Early Western Travels 1748-1846 Vol 27 Part 15

Hence we directed our course more and more towards the heights of the Far West, ascending, some times clambering, until we reached the summit, from which we discovered another world.[195] On the 7th of July we were in sight of the immense Oregon Territory. I will not presume to add to the many pompous descriptions which have been given of the spectacle now before us. I shall say nothing either of the height, the number, or the variety of those peaks, covered with eternal snows, which rear their heads, with menacing aspect, to the heavens. Nor will I speak of the many streams descending from them and changing their course, with unexpected suddenness; nor of the extreme rarification of the air with the consequent effect upon objects susceptible of contraction, at so great an elevation. All this is common; but to the glory of the Lord, I must commemorate the imperious necessity I experienced, of tracing his holy name upon a rock, which towered pre-eminent amid the grandeur around. May that ever adorable name be to travellers a monument of our grat.i.tude, and a pledge of salvation. Henceforth we descended [CI] towards the Pacific--first, by following, then by crossing the Little and the Great Sandy Rivers.[196] In the vicinity of the latter, as the Captain had mistaken one road for another, the caravan wandered for three days at random. I, myself, on a fine evening, strayed from the rest. I thought myself entirely lost; how was I to act? I did what every sincere believer would have done in the same circ.u.mstances, I prayed; and then urging on my horse, I travelled several miles, when it struck me that it would be prudent to retrace my steps. I did so instantly, and it was fortunate, for the caravan was far behind. I found it encamped; still ignorant however of its position, and on a soil so arid that our jaded beasts were necessitated to fast for the night. Days follow, but resemble not each other; two days subsequently, we were surrounded with abundance, filled with joy, all once more united, and on the banks of a river not less celebrated among the hunters of the west, than the sh.o.r.es of the Platte. This river loses itself not far below, in clefts of rocks said to be no less than two hundred miles in extent, among which there are countless swarms of beavers, although the trapper has never ventured to hunt them, on account of the extreme peril of the enterprise. At a certain period of the year, both trappers and Indians flock to this spot, for the purpose of bartering all kinds of merchandise. It was here, but eight years ago, the wagons that first undertook to cross the Rocky Mountains,[197] found the Pillars of Hercules, and it was here too that we found the messenger of the Flat Heads, to whom I have already alluded. This river is the Rio Colorado of the West.[198] ... We rested two days upon its banks, with the company of Captain F., who had just returned from California.[199] What they told us concerning that distant country dissipated many illusions, and caused [CII] some of our companions, who travelled for amus.e.m.e.nt, to return.

On the 20th of July we seriously thought of continuing our journey. To a company like ours, it was not an easy matter. The remembrance of the expedition of Bonneville was still fresh in the minds of all; but our object was not the same; we had no articles but such as were necessary.--They could be transported conveniently only by wagons. We placed all our confidence in G.o.d. We soon crossed the river, and our equipage was seen coming in all directions, over vallies and mountains. We were compelled to clear a pa.s.sage, some times in the middle of a ravine, some times on the declivity of a rock, and frequently through bushes. We travelled in this manner for ten days, to reach Bear river, which flows through a wide and beautiful valley, surrounded by lofty mountains and often intersected by inaccessible rocks. We continued our march through it during eight successive days.

The river resembles in its course the form of a horse shoe, and falls into the great Salt lake, which has no communication with the sea. On our way, we met several families of Soshonees or Snake Indians, and Soshocos or Uprooters. They speak the same language, and are both friends to the whites. The only difference we could observe between them, was that the latter were by far the poorer.[200] They formed a grotesque group, such as is not to be seen in any other part of the Indian territory. Represent to yourself a band of wretched horses, disproportionate in all their outlines, loaded with bags and boxes to a height equal to their own, and these surmounted by rational beings young and old, male and female, in a variety of figures and costumes, to which the pencil of a Hogarth or a Breugel could scarcely do justice, and you will have an idea of the scene we witnessed. One [CIII] of these animals, scarcely four feet high, had for its load four large sacks of dried meat, two on each side, above which were tied several other objects, terminating in a kind of platform on the back of the living beast; and, on the summit of the whole construction, at a very high elevation, was seated cross-legged on a bear skin a very old person smoking his calumet. At his side, on another Rosinante,[201] was mounted an old Goody, probably his wife, seated in the same manner on the top of sacks and bags, that contained all sorts of roots, dried beans and fruits, grains and berries; in short, all such comestibles as the barren mountains and the beautiful vallies afford. These they carried to their winter encampment. Some times we have seen a whole family on the same animal, each according to his age, the children in front, the women next, and the men behind.

On two occasions I saw thus mounted, five persons, of whom two at least had the appearance of being as able to carry the poor horse as the horse was to support the weight of these two Soshocos gentlemen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Soda Springs]

Some places on the Bear river exhibit great natural curiosities. A square plain of a few acres in extent presents an even surface of fuller's earth of pure whiteness, like that of marble, and resembling a field covered with dazzling snow. Situated near this plain are a great many springs, differing in size and temperature. Several of them have a slight taste of soda, and the temperature of these, is cold.

The others are of a milk warm temperature, and must be wholesome; perhaps they are not inferior to the celebrated waters of the Spa, or of the lime springs in Belgium. I am inclined to believe so, though I am not firm in the opinion; at all events, they are surrounded by the mountains over which our wagons found it so difficult to pa.s.s. I therefore invite neither sick nor sound to test them. In the same [CIV] locality there is a hole in the ground, out of which air and water escape alternately. The earth for some distance around resounds like an immense vault, and is apt to frighten the solitary traveller as he pa.s.ses along.[202]

It was here that we left Bear River. On the 14th of August our wagons having proceeded ten hours without intermission, arrived at the outlet of a defile which seemed to us the end of the world. On our right and left were frightful mountains; in our rear a road which we were by no means tempted to retrace; in front a pa.s.sage through which rushed a torrent; but so small that the torrent itself seemed with difficulty, to force its way.[203] Our beasts of burthen were, for the first time, exhausted. Murmurs arose against the captain, who, however, was imperturbable, and as he never shrunk from difficulties, advanced to reconnoitre the ground.[204] In a few moments he made us a sign to approach; one hour after we had surmounted every obstacle, for we had traversed the highest chain of the Rocky Mountains and were nearly in sight of Fort Hall. On the evening previous to the departure of the camp from the Soda Springs, I directed my course towards the fort, to make a few necessary arrangements. The young F. Xavier was my only companion. We were soon involved in a labyrinth of mountains, and about midnight, we were on the summit of the highest chain. My poor guide, being able to see nothing through the darkness but frightful precipices, was so pitifully embarra.s.sed that after veering about for a while, like a weather-c.o.c.k, he confessed himself lost. That was not a place, nor was it a time, to wander at random; I, therefore, took, what I considered, the only alternative, that of waiting for the morning sun to extricate us from our embarra.s.sment. Wrapped up in my blanket and with my saddle for a pillow, I stretched myself upon the rock, and [CV] immediately fell into a sound sleep. Early the next morning, we descended by a small cleft in the rocks, which the obscurity of the night had concealed and arrived on a plain watered by the New Port, one of the tributaries of Snake River. We trotted or gallopped over fifty miles in the course of the day. The whole way presented evident remains of volcanic eruptions; piles and veins of lava were visible in all directions, and the rocks bore marks of having been in a state of fusion. The river, in its whole length, exhibits a succession of beaver ponds, emptying into each other by a narrow opening in each dike, thus forming a fall of between three and six feet. All these dikes are of stone, evidently the work of the water and of the same character and substance as the stalact.i.tes found in some caverns.[205]

We arrived late in the evening, within half a mile of the Fort, but being unable to see our way in the darkness, and not knowing where we were, we encamped for the night among the bushes, near the margin of a small brook.

I have the honor to be

Rev. Father Provincial, Your most humble and obedient servant and son, P. J. DE SMET, S.J.

FOOTNOTES:

[184] For this first deputation see Townsend's _Narrative_, in our volume xxi, p. 138, note 13. The deputies apparently arrived in the autumn of 1831 and pa.s.sed the winter in or near the city, where two of their number died. See Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, i, pp.

21, 22.--ED.

[185] Both the second and third emba.s.sies were headed by the Iroquois Indian known as "Old Ignace," otherwise Ignace la Mousse, who was educated at the mission of Caughnawaga, and had gone to the Rocky Mountains between 1812 and 1820. The Iroquois were much employed by the North West Company and later by the Hudson's Bay Company, to a.s.sist fur-trading parties in the Far West. Ignace settled among the Flatheads, where he married, and taught the tribe the rudiments of the religion he had learned at the Canadian mission. Townsend (see our volume xxi) notes their observance of Sunday, and forms of worship.

The delegation which Ignace undertook for the purpose of securing a "black robe," set out in 1835. His first intention was to visit Canada, but learning that Jesuits were at St. Louis he journeyed thither, taking with him his two sons to be baptized. See Palladino, _Indian and White in the Northwest_, pp. 19, 20, where a record of this baptism is given. Again in 1837, Ignace headed a second delegation. Upon the South Platte they were overtaken by a band of Sioux, who at first dismissed Ignace, for he was dressed as a white man. Unwilling to abandon his companions, he declared himself an Indian, whereupon all were killed after a brave defense.--ED.

[186] Young Ignace, who accompanied Father de Smet on his first visit (1840) to the Flatheads, became a zealous convert, and lived at St.

Ignatius mission until his death in the winter of 1875-76.--ED.

[187] For further details of this exploit of Pilchimo see letter ix, _post_.--ED.

[188] This Indian was known as Francis Saxa, and as late as 1903 was living on his own ranch in Missoula County. See his portrait in Palladino, _Indian and White in the Northwest_, p. 20.--ED.

[189] Francis Ermatinger, one of the chief factors for the Hudson's Bay Company, came to the Columbia region about 1824; two years later he was in command of Fort Kamloops when Governor Simpson pa.s.sed that way. In 1828, he appears to have been stationed at Fort Okinagan on the upper Columbia, while Wyeth met him in the Snake River country in 1832-34. He married a niece of Madame McLoughlin, wife of the governor of Vancouver, and held various important stations. In the autumn of the year in which De Smet encountered him, he led the brigade into California as far as Yerba Buena (San Francisco). Upon the establishment of the provincial government in Oregon, he was elected (1845) treasurer. He is thought to have ultimately retired to Canada.--ED.

[190] For Fort Hall see our volume xxi, p. 210, note 51 (Townsend).--ED.

[191] Bidwell (_Century Magazine_, xix, p. 120) gives the names of three in addition to Romaine, the Englishman--Peyton, Rodgers, and Amos E. Frye. Thirty-two of the California party went on to Fort Hall with the missionaries, while the remainder, among them Bidwell, branched off to the west from Soda Springs.--ED.

[192] For Bear River and Soda Springs see Townsend's _Narrative_, in our volume xxi, pp. 199, 200, notes 44, 45.--ED.

[193] According to Bidwell (_op. cit._, p. 120), these two men were Bartleson, from Jackson County, Missouri, and "a Methodist Episcopal preacher, whose name I think was also Williams."--ED.

[194] This canon of the Sweet.w.a.ter is about five miles above Independence Rock. It is a cut about three hundred yards long, and thirty-five wide through a spur of the mountains in Natrona County, Wyoming. See ill.u.s.tration of canon in Fremont's "Exploring Tour,"

_Senate Docs._, 28 Cong., 2 sess., 174, p. 57.--ED.

[195] The ascent of the South Pa.s.s is so gradual that without instruments it is difficult to know when one attains the summit. See Wyeth's _Oregon_, in our volume xxi, p. 58, note 37.--ED.

[196] For Little and Big Sandy, see Townsend's _Narrative_, in our volume xxi, p. 187, note 36. The former was the beginning of Sublette's Cut Off, sometimes called the "Dry Drive," because of scarcity of water on the route. This crossed directly to Bear River, without pa.s.sing southward by Fort Bridger. Such would seem to have been the route taken by De Smet's company. The regular trail went down the Big Sandy, forded Green River near its forks, and proceeded across to the site of Fort Bridger, founded two years later.--ED.

[197] Captain Bonneville's expedition of 1832 was the first to cross the Green River in wagons. See Irving, _Rocky Mountains_, chapter ii.--ED.

[198] They were in reality upon Green River, a tributary of the Colorado. See Wyeth's _Oregon_, in our volume xxi, p. 60, note 38.--ED.

[199] Captain Henry Fraeb (Frapp), who was one of the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company (1830-34). He was well known in the mountain fur-trade, frequently being a.s.sociated therein with Fitzpatrick, De Smet's guide. According to Bidwell, he was killed the night after leaving this party; Fremont says--_Exploring Expedition_, p. 40--that this occurred the latter part of August, 1841, in a battle with Sioux and Cheyenne.--ED.

[200] This tribe is often cla.s.sified with the Digger Indians, for whom see _ante_, p. 167, note 38; but the latter possessed no horses. The Soshocoes (Shoshocoes) appear to be a band of the Shoshoni proper--closely allied, as De Smet notes, but with less property, and less virile in character. They were the branch of Shoshoni which had their roving habitat along the banks of the Green River; whereas the Shoshoni (or Snake) roved chiefly on Lewis River.--ED.

[201] The name of Don Quixote's steed, a charger all skin and bone.--ED.

[202] For these springs see Townsend's _Narrative_, in our volume xxi, p. 200, note 45.--ED.

[203] This was the route by which the trail crossed from the waters of the Colorado to those of the Lewis, a difficult mountain path in Bannock County, Idaho, approximating the route of the Oregon Short Line Railway.--ED.

[204] The captain and guide of this expedition was Thomas Fitzpatrick, for whom see Townsend's _Narrative_, in our volume xxi, p. 192, note 40. See De Smet's letter recommending his services, in Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, iv, p. 1465.--ED.

[205] The Portneuf River, for which see our volume xxi, p. 209, note 49 (Townsend). This characteristic of the Portneuf--a series of dams of mineral deposit--make it a beautiful succession of still, dark pools and foaming cascades, and may now be noted from the windows of trains on the Oregon Short Line Railway.--ED.

LETTER VI

Camp of the Big-Face, 1st Sept. 1841.

Rev. and Dear Father Provincial:

Nearly four months had elapsed since our departure from Westport, when we met the main body of the nation to which we had been sent. Here we found the princ.i.p.al chiefs, four of whom had advanced a day's journey to welcome us. They met us at one of the sources of the Missouri called Beaver-Head, where we had encamped.[206] Having crossed the small river under the direction of these new guides we came to an extensive plain, at the western part of which the Flat Heads lay encamped. This was on the 30th of August, and it was only towards night that we could distinctly discern the camp. A number of runners who rapidly succeeded each other, informed us that the camp was not far distant. Contentment and joy were depicted on their countenances.

Long before the Flat Head warrior, who is surnamed the Bravest of the Brave, sent me his finest horse to Fort Hall, having strongly recommended that no one should mount him before he was presented to me. Soon after the warrior himself appeared, distinguished by his superior skill in horsemanship, and by a large red scarf, which he wore after the fashion of the Marshals of France. He is the handsomest Indian warrior of my acquaintance. He came with a numerous retinue. We proceeded at a brisk trot, and were now but two or three miles from the camp, when at a distance we decried a warrior of [CVII] lofty stature. A number of voices shouted Paul! Paul! and indeed it was Paul, the great chief, who had just arrived after a long absence, as if by special permission of G.o.d, to afford him the satisfaction of introducing me personally to his people.[207] After mutual and very cordial demonstrations of friendship, the good old chief insisted upon returning to announce our arrival. In less than half an hour all hearts were united and moved by the same sentiments. The tribe had the appearance of a flock crowding with eagerness around their shepherd.

The mothers offered us their little children, and so moving was the scene that we could scarcely refrain from tears. This evening was certainly one of the happiest of our lives. We could truly say that we had reached the peaceful goal. All previous dangers, toils and trials, were at an end and forgotten. The hopeful thought that we would soon behold the happy days of the primitive Christians revive among these Indians, filled our minds, and the main subject of our conversations became the question: "What shall we do to comply with the requisitions of our signal vocation?"

I engaged Father Point, who is skilled in drawing and architecture, to trace the plan of the Missionary Stations. In my mind, and still more in my heart, the material was essentially connected with the moral and religious plan. Nothing appeared to us more beautiful than the _Narrative of Muratori_.[208] We had made it our Vade Mec.u.m. It is chiefly to these subjects that we shall devote our attention for the future, bidding farewell to all fine perspectives, animals, trees and flowers, or favoring them only with an occasional and hasty glance.

From Fort Hall we ascended the Snake River, also called Lewis' Fork, as far as the mouth of Henry's Fort. This is unquestionably the most barren of all the mountain [CVIII] deserts. It abounds in absynth, cactus, and all such plants and herbs as are chiefly found on arid lands.[209] We had to resort to fishing for the support of life, and our beasts of burden were compelled to fast and pine; for scarcely a mouthful of gra.s.s could be found during the eight days which it took us to traverse this wilderness. At a distance we beheld the colossal summits of the Rocky Mountains. The three Tetons were about fifty miles to our right, and to the left we had the three mounds at a distance of thirty miles.[210]

From the mouth of Henry's Fork we steered our course towards the mountains over a sandy plain furrowed by deep ravines, and covered with blocks of granite. We spent a day and night without water. On the following day we came to a small brook, but so arid is this porous soil, that its waters are soon lost in the sand. On the third day of this truly fatiguing journey we entered into a beautiful defile, where the verdure was both pleasing and abundant, as it is watered by a copious rivulet. We gave to this pa.s.sage the name of "the Father's Defile," and to the rivulet that of St. Francis Xavier.[211] From the Father's Defile, to the place of our destination, the country is well watered, for it abounds with small lakes and rivulets, and is surrounded by mountains, at whose base are found numberless springs.

In no part of the world is the water more limpid or pure, for whatever may be the depth of the rivers, the bottom is seen as if there were nothing to intercept the view. The most remarkable spring which we have seen in the mountains, is called the Deer's lodge. It is found on the bank of the main Fork of the Bitter Root or St. Mary's River; to this Fork I have given the name of St. Ignatius.[212] This spring is situated on the top of a mound thirty feet high, in the middle of a marsh. It is accessible [CIX] on one side only. The water bubbles up, and escapes through a number of openings at the base of the mound, the circ.u.mference of which appears to be about sixty feet. The waters at the base are of different temperatures: hot, lukewarm and cold, though but a few steps distant from each other. Some are indeed so hot that meat may be boiled in them. We actually tried the experiment.

I remain, Rev. Father Provincial, Yours, &c.

P. J. DE SMET, S.J.

LETTER VII

St. Ignatius' River, 10th Sept. 1841.