Bridger Again Fights the Indians

Briefer Ag,ain Fights the Indians By CARTER E. GRANT Note: This, the sixth of a series of frontier narratives, is written by Carter E. Grant. The five articles published by the "Era" are, "In the Death Grip of a Grizzly;" "On the Trail Ahead of the Mormons;" "When Jed met the Comanches;" "Jim Bridger Encounters the Red Man;" and "The first White Man to View the Great Salt Lake." Jim Bridger THE "Arm of the Pacific" as discovered in our last story by James Bridger was soon found to be an inland salt sea, and, by the trappers and writers of pre- pioneer days, was called 'The Grand Salt Lake," being thus des- ignated in 1826 in General Wil- liam Ashley's legal papers. Three of Ashley's men as you have read, reached this inland sea within a few months of each other. A word on this matter: Bridger discovered the lake and tasted its waters in the late fall of 1824. When Weber river froze, Provot came out of Weber canyon and saw the shining waters to the westward, but as far as we know he knew nothing about the waters being "salty" un- til so informed the next spring by James Bridger; Jedediah S. Smith coming north through the Raft River country from beyond the Snake river, also fell upon the inland sea in the early spring of 1825. jOME writers claim that Bridger and Provot turned southward over the sand ridges be- yond the Weber river from Pro- vot's winter quarters of 1824-25, west of Ogden, and that these men even skirted the Salt Lake to the present site of Salt Lake City, and possibly to the Utah Lake. Any- way, by the middle of June, 1825, they were on the Green river at Henry's Fork, having already finished their spring trapping on the Weber and Ogden rivers. As no white man before this time had trapped the Weber or Ogden, it is more than likely that these men, knowing of the rich strike close at hand and seeing the desert stretches of the southern sand-ridge un- marked by any streams as far as the eye could see, immediately busied themselves with the beaver catch. Well they knew that other groups of trappers would soon ar- rive, ready to divide the spoils. Therefore, it is thought that they immediately began trapping up the rivers, proceeding into Summit county, past the Kamas prairie, where they met General Ashley, Sublette, Jedediah S. Smith, Jack- son and other great leaders, and then followed with the crowd to the rendezvous on the Green river, 1825, the first trapper's "re-union" to be held within the confines of the Rocky Mountains. We are informed that "this was a felicitous meeting, and Ashley heard with great interest, from each of the leaders, a recital of their travels and adventures, and espe- cially of the extent and condition of the fur trade as they had ob- served it." To one living one hundred years away from those exciting times, it hardly seems pos- sible that the waters found by Bridger, Provot and Smith, should be shown upon Ashley's map as a great navigable river, the myth- ical "Buenaventura," flowing west- ward into the bay of San Francisco. However, Ashley himself declares that the river followed by Bridger, Provot, Smith, meaning the We- ber; emptied into a large lake through which one might easilv sail to the mighty Pacific. In July, 1825, he writes: "The necessity of my unremitted attention to my business prevented me from grati- fying a great desire to descend the river [Weber] to the ocean, which I ultimately declined with the greatest reluctance." Only by reading such inaccurate reports can one realize the dearth of knowledge existing at that time about the vast country between the Continental Divide and the far-off Pacific. What a revelation this seven hun- dred miles of trackless country, comprising desert wastes and snow- capped mountains, would have been to General Ashley could he have boarded a modern "flyer" and swooped across to the Pacific! What a transformation of maps would have followed, for in all this vast triangular space between the Snake and the Colorado no river rising in the Rockies reached the sea. I JAMES Beckwourth and Washington Irving have each painted glowing pictures of this first Rocky Mountain rendezvous on the Green river, of which we have already written. As General Ashley built no block-houses, or forts, he chose accessible feed grounds in various centers for trad- ing places, and to these "Ren- dezvous" from the most remote streams and lakes, flocked the mountaineers. Others came from the East over a long hot trail, for the great train of supplies from St. Louis invariably arrived in mid- summer. This season also gra- ciously favored the trapper, for pelts were not taken during the "mothering" days of the beaver. Thus the men gathered to the sup- ply camps, bearing their wealth bound in dried packs of peltries. At this first rendezvous in the history of western America, Beckwourth, who was present, informs us that about eight hundred people gath- ered, one-half of whom were wom- en and children, spouses and off- spring of the trappers. He states

The Improvement Era for February, 1930 259 that whiskey "flowed like water" and that following the rollicking nights of careless sport and gambling many of the "free trap- pers" ended their glory in a "bor- rowing state," having to lease themselves out for a year to com- pany managers in order to even up their accounts. Wi HEN General Ash- ley withdrew, in 1825, his long train of pack animals carried more wealth than any other like outfit in the history of the mountains, writers placing the figures from one to two hundred thousand dollars worth of furs. The general, find- ing his own horses altogether inad- equate, was compelled to borrow a battalion from the Hudson Bay Company trappers who had come in from the Columbia river, and also a number from the Salt Lake men in order that the stacks of furs piled in great heaps in Ash- ley's out-door trading post might be loaded and started for the States. Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith with some thirty or forty other men were chosen to accompany the outfits, Smith going all the way to St. Louis, but Bridger only as far as the navigable waters of the Big Horn. The incidents on this dan- gerous journey have already been told in the articles on Jedediah S. Smith. While at St. Louis, Ash- ley agreed to sell his holdings to Smith, Sublette and Jackson, but the general was to furnish supplies once a year, sending a large train to the appointed rendezvous. Ac- cordingly these first trail-breakers of the "Oregon Trail" turned westward by the Platte in the early spring of 1826, (twenty-one years ahead of the Pioneers) , going into ► *»m 1$H%.-:-. , .■3m. ■■'■■ . Early Inhabitants of the Plains the mountains accompanied by an abundance of men and some three hundred pack animals, all headed for the meeting place below Ogden on the Weber. A] LFTER Bridger and his men saw General Ashley's wealth of furs deposited in bull boats on the rough waters of the Big Horn, they retraced their steps to the Green river, turning thence northward over the mountains to the head waters of the Snake and the Jackson Hole country. Bridger seems to have hidden himself from view this particular fall, some writers claiming that during this time he went into the Yellowstone National Park country, thereby becoming the first white man to see these wonderful expressions of na- ture. Soon after this Jim began telling strange stories about "hot springs" and of places where the ground trembled as he walked, and where in one small crater he heard a terrible gurgling roar and then there occurred an awful explosion, resembling thunder, immediately a huge volume of water shot high into the air, falling in torrents around him, almost washing him along with it. To be sure, at these strange stories, the mountain men laughed, nudging one another, not knowing then how truthfully Bridger spoke. By the late fall of 1825, Bridger was again back at Willow Valley, (Cache Valley) near the place from which he cut himself loose a little more than a year before in a bull boat for the Great Salt Lake. Just at this time Beckwourth with seventy trappers sent by Ashley, arrived on the scene. Beckwourth states in his journal that the general offered him $1000 for making the long trip, guiding the new men to their desti- nation and announcing to Sublette that Ashley was willing to sell to Smith, Sublette and Jackson and agreeing to accompany a great pack train to the Salt Lake rendezvous at the forks of the Weber and Og- den in the early summer of 1826. Therefore, before the winter snow set in, the various trappers cached their furs in Cache Valley and moved winter quarters to the We- ber. This was Provot's camping grounds of the year previous, and altogether a very acceptable terri- tory for wintering animals. It was here that the Bannocks stole eighty horses and carried them to the Portneuf country, near Pocatello. The story of the fight is told in our third article of this series. /\LTER, writing on "James Bridger," says, "The Salt

260 The Improvement Era for February, 1930 Lake rendezvous that winter, at the present site of Ogden City, was one of the greatest gatherings of the kind known to mountaineers. Hundreds of trappers from all parts of the west came to avail themselves of the agreeable com- pany and the genial climate. A great many of the older men had squaw wives, and families of chil- dren, the trapping body proper thus totaling around seven hun- dred. [These figures are substantiated by other writers.] But toward winter a tribe of Snake Indians invited them- selves to the rendezvous, bringing all their fam- ilies, live stock and other property. Beckwourth says they number ed 2500, making a total population of about 3200." It is claimed that be- cause the Snake Indians had ability to conceal themselves like serpents that they came rightly by their lowly name; still others say this name was given them because of unclean manner of life, living upon roots, digging in the ground, etc. In any case, it seems "they were poor providers and inveterate beg- gars, usually impoverished and not always as clean as other In- dians." With it all, nevertheless, their young women proved them- selves so exceptionally attractive to the lonesome mountain men that every now and then a young dark- eyed maiden was led in Indian marriage to the white man's lodge. In later years "Jim" himself took one of these "daughters of the La- manites," to his Fort on the Green river, making the third Indian wife he "fell heir to." It is said that the Snake Indian visitors proved very religious, carrying on many -rites in their large, "Medicine ■Lodge" or "religious tabernacle," a place set apart somewhat from the other lodges. Here during the long winter days, "both Indians and whites whiled away much of the time, having their future read by the medicine man or high priest." weeks these primitive navigators rowed slowly around the lake near the shore in quest of beaver-bear- ing streams, and also for the outlet of the lake. As fresh water inlets were comparatively scarce, espe- cially along the barren westerly shore, the trapper explorers suffered intensely at times for drinking wa- ter; they also experienced a short- age of game for food." Having circled the lake, they left their boats Old Fort Bridger A; _k.S soon as the south winds of February, 1826, began melting the snow, four men were sent down the Weber in bull boats and began exploring the Salt Lake. Dale says, "For more than three near the mouth of the Bear river and made their way over the east- ern hills to Cache Valley where they met Bridger and Fitzpatrick. They gave a very discouraging re- port of the lake for game and beaver. Neither had they found the famous "Buenaventura" river which was shown on all early maps as heading in the Rockies and emptying into the Pacific. As far as is known, no other moun- taineers ventured on the lake until John C. Fremont explored it in a rubber canoe almost twenty years later. He in turn was followed by the "Mormons." While Bridger was camped in Cache Valley, a fearless brigade leader, "Logan," began a trapping detour of some of the streams. While near the present site of Lo- gan City, he with his men were surprised by the Indians and com- pletely annihilated. A searching party, turning aside into every thicket and ravine failed to locate any of the unfortunate men's bodies. Thus we see how com- pletely the savages could carry on their foul deeds. OHORTLY after Lo- gan's death, some of the trappers having gone north to the mouth of Portneuf, found a hornet's nest of Blackfeet there. Immediately a sharp battle took place. We are informed that swift retribution overtook the Indians and that the white men withdrew with five long-haired scalps, while the sixth coveted prize before it could be "lifted" jumped into the river on a wounded savage and was carried away by the rapid current. When the spring trapping drew to a close, Bridger and his men raised their vari- ous caches in Willow Valley and made their way to the Salt Lake ren- dezvous of 1826 on the Weber. They had just arrived, when an Indian runner, acting as a scout for Robert Campbell and his trappers, came hurry- ing into camp completely exhausted, saying, "White men need pow- der! They soon die! Blackfeet, big crowd, fight hard." He informed his anxious hearers that the scene of battle was a day's travel on a horse, about forty miles or more to the southward, where the lake meets the mountain, possibly south of the present site of Farmington, I .T was enough! Bridg- er, Provot, Beckwourth and sev- eral others mounted on swift horses were soon speeding over the sand knolls and sagebrush mounds of the sand-ridge, realizing that mo- ments saved might mean life to their friends. It seems that in their anxiety to. give aid they thought little of their own peril and the hazardous trap that awaited them. At length, seeing their friends en- camped in the willows, forward they urged their tired horses. Shortly after the re-union the In- dians again made an attack, ex- pecting to clean up the whole bat- talion, but they were repulsed by the unerring marksmanship of the trappers, who, as Beckwourth rec- ords, brought down an Indian with almost every pop of the rifle. As the fight lasted unreasonably long and the little band saw their real danger, Bridger and sixteen of his companions decided to rout the foe by a sudden bold rush toward the Indian's stronghold, thereby causing the usual savage stampede. (Continued on page 302)