A Majority of Scountrels - Don Berry

by Don Berry

  notion of bugles:

  [They] should be of the plainest kind and the most simple to use and the least liable to get out of repair or broken . . . sometimes in marching a little music will enliven us. We propose that one should learn it well and then teach all the rest. We shall have as much as ten and to be used alternately so as not to be tedious to any one. I am uterly ignorant of all kinds and uses of music but have thought that we could march by a number of bugles but if we cannot they will at least do for signals .... If Thomas will make himself master of the bugle . .. please write immediately. .. as in case that he does not I must engage some other person to do it.

  The amphibiums were the Wyeth answer to plains and river crossings; thirteen-foot boat-wagons, resembling a cross between a canoe and a gondola. Wagons on land, barges on rivers; the Harvard students—even then notoriously easy to amuse—lined up to jeer them as they went by. In Independence somebody convinced Wyeth they were impracticable and he abandoned them; sold them for half what they’d cost him and went over to the more traditional type of travel.

  The scheme finally resulting from all this meticulous study was one very similar to that of John Jacob Astor twenty years earlier. As Wyeth saw it, and quite correctly, the major deterrent for a trading company operating in Oregon was the enormous risk and expense of overland supplying. He proposed to cut this expense by having the major portion of his supplies sent around the Horn by ship; the captain undertaking the job on shares. On its return from the Pacific, the supply ship could bring a cargo not only of furs, but of salmon. (The previous spring the brig Owyhee, operating in the northwest coast trade, had brought some fifty-three barrels of salted salmon from the Columbia. Fourteen dollars a barrel—$754; with a larger load the expenses of the whole trip might be paid by this profitable sideline.)

  (Wyeth’s mind brimmed over with such supplementary . money-making ideas; as he wrote an inquirer, "as to giving you every particular of this business it is quite impossible. Two days would not suflice to write such a letter.")

  After a couple of false starts, Wyeth finally made arrangements with Captain Lambert of the brig Sultana for the sea half of the expedition. When he gave up hope that KeIley's party would ever get off, Wyeth had set as his own approximate date of departure March 1, 1832. In spite of endless difficulties with his financing—his only backing was what he could scrape up from friends, relatives, etc.—he came very close to this date, leaving Boston on March 10.

  He had more than a little trouble with recruiting. He agreed to take along a few of Kelley’s adherents, but was obviously not enthusiastic about the idea. He was in no position to be nursemaiding the visionaries, and this was clearly what he feared. He engaged in a voluminous correspondence with prospective recruits, all of whom were consumed with detailed curiosity, and toward the end his patience was growing a little short. (I also suspect he was somewhat tired of the pleading position he was often forced into when asking for money. The role of humble petitioner was not one he enjoyed, nor was he well suited to it. His requests are occasionally almost curt with embarrassment.)

  To one of his prospectives he wrote:

  As to difficulties in the undertaking each man must, judge for himself and also what his prospect of gain. What my own opinion is on the subject may be judged of by my giving up for it a salary of 1200 per year and a buisness that brought me as much more. My own opinion of this thing must be good or I am an errant fool. To say more on this head would be useless. Examine for yourself, look about.

  When he left Boston on March 10, Wyeth had a twenty-man party, and in Baltimore picked up four more. Among the recruits were his older brother Jacob, as company surgeon, and a nephew (or cousin), John B. Wyeth. (Wyeth wryly informed Jacob that "the amt. of salary which you will receive is not worth the trouble of asking about.") John B. was eighteen and unruly; he later deserted the party with much bad feeling. Jacob, too, eventually deserted, but apparently without John B.'s malice. This party of twenty-four was only about half Wyeth’s original intention; but he said March, and by God March it was going to be.

  When he finally arrived at St. Louis, Wyeth had his first in-the-flesh contact with men of the trade; men who knew what they were doing as thoroughly as Wyeth hoped he knew. The novice could have had no better introduction than the two men he did meet, and who helped him. Kenneth McKenzie, Kihg of the Missouri, gave Wyeth himself and a portion of his party a lift up to Independence on the Company steamboat Otter, McKenzie being on his way back to Fort Union.

  Three of the recruits got no farther than Independence; three more dropped out along the Platte. The party was characterized as being "men of theory, not of practice," and their inexperience began to show at this early stage.

  While camped at Independence preparatory to moving out, Wyeth made the acquaintance of Bill Sublette. Sublette‘s supply party was shaping up to head for Pierre’s Hole and Rendezvous 1832; Bob Campbell was back from Ireland and going up, too. Sublette took the Yankee under his wing, and it seems reasonable to suppose that Wyeth's party would not have reached the mountains at all had it not been for Bill’s help and guidance. Consensus among historians is that one glance showed Sublette he had nothing to fear from the little party of theorists, and so he took them on. If so, Sublette underestimated their leader, if not the party. He was to regret his generous gesture in the future, but for now—he played the gentleman.

  The first pages of Wyeth’s journal of this trip have been lost, and it opens abruptly—and appropriately—about thirty-five days out of Independence:

  . . . gray and my face like a plumb pudding the skin is entirely bare [?] of skin is entirely off one of my ears On the blufs the ghnats are equally troublesome but they do not annoy us much except in the day.

  Wyeth and his crew were now getting their first taste of cross-country travel; and found it less than congenial: "2lst (June) . . . Some of my men talk of turning back and I give them all free liberty many of my horses have given out and the rest are failing fast and unless we soon come to better grass they will all die and leave me on foot."

  For Sublette, Fitzpatrick, and Bob Campbell this was all routine, of course, and it must have been with some amusement that they watched the tribulations of the mangeurs de lard. They pushed steadily on, fifteen to twenty-five miles a day, and even found the occasion to turn a bit of profit. While engaged in crossing the Laramie there was an Indian scare, which proved to be a false alarm. The party that joined them was a contingent of the little Gant & Blackwell firm; the former firm is more accurate, since, as Tom Fitzpatrick informed their leader, Gant & Blackwell had gone bankrupt.

  Their booshway promptly sold 120 skins to Fitzpatrick, which were put en cache. The nineteen men then joined Fitzpatrick’s party of RMF recruits and went the rest of the way to the mountains in company with them. (Fitz was apparently bring up some new trapping hands; and was leading a semi-autonomous party of his own. It has generally been stated that Fitz rode out from Rendezvous 1832 to hurry Sublette up. This is not the case. Zenas Leonard [of the Gant & Blackwell party], Wyeth’s journal, and Newell’s jottings make it sufficiently clear that Fitz had been in St. Louis during the winter and accompanied Sublette’s party back up. Leonard saw him twice; going in to St. Louis and coining back.)

  Shortly after this negotiation with the ex-Gant & Blackwell men, Fitzpatrick (according to Zenas Leonard) took one of the fleetest and most hardy horses in his train, and set out in advance of the main body, in order to discover the disposition of the various Indian tribes through whose dominions we were to travel, and to meet us at a designated point of the head of the Columbia river.)

  (This was the foray that led Fitz into his encounter with the Gros Ventres, described in Chapter 17 of the text.)

  A couple of weeks after this, Sublette’s supply train, with Wyeth still in attendance, was joined by a nineteen-man brigade from American Fur, who were also on their way to Pierre’s Hole for the rendezvous. They were, by this time, on uncertain ground. Fitzpatric
k had not been at the appointed meeting place, and Sublette was worried. Trouble materialized quickly enough. About midnight on the same night they met the American Fur Company brigade: "We were awoke from our slumbers by a furious attack by a large party of B1ackfeet." (Gros Ventres, actual, as determined later; but the trappers very rarely made a distinction between Big Bellies and their close confreres, the Blackfeet.)

  It was a horse raid, naturally, and the Gros Ventres stood off about fifty yards and poured forty or so shots from their smooth-bore fusils into camp; and a few arrows. Three horses were wounded and they got off with five from Sublette’s party, one from a free trapper, and four from Wyeth. (Wyeth observed with some satisfaction: "mine were all poor and sore backed and useless.")

  From this skirmish they moved on toward Pierre’s Hole with the company of the Company; the detached brigade from American Fur went along for mutual protection. On the 4th of July, appropriately enough, they crossed the divide and were in Oregon; the waters now flowed west. A symbolic gesture was in order for Wyeth, now officially in the promised land, so "drank to my friends with mingled feelings from the waters of the Columbia mixed with alcohol and eat of a Buifaloe cow." Water and straight alcohol and fat cow; he was well on his Way to being a mountain man.

  On the 8th they pulled into Pierre’s Hole for Rendezvous 1832. ...here we found about 120 Lodges of Nez Perces and about 80 of the Flatheads a company of trappers of about 90 under Mr Dripps . . . connected with the American Fur Co. Many independent Hunters and about 100 men of the Rocky Mountain Fur Co under Mess Milton Sublette and Mr Frapp.

  APPENDIX C

  Notes On the Sources

  As a matter of course, many hundreds of books, articles journals, state historical quarterlies, government documents, letters, account books, and what not were used in making this book. To list them all would be fatuous and misleading. For one thing, the reader would receive an exaggerated—though flattering—impression of my own assiduity. A great many of the sources were read simply for pleasure, because I enjoyed them. Others—and this is true of most historical bibliographies, I think—were useful mainly as confirmations of points found elsewhere or as sources for one disputed event. I have always objected to the fact that bibliographies in the academic tradition are badly out of perspective. They don’t tell you what is important and what is of minor value. As a result, the novice can spend months searching for a rare document only to find that it is an inadequate paraphrase of something he can find more accurately somewhere else.

  You can’t learn the history of the fur trade from this book or any other modern book. You can learn a good deal of what I think about the trade (possibly—as with the little girl and her penguin book—more than you really care to know), but it ought to be understood that this is of secondary importance. The only way in which a really accurate picture can be gained is to retum to the contemporary sources. A reader. who wants to go into the history of the trade thoroughly should use a book like this as ja starting wedge only; a detailed introduction; an outline. I’ve tried to add to its value by the practice of quoting extensively when possible, hoping to give the reader something of the flavor and accuracy of the original documents.

  These notes, then, are not a bibliography at all, in the usual sense. They are an attempt to hammer the wedge in a little farther, with a minimum of confusion. They do not by any means account for all statements in the text, but they would, I think, be a good start for a reader inclined to go on in the literature of the trade.

  The immediate handicap facing the student is that many of the important sources are more or less rare. Several publishers—the Champoeg Press of Portland, Oregon, and the University of Oklahoma Press come first to mind—are steadily bringing important works back into print. Nevertheless, there is a-great body of material which will probably never be published at all, and must be gotten in the original form. In the list that follows I have tried to concentrate on works which might reasonably be expected to be available through a good book dealer or a good library.

  Any study of the American fur trade begins with A History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West, by Hiram Martin Chittenden ($12.50). This was first published in 1902. In 1954 a two volume reprint edition was brought out by Academic Reprints, Stanford, California. This edition has since been remaindered, but should be available through a book dealer at a reasonable price.

  Chittenden is the only complete and useful study of the trade made to date. It is time for another, since a good deal of material has come to light since Chittenden wrote, but as yet no one has attempted it. With this newly available information, it appears that Chittenden needs a certain amount of modification on points of detail. As an over-all outline of the trade, however, he is unequaled, and will certainly provide the standard against which any new work must be measured.

  The sources for the story of the early phases of RMF—the Ashley-Henry enterprises and ’Smith Jackson & Sublette—are widely scattered in government documents, manuscripts, etc. The best starting point for a modern reader will be in two comparatively recent books.

  'The first of these, in point of time, is The Ashley-Smith Explorations and the Discovery of a Central Route to the Pacific, I822—1829, by Harrison Dale (Chicago, 1918; $35.00; O.P.). Mr. Dale’s interest, as indicated by his title, is principally geographic; his emphasis is on the exploratory work done by the mountain men. As a consequence, he admirably details routes followed, discoveries made, and so forth. Probably the greatest value of this book is the fact that he reprints in full several documents. of first importance. Ashley’s narrative of his expedition of 1825 is one (a letter written to Henry Atkinson of Dec. 1, 1825). Dale also reprints several documents pertaining to Jedediah Smith’s California expeditions, including the two journals of his clerk, Harrison Rogers. (A reprint of this work is sometimes found

  at about $25.00.)

  Except for the reprinted documents, this book has largely been supplanted by a more recent study, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, Dale Morgan (New York, 1953); $7.50—$10.00; O.P.). Mr. Morgan is a scholar of the first order whose care and thorouglness provide the mere amateur of history, like myself, with a standard of precision not easily equaled. My own book is the more carefully researched for having the example of Dale Morgan before me; and greater praise hath no student .... My debt to him is obvious throughout, and I hope my comments on his work are adequately tempered with the respect due one’s betters. While his book is nominally concerned with Smith, it is in actuality a meticulous chronicle of the trade during the years 1822-1831. His bibliographic work is a virtually inexhaustible supply of leads, clues, and sources for the serious student.

  Two Appendices—"Letters by Jedediah S. Smith Relating to His Explorations" and "Personal Letters by Jedediah S. Smith and His Family"—are invaluable source material. It is a shame that this book has been allowed to go out of print. Among the original sources for the early period, James Clyman, American Frontiersman is important. Edited by Charles L. Camp—another fine scholar of the trade— his book consists of Clyman’s reminiscences. The edition of 1928, published in San Francisco, is now very rare and expensive; I worked largely from a microfilm copy provided by the Library of Congress. A completely new edition, published by Champoeg, should be in print by the time this book is published (about $25.00).

  The history of the Aricara campaign is best approached through a series of government documents, the principal one being 18th Congress, Ist Session, Senate Document 1, Serial 89. Several other government publications cast —a good deal of light on these years: 18th Cong., Ist Sess., Sen. Doc. 56, Serial 89 contains Pilcher’s answers to questions put him by the Congressional Committee under Thomas Hart Benton. See also 20th Cong., 2nd Sess., Sen. Doc. 67; 21st Cong., 2nd Sess., Sen. Doc. 39, and 22nd Cong., lst Sess., Sen. Executive Doc. 90. These government publications may be found in some libraries, though the fact that they are so old makes even this uncertain.

  The Travels of Jedediah Smith,
Maurice S. Sullivan, ed. (Santa Ana, 1934; $75.00), contains an excellent treatment of Smith and—more important—the surviving portions of his journals. Out of print and expensive.

  British activities are best followed through the magnificent publications of the Hudson’s Bay Record Society. These books, publications from the HBC archives, are unfortunately available only through subscription, but any library with a good collection of western Americana should have them. On occasion isolated volumes may be available through antiquarian book dealers. In the course of this narrative I have used a number of them, most important being Ogden’s Snake Country Journals, 1824-1826, E. E. Rich, ed. ($25.00), and McLoughlin's Fort Vancouver Letters, First Series, 1825-1838, same editor ($10.00). (McLoughlin’s letters are generally found only in the complete three-volume set at about $35.00.) This series is quite essential to any student of westem history. Also necessary is Fur Trade and Empire, Frederick Merk, ed. (Cambridge 1931; $12.50), which contains George Simpson's Joumal for 1824-1925 and other valuable supplementary material, some of which is quoted in my text. All quotations from their publications are with the kind permission of Hudson’s Bay Record Society. I think my feelings about Joe Meek’s narrative, River of the West, Frances Fuller Victor ($7.50), are made sufliciently clear in the body of this book. For historical accuracy it ought to be used with care; for pleasurable reading it ought to be used with complete abandon. A reprint edition was issued in 1950 by Long’s College Book Company, and should still be available from that source.— The Champoeg Press, Portland, Oregon, has several volumes of interest to students of the trade. Journal of a Trapper, Osborne Russell ($20-25), is a little later than this narrative. (Russell came out for the first time with Wyeth’s second expedition.) But as a record of mountain life it is irreplaceable and should be consulted for much detail of the trapper's life. It is now out of print. Champoeg has also recently published Robert Newel1’s Memoranda, the brief notes of Joe Meek’s companion. Only a part of this book deals with Newell’s mountain experience, but it forms a valuable cross-check and, in some cases, the only authority for the movements of various brigades. The Champoeg books are superbly made by Lawton Kennedy of San Francisco, and Robert Newell’s Memoranda is one of the most beautiful of a series of fine volumes. Unfortunately it is marred by the appearance of several typographical errors which seem to me unforgivable in a book of this quality. (Though one of them is the funniest in recent remembrance: the identification of the famous battleground of Pierre’s Hole as "Pierre’s H0tel.") The main purpose and importance of the book, however, is to present Newell’s own material, which it does most beautifully. The book will probably be out of print by the time this is read, and I cannot even guess the price.