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THE GREAT SALT LAKE TRAIL


By COLONEL HENRY INMAN

Late Assistant Quartermaster, United States Army
Author of _The Old Santa Fe Trail_, Etc.

And COLONEL WILLIAM F. CODY, "Buffalo Bill"

Late Chief of Scouts


Etext Edition edited by MICHAEL S. OVERTON


1898 (original edition), 2002 (Etext edition)


See PUBLICATION INFORMATION at the end of this Etext for a more
complete bibliographic listing of the original source.





PREFACE.



There are seven historic trails crossing the great plains of the
interior of the continent, all of which for a portion of their
distance traverse the geographical limits of what is now the
prosperous commonwealth of Kansas.

None of these primitive highways, however, with the exception of that
oldest of all to far-off Santa Fe, has a more stirring story than
that known as the Salt Lake Trail.

Over this historical highway the Mormons made their lonely Hegira to
the valley of that vast inland sea. On its shores they established
a city, marvellous in its conception, and a monument to the ability
of man to overcome almost insuperable obstacles--the product of a
faith equal to that which inspired the crusader to battle to the death
for the possession of the Holy Sepulchre.

Over this route, also, were made those world-renowned expeditions
by Fremont, Stansbury, Lander, and others of lesser fame, to the
heart of the Rocky Mountains, and beyond, to the blue shores of the
Pacific Ocean.

Over the same trackless waste the Pony Express executed those
marvellous feats in annihilating distance, and the once famous
Overland Stage lumbered along through the seemingly interminable
desert of sage-brush and alkali dust--avant-courieres of the telegraph
and the railroad.

One of the collaborators of this volume, Colonel W. F. Cody ("Buffalo
Bill"), began his remarkable career, as a boy, on the Salt Lake Trail,
and laid the foundations of a life which has made him a conspicuous
American figure at the close of this century.

It is not the intention of the authors of this work to deal in the
slightest manner with Mormonism as a religion. An immense mass of
literature on the subject is to be found in every public library, both
in its defence and in its condemnation. The latter preponderates, and
often seems to be inspired by an inexcusable ingenuity in exaggeration.

Of the trials of the Mormons during their toilsome march and their
difficulties with the government during the Civil War, this work will
treat in a limited way, but its scope is to present the story of the
Trail in the days long before the building of a railroad was believed
to be possible. It will deal with the era of the trapper, the scout,
the savage, and the passage of emigrants to the gold fields of
California--when the only route was by the overland trail--and with
the adventures which marked the long and weary march.




CONTENTS.



CHAPTER I. EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS. Proposed Exploring Expedition
across the Northern Part of the Continent in 1774--Sir Alexander
Mackenzie's Expedition--The Expedition of Lewis and Clarke--Hunt's
Tour in 1810--March of Robert Stuart eastwardly.

CHAPTER II. THE OLD TRAPPERS. Captain Ezekiel Williams' Expedition
to the Platte Valley in 1807--Character of the Old Trapper--The Outfit
of his Men--Crosses the River--Immense Herds of Buffalo--Death of
their Favourite Hound--A Lost Trapper--A Prairie Burial--A Wolf-chase
after a Buffalo--An Indian Lochinvar--The Crow Indians--Their Country
--Rose, the Scapegoat Refugee--The Lost Trappers--A Battle with
the Savages.

CHAPTER III. JIM BECKWOURTH. General W. H. Ashley's Trapping
Expedition--Jim Beckwourth's Story--Two Axe--Kill Fourteen Hundred
Buffaloes--The Surround--Expedition is divided--Boats are built--
Green River Suck--Indians murder Le Brache--Beckwourth meets Castenga.

CHAPTER IV. CAPTAIN SUBLETTE'S EXPEDITION. Captain William
Sublette's Expedition in 1832--They meet Nathaniel J. Wyeth's Party--
Arrive at Green River Valley--Attacked by Indians--Antoine Godin
shoots a Blackfoot Chief--Fight between Whites, Flatheads, and
Blackfeet--An Indian Heroine--Major Stephen H. Long's Scientific
Expedition in 1820--Captain Bonneville's Expedition in 1832--
Lieutenant John C. Fremont's Expedition in 1842 to the Wind River
Mountains.

CHAPTER V. TRADING-POSTS AND THEIR STORIES. Trading-posts of the
Great Fur Companies--Fort Vasquez--Fort Laramie--Fort Platte--Fort
Bridger--Incidents at Fort Platte--A Drunken Spree--Death and Burial
of Susu-Ceicha--Insult to Big Eagle--Bull Tail's Effort to sell his
Daughter for a Barrel of Whiskey--A Rare Instance of a Trader's Honour.

CHAPTER VI. THE MORMONS. The Most Desolate of Deserts made to
blossom as the Rose--The Mormon Hegira--Pilgrim's Outfit--Curious
Guide-posts--The Hand-cart Expedition--Sufferings and Hardships during
the Exodus--An Impending War--General Harney's Expedition--Mormon
Tactics--Destroy the Supplies--Privations of the United States army
--President backs down--Salt Lake City--Brigham Young's Vision--
The Temple.

CHAPTER VII. MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE. Mountain Meadows Massacre--
Indians attack the Wagons--Lee offers Protection--Ambushed by Lee--
Lee flies to the Mountains--Mormon Church acquitted--Execution of
John D. Lee--Temporary Toll-bridges--Indian Raids on Cattle Ranches--
Stuttering Brown--Graves along the Trail.

CHAPTER VIII. THE PONY EXPRESS. The Problem of the Mails between
Atlantic and Pacific--The World-famed Pony Express--Necessity for it
--Its Originator--The Firm of Majors, Russell, & Waddell--The Route--
Organization--Its Paraphernalia--Daring Riders--J. G. Kelley's Story--
Colonel Cody's Story--Incidents and Stories--Old Whipsaw and Little
Cayuse, the Pawnee--Slade, the Desperado--The Lynching of Slade--
Establishment of the Telegraph.

CHAPTER IX. THE STAGE ROUTE TO THE PACIFIC. Discovery of Gold near
Pike's Peak--Exodus from Missouri--The Creation of the Overland Stage
Route to the Pacific Coast--Messrs. Russell and Jones' Failure--
Russell, Majors, & Waddell's Successful Establishment of a New Line--
Hockaday and Liggett's "One-horse" Affair--Advent of the First
Stage-coach into Denver--Financial Embarrassment--Ben Holliday--
Description of the Outfit of the Route--Incidents and Adventures.

CHAPTER X. SCENERY ON THE TRAIL. Scenery and Historical Localities
on the Route of the Old Trail--Loup Fork--De Smet's Account of a
Waterspout--Wood River--Brady's Island--Ash Hollow--Johnson's Creek--
Scott's Bluff--Independence Rock and its Legend--Chimney Rock--
Crazy Woman's Creek--Laramie Plains--Legends and Traditions about
the Great Salt Lake--Early Surveys.

CHAPTER XI. INDIAN TRIBES ON THE TRAIL. The Indian Tribes of the
Salt Lake Trail--The Otoes--I-e-tan--Blue-Eyes shot by I-e-tan--
The Pawnees--Their Tribal Mark--Legends and Traditions--Human
Sacrifices--Folk-lore.

CHAPTER XII. SIOUX AND THEIR TRADITIONS. The Sioux Nation--Cause of
their Hatred for the Whites--A Chief of the Brule Sioux tells a Story
--The Scarred-Arms--Story of the Six Sioux and the Mysterious Woman--
The Place of the Death Song--Wa-shu-pa and Ogallalla--Indian Fight at
Ash Hollow--Indian Tradition of a Flood.

CHAPTER XIII. THE CROWS. The Crows--Council at Fort Philip Kearny
in July, 1866--A-ra-poo-ash--Jim Beckwourth in a Fight between Crows
and Blackfeet--Beckwourth and the Great Medicine Kettle--The Missionary
and the Crows--The Legend of the Blind Men--The Pis-kun.

CHAPTER XIV. FOLK-LORE OF BLACKFEET. Folk-lore of Blackfeet--
The Lost Children--The Wolf-Man--The Utes--Massacre of Major
Thornburgh's Command on the White River--The Great Chief Ouray--
Piutes--Their Theories of the Heavens--The Big Medicine Springs--
Closed Hand--Man afraid of his Horses--No Knife--Sitting Bull--
Spotted Tail.

CHAPTER XV. SIOUX WAR OF 1863. Sioux War of 1863--Spotted Tail--
George P. Belden's Account--Sergeants Hiles and Rolla--Belden and
Nelson have an Adventure--Belden maps the Country--Guarding Ben
Holliday's Coaches--An Involuntary Highwayman--Capturing Sioux at
Gilman's Ranch--Morrow's Ranch--Bentz and Wise--Attack on the Ambulance
--Peace Commission--Massacre of Colonel Fetterman's Command at Fort
Phil Kearny.

CHAPTER XVI. BUFFALO BILL'S ADVENTURES. Buffalo Bill's Adventures
on the Salt Lake Trail--In Charge of a Herd of Beef Cattle--Kills an
Indian--With Lew Simpson--Held up--Attacked at Cedar Bluffs--A Brush
with Sioux--The Print of a Woman's Shoe--Capture a Village--Buffalo
Bill shoots Tall Bull.

CHAPTER XVII. MASSACRE OF CUSTER'S COMMAND. Buffalo Bill's
Adventures continued--Hunting at Fort McPherson--Indians steal his
Favourite Pony--The Chase--Scouting under General Duncan--Pawnee
Sentries--A Deserted Squaw--A Joke on McCarthy--Scouting for Captain
Meinhold--Texas Jack--Buckskin Joe--Sitting Bull and the Indian War
of 1876--Massacre of Custer and his Command--Buffalo Bill takes the
First Scalp for Custer--Yellow Hand, Son of Cut Nose--Carries
Despatches for Terry--Good-by to the General.

CHAPTER XVIII. IN A TRAPPER'S BIVOUAC. Around the Camp-fire in a
Trapper's Bivouac--Telling Stories of the Old Trail--Old Hatcher's
Trip to the Infernal Regions--Colonel Cody's Story of California Joe
--A Practical Joke.

CHAPTER XIX. KIT CARSON ON THE YELLOWSTONE. More Stories of the Trail
--Frazier and the Bear--An Indian Elopement--The Ogallallas and the
Brules--Chaf-fa-ly-a--Kit Carson on the Yellowstone--Battle with the
Blackfeet--Carson, Bridger, and Baker on the Platte--Jim Cockrell--
Peg Leg Smith.

CHAPTER XX. BUILDING THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD. The Story of the
Building of the Union Pacific Railroad--Extract from General Sherman's
Memoirs--General Dodge's Description of the Country when he first
saw it--Explorations for a Route--Conference with President Lincoln--
Location of the Military Post of D. A. Russell and the Town of Cheyenne
--Driving the Last Spike.

FOOTNOTES.

PUBLICATION INFORMATION.





CHAPTER I.
EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS.



As early as a hundred and thirty-five years ago, shortly after England
had acquired the Canadas, Captain Jonathan Carver, who had been
an officer in the British provincial army, conceived the idea of
fitting out an expedition to cross the continent between the forty-third
and forty-sixth degrees of north latitude. His intention was to
measure the breadth of North America at its widest part, and to find
some place on the Pacific coast where his government might establish
a military post to facilitate the discovery of a "northwest passage,"
or a line of communication between Hudson's Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

In 1774 he was joined in his proposed scheme by Mr. Richard Whitworth,
a member of the British Parliament, and a man of great wealth.
Their plan was to form a company of fifty or sixty men, and with them
to travel up one of the forks of the Missouri River, explore the
mountains, and find the source of the Oregon. They intended to sail
down that stream to its mouth, erect a fort, and build vessels to
enable them to continue their discoveries by sea.

Their plan was sanctioned by the English government, but the breaking
out of the American Revolution defeated the bold project. This was
the first attempt to explore the wilds of the interior of the continent.

Thirty years later Sir Alexander Mackenzie crossed the continent
on a line which nearly marks the fifty-third degree of north latitude.
Some time afterwards, when that gentleman published the memoirs of
his expedition, he suggested the policy of opening intercourse between
the two oceans. By this means, he argued, the entire command of
the fur trade of North America might be obtained from latitude
forty-eight north, to the pole, excepting in that territory held
by Russia. He also prophesied that the relatively few American
adventurers who had been enjoying a monopoly in trapping along the
Northwest Coast would instantly disappear before a well-regulated trade.

The government of the United States was attracted by the report of
the English nobleman, and the expedition of Lewis and Clarke was
fitted out. They accomplished in part what had been projected
by Carver and Whitworth. They learned something of the character
of the region heretofore regarded as a veritable terra incognita.

On the 14th of May, 1804, the expedition of Lewis and Clarke left
St. Louis, following the course of the Missouri River, and returning
by the same route two years later. There were earlier explorations,
far to the south, but none of them reached as high up as the Platte.
Lewis and Clarke themselves merely viewed its mouth.

In 1810 a Mr. Hunt, who was employed by the Northwest Fur Company,
and Mr. Donald M'Kenzie, with a number of trappers under their charge,
were to make a journey to the interior of the continent, but, hampered
by the opposition of the Missouri Fur Company, they were compelled to
abandon the enterprise, and it was not until the beginning of 1812
that their historic journey was commenced.

On the 17th of January, while their boats landed at one of the old
villages established by the original French colonists of the region
then known as the Province of Louisiana, they met the celebrated
Daniel Boone, who was then in his eighty-fifth year, and the next
morning they were visited by John Coulter, who had been with Lewis and
Clarke on their memorable expedition eight years previously.[1]
Since the return of Lewis and Clarke's expedition, Coulter had made
a wonderful journey on his own account. He floated down the whole
length of the Missouri River in a small canoe, accomplishing the
passage of three thousand miles in a month.

On the 8th of April Hunt's party came in sight of Fort Osage,[2]
where they remained for three days, and were delightfully entertained
by the officers of the garrison. On the 10th they again embarked and
ascended the Missouri. On the 28th the party landed at the mouth
of the Platte and ate their breakfast on one of the islands there.
After passing the mouth of the river Platte, they camped on its banks
a short distance above Papillion Creek. On the 10th of May they
reached the village of the Omahas, camped in its immediate neighbourhood,
and on the 15th of the same month they started for the interior of
the continent. Their route lay far north of a line drawn parallel
to the Platte Valley, but they entered it after travelling through
the Black Hills, somewhere near the headwaters of the river from which
the beautiful valley takes its name. After untold hardships and
sufferings the party arrived at Astoria on the following February,
having travelled a distance of thirty-five hundred miles. They had
taken a circuitous route, for Astoria is only eighteen hundred miles,
in a direct line, from St. Louis.

The first authentic account of an expedition through the valley of the
Platte was that of Mr. Robert Stuart, in the employ of John Jacob Astor.
He was detailed to carry despatches from the mouth of the Columbia to
New York, informing Mr. Astor of the condition of his venture on the
remote shores of the Pacific. The mission entrusted to Mr. Stuart
was filled with perils, and he was selected for the dangerous duty
on account of his nerve and strength. He was a young man, and although
he had never crossed the Rocky Mountains, he had already given proofs,
on other perilous expeditions, of his competence for the new duty.
His companions were Ben Jones and John Day,[3] both Kentuckians,
two Canadians, and some others who had become tired of the wild life,
and had determined to go back to civilization.

They all left Astoria on the 29th of June, 1812, and reached the
headwaters of the Platte, thence they travelled down the valley to
its mouth, and embarked in boats for St. Louis.

When they reached the Snake River deserts, great sandy plains
stretched out before them. Only occasionally were there intervales of
grass, and the miserable herbage was saltweed, resembling pennyroyal.
The desponding party looked in vain for some relief from the lifeless
landscape. All game had apparently shunned the dreary, sun-parched
waste, but hunger was now and then appeased by a few fish which they
caught in the streams, or some sun-dried salmon, or a dog given to them
by the kind-hearted Shoshones whose lodges they sometimes came across.

At last the party tired of this weary route. They determined to
leave the banks of the barren Snake River, so, under the guidance
of a Mr. Miller who had previously trapped in that region, they were
conducted across the mountains and out of the country of the dreaded
Blackfeet. Miller soon proved a poor guide, and again the party
became bewildered among rugged hills, unknown streams, and the burned
and grassless prairies.

Finally they arrived on the banks of a river, on which their guide
assured them he had trapped, and to which they gave the name of Miller,
but it was really the Bear River which flows into Great Salt Lake.
They continued along its banks for three days, subsisting very
precariously on fish.

They soon discovered that they were in a dangerous region. One evening,
having camped rather early in the afternoon, they took their
fishing-tackle and prepared to fish for their supper. When they
returned to their camp, they were surprised to see a number of savages
prowling round. They proved to be Crows, whose chief was a giant,
very dark, and looked the rogue that they found him to be.

He ordered some of his warriors to return to their camp, near by,
and bring buffalo meat for the starving white men. Notwithstanding
the apparent kindness of this herculean chief, there was something
about him that filled the white men with distrust. Gradually the
number of his warriors increased until there were over a score of
them in camp. They began to be inquisitive and troublesome, and
the whites felt great concern for their horses, each man keeping
a close watch upon the movements of the Indians.

As no unpleasant demonstrations had been made by the savages, and
as the party had bought all the buffalo meat they had brought,
Mr. Stuart began to make preparations in the morning for his departure.
The savages, however, were for further dealings with their newly found
pale friends, and above everything else they wanted gunpowder,
for which they offered to trade horses. Mr. Stuart declined to
accommodate them. At this they became more impudent, and demanded
the powder, but were again refused.

The gigantic chief now stepped forward with an important air, and
slapping himself upon the breast, he gave the men to understand that
he was a chief of great power. He said that it was customary for
great chiefs to exchange presents when they met. He therefore
requested Mr. Stuart to dismount and give him the horse he was riding.
Mr. Stuart valued the animal very highly, so he shook his head at
the demand of the savage. Upon this the Indian walked up, and taking
hold of Mr. Stuart, began to push him backward and forward in his
saddle, as if to impress upon him that he was in his power.

Mr. Stuart preserved his temper and again shook his head negatively.
The chief then seized the bridle, gave it a jerk that scared the
horse, and nearly brought Mr. Stuart to the ground. Mr. Stuart
immediately drew his pistol and presented it at the head of the
impudent savage. Instantly his bullying ended, and he dodged behind
the horse to get away from the intended shot. As the rest of the
Crow warriors were looking on at the movement of their chief,
Mr. Stuart ordered his men to level their rifles at them, but not
to fire. Upon this demonstration the whole band incontinently fled,
and were soon out of sight.

The chief, finding himself alone, with true savage dissimulation
began to laugh, and pretended the whole affair was intended only
as a joke. Mr. Stuart did not relish this kind of joking, but it
would not do to provoke a quarrel; so he joined the chief in his
laugh with the best grace he could affect, and to pacify the savage
for his failure to procure the horse, gave him some powder, and
they parted professedly the best of friends.

It was discovered, after the savage had cleared out, that they had
managed to steal nearly all the cooking utensils of the party.

To avoid meeting the savages again, Mr. Stuart changed his route
farther to the north, leaving Bear River, and following a large branch
of that stream which came down from the mountains. After marching
twenty-five miles from the scene of their meeting with the Crows,
they camped, and that night hobbled all their animals. They preserved
a strict guard, and every man slept with his rifle on his arm,
as they suspected the savages might attempt to stampede their horses.

Next day their course continued northward, and soon their trail began
to ascend the hills, from the top of which they had an extended view
of the surrounding country. Not the sign of an Indian was to be seen,
but they did not feel secure and kept a very vigilant watch upon
every ravine and defile as they approached it. Making twenty-one
miles that day, they encamped on the bank of another stream still
running north. While there an alarm of Indians was given, and
instantly every man was on his feet with rifle ready to sell his life
only at the greatest cost. Indians there were, but they proved to be
three miserable Snakes, who were no sooner informed that a band of
Crows were in the neighbourhood, than they ran off in great trepidation.

Six days afterward they encamped on the margin of Mud River, nearly
a hundred and fifty miles from where they had met the impudent Crows.
Now the party began to believe themselves beyond the possibility of
any further trouble from them, and foolishly relaxed their usual
vigilance. The next morning they were up at the first streak of day,
and began to prepare their breakfast, when suddenly the cry of
"Indians! Indians! to arms! to arms!" sounded through the camp.

In a few moments a mounted Crow came riding past the camp, holding
in his hand a red flag, which he waved in a furious manner, as he
halted on the top of a small divide. Immediately a most diabolical
yell broke forth from the opposite side of the camp where the horses
were picketed, and a band of paint-bedaubed savages came rushing to
where they were feeding. In a moment the animals took fright and
dashed towards the flag-bearer, who vigorously kicked the flanks of
his pony, and loped off, followed by the stampeded animals which
were hurried on by the increasing yells of the retreating savages.

When the alarm was first given, Mr. Stuart's men seized their rifles
and tried to cut off the Indians who were after their horses, but
their attention was suddenly attracted by the yells in the opposite
direction. The savages, as they supposed, intended to make a raid
on their camp equipage, and they all turned to save it. But when
the horses had been secured the reserve party of savages dashed by
the camp, whooping and yelling in triumph, and the very last one of
them was the gigantic chief who had tried to joke with Mr. Stuart.
As he passed the latter, he checked up his animal, raised himself
in the saddle, shouted some insults, and rode on.

The rifle of one of the men, Ben Jones, was instantly levelled at
the chief, and he was just about to pull the trigger, when Mr. Stuart
exclaimed, "Not for your life! not for your life, you will bring
destruction upon us all!"

It was a difficult matter to restrain Ben, when the target could be
so easily pierced, and he begged, "Oh, Mr. Stuart, only let me have
one crack at the infernal rascal, and you may keep all the pay that
is due me."

"By heavens, if you fire, I will blow your brains out!" exclaimed
Mr. Stuart.

By that time the chief was far beyond rifle range, and the whole
daring band of savages, with all the horses, were passing out of sight
over the hills, their red flag still waving and the valley echoing
to their yells and demoniacal laughter.

The unhorsed travellers were dismayed at the situation in which they
found themselves. A long journey was still before them, over rocky
mountains and wind-swept plains, which they must now painfully
traverse on foot, carrying on their backs everything necessary for
their subsistence.

They selected from their camp equipage such articles as were absolutely
necessary for their journey, and those things which they could not
carry were cached. It required a whole day to make ready for their
wearisome march. Next morning they were up at the break of day.
They had set a beaver-trap in the river the night before, and rejoiced
to find that they had caught one of the animals, which served as a
meal for the whole party.

On his way back with the prize, the man who had gone for it, casually
looking up at a cliff several hundred feet high, saw what he thought
were a couple of wolves looking down upon him. Paying no attention
to them, he walked on toward camp, when happening to look back,
he still saw the watchful eyes peering over the edge of the precipice.
It now flashed upon him that they might not be wolves at all, but
Indian spies.

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