to avoid every possible chance of contact with the
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The Astoria Expedition.
Blackfeet. On the 23rd they encamped on Big River (Big Cheyenne), where they remained until the 6th of August, going in a southwesterly direction. In due course of time they came to the Little Powder crossing, in what is now Crook County. They kept on across what is known today as Johnson County, intending to cross the Big Horn Moun- tains, and made their first attempt at a point a little southwest of where the City of Buffalo is now located. They had reached the country of the Crows, and the services of Edward Rose were to be called into requisition as interpre- ter, but instead of being of service to the party, it soon de- veloped that this unpromising individual had a plan of his. own. One night after they had gone into camp, Mr. Hunt was visited privately in his tent by one of the men, who dis- closed to him that Rose had organized a party consisting of several of the men who were to leave the expedition and desert to the Crow tribe, taking with them a number of horses, together with a considerable portion of the merchan- dise. Rose had revealed to his conspirators that he was well acquainted with the leading chiefs of the Crow nation and that he could guarantee to them not only good treat- ment among the Indians, but each of them should have the daughter of a chief for a wife and become great men in the Crow nation, as the goods they carried with them would make them rich and respected. Mr. Hunt was also in- formed that this man Rose had formerly belonged to a gang of pirates who had infested the Mississippi. Mr. Hunt, real- izing that he was surrounded with great danger, not only from the savage tribe in whose country he was, but from a conspiracy among his own followers, resolved to make no outward sign, and yet he would keep a vigilant watch on Rose and those of the men who were considered to be in league with him. They soon met a band of the Crow tribe, when Mr.Hunt informed Rose that having engaged him prin- cipally as guide and interpreter among the Crows, he could dispense with his services after that duty was performed, and he accordingly paid him a half year's wages in consid- eration of his discharge, presented him with a horse, three
-(6)
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History of Wyoming-
beaver traps and a quantity of merchandise. This treat- ment had a wonderful effect on the outlaw, and his deport- ment underwent a radical change. His dark visage cleared up, he left off his sullen skulking habits and made no fur- ther attempts to tamper with the weak-minded individuals with whom he had been conspiring, and a few days after- wards Rose departed from the camp with a band of Crow friends. The party made an attempt to cross the Big Horn range in several places, but at each place they were met by insurmountable barriers; but keeping along to the south they finally found an opening through which they passed, and came out upon one of the tributaries of the Big Horn River running north, which must have been the No Wood. It is difficult to trace them from their first entrance into what is now Wyoming. Governor William A. Richards, who is thoroughly acquainted with the topography of the state, says that the expedition must have passed up the middle fork of the Powder and through the pass at the head of that river which leads to the No Wood, and it is his opin- ion that their first camp on this stream was within the con- fines of his own farm, now known as Red Bank. From this point they went up the Big Horn and finally reached Big Wind River.
It will be remembered that Mr. Hunt left Arickara on the Missouri on July 18, and fifty-eight days later we find that he has only reached the Big Wind River, up which stream he is told by his hunters and guides he will find a short cut to the headwaters of the Columbia. Following up the Big Wind River, he crossed numerous streams which flowed into the main river. After crossing and re-crossing this stream many times, they at last reached a point above Horse Creek, near the present location of Dubois, and find- ing a well-beaten Indian trail which led through what is now known as Sheridan Pass, they slowly made their way across the mountains. In the course of the day they report that they came to a height that commanded an almost boundless prospect. At this point one of the guides trium- phantly pointed out three mountain peaks glistening with
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