collect together where our baggage was. I never shall forget the scene here exhibited. The rage of some was unbounded, and approached to madness. For my own part, although I felt much regret at the result after so much toil and danger, yet I could not but give the savages credit for the skill they displayed in preserving their lives, at the very moment when desperation, as we thought, had seized the mind of each of them.
By the time we were made sensible of the full extent of our needless alarm, it had began to get dark; and on ascertaining the extent of the injury which we received, (having lost 32 killed, principally Indians,) it was determined not to again attempt to surround the fort, which was a sore disappointment to some of the men who were keen for chastising the Indians for their trick. We then took up our march for the rendezvous; but on starting one of our party of 15 men, who had first started out the day before, could not be found. Search was made, and he was found in the brush, severely wounded. – After carrying him on a litter a few miles he died and was buried in the Indian style: – which is by digging a hole in the ground, wrapping a blanket or skin round the body, placing it in the hole, and covering it with poles and earth. This is the manner of interring the dead in this country both by the Indians and whites, except in the winter season on account of the ground being frozen, when the Indians are in the habit of wrapping their dead in buffaloe robes, and laying them on poles from one tree to another, on which poles the corpse is tied with cords. The next morning we raised another war party and went back to the battle ground, but no Indians could be found. – They must have left the fort in great haste for we found 42 head of horses, together with Fitzpatrick's which they had taken on the mountain, two warriors and one squaw lying dead inside of their fort, besides a large quantity of their baggage, such as furs, skins, amp;c. There must have been a great number of them, from the holes they had dug in the ground around their dead horses and the edges of the fort, say from three to four hundred. I learned afterwards that the Nez Perces Indians shortly after found seven more dead Blackfeet, in some brush close by, where they had been secreted to save their scalps, which is the principal object with these Indians, in order to have their women dance. In the afternoon we returned to the rendezvous and presented Mr. Fitzpatrick with his long-lost and highly valued horse, which seemed to compensate for all the sufferings and hardships which he had encountered.
After remaining here a few days a violent dispute arose between Stephens and Fitzpatrick about the price of the horses which the latter was to give to the former for the beaver skins of Gant's which Stephens had sold to Fitzpatrick. No person interfered, for we all knew that it was a dishonest transaction from beginning to end. Fitzpatrick having every thing in his own possession, was therefore contented and as independent as any mean man who had it in his power to make his own terms. Stephens, on the contrary, was in a bad situation – having paid before hand, and not being able to force measures, had to put up with what he could get. Finally he succeeded in hiring four men, and started back to the mouth of the Laramies to secure the fur which he had sold to Fitzpatrick. He had not left many days, however, until he was overtaken by a scouting party of those Indians we had surrounded in the fort. Two of his men were killed, and himself shot through the thigh – having the two mules along, which was the ballance of the original stock, one of which was killed, and the other brought back the wounded Stephens, who died in a few days afterwards from mortification taking place in the wounded leg.
A few days after this occurrence, we were visited by a party belonging to the Nor West, or British trading company, from whom we were enabled to learn the way the Blackfeet Indians had got possession and fought under the British flag. It appeared by their story that these Indians some months previous, had fell on a party belonging to their company – but few of whom escaped to tell the fate of their comrades – and among the spoils which they obtained, was this flag, which they used as a signal to deceive and mislead their enemies, whom they might meet in these extensive plains.
Sept. 1st. After remaining here until today, during which time Mr. Saunders joined our company of fifteen, which made up for the one that was killed, and who was the only one besides myself, of Capt. Gant's company; leaving the balance with Fitzpatrick – some hiring with their equipments which they purchased on credit. – We set to work making preparation to start the following morning, on our second attempt to reach some region where we could prosecute our business of trapping to some advantage. The conditions of our agreement were the same as on the first expedition, viz.: – each man to find an equal portion of traps, guns, and ammunition, and to receive an equal share of the peltries which we might catch.
On the morning of the 2nd Sept., having every thing ready, we left the rendezvous, all in a fine humor. We arrived on the head waters of the Multenemough river without any thing of moment occurring – where we made our fall's hunt. After travelling near 100 miles South West from the top of the mountains, or from the head of Lewis river, we got totally out of the range of the buffaloe. We were told by the natives that those animals were never known further west, which is something singular, as the country is just the same, if not better as to grass. These Indians subsist principally upon salmon, and such other fish as they can catch, with the assistance of roots, buds, berries, amp; some small game, which they kill with the bow and arrow. They are generally of a more swarthy nature, small and cowardly, and travel in small gangs of from four to five families – this they are compelled to do in order to keep from starvation. They are always roving from plain to plain, and from valley to valley – never remaining in one place longer than till game gets scarce. When on the move the women have to perform the most laborious part – having charge of the transportation of their baggage. While doing this, a female, the most feeble of their sex, will carry a load of perhaps a hundred weight a whole day, without manifesting the least fatigue or complaint. This tribe, which I believe is called the Bawnack, or Shoshonies, are the most indolent, and have the least ambition of any tribe we had yet discovered. They are lazy and dirty; and only strive to get as much as will keep them from starving. They are no way ill disposed towards the whites, or at least they never disturbed us – with the exception of stealing a few of our traps. We continued moving down the Multenemough for several hundred miles, during which time we subsisted principally upon beaver, deer, and bighorn – though we still had a little jirked buffaloe meat. Between trapping and trading we had made quite a profitable hunt. To get a beaver skin from these Indians worth eight or ten dollars, never cost more than an awl, a fish-hook, a knife, a string of beads, or something equally as trifling.
As winter was approaching, we began to make arrangements to return to some more favourable climate, by collecting our fur, and giving each man his share of the baggage. We travelled back with great speed, and arrived in the buffaloe country on the first of November, where we met with a nation of Snake Indians, with whom we made some small trades for buffaloe robes and skins for the winter. The manners and customs of the Snake Indians are very similar to those of the Flatheads, with the exception of stealing, which they consider no harm. The Snake Indians, or as some call them, the Shoshonies, were once a powerful nation, possessing a glorious hunting ground on the east side of the mountains; but they, like the Flatheads, have been almost annihilated by the revengeful Blackfeet, who, being supplied with firearms were enabled to defeat all Indian opposition. Their nation has been entirely broken up and scattered throughout all this wild region. The Shoshonies are a branch of the once powerful Snake tribe, as are also the more abject and forlorn tribe of Shuckers, or more generally termed, Diggers and Root eaters, who keep in the most retired recesses of the mountains and streams, subsisting on the most unwholesome food, and living the most like animals of any race of beings. We left the Snake Indians and took a more Southern direction to the Bear river, which empties into Big Salt Lake – followed this river for two days, and then crossed over to Weabers river. These two rivers are about the same size, say from two to three hundred yards wide, amp; from three to four hundred miles long. – They run South parallel with each other, and empty into the Big Salt Lake on the North side, at no great distance apart. – This lake is much larger than any other west of the mountains – supposed to be 200 miles long, and near the same in width. It is surrounded on the North, about the mouths of the rivers, by a mountainous amp; broken country, and on the South amp; West by a barren, sandy plain, in a manner incapable of vegetation. There is also a hill or peak near the centre of it so high that the snow remains on it the greater part of the year. The water is of such a brackish nature that only part of it freezes in the coldest weather of the winter season. Its briny substance prevents all vegetation within a considerable distance of the margin of the lake. The Bear and Weabers rivers are the principal streams by which it is fed. In the Spring of the year, when the snow and ice melts and runs down off the mountains, this lake rises very high, on account of it having no outlet; and in the fall, or latter part of summer it sinks – leaving salt one and two inches thick on some parts of its shores. It is situated on the west side of the mountains, between the waters of the Columbia and Rio Colerado, or Red river, and is called by the natives, the Great Salt Lake. The rivers which empty into this lake abound with many kinds of fish, such as trout, cat-fish, and others suitable for hook and line, particularly at their mouths. Where the country is low, and small streams empties into them, the dams of the beaver causes the water to overflow its banks, and makes a swampy, marshy country for miles round. People trapping on these streams are compelled to construct canoes of Bull and buffaloe skins, in order to visit their traps. On leaving this lake we continued our journey towards the head waters of the Colerado, which stream empties into the Gulf of Calafornia. After a tedious, but not
