The adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A., in the Rocky Mountains and the far west

Front matter

V

THE WORKS

OF

Chapter I. Paok

State of the fur trade of the Rocky Mountains — American enterprises — General Ashley and his associates — Sublette, a famous leader — Yearly rendezvous among the mountains — Stratagems and dangers of the trade — Bands of trappers— Indian banditti — Crows and Blackfeet — Mountaineers — Traders of the Far West — Character and habits of the trapper, . . , . . .19

CHAPTER n.

Departure from Fort Osage — Modes of transportation — Pack-horses — Wagons — Walker and Cerr^ — their characters — Buoyant feelings on launching upon the Prairies — Wild equipments of the trappers — their gambols and antics — Difference of character between the American and French trappers — Agency of the Kansas — General Clarke — White Plume, the Kansas chief — Night scene in a trader's camp — Colloquy between White Plume and the captain — Bee-hunters — their expeditions — their feuds with the Indians — Bargaining talent of White Plume, 29

Chapter III

Wide praiiies — Vegetable productions — Tabular hills — Slabs of sandstone — Nebraska, or Platte River — Scanty fare — Buffalo skulls — Wagons ii CONTENTS.

PAGE

turned into boats^Herds of buffalo — Cliffs resembling castles — The Chimney — Scott's Bluffs — Story connected with them — The bighorn or ahsahta — its nature and habits — Difference between that and the " woolly sheep," or goat of the mountains, . . .39

Chapter IV

An alarm — Crow Indians — their appearance — mode of approach — their vengeful errand — their curiosity — Hostility between the Crows and Blackfeet — Loving conduct of the Crows — Laramie's Fork — First navigation of the Nebraska — Great elevation of the country — Rarety of the atmosphere — its effect on the woodwork of the wagons — Black hills — their wild and broken scenery — Indian dogs — Crow trophies — Sterile and dreary country — Banks of the Sweet Water — Buffalo hunting — Adventure of Tom Cain, the Irish cook, . .47

Chapter V

Magnificent scenery — Wind River IMountains — Treasury of waters — A stray horse — An Indian trail — Trout streams — The Great Green River valley — An alarm — A band of trappers — Fontenelle, his information — Sufferings of thirst — Encampment on the Seeds-ke-dee — Strategy of rival traders — Fortification of the camp — The Blackfeet — banditti of the mountains — their character and habits, . . 58

Chapter VI

Sublette and his band — Robert Campbell — Mr. Wyeth and a band of " down-easters" — Yankee enterprise — Fitzpatrick — his adventure with the Blackfeet — A rendezvous of mountaineers — The battle of Pierre's Hole — An Indian ambuscade — Sublette's return, . .68

CHAPTER VIL

Retreat of the Blackfeet — Fontenelle's camp in danger — Captain Bonneville and the Blackfeet — Free trappers — their character, habits, dress,

CONTENTS. iii

PAGE

equipments, horses — Game fellows of the mountains — their visit to the camp — Good fellowship and good cheer — A carouse — A swagger, a brawl, and a reconciliation, . . . . .63

Chapter VIII

Plans for the winter — Salmon River — Abundance of salmon west of the mountains — New arrangements — Caches — Cerr^'s detachment — Movements in- Fontenelle's camp — Departure of the Blackfeet — their fortunes — Wind Mountain streams — Buckeye, the Delaware hunter, and the grizzly bear — Bones of murdered travellers — Visit to Pierre's Hole — Traces of the battle — Nez Perec Indians — Arrival at Salmon River, 89

Chapter IX

Horses turned loose — Preparations for winter quarters — Hungry times — Nez Perces, their honesty, piety, pacific habits, rehgious ceremonies — Captain Bonneville's conversations with them — Their love of gambling, 98

Chapter X

Blackfeet in the Horse Prairie — Search after the hunters — Difficulties and dangers — A card party in the wilderness — The card party interrupted — " Old Sledge " a losing game — Visitors to the camp — Iroquois hunters — Hanging-eared Indians, ..... 104

Chapter XI

Rival trapping parties — Manoeuvring — A desperate game — Vanderburgh and the Blackfeet — Deserted camp fire — A dark defile — An Indian ambush — A fierce mel^e — fatal consequences — Fitzpatrick and Bridger — Trappers' precautions — Meeting with the Blackfeet — More fighting — Anecdote of a young Mexican and an Indian girl, . . 109 iv CONTENTS.

Chapter XII. Paok

A winter camp in the wilderness — Medley of trappers, hunters, and Indians — Scarcity of game — New arrangements in the camp — Detachments sent to a distance — Carelessness of the Indians when encamped — Sickness among the Indians — Excellent character of the Nez Percys — The captain's efforts as a pacificator — A Nez Perce's argument in favor of war — Robberies by the Blackfeet — Long suffering of the Nez Percys — A hunter's elysium among the mountains — More robberies — The captain preaches up a crusade — The effect upon his hearers, . . . . . . . .116

Chapter XIV

The party enters the mountain gorge — A wild fastness among hills — Mountain mutton — Peace and plenty — The amorous trapper — A piebald wedding — A free trapper's wife — her gala equipments — Christmas in the wilderness, ...... 132

Chapter XV

A hunt after hunters — Hungry times — A voracious repast — Wintry weather — Godin's River — Splendid winter scene on the great lava plain of Snake River — Severe travelling and tramping in the snow — Manoeuvres of a solitary Indian horseman — Encampment on Snake River — Banneck Indians — The Horse chief — his charmed life, . 138

Chapter XVI

Misadventures of Matthieu and his party — Return to the caches at Salmon River — Battle between Nez Perces and Blackfeet — Heroism of a Nez Perc6 woman — enrolled among the braves, . .148

Chapter XVII. Paok

Opening of the caches — Detachments of Cerre and Hodgkiss — Salmon

River Mountains — Superstition of an Indian trapper — Godin's River

— Prepararions for trapping — An alarm — An interruption — A rival

band — Phenomena of Snake River plain — Vast clefts and chasms —

Ingulfed streams — Sublime scenery — A grand buffalo hunt, . 155

Chapter XVIII

Meeting with Hodgkiss — Misfortunes of the Nez Percys — Schemes of Kosato, the renegade — his foray into the Horse Prairie — Invasion of Blackfeet — Blue John, and his forlorn hope — their generous enterprise — their fate — Consternation and despair of the village — Solemn obsequies — Attempt at Indian trade — Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly — Arrangements for autumn — Breaking up of an encampment, . 163

Chapter XIX

Precautions in dangerous defiles — Trappers' mode of defence on a prairie — A mysterious visitor — Arrival in Green River valley — Adventures of the detachments — The forlorn partisan — His tale of disasters, . 1 73

Chapter XX

Gathering in Green River valley — Visitings and feastings of leaders — Rough wassailing among the trappers — Wild blades of the mountains — Indian belles — Potency of bright beads and red blankets — Arrival of supplies — Revelry and extravagance — Mad wolves — The lost Indian, 180

Chapter XXI

Schemes of Captain Bonneville— The Great Salt Lake — Expedition to explore it — Preparations for a journey to the Bighorn, . . 184

CONTENTS.

Chapter XXII. Pxqh

The Crow country — A Crow paradise — Habits of the Crows — Anecdotes of Rose, the renegade white man — his fights with the Blackfeet — his elevation — his death — Arapooish, the Crow chief — his eagle — Adventure of Robert Campbell — Honor among Crows, . . . 189

CHAPTER XXm.

Departure from Green River valley — Popo Agie — its course — the rivers into which it runs — Scenery of the Bluffs — The great Tar Spring — Volcanic tracts in the Crow country — Burning mountain of Powder River — Sulphur springs — Hidden fires — Colter's Hell — Wind River — Campbell's party — Fitzpatrick and his trappers — Captain Stewart, an amateur traveller — Nathaniel Wyeth — anecdotes of his expedition to the Far West — Disaster of Campbell's party — A union of bands — The Bad Pass — The rapids — Departure of Fitzpatrick — Embarkation of peltries — Wyeth and his bull boat — Adventures of Captain Bonneville in the Bighorn Mountains — Adventures in the plain — Traces of Indians — Travelling precautions — Dangers of making a smoke — The rendezvous, . . . .... 197

Chapter XXIV

Adventures of the party of ten — The Balaamite mule — A dead point — The mysterious elks — A night attack — A retreat — Travelling under an alarm — A joyful meeting — Adventures of the other party — A decoy elk — Retreat to an island — A savage dance of triumph — Arrival at Wind River, . . ..... 207

Chapter XXV

Captain Bonneville sets out for Green River valley — Journey up the Popo Agie — Buffaloes — The staring white bears — The smoke — The warm springs — Attempt to traverse the Wind River Monjitains — The Great

CONTENTS. vii

PASB

Slope — Mountain dells and chasms — Crystal lakes — Ascent of a snowy peak — Sublime prospect — A panorama — " Les dignes de pitie," or wild men of the mountains, . . . . .213

Chapter XXVI

A retrograde move — Channel of a mountain torrent — Alpine scenery — Cascades — Beaver valleys — Beavers at work — their architecture — their modes of felling trees — Mode of trapping beaver — Contests of skill — A beaver " up to trap " — Arrival at the Green River caches, . 222

CHAPTER XXVn.

Route toward Wind River — Dangerous neighborhood — Alarms and precautions — A sham encampment — Apparition of an Indian spy — Midnight move — A mountain defile — The Wind River valley — Tracking a party — Deserted camps — Symptoms of Crows — Meeting of comrades — A trapper entrapped — Crow pleasantry — Crov/ spies — A decampment — Return to Green River valley — Meeting with Fitzpatrick's party — their adventures among the Crows — Orthodox Crows, . 229

Chapter XXVIII

A region of natural curiosities — The plain of white clay — Hot springs — The Beer Spring — Departure to seek the free trappers — Plain of Portneuf— Lava — Chasms and gullies — Banneck Indians — their hunt of the buffalo — Hunters' feast — Trencher heroes — Bullying of an absent foe — The damp comrade — The Indian spy — Meeting with Hodgkiss — his adventures — Poordevil Indians — Triumph of the Bannecks — Blackfeet policy in war, ...... 241

Chapter XXIX

Winter camp at the Portneuf — Fine springs — The Banneck Indians — their honesty — Captain Bonneville prepares for an expedition — Christ- • i CONTENTS.

PAQK

mas — The American Falls — Wild scenery — Fishing Falls — Snake Indians — Scenery on the Biomeau — View of volcanic country from a mountain — Powder River — Shoshonies, or Root Diggers — their character, habits, habitations, dogs — Vanity at its last shift, . . 251

Chapter XXX

Temperature of the climate — Root Diggers on horseback — An Indian guide — Mountain prospects — The Grand Rond — DifRculties on Snake River — A scramble over the Blue Mountains — Sufferings from hunger — Prospect of the Immahah valley — The exhausted traveller, . 262

Chapter XXXI

Progress in the valley — An Indian cavalier — The captain falls into a lethargy — A Nez Perc6 patriarch — Hospitable treatment — The bald head — Bargaining — Value of an old plaid cloak — The family horse — The cost of an Indian present, ..... 271

Chapter XXXII

Nez Perc(3 camp — A chief with a hard name — The Big Hearts of the East — Hospitable treatment — The Indian guides — Mysterious councils — The loquacious chief — Indian tomb — Grand Indian reception — An Indian feast — Town-criers — Honesty of the Nez Perces — The captain's attempt at healing, ..... 279

Chapter XXXIII

Scenery of the Way-lee-way — A substitute for tobacco — Sublime scenery of Snake River — The garrulous old chief and his cousin — A Nez Percd meeting — A stolen skin — The scapegoat dog — Mysterious conferences — The little chief— his hospitality — The captain's account of the United States — His healing skill, .... 289

CONTENTS.

Chapter XXXIV. Pagb

Fort Wallah- Wallah — its commander — Indians in its neighborhood — Exertions of Mr. Pambrune for their improvement — Religion — Code of laws — Range of the Lower Nez Percys — Camash, and other roots — Nez Percd horses — Preparations for departure — Refusal of supplies — Departure — A laggard and glutton, .... 299

Chapter XXXV

The uninvited guest — Free and easy manners — Salutary jokes — A prodigal son — Exit of the glutton — A sudden change in fortune — Danger of a visit to poor relations — Plucking of a prosperous man — A vagabond toilet — A substitute for the very fine horse — Hard travelling — The uninvited guest and the patriarchal colt — A beggar on horseback — A catastrophe — Exit of the merry vagabond, . , . 305

CHAPTER XXXVl.

The difficult mountain — A smoke and consultation — The captain's speech — An icy turnpike — Danger of a false step — Arrival on Snake River — Return to Portneuf — Meeting of comrades, . . .314

Chapter XXXVII

Departure for the rendezvous — A war party of Blackfeet — A mock bustle — Sham fires at night — Warlike precautions — Dangers of a night attack — A panic among horses — Cautious march — The Beer Springs — A mock carousal — Skirmishing with buffaloes — A buffalo bait — Arrival at the rendezvous — Meeting of various bands, . . 320

CHAPTER XXXVin.

Plan of the Salt Lake expedition — Great sandy deserts — Sufferings from thirst — Ogden's River — Trails and smoke of lurking savages — Thefts

1*

X CONTENTS.

PAGE

at night — A trapper's revenge — Alarms of a guilty conscience — A murderous victory — Californian mountains — Plains along the Pacific — Arrival at Monterey — accomit of the place and neighborhood — Lower California — its extent — The peninsula — soil — climate — production — Its settlement by the Jesuits — their sway over the Indians — their expulsion — Ruins of a Missionary establishment — Sublime scenery — Upper California — Missions — their power and policy — Resources of the country — Designs of foreign nations, . . 326

Chapter XXXIX

Gay life at Monterey — Mexican horsemen — A bold dragoon — Use of the laso — ^Vaqueros — Noosing a bear — Fight between a bull and a bear — Departure from Monterey — Indian horse stealers — Outrages committed by the travellers — Indignation of Captain Bonneville, . . 337

Chapter XL

Travellers' tales — Indian lurkers — Prognostics of Buckeye — Signs and portents — The medicine wolf — An alarm — An ambush — The captured provant — Triumph of Buckeye — Arrival of supplies — Grand carouse — Arrangements for the year — Wyeth and his new levied band . 342

CHAPTER XLI. A voyage in a bull boat, ...... 348

CHAPTER XLH.

Departure of Captain Bonneville for the Columbia — Advance of Wyeth — Efforts to keep the lead — Hudson's Bay party — A junketing — A delectable beverage — Honey and alcohol — High carousing — The Canadian hon vivant — A cache — A rapid move — Wyeth and his plans — his travelling companions — Buffalo hunting — More conviviality — An interruption, . . . . . ^ . . • 367

I

CONTENTS.

Chapter XLIII. Paoe

A. rapid inarch — A cloud of dust — Wild horsemen — " High jinks " — Horee-racing and rifle shooting — The game of hand — The fishing season — Mode of fishing — Table lands — Salmon fishers — The captain's visit to an Indian lodge — The Indian girl — The pocket min'or — Supper — Troubles of an evil conscience, .... 374

Chapter XLIV

Outfit of a trapper — Risks to which he is subjected — Partnership of trappers — Enmity of Indians — Distant smoke — A country on fire — Gun Creek — Grand Rond — Fine pastures — Perplexities in a smoky country — Conflagration of forests, . , . . .382

Chapter XLV

The Skynses — their traffic — hunting — food — horses — A horse-race — De votional feeling of the Skynses, Nez Perces, and Flatheads — Prayers — Exhortations — A preacher on horseback — Effect of religion on the manners of the tribes — A new light, .... 388

Chapter XLVI

Scarcity in the camp — Refusal of supplies by the Hudson's Bay Company — Conduct of the Indians — A hungry retreat — John Day's River — The Blue Mountains — Salmon fishing on Snake River — Messengers from the Crow country — Bear River valley — Immense migration of buffalo — Danger of buffalo hunting — A wounded Indian — Eutaw Indians — A " surround " of antelopes, .... 394

Chapter XLVII

A festive winter — Conversion of the Shoshonies — Visit of two free trap pers — Gayety in the camp — A touch of the tender passion — The re

COWTExNTS.

CHAPTER XLVm.

fip -It' wmteT qnarteri! — Move to Green Rivi^r — A te apygt mad inn nJie — An amvai In camp — A frftc trapper and hi» aqaaw in dia-

:t.orv ot'.i Blaukfoot b»;ilfc:. .....

CHAPJEa XLIX

A rtiiufr/voiM at Wind River — Campaign of Montern :uui .us iniiur; ■ a the Crow rrmmtry — Warn between the Crows and Blackfeet — L*'.- i;:i of Arapofjiah — Blackl'e^t lurkers — Sa^city of the horse — Dependence of r.hK aiinic' jii n- lur-r- — n.-nim "..i "Ut: -(♦••.t:('!Tit--nta. . 41.5

APPE^VDiX

Mr Wyeth, ana .ar. ^ri.i.: of the Far West, . . 423

Wreck of a Japanese jtmk on the Northwest •-■oacx. 427

LMtmtrtinna to Captain Bonneville from the Major General commanding

the Army of the Cnited States. 427

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.

While engaged in writing an account of the grand enterprise of Astoria, it was my practice to seek all kinds of oral information connected with the subject. Nowhere did I pick up more int<jresting particulars than at the table of Mr. John Jacob Astor; who, being the patriarch of the Fur Trade in the United States, was accustomed to have at his board various persons of adventurous turn, some of whom had been engaged in his own great undertaking ; others, on their own account, had made expeditions to the Rocky Mountains and the waters of the Columbia.

Among these personages, one who peculiarly took my fancy, was Captain BoNiNEVille, of the United States army; who, in a rambling kind of enterprise, had strangely ingrafted the trapper and hunter upon the soldier. As his expeditions and adventures will form the leading theme of the following pages, a few biographical particulars concerning him may not be unacceptable.

Captain Bonneville is of French parentage. His father was a worthy old emigrant, who came to this country many years since, and took up his abode in New- York. He is represented as Ionian not much calculated for the sordid struggle of a moneymaking world, but possessed of a happy temperament, a festivity of imagination, and a simplicity of heart, that made him proof against its rubs and trials. He was an excellent scholar : well acquainted with Latin and Greek, and fond of the modern classics. His book was his elysium ; once immersed in the pages of xiv INTRODUCTION.

Voltaire, Corneille, or Racine, or of his favorite English author, Shakspeare, he forgot the world and all its concerns. Often would he be seen in summer weather, seated under one of the trees on the Battery, or the portico of St. Paul's church in Broadway, his bald head uncovered, his hat lying by his side, his eyes riveted to the page of his book, and his whole soul so engaged, as to lose all consciousness of the passing throng or the passing hour.

Captain Bonneville, it will be found, inherited something of his father's honhommic^ and his excitable imagination : though the latter was somewhat disciplined in early years, by mathematical studies. He was educated at our national Military Academy at West Point, where he acquitted himself very creditably ; thence, he entered the army, in which he has ever since continued.

The nature of our military service took him to the frontier, where, for a number of years, he was stationed at various posts in the Far West. Here he was brought into frequent intercourse with Indian traders, mountain trappers, and other pioneers of the wilderness ; and became so excited by their tales of wild scenes and wild adventures, and their accounts of vast and magnificent regions as yet unexplored, that an expedition to the Rocky Mountains became the ardent desire of his heart, and an enterprise to explore untrodden tracts, the leading object of his ambition.

By degrees he shaped this vague day-dream into a practical reality. Having made himself acquainted with all the requisites for a trading enterprise beyond the mountains, he determined to undertake it. A leave of absence, and a sanction of his expedition, was obtained from the major general in chief, on his offering to combine public utility with his private projects, and to collect

INTRODUCTION. xv

statistical information for the War Department, concerning the wild countries and wild tribes he might visit in the course of his journeyiugs.

Nothing now was wanting to the darling project of the captain, but the ways and means. The expedition would require an outfit of many thousand dollars ; a staggering obstacle to a soldier, whose capital is seldom any thing more than his sword. Full of that V buoyant hope, however, which belongs to the sanguine temperament, he repaired to New-York, the great focus of American enterprise, where there are always funds ready for any scheme, however chimerical or romantic. Here he had the good fortune to meet with a gentleman of high respectability and influence, who had been his associate in boyhood, and who cherished a schoolfellow friendship for him. He took a general interest in the scheme of the captain ; introduced him to commercial men of his acquaintance, and in a little while an association was formed, and the necessary funds were raised to carry the proposed measure into effect. One of the most efficient persons in this association was Mr. Alfred Seton, who, when quite a youth, had accompanied one of the expeditions sent out by Mr. Astor to his commercial establishments on the Columbia, and had distinguished himself by his activity and courage at one of the interior posts. Mr. Seton was one of the American youths lll^ were at Astoria at the time of its surrender to the British, and who manifested such grief and indignation at seeing the flag of their country hauled down. The hope of seeing that flag once more planted on the shores of the Columbia, may have entered into his motives for engaging in the present enterprise.

Thus backed and provided. Captain Bonneville undertook his expedition into the Far West, and was soon beyond the Rocky xvi INTRODUCTION.

Mountains. Year after year elapsed without his return. The term of his leave of absence expired, yet no report was made of him at head quarters at Washington. He was considered virtually dead or lost, and his name was stricken from the army list.

It was in the autumn of 1835, at the country seat of Mr. John Jacob Astor, at Hellgate, that I first met with Captain Bonneville. He was then just returned from a residence of upwards of three years among the mountains, and was on his way to report himself at head quarters, in the hopes of being reinstated in the service. From all that I could learn, his wanderings in the wilderness, though they had gratified his curiosity and his love of adventure, had not much benefited his fortunes. Like Corporal Trim in his campaigns, he had "satisfied the sentiment," and that was all. In fact, he was too much of the frank, freehearted soldier, and had inherited too much of his father's temperament, to make a scheming trapper, or a thrifty bargainer. There was something in the whole appearance of the captain that prepossessed me in his favor. He was of the middle size, well made and well set ; and a military frock of foreign cut, that had seen service, gave him a look of compactness. His countenance was frank, open, and engaging ; well browned by the sun, and had something of a French expression. He had a pleasant black eye, a high forehead, and, while he kept his hat on, the look of a man in the jocund prime of his days ; but the moment his head^ was uncovered, a bald crown gained him credit for a few morwP years than he was really entitled to.

Being extremely curious, at the time, about every thing connected with the Far West, I addressed numerous questions to him. They drew from him a number of extremely striking details, which were given with mingled modesty and frankness ;

INTRODUCTION. ^u

and in a gentleness of manner, and a soft tone of voice, contrasting singularly with the wild and often startling nature of his themes. It was difficult to conceive the mild, quiet-looking personage before you, the actual hero of the stirring scenes related.

In the course of three or four months, happening to be at the city of Washington, I again came upon the captain, who was attending the slow adjustment of his affairs with the War Department. I found him quartered with a worthy brother in arms, a major in the army. Here he was writing at a table, covered with maps and papers, in the centre of a large barrack room, fancifully decorated with Indian arms, and trophies, and war dresses, and the skins of various wild animals, and hung round with pictures of Indian games and ceremonies, and scenes of war and hunting. In a word, the captain was beguiling the tediousness of attendance at court, by an attempt at authorship ; and was rewriting and extending his travelling notes, and making maps of the regions he had explored. As he sat at the table, in this curious apartment, with his high bald head of somewhat foreign cast, he reminded me of some of those antique pictures of authors that I have seen in old Spanish volumes.

The result of his labors was a mass of manuscript, which he subsequently put at my disposal, to fit it for publication and bring it before the world. I found it full of interesting details of life among the mountains, and of the singular castes and races, bol^^hite men and red men, among whom he had sojourned. It bore, too, throughout, the impress of his character, his honliom- TTiie^ his kindliness of spirit, and his susceptibility to the grand and beautiful.

That manuscript has formed the staple of the following work. I have occasionally interwoven facts and details, gathered from xviii INTRODUCTION.

various sources, especially from the conversations and journals of some of the captain's contemporaries, who were actors in the scenes he describes. I have also given it a tone and coloring drawn from my own observation, during an excursion into the Indian country beyond the bounds of civilization ; as I before I observed, however, the work is substantially the narrative of the worthy captain, and many of its most graphic passages are but little varied from his own language.

I shall conclude this notice by a dedication which he had made of his manuscript to his hospitable brother in arms, in whose quarters I found him occupied in his literary labors : it is a dedication which, I believe, possesses the qualities, not always found in complimentary documents of the kind, of being sincere^ and being merited.

TO

JAMES HARVEY HOOK,

MAJOR, IT. S. A.,

WHOSE JEALOUSY OF ITS HONOR,

WHOSE ANXIETY FOR ITS INTERESTS,

AND

WHOSE SENSIBILITY FOR ITS WANTS,

HAVE ENDEARED HI3I TO THE SERVICE AS

S:|[)e SoltJicr'g j^ricntJ ;

AND WHOSE GENERAL AMENITY, CONSTANT CHEERFULNESS, DISINTERESTED HOSPITALITY, AND UNWEARIED

BENEVOLENCE, ENTITLE HIM TO THE ^^

STILL LOFTIER TITLE OF ^^^

THE FRIEND OF MAN,

THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED, ETC.

New-York, 1843.

ADVENTURES

OF

CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE.

Chapter I

State of the far trade of the Rocky Mountains. — American enterprises. — General Ashley and his associates. — Sublette, a famous leader. — Yearly rendezvous among the mountains. — Stratagems and dangers of the trade. — Bands of trappers. — Indian banditti. — Crows and Blackfeet. — Mountaineers. — Traders of the Far West. — Character and habits of the trapper.

In a recent work we have given an account of the grand enterprise of Mr. John Jacob Astor, to establish an American emporium for the fur trade at the mouth of the Columbia, or Oregon Ri^^ ; of the failure of that enterprise through the capture of Astoria by the British, in 1814 ; and of the way in which the control of the trade of the Columbia and its dependencies fell into the hands of the Northwest Company. We have stated, likewise, the unfortunate supineness of the American government, in neglecting the application of Mr. Astor for the protection of the American flag, and a small military force, to enable him to reinstate himself in the possession of Astoria at the return of peace ; when the post was formally given up by the British government, though still occupied by the Northwest Company. By that supineness the sovereignty in the country has been virtually lost to the United States ; and it will cost both governments much trouble and difficulty to settle matters on that just and rightful footing, on which they would readily have been placed, had the proposition of Mr. Astor been attended to. We shall now state a few particulars of subsequent events, so as to lead the reader up to the period of which we are about to treat, and to prepare him for the circumstances of our narrative. In consequence of the apathy and neglect of the American government, Mr. Astor abandoned all thoughts of regaining Astoria, and made no further attempt to extend his enterprise! beyond the Rocky Mountains ; and the Northwest Company considered themselves the lords of the country. They did not long enjoy unmolested the sway which they had somewhat surrepti tiously attained. A fierce competition ensued between them ana their old rivals, the Hudson's Bay Company ; which was carried on at great cost and sacrifice, and occasionally with the loss of life. It ended in the ruin of most of the partners of the Northwest Company ; and the merging of the relics of that establishment, in 1821, in the rival association. From that time, the Hudson's Bay Company enjoyed a monopoly of the Indian trade from the coast of the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains, and for a considerable extent north and south. They removed their emporium from Astoria to Fort Vancouver, a strong post on the left bank of the Columbia River, about sixty miles from its mouth ; whence they furnished their interior posts, and sent forth their brigades of trappers.