The First White Man to View the Great Salt Lake

The First White Man to View the Great Salt Lake By CARTER E. GRANT IN our last story we read that Jim Bridger became an orphan at fourteen, then a blacksmith until eighteen; how he enlisted with a hundred men under Major Henry and General William Ash- ley and proceeded up the Missouri, dragging loaded boats by "cordelle line;" how their horses were lost while on the long journey into Montana, where, in 1822, was es- tablished the farthest outpost of American life. Then we read of Ashley's return to St. Louis where he enlisted a second hundred men who were disastrously defeated by the Ree Indians, and of how Jed Smith the "Christian Trapper," accompanied by one rough French- Canadian, Baptiste, perilously made his way through the enemy's country, seeking help at Henry's Post on the Yellowstone, some two hundred miles away. We also learned how Jed and Jim were soon mountain friends on their way with eighty reckless trappers, hurrying down the Missouri to Ashley's assistance. uO here they go, speed- ing with the current of the turbu- lent river, then at its height! The restless group had little to do but eat, sleep, sing and tell yarns, and all these they did faultlessly. Far in the distance, the rising smoke from various groups of lodges spoke of the whereabouts of the Black- feet, the Sioux; Crows, Snakes, Rees, and Mandans. Little did this white crew realize that crouched about these fires the red men, sour and sullen, in feverish pow-wows counseled war, while near at hand in the medicine lodges, praying priests foretold the annihilation of the trespassing palefaces. As the darkness of the first night made deep shadows of the shore line, the boats seemed to spring forward, fairly doubling their velocity, wheeling around bends, shooting beneath dangerous bluffs, then gliding past opening hills and rolling plains. Jed prepared to tell [Note — This is the fifth of a secies of frontier narratives written by Carter E. Grant, who majored in Western History while at college and is now Principal of the Jordan Seminary. It gives us additional thrill- ing experiences of the "Trail-Breakers" into the. Great Basin before pioneer days. The former articles were, "In the Death Grip of a Grizzly;" "On the Trail Ahead of the Mormons;" "When Jed met the Comanches;" and "Jim Bridger Encounters the Red Men." — Editors. ] scalps as several of our men had already done. The thing which stirred us most was the realization that the powder and balls wound- ing or killing our men and horses, was ammunition we had laborious- ly lugged all the way from St. Louis, letting the Indians have it but the day before in exchange for the very animals they were now plunking almost to a finish. "After the whole thing was over and we had gathered up our wounded and dead, I stood on the bank of the stream watching the burial. When John Gardner's time came, a young fellow I had prom- ised to help care for, I thought of his mother's last words to me, and stepped out with my Bible, saying, 'I feel it a duty to read a verse and make a prayer. I want to report that he was buried in peace.' As I began reading, every hat came off, even Hugh Glass and the general showing their respect by uncover- the story of his eventful two hun- dred mile ride from the Cheyenne to the Yellowstone through the very heart of the savages' country; the eager men drew closer together, Bridger not excepted, that no word should be lost. 1 O begin with," the narration went on, "our men un- der Ashley were defeated a plenty! I never want to see a worse riot. Some of those hired fellows at the first attack ran for the boats like frightened partridges, but not swiftly enough to escape the hum- ming bullets of the Rees. I saw several fall headlong and make no further movement. Those of us on the front line got some real fighting. Every time we pulled down on 'em there was a killing, still we had to do it or lose our ing. Wi ELL, when dark- ness closed on the bloody battle ground, Baptiste and I agreed to ride a couple of horses that had escaped the bullets of the Rees, and search out you folks on the Yel- lowstone. As we were leaving, Ashley gripped my hand anxious- ly, 'Fifty miles a night for four nights over a dangerous country is no pleasure trip, I know, but it's our only hope. Sunday night next, we'll be scanning the river for your boats. Once you start back, the Missouri will do the rest!' At S we rode away, some of the men bid us farewell as if they never expected to see us again. 'As our tough Indian ponies jogged out of the thicket near the

124 The Improvement Era for December, 1929 general's camp, we soon got our bearings and proceeded quietly into the wilderness, always on the look- out for enemy campfires. Hour after hour passed. Several times we were startled by some wild animal, seemingly as frightened as we were. Because of our anxiety, the time seemed to drag; the dipper, our only time-piece, appeared stuck in the starry heavens, refusing to revolve as usual about the pole. Then things changed, for when drowsiness pulled hard at our eyes and nodding became the fashion, I noticed the pointers fairly jump- ing on their course. Wherever the brush allowed it, the Frenchman and I rode knee to knee, bumping as we went, which warded off sound sleeping. At last, sure enough, the night gloom was fad- ing. What a change! I believe I have never noticed it so much before. By the time it was fully light, not daring to proceed farther, we turned aside into the edge of a patch of timber, picketed our horses, and after a scant breakfast threw ourselves on the grass and a moment later, were snoring in great style. The long ride, following the tense experiences of the battle, so fatigued us that we slept through the daylight hours as if they were moments. After reach- ing safety, one looks back upon such experiences and wonders that the dangers which lurked on every side could be viewed so calmly. 'The sun had swung over us and was settling behind a western bluff when suddenly, startled by the shrill neighing of our horses, we scrambled to our feet, grasping our rifles. From a bluff a half mile back on our left, a faint whinnying answer reached us. 'Thy've seed us!' the Frenchman stuttered. 'Lucky thing horses still got saddles on/ We could see the Indians hesitate a moment as if uncertain what to do. Then they separated, part dashing toward us down the ravine, while the others scurried over the rim of the ridge for the open prairie, de- termined to intercept us and get our scalps if we attempted to go that way. I can tell you our hair bristled a bit. Chances for escape seemed pretty slim. OUR horses, sensing the danger, lunged and jumped before we were mounted, and, as they were fully rested, we just let 'em out, holding in only when thick trees and brush made swift going impossible. We knew we had the advantage, for the savages, more than likely, had been traveling all day and their ponies would soon fag. After several miles of hard riding, we began to feel safer. As darkness closed about us, we were confronted by the river through which we were compelled to swim our horses, wetting ourselves in fine style. Thus we proceeded until about midnight, when suddenly the Frenchman checked his horse C, BARTER E. GRANT is a son of the late Joseph H. Grant, presi- dent of the Davis stake, and Eva Etdredge Grant. His example should be an inspiration to all who thirst foe knowledge but feel that their opportunity for schooling has passed. He finished his high school work and by diligent study and painful economy graduated from college after he had ten children. He is now working for his Master's de- gree, his thesis for which will be on the Great Basin and pioneer life. Brother Grant is now principal of the Jordan L. D. S. Seminary. _. ;^Q0g^Xi0£ Green River, the Home of the first Trapping Rendezvous of the Rocky Mountains. It was west of here that Bridger fell upon the Bear River, running north-west, as he supposed to the Columbia. and with one hand uplifted leaned forward sniffing the air and whis- pered misgivingly, 'Nom de Dieu!' It iss smoke! Rees, maybe! What we do now?' "Catching a whiff of the smoul- dering wood and dismounting, I ordered Baptiste to put his hands on the horse's nostrils, preventing their giving us away, and I crawled cautiously forward through a cherry thicket, moving only a few feet at a time until I was peering through a willowy screen near a dying fire. The glowing embers gave me a shadowy view of the camp, not two rods away. At first glance there seemed to be only one man — unmistakably a Ree, crouched cross-legged before a heap of red embers. He was evidently very weary, for his chin rested heavily upon his breast. When my breathing got a little easier, I raised to my knees and saw the man was not alone. Two other warriors, likely as sleepy as their guard, sprawled upon the grass with their feet to the fire, their bodies looming in the shadows. Three black hulks — horses by the sound of the nipping and blowing — were barely visible in the deep gloom of the cotton- woods, and, other than this, no life seemed evident. J\S I surveyed them, my mind was made up. I felt sure they belongd to the tribe that had treacherously dealt death to our men only two days before. The village, possibly, was short of meat, and I figured these fellows and the men chas- ing us were a part of a scouting party looking for buffalo and that by morning they would unite and be on our trail. With jaded horses, we could hardly hope to escape.

The Improvement Era for December, 1929 125 "When I had crawled back to cited at participating in a killing, enemy, and then as we hurried off the waiting Frenchman, we agreed apparently cold-blooded but nece:>- through the darkness, our tired ani- that there was but one way out. sary for the preservation of our mals, not to be left alone, came Besides, we needed fresh horses, own lives. Back I came, urging our floundering through the brush in our rear, but our fresh steeds soon out-distanced them. Now, fellows, you can imagine the outburst of wild cries and excited jabber of those twenty-five disappointd war- riors chasing us, when following our tracks they reached their com- panions' campfire." Modern traffic near the site where Jim Bridger first set his eyes upon the Great Salt Lake. umg from and these skulking thieves owed us many. 'We trade, no steal 'em!' laughed Baptiste, and then, gloat- ing over the prospect of revenge, he whispered, 'Scalps, too, eh!' I looked at him in the darkness, hardly understanding his meaning. W E secured our horses and a moment later, with rifles cocked, we were returning stealth- ily through the blackness. By crawling on all fours we made sure that no cracking stick or other noise should betray us. Upon peering through the brush again, I saw the camp just as I had left it, only the fire glowed a bit fresher from the little breeze springing up. 'Ready,' I whispered, and at the roar of my gun, the man who had been sitting, leaped forward with a wild yell, staggered, and fell across the burning embers. Simul- taneously the two sleepers scram- bled in bewilderment to their feet, and at the sound of Baptiste's rifle, one went down. The other seized his gun, but with a warhoop from the Frenchman we bounded from cover, our pistols popping in the darkness. " 'Examine the horses, quickly, Baptiste,' I demanded as the brief affair ended, 'and choose the two best. I'll fetch ours!' and I was off stumbling through trees, ex- fagged animals into the clearing by the fire. And then I saw savagery! The Frenchman was wiping three dripping scalps upon the grass. 'Heavens', I shouted, 'It's bad enough to be forced to kill, but this is heathenish!' B. whose >APTISTE, experience from a child among the wild tribes had fully devel- oped the savagery lat- ent in most men, turn- ed to me: 'By and by you mountain man, too; then — Wagh!' and he finished with a sweep of his reeking knife about his left wrist, indicating .the conqueror's right of 'lifting hair'. With a chuckle of satisfac- tion, he tucked the hideous souvenirs un- der his belt and wiped his hands on his buckskin trousers." Turning to Brid- ger, Jed exclaimed, "Jim, if I stay in the mountains a life time I can never, never indulge in such barbarism! "It took but a moment," con- tinued Smith, "to shift our saddles to the better horses of our fallen NEIHARDT in contin- the narrative and quoting 'The Ashley-Smith Explora- tion" by Dale, says when the mountaineers united at the mouth of the Cheyenne river, that the glare of the embers around which they sat shone upon the features of some men soon to be the most outstanding "trail-breakers" of America. We look back upon torches searching the trails and il- luminating the dark, mysterious spaces beyond the heretofore im- penetrable Rockies; and we see their bones scattered from the mouth of the Cheyenne to th0 mouth of the Colorado and the far-distant Columbia. Not a few found permanent rest by the "Great Inland Sea." In fact the trails of these men opened the whole west- ern portion of United States, in- cluding Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colo- rado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, It was around this bend that Jim Bridger and his men turned southward through Gentile Valley into Willow Valley (Cache Valley) in the sum- mer of 1824, a few months before the Great Inland Sea was discovered. I Washington, Oregon and Califor- nia. The famous Jedediah S. Smith became the first white man making: his way overland to California, through Utah and Nevada, up the (Continued on page 172)