KIT 
 
University of California Berkeley 
 
 BEQUEST OF 
 HARVEY FERGUSSON 
 
s 
 
 KIT CAH.SOU. 
 
LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 KIT CARSON, 
 
 THE 
 
 GREAT WESTERN HUNTER AND GUIDE: 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 WILD AND ROMANTIC EXPLOITS AS A HUNTER AND TRAPPE1 
 
 THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS; THRILLING ADVENTURES AND 
 
 HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES AMONG THE INDIANS AND 
 
 MEXICANS; HIS DARING AND INVALUABLE 
 
 SERVICES AS A GUIDE TO SCOUTING 
 
 AND OTHER PARTIES, ETC., ETC. 
 
 WITH AN ACCOUNT OF VARIOUS GOVERNMENT EXPEDITIONS 
 TO THE FAR WEST. 
 
 BY CHARLES BURDETT. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PORTER & COATE8, 
 
Copyright, 1865, by JOHN iu 1*0X7X7 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IN offering to the public a revised and complete 
 history of the most remarkable of American fron- 
 tiersmen, we perform a pleasing task. All the at- 
 tainable circumstances connected with his life, ad- 
 ventures and death are fully set forth, and we offer 
 this in confidence as a reliable authority for the 
 reader. 
 
 No one should hesitate to familiarize himself with 
 the exploits of the subject of this volume. They 
 evince a magnanimity and an uprightness of char- 
 acter that is rarely found in one leading so daring 
 and intensely wild a life, and cannot but contribute 
 their share of lustre to the interesting records of the 
 Far West. We regret that his modesty, equally 
 proverbial with his daring, prompted him to with- 
 hold many of the exciting incidents of his career 
 from the public. 
 
 We have compiled a portion of this work from 
 such official reports of his great skill, indomitable 
 energy, and unfaltering 'courage as have been com- 
 
 3 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 municated by his friend and commander, Col. Fre- 
 mont, who has invariably awarded to him all the 
 best attributes of manhood, when opportunity af- 
 forded. Added to these, our hero had been prevailed 
 upon by a few of his friends to communicate some 
 of the records of the most important passages in 
 his extraordinary and eventful life, which are em- 
 bodied in this volume. 
 
 His has indeed been a life of peculiarly exciting 
 personal hazards, bold adventures, daring coolness, 
 and moral and physical courage, such as has seldom 
 transpired in the world, and we have been greatly 
 impressed, in its preparation, with the necessity for a 
 thorough work of this kind. All are aware that the 
 young, and even matured, often seek for books of 
 wild adventure, and if those of an unhurtful and 
 truthful character are not found, they are apt to be- 
 take themselves to trashy and damaging literature. 
 In this view, this work has a purpose which, we 
 trust, will commend it to every family 
 the land. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 of tlie narrative from what race descended his 
 fame theater of his exploits nativity his father emi- 
 grates to Missouri father's occupation Kit's appren- 
 ticeship dissatisfaction with his trade joins an expedi- 
 tion to Santa Fe surgical operation Santa Fe, its 
 situation, business, style of buildings, water, appearance, 
 altitude, scenery, population spends the winter at Taoa 
 learns the Spanish language -joins a party bound to 
 Missouri fe turns to Santa Fe becomes a teamster- 
 El Paso, its grape culture, style of living of its people, 
 name youth of traveler new occupation for the winter 
 becomes interpreter for a trader 38 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Chihuahua, cathedral, statues, public buildings, convent, 
 mint, trade, age, population Carson longs for the prairie 
 changes employment returns to Taos joins a party 
 of hunters and trappers to punish the Indians result of 
 the affray Indian style of fighting method of trapping 
 for beaver beaver signs setting the traps bait- 
 fastening the traps caution in setting the traps 21 
 
 (5) 
 
6 CONTEXTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Mi 
 
 Oarson s qualifications for a trapper starts fct California 
 desert in the route Mohave Indians, non-intercourse 
 with whites, appearance, dress, ornaments, painting their 
 bodies, money Mission San Gabriel, cattle, horses, 
 sheep, mules, vineyards, income other Missions in Cal- 
 ifornia, when founded, laborers Missions of Upper 
 California Missionary subscriptions management of 
 the fund Coinmandante-general the Monks golden 
 age of the Missions 2fc 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 New Mexico and Arizona their desert prairies Carson 
 in California traps on the San Joaquin the valley of 
 the Sacramento 40 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Digger Indians, a description of them, and their mode 
 of living Carson's visit to a ranclie in search of a cow- 
 hid journey to the camp with his prize 45 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Carson at the Mission San Gabriel recovers sixty stolott 
 horses after a tight with the Indians "Los Angelos" 
 climate of California 54 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Visit to a ranche likes California, but likes buffalo better 
 leaves Los Angclos, and traps on the Colorado in a 
 tight place, but gets out of it , .. 66 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Trapping with Young upon the Colorado captures cattle 
 and horses from the Indians goes to Santa Fe, disposes 
 of furs, and sows his wild oats coureurs des Lois, travels. 
 
CONTEXTS. 7 
 
 feftM 
 
 dress, "habits joins Mr. Fitzpatrick trapping among the 
 Nez Perces winters in the New Park punishes the 
 Crow Indians for horse-stealing pursues and punishes 
 rubbers of a cache flies from a party of sixty Indians,.. 76 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Hunts with two companions saving his money trading 
 with Captain Lee pursues an Indian horse-thief and 
 recovers the horses without assistance traps on the 
 Laramie fight with two grizzlies description of the 
 grizzly bear, his food traps among the Blackfeet un- 
 successful attempt to chastise Blackfeet horse-thieves 
 Carson is wounded Bridger's pursuit without finding 
 them 83 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Oarson, recovered, attends summer rendezvous on Green 
 River description of the rendezvous camp, traders, 
 charges- British Fur Comnapv the Indians bringing 
 in furs appearance of Montreal at a fair for the Indians 
 trappers and traders from the States purchases of the 
 trappers, necessaries, luxuries, Indian wife 93 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Green River rendezvous again the backwoodsman Car- 
 son the peace-maker Sherman the bully, his punish- 
 ment cause of the duel trapping and parley with the 
 Blackfeet on Humboldt River explores the desert- 
 discovers the river afterwards named for him 101 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Dreary prospect on the Humboldt Humboldt Lake sinks 
 of other rivers overflow of Humboldt Lake and River 
 station at the sink, the traders Humboldt Indians 
 Fourth of July on the Humboldt Humboldt sinking 
 land available for agriculture 011 this river 10S 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MM 
 
 Carson on the Humboldfc sufferings of the return party- 
 Pyramid Circle a horse purchased for food buffalo 
 hunt, meat jerked horses stolen by the Indians ex- 
 tent of buffalo ranges buffalo upon the Platte in 1857, 
 numbers, trails crossing the river, animals killed lid 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Carson traps with a party of a hundred in the Blackfcet 
 country winter camp among the Crows Indian lodges 
 winter life of the trappers fight with the Blackfeet 
 Carson saves the life of a friend, dislodges the Indiana 
 from a rocky fastness, and compels their flight no more 
 molestation the rendezvous trade with the Navnjos 
 Indians fort at Brown's Hole goes again against the 
 Blackfeet, a thousand warriors assemble, retire without 
 an engagement traps on the Salmon River among the 
 Blackfeet, another fight, leaves their country Chinook 
 and Flathcad Indians process of flattening the head.. 126 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Carson continues trapping the trade becomes unprofitable 
 war of extermination upon the beaver, silk for hats 
 prevents Carson's experience enables him to aid one 
 who should explore in behalf of science knowledge of 
 the country comes to Bent's Fort, forsaking trapping 
 becomes hunter for the fort his employers his 
 business reputation as a hunter fulfills the early hopes 
 of him knowledge of the country regard shown him, 
 especially by the Indians diplomatist between the Sioux 
 and the Camanches marriage death of his wife 
 takes his child to St. Louis for education changes at 
 his old home reception at St. Louis meets Col. Fre- 
 mont engages to guide Fremont's exploring party to 
 the South Pass in tV Rocky Mountains 139 
 
CONTEXTS. 9 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MM 
 
 Party of explorers starting style of encamping defense 
 morning in camp ford of the Kansas India-rubber 
 boat accident from overloading the boat Carson ill 
 lies in camp on the prairie 152 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Road over rolling prairie Pawnee country false alarm 
 of the presence of Indians Carson rides to discover 
 the cause coast of the Platte River party of trappers 
 from Fort Laramie one of this party joins Fremont's 
 company buffalo appearance of the herds feasting 
 in the camp Carson's mishap in the hunt Carson, 
 Maxwell, and Fremont join in the chase 157 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Fremont divides his party attempt to lasso a wild horse 
 Maxwell prevents an Indian attack Indians on a buf- 
 falo hunt return laden with meat Cheyenne village 
 tripod support for their weapons Fremont entertained 
 by the chief tribute to the Great Spirit on taking the 
 pipe Jim Beckwith other settlers on the mountain 
 streams St. Vrain's Fort Fort Laramie Carson's 
 camp excitement in the company hostile intentions 
 of the Indians preparations for continuing the explo- 
 rations one of the command dismissed 167 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The growth of Artemisia fate of the Indian party so 
 much dreaded cache of wagons and other effect* 
 value of Carson's aid to Fremont propriety of calling 
 this an exploring party ascent to the South Pass- 
 exploration up a tributary of Green River lake at its 
 source continue to explore in the mountains Fremont 
 climbs the highest summit why Carson was not with 
 bim... .... 178 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 JAM 
 
 Party returns to Fort Laramie Carson remains- marriag 
 joins Fremont a second exploring expedition 
 object of the expedition Great Salt Lake Fremont's 
 description current impressions in regard to the lake 
 Beer Springs Hot Springs Standing Rock 188 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 A part of Fremont's men return East leave Fort Hall, 
 en route for the valley of the Columbia difficulty of 
 finding camping places Carson kills buffalo melan- 
 choly looking country crossing Snake River fish- 
 eating Indians refitting equipage at the Dalles pro- 
 posed return route spirits of the party Tlamath 
 Lake sufferings of the party 208 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Fremont's story of the difficulties and exposures of his 
 party hot springs explorations for grass mountain 
 lake central ridge of the Sierra Nevada Indians 
 talks by signs Indian guide encouragement afforded 
 by Carson's descriptions of California provisions low 
 Bnow deep animals weak Indian harangue guide 
 deserts Carson recognizes Sacramento valley and the 
 coast range taking the horses through the snow sleds 
 for the baggage pine nuts the food of the Indians 
 glorious sunrise 217 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Thunder storm view of the Sacramento, and Bay of San 
 Francisco mauls to path the snow Carson saves Fre- 
 mont from drowning rauid river, snow, grass, pines, 
 live oak, mistletoe division of the party horses lost 
 members of the party wander, return horses killed for 
 food country improving in beauty arrival at Sutler's 
 Fort description of a cache 237 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 VAQtt 
 
 Carson at hoinj in Taos decides to commence farming 
 preparations Fremont requests his service tor a third 
 expedition meeting at Bent's Fort head-waters 
 Great Salt Lake expedition divides Horse-Thief In- 
 dians the skirmish 250 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Arrival at Slitter's Fort command of Gen. Castro to leave 
 the country his march against Fremont Fremont de- 
 parts for Oregon Indians instigated by the Mexicans, 
 Fremont's march against them he returns to California 
 another Indian fight , 264 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Loss to Fremont's party Carson's attack upon Indian 
 village start for the Sacramento Fremont's campaign 
 against the Mexicans captures Sonoma calls Ameri- 
 can settlers into his service Gen. Castro leaves San 
 Francisco Fremont garrisons Sutter's Fort marches 
 to Monterey Commodore Sloat in possession hoists 
 the flag of the United States 273 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 I remont marches on, and occupies Los Angelos appointed 
 Governor of California Carson starts for Washington 
 as bearer of dispatches unexpected meeting with Apache 
 Indians meets the expedition of Gen. Kearney returns 
 to California as guide 280 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 March to California Mexicans intercept Kearney's troops 
 American attack on the Mexican force disastrous 
 result Carson and Lieut. Beale reach San Diego re- 
 infoi cements sent by Com. Stockton capture of Los 
 Angelos Mexicans surrender to Fremont want of 
 harmony in the American camps 286 
 
12 CONTEXTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 MM 
 
 Graphic description of the entrance into Monterey, of Fre- 
 mont, Carson, and party indiscretions of American 
 officers Kearney's dispatch to the War Department 
 Fremont's extraordinary ride 302 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Fremont visits his Mariposa purchase grand hunt and 
 ball the fandango Carson and Beale ordered to Wash- 
 ington kind reception appointed to a lieutenancy- 
 encounter with Camanches arrival at Los Angelos 
 sent to the Tejon Pass again to Washington arrival 
 at home the warlike Apaches Carson entertains Fre- 
 mont and suffering explorers 315 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Dreadful sufferings endured by Fremont and party error 
 in engaging a guide Fremont's letter to his wife hor- 
 rible details 330 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Mr. Carvalho's narrative cravings of hunger disgusting 
 food considered a delicacy Death of Mr. Fuller Car- 
 son joins Col. Beale as guide the Apache and Camanche 
 Indians 341 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Jiirson and Maxwell's settlement exploits in defense of 
 his neighbors encounter with the Cheyennes rescue.. 341 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Grand trapping expedition the Mountain Parks 
 Pike's Peak Carson drives sheep to California 
 San Francisco appointed Indian Agent habits- 
 services in New Mexico his death at Fort Lyon 
 summing up 369 
 
LIFE OF 
 
 CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 As, for their intrepid boldness and stern 
 truthfulness, the exploits and deeds of the old 
 Danish sea-kings, have, since the age of Canute, 
 been justly heralded in song and story ; so now 
 by the world-wide voice of the press, this, their 
 descendant, as his name proves him, is brought 
 before the world: and as the stern integrity of 
 the exploits and deeds of the old Danes in the 
 age of Canute were heralded by song and 
 story ; so too, in this brief and imperfect me- 
 moir, are those of one who by name and birth- 
 right claims descent from them. The subject 
 of the present memoir, Christopher Carson, fa- 
 miliarly known under the appellation of Kit 
 Carson, is one of the most extraordinary men 
 
 (13) 
 
14 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 of the present era. His fame has long been es- 
 tablished throughout this country and Europe, 
 as a most skillful and intrepid hunter, trap- 
 per, guide, and pilot of the prairies and moun- 
 tains of the far West, and Indian fighter. But 
 liis celebrity in these characters is far sur- 
 passed by that of his individual personal traits 
 of courage, coolness, fidelity, kindness, honor, 
 and friendship. The theatre of his exploits is 
 extended throughout the whole western portion 
 of the territory of the United States, from tho 
 Mississippi to the Pacific, and his associates 
 have been some of the most distinguished men 
 of the present age, to all of whom he has be- 
 come an object of affectionate regard and 
 marked respect. The narrative which follows 
 will show his titles to this distinction, so far aa 
 his modesty (for the truly brave are always 
 modest) has permitted the world to learn any- 
 thing of his history. 
 
 It appears, from the various declarations of 
 those most intimate with Christopher Carson, 
 as well as from a biography published a num- 
 ber of years before his death, that he was a 
 native of Madison county, Kentucky, and was 
 born on the 24th of December, 1809. Colonel 
 Fremont in his exhaustive and interesting Re- 
 port of his Exploring Expedition to Oregon 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 15 
 
 and North California, in 1843-44, says that 
 Carson is a native of Boonslick county, Mis- 
 souri ; and from his long association with the 
 hunter, he probably makes the statement on 
 Carson's own authority. The error, if it is an 
 Frror, may have arisen from the fact stated by 
 Mr. Peters, that Carson's father moved from 
 Kentucky to Missouri, when Christopher was 
 only one year old. He settled in what is now 
 Howard county, in the central part of Mis- 
 souri. 
 
 At the time of Mr. Carson's emigration, Mis- 
 souri was called Upper Louisiana, being a part 
 of the territory ceded to the United States by 
 France in 1803, and it became a separate State, 
 under the name of Missouri, in 1821. When 
 Mr. Carson removed his family from Kentucky, 
 and settled in the new territory, it was a wild 
 region, naturally fertile, thus favoring his views 
 as a cultivator ; abounding in wild game, and 
 affording a splendid field of enterprise for the 
 hunter, but infested on all sides with Indians, 
 often hostile, and always treacherous. 
 
 As Mi Carson united the pursuits of farmer 
 *nd hunter, and lived in a sort of block-house 
 or fort, as a precaution against the attacks of 
 the neighboring Indians, his son became accus- 
 tomed to the presence of danger, and the ne- 
 
16 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 cessity of earnest action and industry from 
 earliest childhood. 
 
 At the age of fifteen, Kit Carson \vas ap 
 prenticed to Mr. Workman, a saddler. This 
 trade requiring close confinement, was, of 
 course, utterly distasteful to a bey already ac- 
 customed to the use of the rifle, and the stir- 
 ring pleasures of the hunter's life, and at tho 
 end of two years, his apprenticeship was ter- 
 minated, for Kit, who, with his experience as 
 the son of a ntted hunter, himself perfectly fa- 
 miliar with the rifle, and, young as he was, 
 acknowledged to be one of the best and surest 
 shots, even in that State, where such merit pre- 
 dominated at that time over almost every other, 
 could not bear in patience the silent, sedentary 
 monotony of his life, voluntarily abandoned the 
 further pursuit of the trade, and sought the more 
 acti VQ employment of a trader's life. 
 
 His new pursuit was more congenial. He 
 joined an armed band of traders in an expedi- 
 tion to Santa Fe, the capital of JS T ew Mexico. 
 This, at that period, (1826,) was rather a peril' 
 ous undertaking, on account of the Indian 
 tribes who were ever ready to attack a trading 
 caravan, when there was any prospect of over- 
 coming it. No attack was made on the party, 
 however, and no incident of importance oc- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 17 
 
 curred, if wo except the accident to one of the 
 teamsters who wounded himself by carelessly 
 handling a loaded rifle, so as to render it ne- 
 cessary to amputate his arm. In this opera- 
 tion Carson assisted, the surgical instruments 
 being a razor, an old saw, and an iron bolt, 
 heated red hot, in order to apply the actual 
 cautery. Notwithstanding this rough surgery, 
 the man recovered.* 
 
 In November (1826) the party arrived at 
 Santa Fe, the capital, and the largest town in 
 the then Mexican province of New Mexico. 
 This place is situated on the Rio Chiuto, or 
 Santa Fe river, an affluent of the Rio Grande, 
 from which it is distant about 20 miles. It 
 was then, as now, the great emporium of the 
 overland trade, which, since 1822, has been 
 carried on with the State of Missouri. The 
 houses are chiefly built of adobes, or uaburnt 
 bricks, each dwelling forming a square, with a 
 court in the centre upon which the apartments 
 open. This mode of building, originally Moor- 
 ish, prevails in all the colonies settled by the 
 Spaniards, as well as in Old Spain, and the 
 oriental countries. It makes each house a sort 
 of fortress, as General Taylor's troops learned 
 to their cost at the siege of Monterey. 
 2 * Peters. 
 
18 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 front entrance of each house is large enough to 
 admit animals with their packs. 
 
 Santa Fe is well supplied with cool water 
 from springs within its limits, and from foun- 
 tains above the city near the neighbouring 
 mountain. The appearance of the place is in- 
 viting and imposing, as it stands on a plateau 
 elevated more than 7000 feet above the sea, 
 and near a snow capped mountain, which rises 
 5000 feet above the level of the town ; but the 
 population is said to be exceedingly depraved. 
 The present population is about 5000 ; but at 
 the time of Carson's first visit, it was compar- 
 atively a small town. 
 
 Soon after their arrival at Santa Fe, Carson 
 left the trading band, which he had joined when 
 he abandoned the saddlery business, or trade, 
 as the reader may choose to term it, and of 
 which w r e have previously spoken, and pro- 
 ceeded to Fernandez de Taos. In this placo 
 Carson passed the winter of 1826-7, at tho 
 house of a retired mountaineer. And it was 
 while residing there, that he acquired that tho- 
 rough familiarity with the Spanish language, 
 which, in after years, proved of such essential 
 service to him. In the spring he joined a 
 party bound for Missouri, but meeting another 
 band of Santa Fe traders, he joined them arid 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHEE CARSON. JO 
 
 returned to that place. Here his services be- 
 ing no longer required by the traders, he was 
 again thrown out of employment. He now 
 engaged himself as teamster to a paity bound 
 to El Paso, a settlement, or more properly a 
 line of settlements, embracing a population of 
 about 5,000, situated in the rich, narrow valley 
 which extends 9 or 10 miles along the right 
 bank of the Rio Grande, in the Mexican State 
 of Chihuahua, 350 miles S. by W. of Santa Fe. 
 Here the grape is extensively cultivated, and 
 considerable quantities of light wine and bran- 
 dy, (called by the traders Pass wine and Pass 
 branch/,) are made. The houses are like those 
 of Santa Fe, built of adobes with earthen floors. 
 With abundance of natural advantages, the 
 people are content to live without those appli- 
 ances of civilized life, considered indispensable 
 by the poorest American citizens. Glazed win- 
 dows, chairs, tables, knives and forks, and sim- 
 ilar every day conveniences are unknown even 
 to the rich among the people of El Paso. The 
 place is the chief emporium of the trade be- 
 tween New Mexico and Chihuahua, and its 
 name, " the passage" is derived from the pass- 
 age of the river through a gorge or gap in the 
 mountain just above the town. 
 
 On his arrival at this place, young Carsou 
 
20 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 might justly be considered in view of his age, 
 (not yet 18,) more than an ordinary traveler. 
 He had arrived at a spot where everything was 
 strange to him. New people, new customs, a 
 new climate, a wine country, a population of 
 mixed breed, half Indian, half Spaniard ev- 
 erything wearing a foreign aspect ; everything 
 totally different from his home in Missouri. 
 
 He did not remain long in this place, but re- 
 turned to Santa Fe, whence he again found his 
 way to Taos, where he passed the winter in the 
 service of Mr. Ewing Young, in the humble 
 capacity of cook ; this he soon forsook for 
 the more pleasant and profitable position of 
 Spanish interpreter to a trader named Tram- 
 ell, with whom he, for the second time, made 
 the long journey to El Paso and Chihuahua 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 CHIHUAHUA, where Carson had now arrived, 
 is the capital of the Mexican province bearing 
 the same name. It is situated on a small trib- 
 utary of the Conchos river, in the midst of a 
 plain. It is regularly laid out and well built ; 
 the streets are broad and some of them paved. 
 Like other cities built by the Spaniards, it has 
 its great public square, or Plaza Major, on one 
 side of which stands the cathedral, an impos- 
 ing edifice of hewn stone, built at a cost of 
 $300,000. It is surmounted with a dome and 
 two towers, and has a handsome fagade with 
 statues of the twelve apostles, probably the 
 first statues that Carson had ever seen. Other 
 public buildings surround the square, and there 
 is a fountain in the middle. The city contains 
 a convent founded by the Jesuits, and an aque- 
 duct 3i miles long, supported by vast arches 
 and communicating with the river Chihuahua. 
 
 It has also its mint, and in the nem'hborhooa 
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
22 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOff. 
 
 are silver mines with furnaces for melting the 
 ore. It carries on an extensive trade with tho 
 United States by means of caravans to St. 
 Louis in Missouri, and San Antonio in Texas. 
 It was founded in 1691, and during the time 
 when the silver mines were in successful oper- 
 ation, it contained 70,000 inhabitants. The 
 population at present is 14,000. 
 
 As he had come with one of the trading car- 
 avans in the service of Colonel Tramell as 
 Spanish interpreter, we might naturally ex- 
 pect that the engagement would be a perma 
 nent one. But such was not the case. The 
 monotony of this life soon disgusted him, and 
 after weary weeks passed in comparative idle- 
 ness, he longed again for the freedom of the 
 prairie and the forest, and gladly abandoning 
 the rather dignified position of interpreter to 
 Colonel Tramell, entered into the service of 
 Mr. Robert M. Knight, in the more humble 
 capacity of teamster in an expedition to the 
 copper mines on the river Gila, whence he 
 soon after found his way back to Taos. 
 
 It was during this visit to Taos that Carson 
 was first enabled to gratify the desire which he 
 had long entertained of becoming a regular 
 hunter and trapper. A party of trappers in 
 the service of Carson's old friend, Mr. Ewing 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 23 
 
 Young, had returned to Taos, having been 
 beaten off from their hunting and trapping 
 grounds by a hostile band of Indians. Mr. 
 Young raised a party of forty men, for the 
 double purpose of chastising the Indians, and 
 resuming the business of trapping, and Carson 
 joined them. The fact that he was accepted 
 for this service was a marked token of esteem 
 for his valor, as well as his skill in hunting, par- 
 ties of this description always avoiding the en- 
 listment of inexperienced recruits, as likely to 
 embarrass their operations in the field. 
 
 The ostensible object of the expedition was 
 to punish the Indians, but its ultimate purpose 
 was to trap for beavers. The Mexicans by an 
 express law had forbidden granting licenses to 
 any American parties, and in this instance a 
 circuitous route was chosen to conceal their 
 real design. 
 
 They did not fall in with the Indians of whom 
 they were in pursuit, until they had reached 
 the head of one of the affluents of the Rio Gila, 
 called Salt River. Once in presence of their 
 enemies they made short work with them, kill- 
 ing fifteen of their warriors, and putting the 
 whole band to rout. Such occurrences were by 
 no means unfrequent, as we shall see in the 
 course of this narrative. A small body of 
 
24 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 experienced hunters and trappers, confident in 
 their superior skill and discipline, never hesi- 
 tates to attack a greatly superior number of 
 Jndians, and it was a rare tMng that success 
 did not attend their daring. The Indian is not 
 fond of a "fair stand up fight." He prefers 
 fjtratagem and ambush, and reverences as a 
 great " brave," the warrior who is most success- 
 ful in circumventing his enemies, and bringing 
 off many scalps without the loss of a man ; but 
 when a considerable number of Indians are 
 shot down in the first onset, the remainder are 
 very apt to take to flight in every direction. 
 
 We have said that Carson joined the party 
 of trappers under the command of Mr. Ewing 
 Young, and it may not be out of place to de- 
 scribe briefly the mode of life which parties 
 in that pursuit have to adopt, with a few re- 
 marks upon the habits and haunts of the ani- 
 mal, for whose sake men were then so willing 
 to risk their lives, and to undergo such hard- 
 ships. 
 
 The method of trapping for beaver formerly 
 employed by the trappers in the western coun- 
 try, is thus described by one who has had con- 
 siderable experience in the art ; and we quote it 
 as illustrating the severe training to which 
 Carson had voluntarily subjected himself: 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 25 
 
 v To be a successful trapper, required great 
 Co. Aion as well as a perfect knowledge of tho 
 habits of the animal. The residence of the 
 beaver was often discovered by seeing bits of 
 green wood, and gnawed branches of the bass- 
 wood, slippery elm, and sycamore, their favor- 
 ite food, floating on the water, or lodged on 
 the shores of the stream below, as well as by 
 their tracks or foot-marks. These indications 
 were technically called beaver sign. They were 
 also sometimes discovered by their dams, 
 thrown across creeks and small sluggish 
 streams, forming a pond in which were erected 
 their habitations. 
 
 " The hunter, as he proceeded to set his traps, 
 generally approached by water, in his canoe, 
 lie selected a steep, abrupt spot in the bank 
 of the creek, in which a hole was excavated 
 with his paddle, as he sat in the canoe, suffi- 
 ciently large to hold the trap, and so deep as 
 to be about three inches below the surface of 
 the water, when the jaws of the trap were ex- 
 panded. About two feet above the trap, a 
 stick, three or four inches in length, was stuck 
 in the bank. In the upper end of this, the 
 trapper excavated a small hole with his knife, 
 into which he dropped a small quantity of the 
 essence, or perfume, which was used to attract 
 
26 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 the beaver to the spot. This stick was attached 
 by a string of horse hair to the trap, and with 
 it was pulled into the water by the beaver. 
 The reason for this was, that it might not re- 
 main after the trap was sprung, and attract 
 other beavers to the spot, and thus prevent 
 their going to where there was another trap 
 ready for them. 
 
 " The scent, or essence, was made by mingling 
 the fresh castor of the beaver, with an extract 
 of the bark of the roots of the spice-bush, and 
 kept in a bottle for use. The making of this 
 essence was held a profound secret, and often 
 sold for a considerable sum to the younger 
 trappers, by the older proficients in the mys- 
 tery of beaver hunting. Where they had no 
 proper bait, they sometimes made use of the 
 fresh roots of sassafras, or spice-bush ; of both 
 these the beaver was very fond. 
 
 " It is said by old trappers that they will 
 smell the well-prepared essence the distance 
 of a mile. Their sense of smell is very acute, 
 or they would not so readily detect the vicin- 
 ity of man by the smell of his trail. The 
 aroma of the essence having attracted the ani- 
 mal into the vicinity of the trap, in his attempt 
 to reach it, he has to climb up on to the bank 
 where it is ^ticking. This effort leads him di- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 27 
 
 rectly over the trap, and he is usually taken 
 by one of the fore legs. The trap was con- 
 nected by a chain of iron, six feet in length, to 
 a stout line made of the bark of the leather- 
 wood, twisted into a neat cord, of fifteen or 
 twenty feet. These were usually prepared by 
 the trappers at home or at their camps, for 
 cords of hemp or flax were scarce in the days 
 of beaver hunting. The end of the line was 
 secured to a stake driven into the bed of the 
 creek under water, and in his struggles to es- 
 cape, the beaver was usually drowned before 
 the arrival of the trapper. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, he freed himself by gnawing off his own 
 leg, though this was rarely the case. If there 
 was a prospect of rain, or it was raining at the 
 time of setting the trap, a leaf, generally of 
 sycamore, was placed over the essence stick, to 
 protect it from the rain. 
 
 " The beaver being a very sagacious and cau- 
 tious animal, it required great care in the trap- 
 per in his approach to its haunts to set his 
 traps, that no scent of his feet or hands was 
 left on the earth, or bushes that he touched. 
 For this reason he generally approached in a 
 canoe. If he had no canoe, it was necessary 
 to enter the stream thirty or forty yards below, 
 and walk in the water to the place, taking care to 
 
28 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOJC. 
 
 return in the same manner, lest the beaver should 
 take alarm and not come near the bait, as his 
 fear of the vicinity of man was greater than 
 his sense of appetite for the essence. It also 
 required caution in kindling a fire near their 
 haunts, as the smell of smoke alarmed them. 
 The firing of a gun, also, often marred tho 
 sport of the trapper, and thus it will be seen 
 that to make a successful beaver hunter, re- 
 quired more qualities or natural gifts than falJ 
 to the share of most meu." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CARSON'S previous habits and purs a its had 
 eminently qualified him to become an iueful 
 and even a distinguished member of Mr 
 Young's company of trappers. He had lived 
 in the midst of danger from his chiMhoood. 
 He was familiar with the use of arms ; and 
 several years of travel and adventure had al 
 ready given him more knowledge of the west- 
 ern wilds in the neighborhood of the region 
 which w r as the scene of their present opera- 
 tions, than was possessed by many who had 
 seen more years than himself. Added to this, 
 he had become well acquainted with the pecu- 
 liar character and habits of the western In- 
 dians, who were now prowling around their 
 camp, and occasionally stealing their traps, 
 game, and animals. 
 
 The party pursued their business success- 
 fully for some time on the Salt and San Fran- 
 cisco rivers, when a part of them return <vl *& 
 
30 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON- 
 
 New Mexico, and the remainder, eighteen in 
 number, under the lead of Mr. Young, started 
 for the valley of Sacramento, California, and 
 it was to this latter party Carson was attached. 
 Their route led them through one of the dry 
 deserts of the country, and not only did they 
 suffer considerably from the want of water, 
 but their provisions giving out, they were often 
 .happy when they could make a good dinner on 
 horse-flesh. Near the Canon of the Colorado 
 tney encountered a party of Mohave Indians, 
 who furnished them with some provisions, 
 which relieved them from the apprehension 
 of immediate want. 
 
 The Mohave Indians are thus described by a 
 recent visiter : 
 
 " These Indians are probably in as wild a 
 state of nature as any tribe on American terri- 
 tory. They have not had sufficient intercourse 
 with any civilized people, to acquire a know- 
 ledge of their language, or their vices. It was 
 said that no white party had ever before passed 
 through their country without encountering 
 hostility; nevertheless they appear intelli- 
 gent, and to have naturally amiable dispo- 
 sitions. The men are tall, erect, and well-pro- 
 portioned ; their features inclined to European 
 regularity; their eyes large, shaded by long 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 31 
 
 lashes, and surrounded by circles of blue pig- 
 ment, that add to their apparent size. The 
 apron, or breech-cloth for men, and a short 
 petticoat, made of strips of the inner bark of 
 the cotton-wood, for women, are the only arti- 
 cles of dress deemed indispensable ; but many 
 of the females have long robes, or cloaks, of 
 fur. The young girls wear beads; but when 
 married, their chins are tattooed with vertical 
 blue lines, and they wear a necklace with a 
 single sea-shell in front, curiously wrought. 
 These shells are very ancient, and esteemed of 
 great value. 
 
 " From time to time they rode into the 
 camp, mounted on spirited horses ; thoir bodies 
 and limbs painted and oiled, so as to present 
 the appearance of highly -polished mahogany. 
 The dandies paint their faces perfectly black. 
 Warriors add a streak of red across the fore- 
 head, nose, and chin. Their ornaments consist 
 of leathern bracelets, adorned with bright but- 
 tons, and worn on the left arm ; a kind of 
 tunic, made of buckskin fringe, hanging from 
 the shoulders ; beautiful eagles' feathers, called 
 ' sormeh' sometimes white, sometimes of a 
 crimson tint tied to a lock of hair, and float- 
 ing from the top of the head ; and, finally, 
 strings of wampum, made of circular pieces of 
 
32 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 shell, with holes in the centre, by which they 
 are strung, often to the length of several yards, 
 and worn in coils about the neck. These shell 
 beads, which they call ' pook,' are their sub- 
 stitute for money, and the wealth of an indi- 
 vidual is estimated by the 'pook' cash ho 
 possesses. " 
 
 Soon after leaving the Mohave Indians, Mr. 
 Young's party, proceeding westward, arrived at 
 the Mission of San Gabriel. This is one of 
 these extensive establishments formed by the 
 Roman Catholic clergy in the early times of 
 California, which form so striking a feature in 
 the country. This Mission of San Gabriel, 
 about the time of Carson's visit, was in a flour- 
 ishing condition. By statistical accounts, in 
 1829, it had 70,000 head of cattle, 1,200 horses, 
 3,000 mares, 400 mules, 120 yoke of working 
 cattle, and 254,000 sheep. From the vineyards 
 of the mission were made 600 barrels of wine, 
 the sale of which produced an income of up- 
 wards of $12,000. There were between twenty 
 and thirty such missions in California at that 
 time, of which San Gabriel was by no means 
 the largest. They had all been founded since 
 1769, when the first, San Diego, was established. 
 The labor in these establishments was per- 
 formed by Indian converts, who received ip 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 33 
 
 return a bare support, and a very small modi- 
 cum of what was called religious instruction. 
 Each mission had its Catholic priests, a few 
 Spanish or Mexican soldiers, and nundreds, 
 sometimes thousands of Indians. 
 
 The following interesting account of those of 
 Upper California, we transcribe from a recent 
 work of high authority.* 
 
 " The missions of Upper California were in- 
 debted for their beginning and chief success to 
 the subscriptions which, as in the case of the 
 missionary settlements of the lower province, 
 were largely bestowed by the pious to promote 
 so grand a work as turning a great country to 
 the worship of the true God. Such subscrip- 
 tions continued for a long period, both in Old 
 and New Spain, and were regularly remitted 
 to the City of Mexico, where they were formed 
 into what was called ^Tlie Pious Fund of Cali- 
 fornia.' 1 This fund was managed by the con- 
 vent of San Fernando and other trustees in 
 Mexico, and the proceeds, together with the 
 annual salaries allowed by the Crown to the 
 missionaries, were transmitted to California. 
 Meanwhile, the Spanish court scarcely interfered 
 
 * Annals of San Francisco. By Frank Soul6, John II 
 Gihon, and James Nisbet. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 
 1855 
 3 
 
34 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 with the temporal government of the country. 
 It was true that some of the ordinary civil offi- 
 ces and establishments were kept up ; but this 
 was only in name, and on too small a scale to 
 be of any practical importance. A command- 
 anto-general was appointed by the Crown to 
 command the garrisons of the presidios ; but as 
 these were originally established solely to pro- 
 tect the missions from the dreaded violence of 
 hostile Indians, and to lend them, when neces- 
 sary, the carnal arm of offence, he was not al- 
 lowed to interfere in the temporal rule of the 
 Fathers. He resided at Monterey, and his 
 annual salary was four thousand dollars. 
 
 " In every sense of the word, then, these 
 monks were practically the sovereign rulers of 
 California passing laws aifecting not only 
 property, but even life and death declaring 
 peace and war against their Indian neighbors 
 regulating, receiving, and spending the fi- 
 nances at discretion and, in addition, drawing 
 large annual subsidies not only from the pious 
 among the faithful over all Christendom, but 
 even from the Spanish monarchy itself, almost 
 as a tribute to their being a superior state. 
 This surely was the golden age of the missions 
 . a contented, peaceful, believing people, abun- 
 dant wealth for all their wants, despotic will, 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 35 
 
 and no responsibility but to their own con- 
 sciences and heaven! Their horn was filled 
 to overflowing ; but soon an invisible and mer- 
 ciless hand seized it, and slowly and linger- 
 ingly, as if in malicious sport, turned it over, 
 and spilled the nectar of their life upon the 
 ivastes of mankind, from whence it can never 
 again be collected. The golden age of another 
 race has now dawned, and with it the real 
 prosperity of the country. 
 
 "The missions were originally formed on 
 the same general plan, and they were planted 
 at such distances from each other as to allow 
 abundant room for subsequent development, 
 They were either established on the sea-coast, 
 or a few miles inland. Twenty or thirty miles 
 indeed seems all the distance the missionaries 
 had proceeded into the interior ; beyond which 
 narrow belt the country was unexplored and 
 unknown. Each mission had a considerable 
 piece of the best land in the neighborhood set 
 aside for its agricultural and pastoral purposes, 
 which was commonly about fifteen miles square. 
 But besides this selected territory, there was 
 generally much more vacant land lying be- 
 tween the boundaries of the missions, and 
 which, as the increase of their stocks required 
 more space for grazing, was gradually occupied 
 
36 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 by the flocks and herds of the Fathers, nearest 
 to whose mission lay the previously unoccu- 
 pied district. Over these bounds the Fathers 
 conducted all the operations of a gigantic farm. 
 Their cattle generally numbered from ten 
 thousand to twenty thousan^ and their sheep 
 were nearly as numerous though some mis- 
 sions had upwards of thrice these numbers 
 which fed over perhaps a hundred thousand 
 acres of fertile land. 
 
 " Near the centre of such farms were placed 
 the mission buildings. These consisted of the 
 church which was either built of stone, if that 
 material could be procured in the vicinity, or 
 of adobes, which are bricks dried in the sun ; 
 and was as substantial, large, and richly deco- 
 rated an erection as the means of the mission 
 would permit, or the skill and strength of their 
 servants could construct. In the interior, pic- 
 tures and hangings decorated the walls ; while 
 the altars were ornamented with marble pillars 
 of various colors, and upon and near them 
 stood various articles of massy gold and silver 
 plate. A profusion of gilding and tawdry 
 sparkling objects caught and pleased the eye 
 of the simple congregations. Around, or be- 
 side the church, and often in the form of a 
 square, were grouped the habitations of the 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 3' 
 
 s and their household servants, and the 
 various granaries and workshops of the peo- 
 ple; while, at the distance of one or two hun- 
 dred yards, stood the huts of the Indians. The 
 former buildings were constructed of adobes, 
 and covered with brick tiles, frail and misera- 
 ble materials at the best. The huts of the In- 
 dians were occasionally made of the same 
 materials, but more commonly were formed 
 only of a few rough poles, stuck in the ground, 
 with the points bending towards the centre 
 like a cone, and were covered with reeds and 
 grass. An adobe wall of considerable height 
 sometimes inclosed the whole village. The 
 direction of the affairs of the settlement was in 
 the hands of one of the Fathers, originally 
 called a president, but afterwards a prefect; 
 and each prefect was independent in his own 
 mission, and practically supreme in all its tem- 
 poral, and nearly in all its spiritual matters, 
 to any human authority. 
 
 " Thus the Fathers might be considered to 
 have lived something in the style of the patri- 
 archs of the days of Job and Abraham. They 
 indeed were generally ignorant and unlettered 
 men, knowing little more than the mechanical 
 rites of their church, and what else their man- 
 uals of devotion and the treasuries of the lives 
 
38 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. . 
 
 nf tlifl saints taught them; but they seem to 
 have been personally devout, self-denying, and 
 beneficent in their own simple way. They 
 thought they did God service, and perhaps 
 much more the Indians themselves, in catch- 
 ing, taming, and converting them to Christian- 
 ity. That was their vocation in the world, and 
 they faithfully obeyed its calls of duty. To- 
 wards the converts and actually domesticated 
 servants, they always showed such an affec- 
 tionate kindness as a father pays to the young- 
 est and most helpless of his family. The 
 herds and flocks of the Fathers roamed undis- 
 turbed over numberless hills and valleys. 
 Their servants or slaves were true born chil- 
 dren of the house, who laboured lightly and 
 pleasantly, and had no sense of freedom nor 
 desire for change. A rude but bounteous hos- 
 pitality marked the master's reception of the 
 solitary wayfarer, as he traveled from mission 
 to mission, perhaps bearing some scanty newa 
 from the outer world, all the more welcome 
 that the Fathers knew little of the subject, arid 
 could not be affected by the events and dan- 
 gers of distant societies. All these things 
 have now passed away. The churches have 
 fallen into decay, deserted by the old worship- 
 ers, and poverty-stricken ; the adobe houses 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 39 
 
 of the Fathers are in ruins and there is 
 scarcely any trace left of the slightly erected 
 huts of the Indians, who themselves have de- 
 serted their old hearths and altars, and are 
 silently, though rapidly, disappearing from the 
 land. But the memory of the patriarchal 
 times, for they were only as yesterday, still 
 remains fresh in the minds of the early white 
 settlers." 
 
 Mr. Young's party did not remain long to 
 enjoy the sumptuous fare at the Mission of San 
 Gabriel ; but pushed on to that of San Fer- 
 nando, and thence to the river and fertile val- 
 ley of Sacramento. In this neighborhood they 
 trapped for beaver, and Carson displayed his 
 activity and skill as a hunter of deer, elk, and 
 antelope. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ONLY familiarity with one of like character, 
 by actually seeing it, can give a just idea of the 
 country through which they were traveling. 
 Livingston's descriptions of localities in Cen- 
 tral Africa might be transferred to our pages 
 verbatim, to give a word-painting of the desicca- 
 ted deserts of what is now Xew Mexico and Ari- 
 zona. Carson's curiosity, as well as care to pre- 
 serve the knowledge for future use, led him to 
 note in memory, every feature of the wild land- 
 scape, its mountain chains, its desert prairies, 
 with only clumps of the poor artemisia for ve- 
 getation, its rivers, and the oases upon their 
 banks, where there were bottom-lands nor 
 were beaver found elsewhere with its river 
 beds whose streams had found a passage be- 
 neath the surface of the earth, and each other 
 general feature that would attract the eye of 
 the natural, rather than the scientific ob- 
 server. 
 
 (40) 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 41 
 
 In our day, the note book of the pioneer 
 furnishing the data, the traveler carries a 
 guide- book to direct his course from point to 
 point, upon a well trodden road, to tluso 
 places where grass and water will furnish re- 
 freshment for his animals, while he regales 
 himself, not upon the spare-rib of a starved 
 mule, killed because it could go no longer, but 
 upon a variety of good things from the well 
 stocked larder of the pouches of the saddle- 
 bags his pack mule carries, or the provision 
 box of his wagon. Or, instead of the meat-diet 
 of the trapper, when he has been in luck in a 
 fertile locality, the traveler not trapper of 
 to-day, perhaps has shot a prairie chicken, and 
 prepares his dinner by making a stew of it, 
 which he consumes with hard bread he has 
 purchased at a station not ten miles away. 
 
 Familiarity with the features of the country 
 does not restore the experience of the pioneer 
 of these wilds. The Indian, now, is advised by 
 authority he seldom dares defy, to keep off the 
 roads of the emigrants ; and seldom does a 
 party leave the road for any great distance ; 
 nor are these roads infrequent, but the country 
 is intersected with them, and the guide-books 
 protect against mistake in taking the wrong di 
 rection. The test of character, however, with 
 
42 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 the trappers, was their ability to endure hard- 
 ships when they had to be encountered ; and 
 to guard against them, when they could bo 
 avoided, by a wise foresight in taking advan- 
 tage of every favor of fortune, and turning 
 each freak or whim of the wily dame to best 
 account. 
 
 Carson was delighted with California from 
 the first, and realizing intense satisfaction in 
 his position, yet a youth, on terms of easy fa- 
 miliarity with the other seventeen old trappers, 
 especially selected for this expedition, circum- 
 stances conspired to call into play all the activ- 
 ities of his nature, and nothing intruded to 
 prevent his resigning himself to the impulses 
 of the time, and making the most of every oc- 
 casion that offered. 
 
 He had the confidence of Capt. Young and 
 of all his men, who permitted him to do pre- 
 cisely as he chose, for they found him not only 
 intending always to do what was best, but pos- 
 sessed of foresight to know always " just the 
 things that ought to be done," almost without 
 effort, as it seemed to them. 
 
 After leaving the Mission of San Fernando, 
 Young's party trapped upon the San Joaquim, 
 but they found that another party of trappers 
 had been there before them, employed by the 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 43 
 
 Hudson Bay Company, in Oregon. There was 
 however, room for them both, and they trapped 
 near each other for weeks. The friendly inter- 
 course kept up between the two parties, was 
 not only one of pleasant interchange of social 
 kindness, but in one sense was essentially use- 
 ful to Kit, who lost no opportunity of improv- 
 ing himself in the profession (for in those days 
 trapping was a profession) which he had em- 
 braced, and he had the benefit of the experi- 
 ence by way of example, not only of his own 
 companions, but of those who were connected 
 with the greatest and most influential company 
 then in existence on this Continent. It is 
 hardly necessary to say that he lost no oppor- 
 tunity of acquiring information, and it is quite 
 probable that he would, if called on, allow that 
 the experience acquired on this expedition w r as 
 among the most valuable of any which he had 
 previously gained. 
 
 When Mr. Young went to the Sacramento, 
 he separated from the Hudson Bay party. 
 The beautiful Sacramento, as its waters glided 
 toward the chain of bays that take it to the 
 ocean through the Bay of San Francisco out 
 at the Golden gate, had not .the aspect of the 
 eastern river's immediate tributaries of the 
 Missouri, Its waters then were clear as crystal. 
 
44 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 and the salmon floated beneath, glistening in 
 the sunlight, as the canoe glided through them. 
 
 The very air of this valley is luxurious ; and 
 in speaking of it, we will include the valley of 
 the San Joaquim, for both these streams run par- 
 allel with the coast, the Sacramento from the 
 north, the San Joaquim from the south, and 
 both unite at the head of the chain of bays 
 which pour their waters into the Pacific. 
 
 The Sacramento drains nearly three hun- 
 dred miles of latitude, and the San Joaquim an 
 hundred and fifty miles of the country bounded 
 by the Sierra Nevada (snow mountains) on 
 the east, and the coast range on the west, the 
 whole forming a great basin, with the moun- 
 tains depressed on the north and south, but 
 with no outlet except through the Golden gate 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 .No climate could be more congenial to a 
 full flow of animal spirits, than this region, 
 where, upon the vegetation of the rich black 
 soil often twenty feet deep game of the 
 better class in great abundance found support. 
 Deer in no part of the world was ever more 
 plenty, and elk and antelope bounded through 
 the old oak groves, as they may have done in 
 Eden. 
 
 Carson had many opportunities of exploring 
 the country, which he gladly embraced, and 
 thus became familiar with many localities, the 
 knowledge of which was in after years of such 
 essential service to him and others. 
 
 There were many large tribes of Indians, 
 scattered through this country, in these and 
 imaller valleys, beside those which the mis- 
 sions had attached to them. We know not 
 that any record has been kept of the names of 
 
 these tribes and their numbers ; but since the 
 
 (45) 
 
46 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 white men intruded, they have melted & way as 
 did earlier those east of the Mississippi. 
 
 These Indians were all of the variety called 
 Diggers, but in better condition than we see 
 them, since the small remnants of large tribes 
 have adopted the vices of the white men, and 
 learned improvidence, by sometimes having 
 plenty without much toil; so that they can 
 say to-day, " No deer, no acorn ; white man 
 come ! poor Indian hungry," as the happiest 
 style of begging. 
 
 A brief description of the Tlamath 01 Dig- 
 ger Indians, and their mode of living, may not 
 now be out of place, and having been visited 
 by Carson in his earlier years, may not be un- 
 interesting. We quote from the language of 
 one who has paid a recent visit to the tribe : 
 
 " There were a dozen wigwams for the nearly 
 hundred that composed the tribe,' one of which 
 was much larger than the rest, and in the centre 
 of the group, the temple, or " medicine lodge." 
 As we entered, the bones of game consumed, 
 .and other offal lay about ; and to our inquiry 
 why they did not clear away and be more tidy, 
 only a grunt was returned. The men had 
 gone fishing, said the Indian woman we ad- 
 dressed, so we saw but two or three ; but in 
 one wigwam which we entered there were four- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOrHER CARSON. 47 
 
 teen with ourselves the rest, besides the boy 
 \vho went before to announce us, were women 
 and children. 
 
 "We ascended a mound of earth, as it 
 seemed, about six feet high, and through a cir- 
 cular hole, perhaps two feet and a half in dia- 
 meter, descended a perpendicular ladder about 
 ten feet. This opening, through which we en- 
 tered, performed the double office of door and 
 window to. the space below, which was cir- 
 cular, about fourteen feet across, with arrange- 
 ments for sleeping, like berths in a steamboat, 
 one over another, on two sides, suspended by- 
 tying with bark a rough stick to upright posts, 
 which served to hold the sticks that sustained 
 the roof. The whole was substantially built, 
 the covering being the earth which was taken 
 from the spot beneath, heaped upon a layer of 
 rushes, the floor of the wigwam being four 
 feet below the surface of the ground. On the two 
 sides of the wigwam not occupied by the berths, 
 were barrels filled with fish dried salmon, 
 seeds, acorns, and roots. 
 
 " On hooks from the rush lined ceiling hung 
 bags and baskets, containing such luxuries as 
 dried grasshoppers and berries. About the 
 berths hung deer skins and some skins of other 
 game, seemingly prepared for wear. There 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON 
 
 was no appearance of other dress, yet in 
 berths sat three women, braiding strips of deer 
 skin, and attaching the braids to a string, in 
 the form of long fringe. Each of the women 
 wore an apron of this kind about the waist, 
 and only the dress of nature beside. The 
 children were dressed 'inpuris naturalibus. 1 
 
 " After stopping ten minutes, we were glad to 
 ascend to the open air, for a sickness came over 
 us from which we did not recover for several 
 hours. How human beings live in such an at- 
 mosphere we cannot tell, but this is the way 
 they habitate. 
 
 " When the grasshoppers were abundant, for 
 this insect is one of the luxuries of the Diggers, 
 they scoured the valley, gathering them in im- 
 mense quantities. This is done by first dig- 
 ging holes or pits in the ground at the spot 
 chosen. Then the whole party of Indians, 
 each with the leafy branch of a tree, form a 
 circle about it and drive in the grasshoppers 
 till they heap them upon each other in the 
 pits : water is then poured in to drown them. 
 Their booty gathered, they proceed to another 
 place and perform the same operation. These 
 insects are prepared for food by kindling a firo 
 in one of these pits, and when it is heated, fill- 
 ing it with them and covering it with a heated 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON". 49 
 
 stone, where they are left to bake. They arc 
 now ready for use at any time, and eaten with 
 gusto, or they are powdered, and mixed with 
 the acorn meal in a kind of bread, which is 
 baked in the ashes. 
 
 To return to the camp of trappers, and wit- 
 ness one day's duties, may be gratifying to the 
 reader. With early dawiuthe traps are visited, 
 and the beaver secured. The traps are re-ad- 
 justed, and the game brought into camp or 
 left to be skinned where it is if the camp is far 
 away. Meantime breakfast has been prepared 
 by one of the party ; others have looked after 
 the animals, relieving the watch which is still 
 kept up lest a stampede occur while all are 
 sleeping. Carson could not be cook for the 
 party constantly, but takes his turn with the 
 rest, and by the nice browning of his steak, 
 and the delicacy of his acorn coffee, and the ad- 
 dition to their meal of roasted kamas root, he 
 proves the value of the apprenticeship of his 
 earlier years. He has a dish of berries, too, 
 and surprises the party with this tempting 
 dessert, as weil as with the information that 
 in his rambles the day before he had dined 
 with an old Oalifornian, with his wife and 
 
 daughters, and had the promise from thorn 
 "4 
 
50 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 of a cow, if he would call for it on the mor- 
 row. 
 
 Breakfast over, and the remains put by for 
 lunch at noon, Carson mounts his pony, and 
 riding a few miles down the bank swims the 
 river, and dashing out among the hills with a 
 high round mountain peak in view, still miles 
 away, is lost among the oak groves for a score 
 of miles, and at length emerges on Susan bay, 
 and doffs his hat and makes his bow to the 
 young Senorita who greets him at the door with 
 a smile of welcome. The sun is low ; dinner 
 waits hot bread, and butter, and cheese, and 
 coffee with sugar, are added to the venison 
 and beef, and Irish and sweet potatoes. Amid 
 the civilities and pleasant chat, the hour passes 
 happily, and Carson proposes returning to his 
 party. 
 
 The ladies will not allow him to depart 
 Will ho not accept the hospitality of their 
 mansion for a single night ? They do not urge 
 after one refusal, because his every feature in- 
 dicates the decision of his character. He must 
 go. His horse is brought a young and beau- 
 tiful animal and the cow, this object of his 
 second journey thither, given him in charge as 
 he mounts, with a rope attached to her horns, 
 by which to lead her. The full moon is rising, 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER C* RSON. 51 
 
 on which he had calculated, as he told his host- 
 esses, and with words of pleasant compliment, 
 with which the Spanish language so much more 
 than ours abounds, and a Buenos noclies, sevwr^ 
 from his entertainers, and Buenos noclies, senor- 
 itas, in return, he slowly winds his silent way 
 on and on through the oak groves and the 
 wild oats covering the hill-sides, hearing only 
 the song of the owl and the whippoorwill, the 
 music of the insects, and the whispering leaves, 
 but with ear ever open to detect the stealthy 
 tread of the monster of the wood and hills the 
 grizzly bear. Off on the distant hill he sees one, 
 with a cub following her; but game is plenty, 
 and deer is good enough food for her. On, on ho 
 goes at slow pace, for he has a delicate charge, 
 and already is she restive from very weariness, 
 though his pace is slow. 
 
 Half his journey is completed as the gray 
 of dawn and the twinkle of the star of morning 
 relieves the tedium and anxiety of his loneli- 
 ness. He has made the circuit of the bay. 
 The river is before him as he descends the hill 
 which he has ascended for observation. Morn- 
 ing broadens. The flowers glow with varie- 
 gated beauty as he tramples them, and in some 
 patches the odor of the crushed dewy beauties 
 fills the air to satiety. 
 
52 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 A few miles more of travel and he crosses 
 the river, and is again in the river-bottom 
 where the party have taken the beaver. lie 
 stops at an Indian village, and dines from tho 
 liberal haunch and the acorn bread the chief 
 presents, and with good feelings displayed on 
 either side, takes in his arms a young papoose, 
 the digger's picaninny, and salutes it with a 
 kiss. Kit leaves there a trifling, but to them, 
 valuable memorial of his visit, mounts his sor- 
 rel which is restive under the slow gait to 
 which he has restrained him, takes the rope 
 again which secures his treasure, the cow, and 
 plods towards home at evening. The camp tire 
 smokes in the distance, while the few horses 
 that remain are staked about, and the sentinel 
 paces up and down to keep off the drowsiness 
 indeed by fatigue and a hearty meat supper. 
 The eastern and the western horizon are 
 lighte 1 with pale silver by the departing god of 
 day, a *d the approaching goddess of the night, 
 nnd '><} still river divides the plain, bounded 
 only !?/ the horizon, except he look behind 
 him. Such is the scene as, approaching, the 
 sentinel raises his gun and gives the chal- 
 lenge to halt. But the rest of the camp 
 are not yet sleeping, and a dozen voices shout 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOff. 53 
 
 in the still evening a glad welcome to Car- 
 son, for whom they were not concerned, 
 for they well knew there was not one of 
 the party so well able to take care of himself 
 a* be 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PETEHS, in his " Life of Carson," tells the 
 story of two expeditions which Carson led 
 against the Indians, while they trapped upon 
 the Sacramento, which give proof of his cour- 
 age, and thorough education in the art of In- 
 dian warfare, which had become a necessity to 
 the wyageur on the plains, and in the moun- 
 tains of the western wilds. With his quick 
 discrimination of character, and familiarity 
 with the habits of the race, he could not but 
 know the diggers were less bold than the 
 Apaches and Camanches, with whom he was 
 before familiar. 
 
 The Indians at the Mission San Gabriel, 
 were restive under coerced labor, and forty of 
 them made their escape to a tribe not far awa\ 
 
 The mission demanded the return of these 
 fugitives, and being refused, gave battle to the 
 neighboring tribe, but were defeated. The Padre 
 sent to the trappers for assistance to compel the 
 
 Indians not to harbor their people. Carson 
 (54) 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 55 
 
 and eleven of his companions volunteered to 
 aid the mission, and the attack upon the In- 
 dian village resulted in the destruction of a 
 third of its inhabitants, and compelled them 
 to submission. Capt. Young found at this 
 mission a trader to Kke his furs, and from 
 them purchased a drove of horses. Directly 
 after his return, a party of Indians contrived 
 to drive away sixty horses from the trappers, 
 while the sentinel slept at night. Carson with 
 twelve men were sent in pursuit. It was not 
 difficult to follow the fresh trail of so large a 
 drove, yet he pursued them a hundred miles, 
 and into the mountains, before coming up with 
 them. The Indians supposed themselves too 
 far away to be followed, and were feasting on 
 the flesh of the stolen horses they had slaugh- 
 tered, Carson's party arranged themselves 
 silently and without being seen, and rushing 
 upon the Indian camp, killed eight men, and 
 scattered the remainder in every direction. 
 The horses were recovered, except the six 
 killed, and partly consumed, and with three 
 Indian children left in camp, they returned to 
 the joyful greetings of their friends. 
 
 Early in the autumn of 1829, Mr. Young 
 and his party of trappers set out on their re- 
 turn home. On their route they visited Lo* 
 
5G LIFE OF CHftlSTOPHEK CAKS05. 
 
 Angelos, formerly called Pueblo de los AA 
 gelos, " the city of the angels," a name which 
 it received on account of the exceedingly genial 
 climate, and the beauty of the surrounding 
 country. It is situated on a small river of the 
 same name, 30 miles ^lom its mouth, and on 
 the road between the cities of San Jose and 
 San Diego. It is about three hundred and 
 fifty miles east of San Francisco, and a hun- 
 dred miles to the south. 
 
 Although to very many thousands of readers, 
 anything on the subject of the climate of Cali- 
 fornia may seem superfluous, yet there are as 
 many thousands who have no really distinct 
 idea of the country or the climate, and w r e 
 therefore quote from Rev. Dr. Bushnell, whose 
 article on those topics in the "New Eng- 
 lander," in 1858, attracted justly such univer- 
 sal attention : 
 
 " The first and most difficult thing to appre- 
 hend respecting California is the climate, upon 
 which, of course, depend the advantages of 
 health and physical development, the growths 
 and their conditions and kinds, and the modus 
 operandi, or general cast, of the seasons. But 
 this, again, is scarcely possible, without dis- 
 missing, first of all, the word climate, and sub- 
 stituting the plural, climates. For it cannot be 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CAUSOX. 57 
 
 paid of California, as of New England, or the 
 Middle States, that it has a climate. On the 
 contrary, it has a great multitude, curiously 
 pitched together, at short distances, one from 
 another, defying too, not seldom, our most ac- 
 cepted notions of the effects of latitude and al- 
 titude and the defences of mountain ranges. 
 The only way, therefore, is to dismiss general- 
 ities, cease to look for a climate, and find, if we 
 can, by what process the combinations and va- 
 rieties are made ; for when we get hold of the 
 manner and going on of causes, all the varie- 
 ties are easily reducible. 
 
 " To make this matter intelligible, conceive 
 that Middle California, the region of which we 
 now speak, lying between the head waters of 
 the two great rivers, and about four hundred 
 and fifty or five hundred miles long from 
 north to south, is divided lengthwise, parallel 
 to the coast, into three strips, or ribands of 
 about equal width. First, the coast-wise re- 
 gion, comprising two, three, and sometimes 
 four parallel tiers of mountains from five hun- 
 dred to four thousand, five thousand, or even 
 ten thousand feet high. Next, advancing in- 
 ward, we have a middle strip, from fifty to sev- 
 enty miles wide, of almost dead plain, which is 
 called the great valley ; dbSvn the scarcely per- 
 
68 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON". 
 
 ceptible slopes of which, from north to south, 
 and south to north, run the two great rivers, 
 the Sacramento and the San Joaquim, to join 
 their waters at the middle of the basin and 
 pass off to the sea. The third long strip, or 
 riband, is the slope of the Sierra Nevada chain, 
 which bounds the great valley on the east, and 
 contains in its foot-hills, or rather in its lower 
 half, all the gold mines. The upper half is, to 
 a great extent, bare granite rock, and is crowned 
 at the summit, with snow, about eight months 
 of the year. 
 
 " Now the climate of these parallel strips 
 will be different almost of course^ and subordi- 
 nate, local differences, quite as remarkable, will 
 result from subordinate features in the local 
 configurations, particularly of the seaward strip 
 or portion. For all the varieties of climate, 
 distinct as they become, are made by variations 
 wrought in the rates of motion, the courses, 
 the temperature, and the dry ness of a single 
 wind ; viz., the trade w r ind of the summer 
 months, which blows directly inward all the 
 time, only with much greater power during 
 that part of the day when the rarefaction of 
 the great central valley comes to its aid ; that 
 is, from about ten o'clock in the morning, to the 
 setting of the sun. Conceive such a wind, 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 59 
 
 chilled by the cold waters that have come down 
 from the Northern Pacific, perhaps from Beh- 
 ring's Straits, combing the tops and wheeling 
 round through the valleys of the coastwiso 
 mountains, crossing the great valley at a much 
 retarded rate, and growing hot and dry, fan- 
 ning gently the foot-hills and sides of the Sierra, 
 still more retarded by the piling necessary to 
 break over into Utah, and the conditions of 
 the California climate, or climates, will be un- 
 derstood with general accuracy. Greater sim- 
 plicity in the matter of climate is impossible, 
 and greater variety is hardly to be imagined. 
 
 " For the whole dry season, Adz., from May 
 to November, this wind is in regular blast, 
 day by day, only sometimes approaching a lit- 
 tle more nearly to a tempest than at others. 
 It never brings a drop of rain, however thick 
 and rain-like the clouds it sometimes drives be- 
 fore it. The cloud element, indeed, is always 
 in it. Sometimes it is floated above, in the 
 manner commonly designated by the term 
 cloud. Sometimes, as in the early morning, 
 when the wind is most quiet, it may be seen as 
 a kind of fog bank resting on the sea-wall 
 mountains or rolling down landward through 
 the interstices of their summits. When the 
 wind begins to hurry and take on less compos- 
 
60 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON 
 
 p.dly, the fog becomes blown fog, a kind of lead 
 dust driven through the air, reducing it from a 
 transparent to a semi-transparent or merely 
 translucent state, so that if any one looks up 
 the bay, from a point twenty or thirty miles 
 south of San Francisco, in the afternoon, he 
 will commonly see, directly abreast of the 
 Golden Gate where this wind drives in with its 
 greatest power, a pencil of the lead dust shoot- 
 ing upwards at an angle of thirty or forty de- 
 grees, (which is the aim of the wind preparing 
 to leap the second chain of mountains, the 
 other side of the bay,) and finally tapering off 
 and vanishing, at a mid-air point eight or ten 
 miles inland, where the increased heat of the 
 atmosphere has taken up the moisture, and re- 
 stored its complete transparency. This wind 
 is so cold, that one who will sit upon the deck 
 of the afternoon steamer passing up the bay, 
 will even require his heaviest winter clothing. 
 And so rough are the waters of the bay, land- 
 locked and narrow as it is, that sea-sickness is a 
 kind of regular experience, with such as are 
 candidates for that kind of felicity. 
 
 " We return now to the middle strip of tho 
 great valley where the engine, or rather boiler 
 power, that operates the coast wind in a great 
 part of its velocity, is located. Here the heat, 
 
LIFE 01 CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 61 
 
 reverberated as in a forge, or oven (whence 
 Call fornid) becomes, even in the early spring, 
 so much raised that the ground is no longer 
 able, by any remaining cold there is in it, to 
 condense the clouds, and rain ceases. A little 
 further on in the season, there is not cooling in- 
 fluence enough left to allow even the phenom- 
 ena of cloud, and for weeks together, not a 
 cloud will be seen, unless, by chance, the skirt 
 of one may just appear now and then, hanging 
 over the summit of the western mountains. 
 The sun rises, fixing his hot stare on the world, 
 and stares through the day. Then he returns 
 as in an orrery, and stares through another, in 
 exactly the same way. The thermometer will 
 go up, not seldom, to 100 or even 110, and 
 judging by what we know of effects here in 
 ]N T ew England, we should suppose that life 
 would scarcely be supportable. And yet there 
 is much less suffering from heat in this valley 
 than with us, for the reason probably that the 
 nights are uniformly cool. The thermometer 
 goes down regularly with the sun, and one or 
 two blankets are wanted for the comfort of the 
 night. This cooling of the night is probably 
 determined by the fact that the cool sea wind, 
 sweeping through the upper air of the valley, 
 from the coast mountains on one side, over the 
 
62 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOU. 
 
 mountains and mountain passes of the Sierra 
 on the other, is not able to get down to the 
 ground of the valley during the day, because 
 of the powerfully steaming column of heat that 
 rises from it ; but as soon as the sun goes down, 
 it drops immediately to the level of the plain, 
 bathing it for the night with a kind of perpen- 
 dicular sea breeze, that has lost for the time a 
 great part of its lateral motion. The conse- 
 quence is that no one is greatly debilitated by 
 the. heat. On the contrary, it is the general 
 testimony, that a man can do as much of men- 
 tal or bodily labor in this climate, as in any 
 other. And it is a good confirmation of this 
 opinion, that horses will here maintain a won- 
 derful energy, traveling greater distances, com- 
 plaining far less of heat, and sustaining their 
 spirit a great deal better than with us. It is 
 also to be noted that there is no special ten- 
 dency to fevers in this hot region, except in 
 what is called the tide bottom, a kind of giant 
 I ul rush region, along the most depressed and 
 marshiest portions of the rivers. 
 
 " Passing now to the eastern strip or portion, 
 the slope of the Nevada, the heat, except in 
 those deep canons where the reverberation 
 makes it sometimes even insupportable, is 
 (qualified in degree, according to the altitude. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 03 
 
 A gentle west wind, warmer in the lower parts 
 or foothills by the heat of the valley, fans it all 
 day. At points which are higher, the wind is 
 cooler; but here also, on the slope of the Neva- 
 da, the nights are always cool in summer, so cool 
 that the late and early frosts leave too short a 
 space for the ordinary summer crop to mature, 
 even where the altitude is not more than 3,000 
 or 4,000 feet. Meantime, at the top of the 
 Sierra, where the west wind, piling up from 
 below, breaks over into Utah, travelers under- 
 take to say that in some of the passes it blows 
 with such stress as even to polish the rocks, by 
 the gravel and sand which it drives before it. 
 The day is cloudless on the slope of the Sierra, 
 as in the valley ; but on the top there is now 
 and then, or once in a year or two, a moderate 
 thunder shower. With this exception, as re- 
 ferring to a part uninhabitable, thunder is 
 scarcely ever heard in California. The prin- 
 cipal thunders of California are underground. 
 " We return now to the coast- wise mountain 
 region, where the multiplicity and confusion 
 of climates is most remarkable. Their variety 
 we shall find depends on the courses of tho 
 wind currents, turned hither and thither by 
 the mountains ; partly also on the side any 
 given place occupies of its valley or mountain; 
 
61 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 and partly on the proximity of the sea. 
 Sprinkled in among these mountains, and 
 more or less inclosed by them, are valleys, 
 large and small, of the highest beauty. But 
 a valley in California means something more 
 than a scoop, or depression. It means a rich 
 land-lake, leveled between the mountains, with 
 a sharply defined, picturesque shore, where it 
 meets the sides and runs into the indentations 
 of the mountains. What is called the Bay of 
 San Francisco, is a large salt water lake in the 
 middle of a much larger land-lake, sometimes 
 called the San Jose valley. It extends south 
 of the city forty miles, and northward among 
 islands and mountains, about twenty-five more, 
 if we include what is called San Pueblo Bay. 
 Three beautiful valleys of agricultural country, 
 the Petaluma, Sonora, and .Napa valleys, open 
 into this larger valley of the bay, on the north 
 end of it, between four mountain barriers, 
 having each a short navigable creek or inlet. 
 Still farther north is the Russian River val- 
 ley, opening towards the sea, and the Clear 
 Lake valley and region, which is the Switzer- 
 land of California. East of the San Jose val- 
 ley, too, at the foot of Diabola, and up among 
 the mountains, are the large Amador and Sail 
 Ramon valleys, also the little gem of t l ie 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 65 
 
 Sunole. Now these valleys, which, if we ex- 
 cept the great valley of the two rivers, com- 
 prise the plow-land of Middle California, have 
 each a climate of its own, and productions that 
 correspond. We have only to observe further, 
 that the east side of any valley will commonly 
 he much warmer than the west ; for the very 
 paradoxical reason that the cold coast-wind 
 always blows much harder on the side or steep 
 slope even, of a mountain, opposite or away 
 from the wind, than it does on the side to- 
 wards it, reversing all our notions of the shel- 
 tering effects of mountain ridges." 
 * 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 this brief tarry at Los Angelos, Car 
 son had not been idle, but entirely without 
 thought that his confidence could be deemed 
 presumption, arranging his dress with as much 
 care as its character permitted, early in the 
 morning he mounted his horse always in ex- 
 cellent trim and rode to the residence of the 
 man he had been informed owned the best ranclie 
 in the vicinity, and dismounting at the wicket 
 gate, entered the yard, which was fenced with 
 a finely arranged growth of club cactus ; and 
 passing up the gravel walk several rods, be- 
 tween an avenue of fig trees, with an occasional 
 patch of grecu shrubs, and a few flowers, he 
 stood at the door of the spacious old Spanish 
 mansion, which was built of adobe one story in 
 height and nearly a hundred feet in length, its 
 roof covered with asphaltum mingled with sand 
 like all the houses in Los Angelos, a spring 
 
 of this material existing a little way from the 
 (66) 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOtf. 67 
 
 
 
 town. After waiting a few moments for an 
 answer to his summons, made with the hugo 
 brass knocker, an Indian servant made his ap- 
 pearance, and ushered him to an elegantly fur- 
 nished room, with several guitars lying about as 
 if recently in use. The lordly owner of the 
 ranche soon appeared in morning gown and slip- 
 pers, the picture of a well to do old time gen- 
 tleman, with an air evincing an acquaintance 
 with the world of letters and of art, such as 
 only travel can produce. 
 
 He asked the name of his stranger guest, as 
 Carson approaching addressed him, and at 
 once commenced a conversation in English, 
 saying with a look of satisfied pleasure, " I ad- 
 dress you in your native tongue, which I pre- 
 sume is agreeable, though you speak very good 
 Spanish ;" to which Carson, much more sur- 
 prised to hear his native language so fluently 
 spoken, than his host was to be addressed in 
 Spanish, replied, 
 
 " It is certainly agreeable to find you can 
 give me the information which, as an Ameri- 
 can, I seek, in the language my mother taught 
 me," and at once they were on terms of easy 
 familiarity. 
 
 As it was early morning, his host asked 
 Carson to take a cup of coffee with him, and 
 
63 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 conducting him to the breakfast room, pre- 
 sented him to the family a wife and several 
 grown sons and daughters. 
 
 Carson enjoyed the social part of this treat, 
 more than the tempting viands with which the 
 board was loaded. Though Spanish was the 
 language most used by the family, all spoke 
 English, and a young man from Massachu- 
 setts was with them as a tutor to some of the 
 younger children. Breakfast over, the host 
 invited him to visit the vineyard, which he 
 said was hardly in condition to be exhibited, 
 as the picking had commenced two weeks be- 
 fore. He said his yard, of a thousand varas, 
 yielded him more grapes than he could man- 
 age to dispose of, though last year he had 
 made several butts of wine, and dried five thou- 
 sand pounds of raisins. The vines were in the 
 form of little trees, so closely had they been 
 trimmed, and were still loaded with the purple 
 clusters. Tasting them, Carson justly remarked 
 that he had never eaten so good a grape. 
 
 "No," said his host, "I think not; neither 
 have I, though I have traveled through Eu- 
 rope. The valley of the Rhine, nor of the Ta- 
 gus, produces anywhere a grape like ours. I 
 think that the Los Angelos grape is fit food 
 indeed for angels is quite equal to the grapes 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 69 
 
 of Eslicol you remember the heavy clusters 
 that were found there, so that two men carried 
 one between them on a pole resting upon their 
 shoulders. See that now," and he drew Car- 
 son to a vine whose trunk was six inches 
 through, and yet it needed a prop to sustain 
 the weight of the two clusters of grapes it 
 bore. 
 
 A species of the cactus, called the prickly pear, 
 enclosed the vineyard, and this really bore pears, 
 or a fruit of light orange color, in the form of 
 a pear, but covered with a down of prickles. 
 The Indian boy brought a towel, and wiping 
 the fruit until it shone, gave to Carson to taste. 
 It was sweetish, juicy, and rich, but with less 
 of flavor than a pear. Beyond the vineyard 
 were groves of fig and orange trees. The figs 
 were hardly ripe, being the third crop of the 
 season, while the oranges were nearly fit for 
 picking. The host said that his oranges were 
 better than usual this season, but he did not 
 know what he should do with them. He was 
 in the habit of shipping them to Santa Bar- 
 bara and Monterey, and thence taking some to 
 San Jose ; but latterly oranges had been 
 brought to Monterey from the Sandwich islands 
 by ships in the service of the Hudson Bay 
 Company, returning from the China trade to 
 
70 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 the mouth of the Columbia, which, arriving 
 before his were ripe, he found the fruit market 
 forestalled. 
 
 " This is the finest country the sun shines 
 upon," said he, " and we can live luxuriously 
 upon just what will grow on our own farms; 
 but we cannot get rich. Our cattle will only 
 bring the value of the hides ; our horses are 
 of little value, for there are plenty running 
 wild which good huntsmen can take with the 
 lasso; and, as for fruit, from which I had 
 hoped to realize something, the market is cut 
 off by Yankee competition. I think we shall 
 have the Americans with us before many years, 
 and for my part I hope we shall. The idea of 
 Californians generally, as well as of other Mex 
 irans, that they are too shrewd for them, is true 
 enough ; but certainly there is plenty of room 
 for a large population, and I should prefer 
 that the race that has most enterprise, should 
 come and cultivate the country with us." 
 
 Carson's youth commanded him to listen, 
 rather than to advance his own sentiments ; 
 but he expressed his pleasure at hearing his 
 Lost compliment the Americans, and said in 
 reply, " I have not been an extensive traveler, 
 and have chosen the life of a mountaineer, for 
 a time certainly ; but since I came to Califor- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 71 
 
 ma, I am half inclined to decide to make this 
 my home when I get tired of trapping. 1 like 
 the hunt, and have found game exceedingly 
 plenty here, but there is no buffalo, and I 
 want that. Give me buffalo, and I would set- 
 tle in California." 
 
 lie described to his host a buffalo hunt in 
 which he engaged with the Sioux Indians, 
 before he left his father's home, at fifteen years 
 of age, and another later, since he came into 
 the mountains. He had hunted buffalo every 
 year since he was twelve years old. 
 
 The Don was charmed with the earnestness 
 and the frankness, and manifest integrity of 
 the youth, and turning his glance upon him, 
 with the slightly quizzical expression the face 
 a Spaniard so readily assumes, he inquired 
 how manv buffalo he had ever killed. 
 
 / 
 
 " Not so many as I have deer, because I was 
 always in a deer country; but in the eight 
 years since I commenced going in the buffalo 
 ranges, I must have killed five hundred. The 
 hunter docs not ki}l without he wishes to use. 
 I was often permitted to take a shot at the 
 animals before I was able to help in dressing 
 them." 
 
 But Carson felt it might seem like boasting, 
 
72 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 * 
 
 for him to tell his own exploits, and changing 
 the theme, remarked, 
 
 " Your horses would make excellent buffalo 
 hunters, with the proper training, and I havo 
 some at camp that I intend shall see buffalo. 
 13 ut why do you not deal gently with them 
 when they are first caught, and keep the fire 
 they have in the herd? Pardon me, but I 
 think in taming your horses, you break their 
 spirits." 
 
 " My tutor has said the same, and I too 
 have thought so in regard to the Mexican 
 style of training our horses. We mount one 
 just caught from the drove, and ride him till 
 he becomes gentle from exhaustion. The 
 French do not train horses in that way, nor 
 the English ; I have not been in the United 
 States. Our custom is brought from Spain ; 
 and it answers well enough with us, where our 
 horses go in droves, and when one is used up, 
 we turn him out and take up another; but 
 when we take this animal again, he is just as 
 wild as at the first ; we cannot afford to spend 
 time on breaking him when it must be done 
 over again directly." 
 
 And so the two hours, which Carson had 
 allotted for his visit, passed in easy chat, and 
 when he took his leave, his host expressed 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 73 
 
 his thanks for his visit, and promised to re- 
 turn it at the camp. 
 
 Carson did not again see his courteous host, 
 for early on the following morning, Mr. Young 
 found it necessary that he should get his men 
 away from Los Angelos as speedily as possi- 
 ble. They had been indulging to excess in bad 
 liquors, and having none of the best feelings 
 towards the Mexicans, many quarrels, some 
 ending in bloodshed, had ensued. 
 
 He therefore despatched Carson ahead with 
 a few men, promising to follow and overtake 
 him at the earliest moment, and waiting rn- 
 other day, he managed to get his followers in 
 a tolerably sober condition, and succeeded, 
 though not without much trouble, in gett-mg 
 away without the loss of a man, though the 
 Mexicans were desperately enraged at the 
 death of one of their townsmen, who had been 
 killed in a chance fray. In three days he 
 overtook Carson, and the party, once more re- 
 united, advanced rapidly towards the Colorado 
 River, his men working with a heartiness and 
 cheerfulness, resulting from a consciousness 
 of their misconduct at Los Angelos, which, but 
 for the prudent discretion of Young and Car- 
 son, might have resulted disastrously to all 
 concerned. 
 
?% LlFJ? OF CHRISTOPHER CARSCN. 
 
 i>i nine days they were ready to commence 
 trapping on the Colorado, and in a short time 
 added here to the large stock of furs they had 
 brought from California. 
 
 Here while left in charge of the camp, with 
 only a few men, Carson found himself suddenly 
 confronted by several hundred Indians. They 
 entered the camp with the utmost assurance, 
 and acted as though they felt the power of 
 their numbers. Carson at once suspected that 
 all was not right, and attempting to talk with 
 them, he soon discovered that, with all their 
 sang froid, each of them carried his weapons 
 concealed beneath his garments, and immedi- 
 ately ordered them out of camp. Seeing the 
 small number of the white men, the Indians 
 were not inclined to obey, bat chose to wait 
 their time and do as they pleased, as they 
 were accustomed to do with the Mexicans. 
 They soon learned that they wore dealing with 
 men of different mettle, for Carson was a man 
 not to be trifled with. 
 
 His men stood around him, each with his 
 rifle resting in the hollow of the arm, ready 
 to be dropped to deadly aim on the sign from 
 their young commander. Carson addressed 
 the old chief in Spanish, (for he had betrayed 
 his knowledge of that language,) and warned 
 
' ' '-\l 'T' 1 
 
 P : S 
 
 GARSON GOES AHEAD WITH THE PARTY. 
 
LIFE OF CHKISTOPHEK CARSOX. 7o 
 
 him that though they were few, they were de- 
 termined to sell their lives dearly. The In- 
 dians awed, it would seem, by the bold and de- 
 fiant language of Carson, and finding that any 
 plunder they might acquire, would be pur* 
 chased at a heavy sacrifice, sullenly withdrew, 
 and left the party to pursue their journey un- 
 molested. 
 
 Any appearance of fear would have cost the 
 lives of Carson and probably of the whole 
 party, but the Indian warriors were too chary 
 of their lives to rush into death's door unpro- 
 voked, even for the sake of the rich plunder 
 they might hope to secure. Carson's cool 
 bravery saved the trappers and all their 
 effects ; and this first command in an Indian 
 engagement is but a picture of his conduct in 
 a hundred others, when the battles were with 
 weapons other than the tongue. The inten- 
 tion of the Indians had been to drive away the 
 animals, first causing a stampede, w r hen they 
 would become lawful plunder, but they dared 
 not undertake it. 
 
 The wily craftiness of the. Indians induced 
 the necessity for constant vigilance against 
 them, and in the school this youth had been 
 in all his life, he had shown himself an apt 
 scholar. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WHILE on the Colorado, Young's party dis- 
 covered a company of Indians, (with whom 
 they had had a previous skirmish,) as they were 
 coming out from Los Angelos, and charging 
 suddenly among them, succeeded in taking a 
 large herd of cattle from them in the Indians' 
 own style. The same w r eek an Indian party 
 came past their camp in the night, with a drove 
 of a hundred horses, evidently just stolen from 
 a Mexican town in Sonora. The trappers, 
 with their guns for their pillows, were ready in 
 an instant for the onslaught, and captured these 
 horses also, the Indians hurrying away for fear 
 of the deadly rifle. The next day they selected 
 such as they wanted from the herd, choosing of 
 course the finest, and turning the rest loose, to 
 be taken again by the Indians, or to become 
 the wild mustangs that roamed the plains of 
 Northern Mexico, ir. droves of tens of thou- 
 sands, and which could be captured and tamed 
 only by the use of the lasso. 
 4 (76) 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 77 
 
 Mr. Young and his party trapped down the 
 Colorado and up the Gila with success, then 
 crossed to the vicinity of the New Mexican 
 copper mines, where they left their furs and 
 went to Santa Fe. Having procured there 
 license to trade with the Indians about the cop- 
 per mines, they returned thither for their furs, 
 went back to Santa Fe and disposed of them 
 to great advantage. The party disbanded w r ith 
 several hundred dollars apiece, which most of 
 them expended as sailors do their earnings 
 when they come into port. Of course Carson 
 was hail fellow well met with them for a time. 
 He had not hitherto taken the lesson that all 
 have to learn, viz., that the ways of pleasure 
 are deceitful paths ; and to resist temptation 
 needs a large amount of courage larger per- 
 haps than to encounter any physical danger ; 
 at least the moral courage it requires is of a 
 higher tone than the physical courage which 
 would carry one through a fight with a grizzly 
 bear triumphantly ; that the latter assists the 
 former ; indeed that the highest moral courage 
 must be aided by physical bravery, but that the 
 latter may exist entirely independently of the 
 former. 
 
 Carson learned during this season of hilarity 
 the necessity of saying No ! and he did so per- 
 
78 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 sistently, knowing that if he failed in this h 
 would be lost to himself and to everything dear 
 in life. He was now twenty-one, and though 
 the terrible ordeal of poverty had been nobly 
 borne, and he had conquered, the latter or- 
 deal of temptation from the sudden possession 
 of what was to him a large sum of money, had 
 proved for once, too much. And it is well for 
 him perhaps it was so ; as it enabled him to 
 sow his wild oats in early youth. 
 
 It is not improbable that some of this party 
 belonged to the class of Canadians called cour- 
 eurs des bois, whose habits Mr. Irving thus de- 
 scribes in his Astoria : 
 
 " A new and anomalous class of men gradu- 
 ally grew out of this trade. These were called 
 coureurs des bois, rangers of the woods ; orig- 
 inally men who had accompanied the Indians 
 in their hunting expeditions, and made them- 
 selves acquainted with remote tracts and tribes ; 
 and who now became, as it were, pedlers of 
 the wilderness. These men would set out from 
 Montreal with canoes well stocked with goods, 
 with arms and ammunition, and would make 
 their way up the mazy and wandering rivers 
 that interlace the vast forests of the Canadas, 
 coasting the most remote lakes, and creating 
 new wants and habitudes among the natives. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 79 
 
 Sometimes they sojourned for months among 
 them, assimilating to their tastes and habits 
 with the happy facility of Frenchmen ; adopt- 
 ing in some degree the Indian dress, and not 
 unfrequently taking to themselves Indian 
 wi yes. 
 
 " Twelve, fifteen, eighteen months would often 
 elapse without any tidings of 'them, when they 
 would come sweeping their way down the Ot- 
 tawa in full glee, their canoes laden down with 
 packs of beaver skins. Now came their turn 
 for revelry and extravagance. " You would be 
 amazed," says an old writer already quoted, 
 " if you saw how lewd these pedlers are when 
 they return ; how they feast and game, and 
 how prodigal they are, not only in their clothes, 
 but upon their sweethearts. Such of them as 
 are married have the wisdom to retire to their 
 own houses ; but the bachelors do just as an 
 East Indiaman and pirates are wont to do ; for 
 they lavish, eat, drink, and play all away as 
 long as the goods hold out ; and when these 
 are gone, they even sell their embroidery, their 
 lace, and their clothes. This done, they are 
 forced upon a new voyage for subsistence." 
 
 Many of these coureurs des bois became so 
 accustomed to the Indian mode of living, and 
 the perfect freedom of the wilderness, that 
 
80 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 they lost all relish for civilization, and identi- 
 fied themselves with the savages among whom 
 they dwelt, or could only be distinguished from 
 them by superior licentiousness. 
 
 In the autumn Carson joined another trap- 
 ping party under Mr. Fitzpatrick, whom wo 
 shall have frequent occasion to mention here- 
 after. They proceeded up the Platte and 
 Sweet Water past Goose Creek to the Salmon 
 River, where they wintered, like other parties, 
 sharing the good will of the Nez Perces In- 
 dians, and having the vexations of the Black- 
 feet for a constant fear. Mr. Fitzpatrick, less 
 daring than Carson, declined sending him to 
 punish this tribe for their depredations. 
 
 In the spring they came to Bear river, 
 which flows from the north to Salt Lake. 
 Carson and four men left Mr. Fitzpatrick here, 
 and went ten days to find Captain Gaunt in 
 the place called the New Park, on the head 
 waters of the Arkansas, where they spent the 
 trapping season, and wintered. While tho 
 party were wintering in camp, being robbed 
 of some of their horses by a band of sixty 
 Crow Indians, Carson, as usual, was appointed 
 to lead the party sent in pursuit of the plun- 
 derers. With only twelve men he took up 
 the trail, came upon the Indians in one of 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 81 
 
 their strongholds, cut loose the animals, which 
 were tied within ten feet of the fort of logs in 
 which the enemy had taken shelter, attacked 
 them, killed five of their warriors, and made 
 good his retreat with the recovered horses ; an 
 Indian of another tribe who was with the trap- 
 pers bringing away a Crow scalp as a tro- 
 l*y* 
 
 In the spring, while trapping on the Platte 
 River, two men belonging to 1 he party deserted 
 and robbed a cache, or underground deposit of 
 furs, which had been made by Captain Gaunt, 
 in the neighborhood. Carson, with only one 
 companion, went off in pursuit of the thieves, 
 who, however, were never heard of afterwards, 
 
 Xot finding the plunderers, Carson and his 
 companion remained at the old camp on the 
 Arkansas, where the cache had been made, 
 until they were relieved by a party sent out 
 from the United States with supplies for Cap- 
 tain Gaunt's trappers. They were soon after 
 joined by a party of Gaunt's men, and started 
 to his camp. On their way they had re- 
 peated encounters with Indians attempting to 
 steal their horses, but easily beat them off and 
 saved their property. 
 
 On one occasion when Carson and the other 
 
 * Cuti. Conquest of California and New Mexico. 
 
82 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 trappers were out in search of leaver sign, they 
 came suddenly upon a band of sixty warriors 
 well armed and mounted. In the presence of 
 such a force their only safety was in flight. 
 Amid a shower of bullets from the Indian 
 rifles, they made good their escape. Carsjn 
 considered this one of his narrowest escapes. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IN the spring of 1832, Mr. Gaunt's party had 
 been unsuccessful, and were now upon a stream 
 where there was no beaver, therefore Carson 
 announced his intention of hunting on his own 
 account. Two of his companions joined him, 
 and the three for the whole season pursued 
 their work successfully, high up in the moun- 
 tain streams, while the Indians were down in 
 the plains hunting buffalo ; and taking their 
 fur to Taos, disposed of them at a remunera- 
 tive price. While the two former spent their 
 money in the usual way, Carson saved his 
 hard earnings which his companions were so 
 recklessly throwing away. This self-disci- 
 pline, and schooling himself to virtue and tem- 
 perance, was not without effort on the part 
 <f Kit Carson, for he loved the good will and 
 kindly civilities of his companions; but lie 
 knew also that he could not have his cake and 
 
84 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 eat it too, and chose to save his money and his 
 strength for future use. 
 
 While remaining at Taos, Captain Lee, for- 
 merly of the United States army, now a part- 
 ner of Bent and St. Vrain, at Bent's Fort, in- 
 vited Carson to join an expedition which he 
 was arranging. Carson accepted his offer, 
 starting in October. Going northward they 
 came up with a party of twenty traders and 
 trappers, upon a branch of the Green River, 
 and all entered winter quarters here together, 
 
 Mr. Robideau had in his employ a Califor- 
 nian Indian, very skillful in the chase whether 
 for game or for human prey very courageous, 
 and able to endure the greatest hardships, and 
 whose conduct hitherto had won the confi- 
 dence of all. This Indian had left clandes- 
 tinely, taking with him six of Mr. Robideau's 
 most valuable horses, which were worth at 
 least twelve hundred dollars. Mr. Robideau, 
 determined to recover them if possible, solic- 
 ited Carson to pursue and overtake the Indian. 
 Kit asked his employer, Mr. Lees', permission 
 to serve Mr. Robideau, which was readily 
 granted, when he at once prepared himself for 
 hard riding and sturdy resistance. 
 
 From a Utah village near he obtained an in- 
 telligent and brave young warrior to join him 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 85 
 
 -for Carson's reputation for courage, skill, 
 and efficiency, were known to the tribes, and 
 many of its braves were attached to him, and 
 afterwards proved that they cherished a lasting 
 friendship for him. 
 
 For a time the blindness of the trail com- 
 pelled them to go slowly, but once sure of its 
 direction, they pursued it with the utmost 
 speed, down Green river, Carson concluding 
 the Indian was directing his course toward 
 California. When they had gone a hundred 
 miles on their way, the Indian's horse was 
 suddenly taken sick. The Indian would not 
 consent to continue the pursuit, as Carson sug- 
 gested, on foot, and he therefore determined to 
 go on alone, and putting spurs to his horse re- 
 solved not to return until he had succeeded in 
 recovering Mr. Robideau's property. With 
 practiced eye ever upon the trail, he revolved 
 in his mind the expert skill he might need to 
 exercise in encountering the wily savage. This 
 desperate expedition Carson had boldly entered 
 into, not with rashness, but he had accepted it 
 as an occasion that demanded the hazard. At 
 the distance of thirty miles from where he left 
 his Utah companion, he discovered the object 
 of his chase. The Indian too had dis- 
 covered him, and to prepare himself for the 
 
66 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 attack, turned to seek a shelter whence he 
 might fire and reload without exposure to the 
 shot from Carson's rifle which he had un- 
 slung when first he discovered the Indian. 
 
 With his horse at full speed, at the momert 
 the Indian reached his cover, Carson fired witw 
 aim so true that the Indian gave one bound 
 and fell dead beside his horse, while his gun 
 went off at the same instant. No further par 
 ticulars of description or speculation cat] add 
 to the interest of this picture. We lea v e vt t-d 
 the imagination of the reader, as an illus- 
 tration of the daring and fidelity of Kit 
 Carson. Collecting the horses, he soon had 
 the pleasure, after a few minor difficulties, of 
 presenting to Mr. Robideau, the six animals 
 he had lost, in as good condition as when they 
 were stolen, and of announcing to him the fact 
 that there lived one less rogue. 
 
 Soon after Carson's return to camp, some 
 trappers brought them news that Messrs, Jb 1 it& 
 patrick and Bridger were camped fifteen miles 
 from them. Captain Lee and Carson at once 
 concluded that to them they might sell their 
 goods. They started for their camp and were 
 as successful as they had noped, for they sold 
 their whole stock of goods to this party y arid 
 took their pay in furs. Their contract being 
 
"WHEN THE BEARS CLIMBED SO NEAR AS TO REACH HIM, 
 HE GAVE THEM SMART RAPS ON THE NOSE." 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 87 
 
 now completed, Carson joined Mr. Fitzpatrick 
 again in a trapping expedition, but did not 
 remain long with him, because the party was 
 too large to make it pay, or even to work har- 
 moniously together. With three men whom 
 he chose from the many who wished to join 
 him, Carson again commenced trapping on his 
 own account. They trapped all summer on 
 the Laranuc, with unusual success. It was 
 while Carson was out on this tramp that he had 
 the adventure with the grizzly bears,* which he 
 considered the most perilous that he ever 
 passed through. He had gone out from the 
 camp on foot to shoot game for supper, and 
 had just brought down an elk, when two griz- 
 zly bears came suddenly upon him. His rifle 
 being empty, there was no way of escape from 
 instant death but to run with his utmost speed 
 for the nearest tree. He reached a sapling 
 with the bears just at his heels. Cutting off 
 a limb of the tree with his knife, he used that 
 as his only weapon of defence. When tho 
 bears climbed so as nearly to reach him, he 
 gave them smart raps on the nose ; which sent 
 them away growling ; but when the pain ceased 
 they would return again only to have the 
 raps repeated. In this way nearly the wholo 
 
 * Petere. 
 
j LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CAESOJT. 
 
 night was spent, when finally the bears becaino 
 discouraged, and retired from the contest. 
 Waiting until they were well out of sight* 
 Carson descended from his unenviable posi- 
 tion, and made the best of his way into camp, 
 which he reached about daylight. The elk 
 had been devoured by wolves before it could 
 be found, and his three companions were only 
 too glad to see him, to be troubled about 
 breakfasting on beaver, as they had supped 
 the night before ; for trappers in camp en- 
 gaged in their business had this resort for 
 food when all others failed. 
 
 Laramie river flows into the North Platte, 
 upon the south side. The country through 
 which it flows is open, yet the stream is bordered 
 with a variety of shrubbery, and in many spots 
 the cotton wood grows luxuriantly, and for this 
 reason, the locality is favorable for the grizzly 
 bear. 
 
 Baird says of this bear: "While the black 
 bear is the bear of the forest, the grizzly is the 
 bear of the chapparal, the latter choosing an 
 open country, whether plain or mountain, whose 
 surface is covered with dense thickets of man- 
 zanita or shrub oak, which furnish him with his 
 favorite food, and clumps of service bushes, and 
 low cherry; and whose streams are lined with 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 89 
 
 tangled thickets of low grape vine an 1 wild 
 plumb." The grizzly is not so good at climb- 
 ing as the black bear, and can best manage by 
 resting upon his haunches and mounting with 
 his fore arms upon the bushes that he cannot 
 pull over, to gather the berries, of which ho is 
 very fond. 
 
 " Only in a condition of hunger will he at- 
 tack a man unprovoked, but when he does, 
 the energy with which he fights, prevents the 
 Indians from seeking the sport of a hunt for 
 the grizzly bear. He is monarch of the plain, 
 with only their opposition, and has departed 
 only before the rifle of the white hunter. An 
 Indian, who would, alone, undertake to con- 
 quer a dozen braves of another tribe, would 
 shrink from attacking a grizzly bear ; and to 
 have killed one, furnishes a story for a life 
 time, and gives a reputation that descends to 
 posterity. The mounted hunter can rarely 
 bring his horse to approach him near enough 
 for a shot." 
 
 Soon after his encounter with the bears, 
 Carson and his men were rejoiced by the arri- 
 val of Capt. Bridger, so long a mountaineer of 
 note, and with him his whole band. Carson 
 and his three companions joined with them, 
 and were snfe ; and now for the first time lie 
 
90 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 attended the summer rendezvous of trappers 
 on the Green River, where they assembled for 
 the disposal of their furs, and the purchase of 
 such outfit as they needed. 
 
 Carson for the Fall hunt joined a company 
 of fifty, and went to the country of the Black- 
 feet, at the head waters of the Missouri ; but 
 the Indians were sc numerous, and so determ- 
 ined upon hostility, that a white man could not 
 leave his camp without danger of being shot 
 down ; therefore, quitting the Blackfeet coun- 
 try, they camped on the Big Snake River for 
 winter quarters. 
 
 During the winter months, the Blackfeet had 
 in the night run off eighteen of their horses, 
 and Kit Carson, with eleven men, was sent to 
 recover them, and chastise their temerity. 
 They rode fifty miles through the snow before 
 coming up with the Indians, and instantly 
 made an attempt to recover their animals, 
 which were loose and quietly grazing. 
 
 The Indians, wearing snow shoes, had the 
 advantage, and Carson readily granted the 
 parley they asked. One man from each party 
 advanced, and between the contending ranks 
 had a talk. The Indians informed them that 
 they supposed they had been robbing the 
 Snake Indians, and did not desire to steal from 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 91 
 
 vhite men. Of course this tale was false, and 
 Carson asked why they did not lay clown their 
 arms and ask for a smoke, but to this they had 
 no reply to make. However, both parties laid 
 aside their weapons and prepared for the 
 smoke ; and the lighted calumet was puffed by 
 every one of the savages and the whites alter- 
 nately, and the head men of the savages made 
 several long non-committal speeches, to which, 
 in reply, the trappers came directly to the 
 point, and said they would hear nothing of 
 conciliation from them until their property was 
 returned. 
 
 After much talk, the Indians brought in five 
 of the poorest horses. The whites at once 
 started for their guns, which the Indians did 
 at the same time, and the fight at once com- 
 menced. Carson and a comrade named Mark- 
 land having seized their rifles first, were at the 
 lead, and selected for their mark two Indians 
 who were near each other and behind different 
 trees ; but as Kit was about to fire, he per- 
 ceived Markland's antagonist aiming at him 
 with death-like precision, while Markland had 
 not noticed him, and on the instant, neglecting 
 his own adversary, he sent a bullet through the 
 heart of the other savage, but at the moment 
 saw that his own enemy's rifle was aimed at 
 
92 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOff. 
 
 his breast. He was not quite quick enough to 
 dodge the ball, and it struck the side of his 
 neck, and passed through his shoulder, shat- 
 teriiig the bone. 
 
 Carson was thenceforward only a spectator 
 of the fight, which continued until night, when 
 both parties retired from the field of battle and 
 went into camp. 
 
 Carson's wound was very painful, and bled 
 freely, till the cold checked the flow of blood. 
 They dared not light a fire, and in the cold and 
 darkness, Carson uttered not a word of com- 
 plaint, nor did even a groan escape him. His 
 companions were earnest, in their sympathy, 
 but he was too brave to need it, or to allow his 
 wound to influence the course they should pur- 
 sue. In a council of war which they held, it 
 was decided that, as they had slain several 
 Indians, and had themselves only one wounded, 
 they had best return to camp, as they were in 
 unfit condition to continue the pursuit. Ar- 
 riving at camp, another council was held, at 
 which it was decided to send thirty men under 
 Capt. Bridger, to pursue and chastise these 
 Blackfeet thieves. This party followed the 
 Indian trail several days, but finally returned, 
 concluding it was useless to search further, as 
 they had failed to overtake them. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE Spring hunt opened on the Green 
 river, and continuing there a while, tli^ party 
 went to the Big Snake; and after trapping 
 with extraordinary success for a few weeks, 
 returned to the Summer rendezvous, held 
 again upon the Green River. Meantime Car- 
 son had recovered from his wound. 
 
 An unusually large number of trappers and 
 traders, with great numbers from the neighbor- 
 ing Indian tribes, assembled at this rendezvous, 
 made up of Canadians, Frenchmen, Dutchmen, 
 Spaniards, and many a backwoodsman, who 
 had lived upon the borders, perhaps, for three 
 generations, removing when a neighbor came 
 within ten miles, because near neighbors 
 were a nuisance to him. Let us see the 
 parties as they come in, the leader, or the one 
 to whom fitness accords this position, having 
 selected the spot for the camp, so remote from 
 every other, as to have plenty of grass about it 
 
94 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 for the animals of the party. Perhaps a tent 
 is spread, at least, everything is put in proper 
 order, according to the notions and the tastes 
 of the men who make up the party ; for the 
 camp is the home of its members, and hero 
 they will receive visitors, and exchange cour 
 tesies. 
 
 The party or parties that have made the 
 special arrangements for the rendezvous tra- 
 ders with a full supply of goods have spread 
 a large tent in a central spot of the general 
 encampment, where the w r hole company, save 
 those detained at each camp in charge of the 
 animals belonging to it, will assemble, at cer- 
 tain hours each day, the time upon which the 
 sales are announced to take place, and the ex- 
 changes commence. 
 
 The several parties arriving first, have been 
 obliged to wait until all expected for the sea- 
 son have arrived, because there is a feeling of 
 honor as well as a care for competition, that 
 compels the custom. The traders take furs or 
 money for their goods, which bring prices that 
 seem fabulous to those unaccustomed to the 
 sight or stories of mountain life. The charge, 
 of course, is made upon the ground of the ex- 
 pense and risk of bringing goods eight hun- 
 dred and a thousand miles into the wilderness, 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 95 
 
 from the nearest points in western Missouri 
 and St. Louis. 
 
 Irving opens his Astoria with the following: 
 " Two leading objects of commercial gain, have 
 given birth to wide daring and enterprise in 
 the ' early history of the Americas ; the pre- 
 cious metals of the South and the rich peltries 
 of the North." When he wrote this, it was true 
 of the localities he named the gold was not 
 yet an attraction, except in the south, and 
 only the British Fur Company in Canada had 
 become an object of history in this branch of 
 trade. He says, " While the fiery and mag- 
 nificent Spaniard, influenced with the mania 
 for gold, has extended his discoveries and con- 
 quests over those brilliant countries, scorched 
 by the ardent sun of the tropics, the adroit 
 Frenchman, and the cool and calculating Bri- 
 ton, have pursued the less splendid, but no 
 less lucrative, traffic in furs, amidst the hyper- 
 borean regions of the Canadas, until they ad- 
 vanced even within the Artie Circle. 
 
 " These two pursuits have thus, in a man- 
 ner, been the pioneers and precursors of civil- 
 ization. Without pausing on the borders, 
 they have penetrated at once, in defiance of 
 difficulties and dangers, to the heart of savage 
 countries ; laying open the hidden secrets of 
 
90 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARbON. 
 
 the wilderness ; leading the way to remote 
 regions of beauty and fertility, that might 
 have remained unexplored for ages, and beck- 
 oning after them the slow and pausing steps 
 of agriculture and civilization. It was the fur 
 trade, in fact, that gave early sustenance and 
 vitality to the great Canadian provinces. 
 
 " Being destitute of the precious metals, 
 they were for a long time neglected by the 
 parent country. The French adventurers, 
 however, who had settled on the banks of the 
 St. Lawrence, soon found that in the rich pel- 
 tries of the interior, they had sources of wealth 
 that might almost rival the mines of Mexico 
 and Peru." The Indians, as yet unacquainted 
 with the artificial value given to some descrip- 
 tions of furs, in civilized life, brought quanti- 
 ties of the most precious kinds and bartered 
 them away for European trinkets and cheap 
 commodities. Immense profits were thus 
 made by the early traders, and the traffic was 
 pursued with avidity. 
 
 "As the valuable furs became scarce in the 
 neighborhood of the settlements, the Indians 
 of the vicinity were stimulated to take a wider 
 range in their hunting expeditions ; they wero 
 generally accompanied on these expeditions by 
 some of the traders or their dependants, who 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOff. 97 
 
 shared in the toils and perils of the chase, and at 
 the same time, made themselves acquainted with 
 the best hunting grounds, and with the remote 
 tribes whom they encouraged to bring peltries 
 to tho settlements. In this way the trade aug- 
 mented, and was drawn from remote quarters 
 to Montreal. Every 0w and then a largo 
 body of Ottawas, Hurons, and other tribes who 
 hunted the countries bordering on the great 
 lakes, would come down in a squadron of light 
 canoes, laden with beaver skins and other 
 spoils of the year's hunting. The canoes 
 would be unladen, taken on shore, and their 
 contents disposed in order. A camp of birch- 
 bark would be pitched outside of the town, 
 and a kind of primitive fair opened with that 
 grave ceremonial so dear to the Indians. 
 
 " Xow would ensue a brisk traffic with the 
 merchants, and all Montreal would be alive 
 with naked Indians, running from, shop to 
 shop, bargaining for arms, kettles, knives, 
 axes, blankets, bright-colored cloths, and other 
 articles of use or fancy; upon all which, the 
 merchants were sure to clear two hundred per 
 cent. 
 
 " Their wants and caprices being supplied, 
 they would take leave, strike their tents, 
 7 
 
98 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 launch their canoes, and ply their way up the 
 Ottawa to the lakes." 
 
 Later, the French traders, couriers des lois, 
 penetrated the remote forests, carrying such 
 goods as the Indians required, and held ren- 
 dezvous among them, on a smaller scale, but 
 similar to the one Carson had attended, so far 
 as the Indian trade was concerned. But the 
 Yankee element of character preponderated 
 among the traders and trappers from the 
 States , besides the greater difficulty and ex 
 pense necessarily incurred to reach the hunt- 
 ing grounds by land than in canoe, called into 
 the work only men of energy and higher skill 
 than the employees, mostly French, in the ser- 
 vice of the Hudson Bay Fur Company, and a 
 score of smaller parties, each owning no author- 
 ity outside itself, adopted the plan of these sum- 
 mer encampments, during the season when the 
 fur of the beaver and the otter was not good, as 
 an arrangement for mutual convenience ; and 
 the Indians of this more southern section 
 availed themselves of the occasion, for their 
 own pleasure and profit, and to the advantage 
 and satisfaction of the traders, whose prices 
 ruled high in proportion to the difficulty of 
 transit, as well as the monopoly in their hands 
 of the articles deemed necessary to the trap* 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 99 
 
 por'o dress, culinary establishment, and outfit. 
 These consisted of a woolen shirt, a sash or 
 belt, and with some stockings, coffee, and 
 black pepper, and salt, unless he could sup- 
 ply himself from the licks the buffalo visits ; 
 with tin kettle, and cup, and frying pan ; tho 
 accoutrements of the horse, saddle and pack- 
 saddle, bridle, spurs, and horse-shoes; with ma- 
 terial for bait ; and last, but not least, tobacco, 
 which if he did not use, he carried to give to 
 the Indians made up not only the neces- 
 saries, but the luxuries which the Indian and 
 the white man indulged in, and for which, at 
 such times, they paid their money or their 
 furs. 
 
 Perhaps the trapper took an Indian fldfe, 
 and then she must be made fine Avith dress, 
 denoting the dignity of her position as wife of 
 a white man, and presents must be given to 
 the friends of his bride. This was usually an 
 expensive luxury, but indulged in most fre 
 qucntly by the French and Canadian trappers, 
 many of whom are now living quietly upon 
 tlieir farms in Oregon and California, and the 
 iuimer)us valleys of the West. Indeed we 
 might give the names of many a mountain 
 ranger, and pioneer of note, first a trapper, 
 who still lives surrounded by his Indian wife 
 
100 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOHT. 
 
 and their children, and finds himself thus con- 
 nected with this people, having their utmost 
 confidence, chosen the chief of his tribe, and 
 able to care for them as no one not in such as 
 sociation could. 
 
 At almost any point upon Green River the 
 grass upon the bottom lands is sufficient for a 
 night's encampment for a small party ; but at 
 the place selected for the rendezvous, in the 
 space of two or three miles upon either side of 
 the river, the bottom spreads out in a broad 
 prairie, and the luxuriant growth of grass, 
 with the country open all about it, made the 
 soot desirable for a large encampment. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 EAKLY in the summer the grass is green, 
 but later it is hay made naturally, root and 
 branch dried on the ground there is no sod 
 and this, though less agreeable, is more nutri- 
 tious for the animals than fresh grass. 
 
 A scattered growth of fine old trees fur- 
 nishes shade at every camp, and immediately 
 about the great tent they afford protection from 
 the sun to parties of card players, or a " Gro- 
 cery stand," at which the principal article of 
 sale is " whiskey by the glass ;" and perhaps, 
 further on is a monte table, parties from sev- 
 eral Indian tribes, and the pioneer of semi-civ- 
 ilization the back-woodsman has come in 
 " with his traps/' a fow bags of flour, and pos- 
 sibly some cheese and butter, and the ne\ei 
 failing cask of whiskey. Perhaps his wagon 
 is the grocery stand, to which we have just al- 
 luded. Without extenuation, these encamp- 
 ments were grand occasions of which a few do- 
 
 1101) 
 
102 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 script ions may be found written at the time by 
 men of science and intellectual culture, like 
 Sir Win. Stewart, who traveled upon theso 
 plains for pleasure, or the Rev. Samuel 
 Parker, who happened at a Green River reu 
 clezvous, in 1835, while on his way to the Co- 
 lumbia River, under the auspices of the Amer- 
 ican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
 sions. This was long before Brigham Young 
 came West before his scheme of religious 
 colonization had its birth. 
 
 There is now has been for years a trading 
 post where a Canadian Frenchman and an 
 American partner, with Indian wives, have 
 provided entertainment or furnished supplies 
 to emigrants and Indians. It is near the 
 Green River crossing, on the road from the 
 South Pass to great Salt Lake City, via Fort 
 Bridger. 
 
 Amid the motley company it might be ex- 
 pected that quarrels would arise, and disor- 
 derly conduct, growing out of the feuds among 
 the tribes of Indians. These were kept in 
 abeyance as much as possible, and already 
 Carson's popularity with them enabled him 
 to act the part of peace- maker between 
 them and the quarrelsome w r hites, as well 
 as between each other, for many of them 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 1C3 
 
 recognized him as the brave who had led 
 excursions, whose success they had felt and 
 suffered, and even though leader of victorious 
 parties against themselves, they admired his 
 prowess still; for the party of Blackfeet came 
 to the rendezvous under the protection of the 
 white flag, and for the time, no one more truly 
 buried the hatchet than Carson, though just 
 recovered from a wound given by a party of 
 that tribe, which had nearly cost him his life, 
 and of which we have written in a previous 
 chapter. 
 
 There was belonging to one of the trapping 
 parties a Frenchman by the name of Shuman, 
 known at the rendezvous as "the big bully of 
 the mountains," exceedingly annoying on ac- 
 count of his boasts and taunts, a constant ex- 
 citer of tumult and disorder, especially among 
 the Indians. Bad enough at any time, with 
 the means now for intoxication, he was even 
 m o re d a n ger o us . 
 
 The habits of the mountaineers, without 
 la\v save such as the exigency of the moment 
 demanded, required a firm, steady hand to rule. 
 Carson had feared the results of this man's 
 lawlessness, and had often desired to be rid of 
 him, but lie had not as yet found the proper 
 opportunity. The mischiefs he committed grew 
 
104 LIFE OF CHKISTOrHER CARSOtf. 
 
 worse and worse, and yet for the sake of peare 
 they were borne unresistingly. At length an 
 opportunity offered to try his courage. One 
 day Shuman, boasting of his exploits, was par- 
 ticularly insolent and insulting toward all 
 Americans, whom he described as only fit to 
 be whipped with switches. Carson was in the 
 crowd, and immediately stepped forward, say- 
 ing, " I am an American, the most inconsider- 
 able one among them, but if you wish to die, 1 
 will accept your challenge.' ' 
 
 Shuman' defied him. He was sitting upon 
 his horse, with his loaded rifle in his hand. 
 Carson leaped upon his horse with a loaded 
 pistol, and both rushed into close combat. 
 They fired, almost at the same moment, but 
 Carson an instant before his boasting antag- 
 onist. Their horses' heads touched, Shuman's 
 ball just grazing Carson's cheek, near the left 
 eye, and cutting off some locks of his hair. Car- 
 son's ball entered Shuman's hand, came out at 
 the wrist, and passed through his arm above the 
 elbow. The bully begged for his life, and it 
 was spared ; and from that time forward, 
 Americans Avere no more insulted by him. 
 
 If, as in other duels, we were to go back to 
 remoter causes, and find in this too, the de- 
 fence of woman a Blackfoot beauty whom 
 
ARSOX WAS IN THE CROWD, AND IMMEDIATELY STEPPED 
 FORWARD SAYING, "I AM AN AMERICAN." 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOtf. 105 
 
 Slmman had determined to abuse, which Car- 
 son's interference only had prevented, for the 
 sake of truth, of honor, and virtue, as against 
 insolence, falsehood, and treachery, although 
 the girl did belong to a tribe that was treach- 
 erous ; we shall be but giving a point to the 
 story that it needs for completeness, and show 
 Carson in the exalted manliness and fidelity of 
 his character. 
 
 The trappers made arrangements at the ren- 
 dezvous for the fall hunt ; and the party who 
 were so fortunate as to secure Carson's ser- 
 vices, went to the Yellow-stone River, in the 
 Blackfeet country, but met with no success 
 Crossing through the Crows' country to the 
 Big Horn River, they met the party of Black- 
 feet returning from Green River. Carson held 
 a parley with them, as was his custom when- 
 ever it was safe to go to an Indian camp. He 
 told them he had seen none of their people, 
 and that the tomahawk was buried if they 
 were faithful to him. " But," said he, " the 
 (rows are my friends, and while I am with 
 them, they must be yours." 
 
 On the Big Horn, too, their success was no 
 better, and Carson did not meet his Crow 
 friends. On the Big Snake, too, which thev 
 next visited, the result was the same. 
 
106 LIIE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 They here met a party from the Hudson 
 Bay Company, led by a Mr. McCoy. Carson 
 and five of his companions accepted the offer 
 lie made them, and went with him to the 
 Humboldt river, trapping with little suc- 
 cess from its source to the desert where it 
 loses itself, and where the termini of several 
 other large rivers are all within a day's ride, 
 according to the statement of residents at this 
 point. Capt. McCoy said to Carson, as he and 
 two of the company started off upon the de- 
 sert, 
 
 " Do not be gone longer than to-morrow 
 night, and if you strike a stream where there 
 is beaver there must be water between here 
 and those snow mountains we will trap a few 
 days longer." 
 
 On they rode over the artemisia plain till 
 the lake was out of view from an eminence 
 which Carson climbed ; then struck a tract of 
 country entirely destitute of every sign of ani- 
 mal or vegetable life, with surface as smooth 
 as the floor for miles in extent, then broken 
 by a ridge a few feet high, like the rim to a 
 lake, whose bottom they had passed, to plunge 
 immediately upon another like it, with per-, 
 haps a white and glistening crystalization 
 spread thinly over it. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 10? 
 
 Carson knew he must be upon the celebrated 
 Mud Lakes of which he had heard, and of - 
 which he had seen miniature specimens further 
 east. Over these lake bottoms of earth, that 
 broken, seemed like mingled sand and ashes, 
 but which bore the tread of their horses, and 
 over which they seemed to fly rather than to 
 step, so fragrant and exhilarating was the at- 
 mosphere, they traveled thirty miles, then 
 struck the artemisia plains again, only there 
 was less of even this worthless production for 
 the next ten miles than he had seen before for 
 long a distance. 
 
 Through a heavy sand, the weary horses 
 plod, for they had come forty or fifty miles 
 beneath a burning sun without food and with- 
 out water. On they ride, for rest and refresh- 
 ment to themselves was not to be thought of till 
 they have it for the animals. The river is 
 gained ! a broad, deep current of water, 
 muddy like that of the Platte, supplies the 
 moisture to the trees, whose tops ascend only 
 a few feet above the desert level, and whose 
 trunks rise from green meadows but little 
 above the surface of the water. The bottom 
 londs are narrow, and the abrupt bank de- 
 scends to the water perpendicularly twenty 
 feet or more, seemingly of clayey earth, so soft. 
 
108 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 the water constantly wore upon it, and evi- 
 dently the river channel was settling, as the 
 years advanced. There were no signs of bea- 
 ver, and, from the nature of the banks, there 
 be none, unless high up on the stream. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CAPT. McCoy had calculated that he would 
 soon find game in the country through which 
 his route lay, and therefore he had turned over 
 to Carson, and the division of the party under 
 his command, nearly all the food which was 
 left, but this was insufficient to give them full 
 meals for more than three days. Their pros- 
 pect was a dreary one indeed, for at the earlier 
 season of coming down the river, they had 
 not half enough to eat, even with the few bea- 
 ver they had taken, to add to the supply, 
 and even this was now denied them. And now, 
 that the reader may understand Carson's posi- 
 tion, we invite him to enjoy with us a few of 
 the incidents passed through, and views ob- 
 served in our passage up this river, which the 
 untraveled eastern man would find so entirely 
 new, and the man of travel and of letters would 
 find so full of interest, as did the man whose 
 
 name the river bears, for it was named by 
 
 (109) 
 
110 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 Fremont, after Carson, whom he had learned 
 to love and respect, long before he reached it, 
 We shall speak especially of the features of 
 this country, common to so much that lies be- 
 tween the civilizations of the Atlantic and the 
 Pacific slopes, though the latter was not a 
 civilization ; and when from the desert Carson 
 gazed with admiration at the snow mountains, 
 he surmised, as he afterwards realized through 
 hunger, cold, danger, and suffering, that this 
 was the chain of mountains which separated 
 him from California. 
 
 At the station-house, upon the lake, called 
 the Sink of the Humboldt, we were told that 
 the Humboldt did not connect with this lake 
 except in the spring season, after the rains ; 
 and that for the last two years it had not been 
 connected even at that time ; and that in the 
 autumn one could pass between the lake and 
 the limit of the marsh in which the river loses 
 itself, upon dry ground ; and that the sinks, 
 or the margins of the lakes or marshes in 
 which the Carson, the Walker, and the Susan 
 llivers, neither of them less than a hundred 
 miles in length, and some of them several 
 hundred, in the wet season empty or lose 
 themselves, were all within the limit of a sin- 
 gle day's ride, and in the direct vicinity of tho 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. Ill 
 
 desert upon which the reader last saw Car- 
 sun. 
 
 It was the evening of the second of July, 
 during a rain storm, (an unusual occurrence at 
 Ibis season of the year, no traveler having 
 ever reported a similar one so far as we had 
 heard,) that, weary, and wet, and cold, wo 
 found our way in the dark to this river in the 
 wilderness. The house of the traders at the 
 sink was made of logs, with tw r o rooms the 
 logs having been drawn from the mountains, 
 forty miles distant. There was no timber in 
 sight, and nothing that was green except some 
 grass about the lake, which we were told was 
 poison, and on examining, we found it en- 
 crusted with a crystalization of potash, left on 
 it by the subsiding water in which the grass 
 had started. 
 
 During the wet season, the water of the lake 
 overflows its banks, and the banks of the river 
 are also overflowed, while the water standing 
 upon the surface of the ground is strongly 
 impregnated with potash, not only near tho 
 sink, but far up the stream, nearly to its 
 source, the same cause existing, though only in 
 occasional spots is it exhibited to the same de- 
 gree as about the lake. It is not improbable 
 that some immense coal formation might have? 
 
112 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 been consumed here in some remote past age, 
 though that is a matter for more scientific ex- 
 amination than becomes this work. 
 
 But, to leave speculation ; the occupants of 
 the station, whilom trappers in the mountains, 
 furnished barley for our animals, and wo 
 might have purchased coffee, or a rusty gun, 
 or bad whiskey, but little else, for their regu- 
 lar supplies for the emigrants who were soon 
 expected to arrive, had not yet come in. The 
 parties bound east had passed, and the Mor- 
 mons, with their herds of cattle for the Cali- 
 fornia markets, had been met beyond the 
 desert. A party of Pah Utah or Piete In- 
 dians, a tribe of Diggers, were hanging about 
 the encampment, and possibly had caused the 
 stampede of the Mormon oxen, which one of 
 their herdsmen had reported to us as occurring 
 here. The traders on the plains are charged 
 with conniving at such expeditions of the In- 
 dians, and of sharing with them the plunder. 
 These traders may not have been privy to any 
 thing of the kind, but certain it is they always 
 stood ready to purchase the worn out stock of 
 the overland emigrants, much of which is 
 worthless to cross the desert, after the prior 
 fifteen hundred miles of travel. 
 
 This is made a lucrative business, as will be 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 113 
 
 readily imagined, when the number of animals 
 driven over is taken into consideration, which 
 has amounted to a hundred thousand annually, 
 by this route, during several of the years since 
 the quest for gold. 
 
 The traders said they had twenty-five hun- 
 dred horses and as many oxen, in charge of 
 herdsmen in a mountain valley. Shrewd men 
 they were, one of them with an eye we would 
 not warrant to look out from a kindly soul. 
 
 Miserable wretches were these Humboldt 
 Diggers, with scarcely a trace of humanity in 
 their composition, for they have not improved 
 since Carson first met them, many years ago. 
 The old chief was delighted with a lump of 
 sugar, which one of our party gave him. He 
 wore a long coat made of rabbit skins, warm 
 and durable, strips of the skin with the hair 
 out being wound around a deerskin thong, 
 and these rolls woven into a garment, but the 
 rest of the party were nearly naked. 
 
 Passing Lassen's meadows where the party 
 lunched at a spring, indicated, as we ap- 
 proached, by a growth of willows, and striking 
 upon the artemisia plain that constitutes the 
 larger portion of the river valley, when about 
 fifty miles from the station, w r e left the road by 
 a blind trail, and approached the river, de- 
 ft 
 
114 LIFE OF CHR1STOPHEK CARSOTQ. 
 
 scending to the bottom land by a precipitous 
 bluff thirty feet in height. The mountains 
 approached close on the opposite side of the 
 river, probably a mile distant, and enclosed us 
 "n a semi-circle, while the bluff was lined \\itn 
 a scattered growth of alders. 
 
 It rained, was raining violently w r hen we 
 halted, and stretching a rope from alder to 
 alder, with a blanket thrown over it, we thus 
 made a tent, and established ourselves cosily 
 to spend here the nation's Sabbath-day, the 
 4th of July. 
 
 The rain turned into snow towards evening, 
 and covered the mountains to their base, but 
 melting as it fell where we were encamped, 
 and with the cooing of the doves which filled 
 the alders, the croaking of the frogs in the 
 marsh next the river, and the patter of the 
 rain upon the bushes, we had other music 
 nature's deep bass in a constant roaring 
 sound, like that of old ocean at full tide on a 
 sand beach of the open coast of the Pacific ; or 
 like the sound of Niagara, heard half a mile 
 away, but there was no discoverable cause. 
 
 Going a mile up and down the river from 
 the camp if there is up and down to a dead 
 river we still heard the sound, the same in 
 tone and power. Our Wyandotte a member 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 115 
 
 of the party who had crossed the plains with 
 Col. Fremont suggested that it was u the 
 Humboldt sinking." 
 
 All the day of the 4th of July we rested 
 here, with our animals in clover, amid the 
 snow which reached even to the foot of tlio 
 mountains opposite, arid the dirge played for 
 us by the unseen hand. It was a quiet, still 
 sweetly sad day pleasant in memory, and 
 such an one as we shall never spend again so 
 far from civilized humanity, and in a place so 
 remote from human footsteps, it seemed a nat- 
 ural wonder which had never been properly 
 examined and explained. 
 
 Sooner than the old trappers anticipated, 
 will the Humboldt be lined with farms, and 
 the little mountain valleys filled with grazing 
 herds, and the church spire and the cross upon 
 an unassuming building in the centre of a six 
 mile square prairie, indicate the advance of 
 civilization. Yet, except in the mud-lake lo- 
 calities, there is no tract of country that can 
 well be more unpromising than that about the 
 Humboldt; and not many years will elapse 
 before science will make plain and palpable 
 that wonder of the world, " the sinking of the 
 Humboldt " 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THROUGH the country we have thus briefly 
 described, Carson and his men had trapped 
 taking some small game, intending to rcturij 
 late in the season when the cold of this high 
 altitude, with the sun low, was becoming terri- 
 bly severe, while the grass was dead, and the 
 birds of passage had all departed. Their 
 prospects were cheerless and unpromising, nor 
 were they at all improved after they left the 
 Humboldt ; for their route lay through an arte- 
 misia desert, varied only by an occasional lit- 
 tle valley, where springs of water in the early 
 season had induced the growth of grass. 
 
 On reaching Goose Creek, they found it fro- 
 zen, so that there was no possibility of finding 
 ev r en roots, to satisfy their hunger. Though 
 to-day this is the trail of California emigration, 
 with plenty of grass, for a great portion of the 
 
 v, in its season ; now all was desolate, and 
 (116) 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 117 
 
 inured as they were to hardship, Carson's men 
 had never before suffered so much from hun- 
 ger, nor did their animals fare much better. 
 Capt. McCoy had taken with him all not 
 needed by Carson's party, because he could 
 give them food, and it was fortunate for them 
 he had adopted this course. 
 
 The magnificent mountain scenery on the 
 route could scarcely excite admiration or re- 
 mark from this company of hungry, toil-worn 
 men ; even that unique exhibition of nature's 
 improvised ideality, done in stone pyramid 
 circle with its pagodas, temples, obelisks, 
 and altars, within a curiously wrought rock 
 wall, they only wished were the adobe walls 
 and houses of Fort Hall. However, nothing 
 daunted by the dreary prospect before them, 
 they here bled their horses, and drank the 
 precious draught, well knowing they were 
 taking the wind from the sails upon which 
 they must rely to waft them into port, if they 
 ever reached it. 
 
 The next day, they were meditating the 
 slaughter of one of their horses, when a party 
 of Snake Indians fortunately came in sight 
 They had been out on the war trail, and re- 
 turning, had little food, but Carson managed 
 to purchase a fat horse, which they killed at 
 
118 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 once, and thus managed to live luxuriously 
 till they reached the fort, able now to walk 
 and give the horses the advantage of their 
 diet. 
 
 Epicureans of civilization, when the squearn- 
 islmess of an appetite, perverted by too deli- 
 cate fare, is invited to such a repast, may rest 
 assured that they know not the satisfaction 
 such fare afforded to Kit Carson and his party. 
 Horse beef was sweeter food to these starving 
 men, than epicures had ever tasted. 
 
 After recruiting for a few days at the fort, 
 and learning that there were large herds of 
 the game, which they gloried most in hunting, 
 the buffalo, near by, Carson and his party 
 started for the stream on which they could be 
 found, and were not long in discovering a largo 
 herd of fine fat buffalo. Stretching lines on 
 which to hang the strips, they killed, and 
 dressed, and cut ; and soon had dried all the 
 meat their animals could carry, when they re- 
 turned to the fort. 
 
 Three days before reaching the fort, a party 
 of Blackfeet Indians were again upon their 
 trail, and watching for their return. 
 
 On the third morning after their arrival, just 
 as day dawned, two of the Indians came past 
 their camp to the corral of the fort in which 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 119 
 
 their animals were confined, let down the bars 
 and drove them all away; the sentinel think- 
 ing the Indians were men of his party who 
 had come to relieve his watch, had gone into 
 camp and was soundly sleeping before the ani- 
 mals were missed. By this time the Indians 
 had driven them many miles away, and as a 
 similar ruse had been played upon the people 
 at the fort a few days before, by which all their 
 animals were run off, there was no possibility 
 of giving chase. 
 
 Of course there was now no alternative but 
 to wait the return of Capt. McCoy from Walla 
 Walla, which he did in about four weeks, 
 bringing animals enough to supply Carson and 
 his party, besides, the men at the fort, which 
 had been obtained of the Kiowas, or Kaious 
 Indians, in Oregon. These Indians range be- 
 tween the Cascade and the Rocky Mountains, 
 in what is now the eastern portion of Wash- 
 ington and Oregon Territories, living by the 
 chase, and owning immense herds of horses, 
 of which the chief of this tribe owned ten thou- 
 sand. In this same locality the Indian bands 
 reported by the parties of trappers in tho 
 American Fur Company, had abundance of 
 horses, with which they hunted deer, "ring- 
 ing or surrounding them, and running thcrq 
 
120 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 down in a circle." But while antelope, and 
 elk, and deer, as well as beaver, were abun- 
 dant, their locality was not frequented by tho 
 buffalo, its ranges being further toward the 
 south and west. 
 
 Many suppose that buffalo never existed west 
 of the Rocky Mountains ; but to attempt a cor- 
 rection of this impression with our readers, is 
 no longer necessary, as we have seen Carson kill- 
 ing them on the Salmon River, on the Green 
 River, and lastly, in the valley of a stream 
 that flows into the Salmon. 
 
 From Baird's General Repository, published 
 in 1857, we quote, 
 
 " It will perhaps excite surprise that I in- 
 clude the buffalo in the fauna of the Pacific 
 States, as it is common to imagine that the 
 buffalo has always been confined to the At- 
 lantic slopes, because it does not now extend 
 beyond the Rocky mountains. This is not 
 true. They once abounded on the Pacific." 
 
 This animal has not been found in Califor- 
 nia nor in Oregon, west of the Cascade moun- 
 tains, within the present generation of men, 
 and the limit of its ranges, narrowing every 
 year, is now far this side of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. Really a wild animal, incapable of 
 being domesticated, afe the country is more and 
 
LIFE OF CHKISTOPIIER CARSOX. 
 
 more traversed, he retires is killed by thous- 
 ands by the hunter and seems destined, aa 
 really as the Indian race, to become extinct. 
 Could either be induced to adopt the modes of 
 life which residence among the races of civil* 
 izod men requires, their existence might be 
 prolonged perhaps for centuries, but there 
 seems to be no care, on the part of anybody 
 who has the power, to preserve either the In- 
 dian or the buffalo as a distinct race of man, 
 and quadruped. 
 
 A writer who reports his trip from Cali- 
 .fornia in the summer of '57, by Humboldt 
 River and Fort Laramie, says : 
 
 " I watched for buffalo, expecting to see 
 them in the valleys of the streams, the head-wa- 
 ters of the Platte. But the hundred miles upon 
 the Sweet- water revealed no buffalo ; upon 
 the North Platte above Laramie there were 
 none, and on to Fort Kearney we looked in 
 vain for this noble game. If we had been a 
 wagon party, and therefore confined to the 
 road, this would not have surprised us, as the 
 immense emigration to California first, to Salt 
 Lake next, and the United States. army follow- 
 ing, might be supposed to have driven them 
 away. Then, too, Col. Sumner had been 
 through, aud with a war party of three hun- 
 
122 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 dred mounted riflemen, had followed the Chey- 
 en nes from Fort Laramie south to the head- 
 waters of the Arkansas. But \v r e frequently 
 left the road for days together, in pursuit of 
 game and the finer scenery of the immediate 
 river valley, or the hills as it happened. 
 
 " Only until three days after passing Fort 
 Kearney, did the glad sight greet us. 
 
 " In the broad bottom ten miles at least be- 
 tween the hills that shut in the river valley 
 they were scattered thickly and quietly grazing. 
 
 " In two hours after coming in sight of them, 
 we pitched our camp upon the river bank, and 
 were soon prepared for the hunt. Though ten 
 thousand were in sight, we had not yet ap- 
 proached within half a mile of one, so shy are 
 they, moving off when we came in sight. 
 
 " The Platte was three quarters of a mile 
 wide where we were camped, and above and 
 below us were numerous trails running from 
 the river back into the hills. These were like 
 the cow-paths running to a spring in a New 
 England pasture. We camped about three 
 o'clock, and soon after the buffalo upon one 
 side of the stream commenced moving towards 
 the river by these paths, and following each 
 other close, to wade across it in a continuous 
 line by half a dozen paths in sight from 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 123 
 
 where we were. These moving lines of huge 
 animals were continued till slumber closed our 
 eyes, at ten o'clock in the evening, and wo 
 knew not how much longer. 
 
 "Having no fresh animals, and only one 
 that had not made the distance from the other 
 side the Sierra Nevada within the last fifty 
 days, we could not hunt by the chase. Ac- 
 cordingly, with nicely loaded double barrelled 
 rifle, we crept through the under-brush that 
 lined the bank above us, and came near a line 
 of buffalo crossing the river, and choosing our 
 opportunity, as the animal pauses from the 
 brisk trot before plunging into the stream, we 
 were able to take good aim, and soon had 
 lodged a ball in the breast of a fine cow, who 
 with a bound leaped into the water, but was 
 not able to proceed, nor needed the other shot 
 which we lodged in the brain, to float her down 
 the stream. 
 
 " Calling help, we had her dressed directly, 
 and the nicest steaks upon the coals already 
 kindled at the camp, and found them exceed- 
 ingly delicious of course more so from tho 
 fact that we had taken it. Others of the party 
 came in without success ; some had shot at a 
 buffalo, others had got a sight of one, and at 
 two of the crossings the line was broken teiu- 
 
124 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON 
 
 porarily by an unsuccessful attempt to kill an 
 animal, but without hurting him. Most of us 
 had no practice with this kind of game, though 
 they had killed grouse, and some of them had 
 shot antelope during our journey. But now 
 their guns would not go off, or they shot too 
 high, or could not get near enough. Just at 
 dark, however, the old gentleman came in for 
 help. His French rifle a gun of Revolu- 
 tionary times had done execution, and a big 
 bull was the prize he announced. We invited 
 him to our prepared repast, but 'no! he would 
 sup to-night upon his own game, he thanked 
 us.' Of course he had the tongue from the an- 
 imal he killed, nor were the tender-loin and 
 other choice bits bad eating, and taking the 
 tongue ourself, with the rest of the party, (of 
 ten,) we managed to carry away in the morning 
 nearly all of the cow that we had not already 
 eaten. 
 
 " All night long the bellowing from tho 
 other side the river greeted our tired senses. 
 The situation was novel, and really in imagi- 
 nation, quite terrific. Would they return 
 across the river and stampede our animals ? 
 We got a little sleep before midnight, but not 
 much later. 
 
 "In the morning the buffalo were indeed 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 125 
 
 returning in the style they went, but as wo 
 rode on over their track, the lines were always 
 broken, and the animals scattered before we 
 could approach them, and only once did we 
 come within pistol shot of any of them ; nor 
 did the rest of the party do any better. 
 
 " Of course we might have done it had we 
 made this our business ; but we were hasten- 
 ing from the El .dorado, after a four years' ab- 
 sence from our homes. So much for our ex- 
 temporised buffalo hunting. In twenty-four 
 hours after striking them, we had passed the 
 buffalo, and saw no more of them. As we esti- 
 mated it, we had seen in that time at least fifty 
 thousand ; we had crossed the trail of fifteen 
 lines of them crossing the river after we left 
 camp this morning." 
 
 We have quoted this to show the way in 
 which travelers emigrants now meet the 
 buffalo. Sometimes a huge drove of them 
 overrun an emigrant party; but this seldom 
 occurs, nor do parties often see more of them 
 than did the one we have just presented, 
 though usually they see them for a longer 
 lime. So much have the times changed since 
 Larson was a trapper. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WITH fresh animals, and men well fed and 
 rested, McCoy and Carson and all their parly 
 soon started from Fort Hall, for the rendezvous 
 again upon Green River, where they were de- 
 tained some weeks for the arrival of other par- 
 ties, enjoying as they best might the occasion, 
 and preparing for future operations. 
 
 A party of an hundred was here organized, 
 with Mr. Fontenelle and Carson for its leaders, 
 to trap upon the Yellowstone, and the head 
 waters of the Missouri. It was known tlat 
 they would probably meet the Blackfeet in 
 whose grounds they were going, and it A\as 
 therefore arranged, that, while fifty were to 
 trap and furnish the food for the party, the 
 remainder should be assigned to guard the 
 camp and cook. There was no disinclination 
 on the part of any to another meeting with the 
 Blackfeet, so often had they troubled members 
 
 of the party, especially Carson, who, while he 
 (126) 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER C1RSON. 127 
 
 be mananiraous towards an enemy, would 
 not turn aside from his course, if able to cope 
 with him ; and now he was in a company which 
 justly felt itself strong enough to punish the 
 1 thieving Blackfeet," as they spoke of them, 
 lie was anxious to pay off some old scores. 
 
 They saw nothing, however, of these In- 
 dians ; but afterwards learned that the small- 
 pox had raged terribly among them, and that 
 they had kept themselves retired in mountain 
 valleys, oppressed with fear and severe dis- 
 ease. 
 
 The winter's encampment was made in this 
 region, and a party of Crow Indians which was 
 with them, camped at a little distance, on the 
 same stream. Here they had secured an 
 abundance of meat, and passed the serere 
 weather with a variety of amusements in 
 which the Indians joined them in their lodges, 
 made of buffalo hides. These lodges, very 
 good substitutes for houses, are made in the 
 form of a cone, spread by the means of poles 
 spreading from a common centre, where thero 
 was a hole at the top for the passage of the smoke, 
 These were often twenty feet in height, and as 
 many feet in diameter, where they were pinned 
 to the ground with stakes. In a large village 
 the Indians often had one lodge large enough 
 
128 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 to hold fifty persons, and within were per 
 formed their war dances around a fire made 
 in the centre. During the palmy days of th<j 
 British Fur Company, in a lodge like this only 
 made, instead, of birch-bark, Irving says the 
 Indians of the north held their " primitive 
 fairs," outside the city of Montreal, where they 
 disposed of their furs. 
 
 There was one drawback upon conviviality 
 for this party, in the extreme difficulty of get- 
 ting food for their animals ; for the food and 
 fuel so abundant for themselves did not suffice 
 for their horses. Snow covered the ground, 
 and the trappers were obliged to gather willow 
 twigs, and strip the bark from cottonwood 
 trees, in order to keep them alive. The in- 
 ner bark of the cottonwood is eaten by the 
 Indians when reduced to extreme want. Be- 
 side, the cold brought the buffalo down upon 
 them in large herds, to share the nourishment 
 they had provided for their horses. 
 
 Spring at length opened, and gladly they 
 again commenced trapping ; first on* the Yel- 
 lowstone, and soon on the head waters of the 
 ."Missouri, where they learned that the Black- 
 feet were recovered from the sickness of last 
 year, which had not been so severe as it was 
 reported, and that they were still anxious and 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARS3X, 129 
 
 in condition for a fight, and were encamped 
 not far from their present trapping grounds. 
 
 Carson and five men went forward in ad^ 
 vance " to reconnoitre," and found the village 
 preparing to remove, having learned of the 
 presence of the trappers. Hurrying back, a 
 party, of forty-three was selected from the 
 whole, and they unanimously selected Carson 
 to lead them, and leaving the rest to move on 
 with the baggage, and aid them if it should be 
 necessary when they should come up with the 
 Indians, they hastened forward, eager for a 
 battle. 
 
 Carson and his command were not long in 
 overtaking the Indians, and dashing among 
 them, at the first fire killed ten of their braves, 
 but the Indians rallied, and retreated in good 
 order. The white men were in fine spirits, 
 and followed up their first attack with deadly 
 result for three full hours, the Indians making 
 scarce any resistance. K"ow their firing be* 
 came less animated as their ammunition was 
 getting low, and they had to use it with extreme 
 caution. The Indians, suspecting this from the 
 slackness of their fire, rallied, and with a tre- 
 mendous ^oop turned upon their enemies. 
 
 ;^/w Carson and his company could use 
 cheir small arms, which produced a terrible 
 
 9 
 
130 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 effect, and which enabled them again to clrhe 
 back the Indians. They rallied yet again, and 
 charged with so much power, and in such 
 numbers, they forced the trappers to retreat. 
 
 During this engagement, the horse of one 
 of the mountaineers was killed, and fell with 
 his whole weight upon his rider. Carson saw 
 the condition of the man, with six warriors 
 rushing to take his scalp, and reached the spot 
 in time to save his friend. Leaping from the 
 saddle, he placed himself before his fallen 
 companion, shouting at the same time for his 
 men to rally around him, and with deadly aim 
 from his rifle, shot down the foremost warrior 
 
 The trappers now rallied about Carson, and 
 the remaining five warriors retired, without 
 the scalp of their fallen foe. Only two of them 
 reached a place of safety ; for the well aimed 
 tire of the trappers leveled them with the 
 earth. 
 
 Carson's horse was loose, and as his comrade 
 was safe, he mounted behind one of his men, 
 and rode back to the ranks, while, by general 
 impulse, the firing upon both sides ceased* 
 His horse was captured and restored, to him, 
 but each party, now thoroughly exhausted, 
 seemed to wait for the other to renew the at- 
 tack. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 131 
 
 While resting in this attitude, the other 
 division of the trappers came in sight, but tho 
 Indians, showing no fear, posted themselves 
 among the rocks at some distance from the 
 scene of the last skirmish, and coolly waited 
 for their adversaries. Exhausted ammunition 
 had been the cause of the retreat of Carson and 
 his force, but now with a renewed supply, and 
 an addition of fresh men to the force, they ad- 
 vanced on foot to drive the Indians from their 
 hiding places. The contest was desperate and 
 severe, but powder and ball eventually con- 
 quered, and the Indians, once dislodged, scat- 
 tered in every direction. The trappers consid- 
 ered this a complete victory over the Black- 
 feet, for a large number of their warriors were 
 killed, and many more .were wounded, while 
 they had but three men killed, and a few se- 
 verely wounded. 
 
 Fontenelle and his party now camped at the 
 scene of the engagement, to recruit their men ; 
 and bury here their dead. Afterward they 
 trapped through the whole Blackfeet country, 
 and with great success; going where they 
 pleased without fear or molestation. The In 
 tlians kept off their route, evidently having ac- 
 quaintance with Carson and his company 
 enough to last them their life time. With the 
 
132 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHEH CARSOX. 
 
 small-pox and the white man's rifles the war- 
 riors were much reduced, and the tribe which 
 had formerly numbered thirty thousand, was 
 already decimated, and a few more blows> liko 
 the one dealt by this dauntless band, would 
 suffice to break its spirit, and destroy its power 
 for future evil. 
 
 During the battle with the trappers, the 
 women and children of the Blackfeet village 
 were sent on in advance, and when the engage- 
 ment was over, and the braves returned to them 
 so much reduced in numbers, and without a 
 single scalp, the big lodge that had been erected 
 for the war dance, was given up for the wounded, 
 and in hundreds of Indian hearts grew a bit- 
 terer hatred for the white man. 
 
 An express, despatched for the purpose, an- 
 nounced the place of the rendezvous to Fonte- 
 nelle and Carson, who were now on Green 
 River, and with their whole party and a large 
 stock of furs, they at once set out for the place 
 upon Mud River, to find the sales commenced 
 before their arrival, so that in twenty days 
 they were ready to break up camp. 
 
 Carson now organized a party of seven, and 
 proceeded to a trading post called Brown's 
 Role, where he joined a company of traders to 
 go to the Navajoe Indians. He found this 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOTT. 133 
 
 tribe more assimilated to the white man than 
 any Indians he had yet seen, having many fine 
 horses and large flocks of sheep and cattle. 
 They also possessed the art of weaving, and 
 their blankets were in great demand through 
 Mexico, bringing high prices, on account of 
 their great beauty, being woven in flowers with 
 much taste. They were -evidently a remnant 
 of the Aztec race. 
 
 They traded here for a large drove of fine 
 mules, which, taken to the fort on the South 
 Platte, realized good prices, when Carson went 
 again to Brown's Hole, a narrow but pretty 
 valley about sixteen miles long, upon the Colo- 
 rado River. 
 
 After many offers for his services from other 
 parties, Carson at length engaged himself for 
 the winter, to hunt for the men at this fort, and 
 as the game was abundant in this beautiful 
 valley, and in the canon country further down 
 the Colorado, in its deer, elk, and antelope, re- 
 minding him of his hunts upon the Sacra- 
 mento, the task was a delightful one to him. 
 
 In the spring, Carson trapped with Bridger 
 and Owen's with passable success, and went to 
 the rendezvous upon Wind River, at the head 
 of the Yellowstone, and from thence, with a 
 large part of the trappers at the rendezvous, 
 
134 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CA11SON. 
 
 to the Yellowstone, where they camped in tho 
 vicinity for the winter, without seeing their old 
 enemy, the Blackfeet Indians, until mid- 
 winter, when they discovered that they were 
 near their principal stronghold. 
 
 A party of forty was selected to give them 
 battle, with Carson, of course, for their captain. 
 They found the Indians already in the field, to 
 the number of several hundred, who made a 
 brave resistance, until night and darkness ad- 
 monished both parties to retire. In the morn- 
 ing when Carson and his men went to the spot 
 whither the Indians had retired, they were 
 not to be found. They had given them a " wide 
 berth," taking their all away with them, even 
 their dead. 
 
 Carson and his command returned to camp, 
 where a council of war decided that as the In- 
 dians would report, at the principal encamp- 
 ment, the terrible loss they had sustained, and 
 others would be sent to renew the fight, it was 
 wise to prepare to act on the defensive, and 
 use every precaution immediately ; and accord- 
 ingly a sentinel was stationed on a lofty hill 
 near by, who soon reported that the Indians 
 were upon the move. 
 
 Their plans matured, they at once threw up 
 a breastwork, under Carson's direction, and 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 135 
 
 waited the approach of the Indians, who came 
 in slowly, the first parties waiting for those 
 behind. After three days, a full thousand had 
 reached the camp, about half a mile from the 
 breastwork of the trappers. In their war 
 paint stripes of red across the forehead, and 
 down either cheek with their bows and ar- 
 rows, tomahawks, and lances, this army of In- 
 dians presented a formidable appearance to 
 the small body of trappers who were opposed 
 to them. 
 
 The war dance was enacted in sight and 
 hearing of the trappers, and at early dawn the 
 Indians advanced, having made every prepa- 
 ration for the attack. Carson commanded his 
 men to reserve their fire till the Indians were 
 near enough to have every shot tell ; but see- 
 ing the strength of the white men's position, 
 after a few ineffectual shots, the Indians re- 
 tired, camped a mile from them, and finally 
 separated into two parties, and went away, 
 leaving the trappers to breathe more freely, 
 for, at the be^t, the encounter must have been 
 of a desperate character. 
 
 They evidently recognized the leader who 
 had before dealt so severely with them, in the 
 skill with which the defence was arranged, and 
 if the name of Kit Carson was or their lips, 
 
138 LIFE ^;F OUUISIOPHER CAESON. 
 
 they knew him for both bravery and magna* 
 nimity, and had not the courage to offer him 
 battle. 
 
 Another winter gone, saddlery, moccasin- 
 making, lodge-building, to complete the repairs 
 of the summer's wars and the winter's fight, 
 all completed, Carson with fifteen men went, 
 past Fort Hall, again to the Salmon River, 
 and trapped part of the season there and upon 
 Big Snake, and Goose Creeks, and selling his 
 furs at Fort Hall, again joined Bridger in an- 
 other trapping excursion into the Blackfeet 
 country. 
 
 The Blackfeet had molested the traps of an- 
 other party who had arrived there before then. t 
 and had driven them away. The Indian as 
 sailants were still near, and Carson led hiu 
 party against them, taking care to station him 
 self and men in the edge of a thicket, where 
 they kept the savages at bay all day, taking a 
 man from their number with nearly every 
 shot of their well directed rifles. In vain the 
 Indians now attempted to fire the thicket ; il 
 would not burn, and sullenly they retired, 
 forced again to acknowledge defeat at the 
 hands of Kit Carson, the " Monarch of the 
 Prairies." 
 
 Carson's party now joined with the others, 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 137 
 
 bat concluding that they could not trap suc- 
 cessfully with the annoyance the Indians wero 
 likely to give them, as their force was too 
 small to hope to conquer, they left this part of 
 the country for the north fork of the Missouri, 
 
 Now they were with the friendly Flatheads, 
 one of whose chiefs joined them in the hunt, 
 and went into camp near them, with a party of 
 his braves. This tribe of Indians, like several 
 other tribes which extend along this latitude 
 to the Pacific, have the custom which gives 
 them their name, thus described by Irving, in 
 speaking of the Indians upon the Lower Co- 
 lumbia, about its mouth. 
 
 " A most singular custom," he says, "pre- 
 vails, not only among the Chinooks, but among 
 most of the tribes about this part of the coast, 
 which is the flattening of the forehead. The 
 process by which this deformity is effected, 
 commences immediately after birth. The in- 
 fant is laid in a wooden trough, by way of cra- 
 dle. The end on which the head reposes is 
 higher than the rest. A padding is placed 
 on the forehead of the infant, with a piece of 
 bark above it, and is pressed down by cords 
 ^hich pass through holes upon the sides 
 of the trough. As the tightening of the 
 padding and the pressure of the head to the 
 
138 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 board is gradual, the process is said not to bo 
 attended with pain. The appearance of the 
 infant, however, while in this state of com- 
 pression is whimsically hideous, and t its little 
 black eyes,' we are told, i being forced out by 
 the tightness of the bandages, resemble those 
 of a mouse choked in a trap/ 
 
 " About a year's pressure is sufficient to pro- 
 duce the desired effect, at the end of which 
 time, the child emerges from its bandages, a 
 complete flathead, and continues so through, 
 life. It must be noted, however, that this 
 flattening of the head has something in it of 
 aristocratic significance, like the crippling of 
 the feet among the Chinese ladies of quality. 
 At any rate, it is the sign of freedom. No 
 slave is permitted to bestow this deformity 
 upon the head of his children ; all the slaves, 
 therefore, are roundheads." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 IN the spring, Kit Carson proposed a differ- 
 plan of operations ; he went to hunt on the 
 streams in the vicinage of his winter's camp 
 with only a single companion. The Utah In- 
 dians, into whose country he came, were also 
 friends of Carson, and, unmolested in his busi- 
 ness, his efforts were crowned with abundant 
 success. He took his furs to Robideau fort, 
 and with a party of five went to Grand River, 
 and thence to Brown's Hole on Green River 
 for the winter. 
 
 In the following spring he went to the Utah 
 country, to the streams that flow into Great 
 Salt Lake on the South, which was rich in furs 
 and of exceeding beauty, with the points of 
 grand old snow mountains ever in sight, 
 around him. 
 
 From here he went to the New Fork, and as 
 it was afterward described by a party for whom 
 
 Carson was the guide, we shall not give the 
 
 (139) 
 
140 LIFE OF CHR1STO1KK11 CARSON, 
 
 description at this point of oar narrative. 
 Again he trapped among the Utahs, and dis- 
 posed of his furs at Robideau Fort ; but now 
 the prices did not please him. Beaver fur was 
 at a discount, and the trade of the trapper be- 
 coming unprofitable. 
 
 Baird, in his general report upon mammals, 
 uses the following language, which is appro- 
 priate in this connection : 
 
 " The beaver once inhabited all of the globe 
 lying in the northern temperate zone; yet 
 from Europe, China, and all the eastern por- 
 tion of the United States, it has been entirely 
 exterminated, and a war so universal and re- 
 lentless nas been waged upon this defenceless 
 animal, his great intelligence has been so gen- 
 erally opposed by the intelligence of man. 
 it has seemed certain, unless some kind provi- 
 dence should interpose, that the castor, like 
 its congener, the Castorides, would soon K=v 
 found only in a fossil state. 
 
 " Happily that providence did interpose> 
 through a certain ingenious somebody, who 
 first suggested the use of silk in the place of 
 fur for the covering of hats. The beaver were 
 not yet exterminated from Western America, 
 and now, since they are not "worth killing," 
 in those inhospitable regions, where there is 
 
LIFE OF CHBISTCrHSE CA.KSON. 141 
 
 no encouragement for American enterprise or 
 cupidity, we may hope that the beaver will 
 there retain existence, in a home exclusively 
 their own. 
 
 "The price of beaver skins has so in neb 
 diminished that they were offered to soms o' 
 the party at twenty-five cents by the bale." 
 
 Carson had pursued the business of trap- 
 ping for eight years, and his life had been one 
 of unceasing toil, of extreme hardship, full 
 of danger, yet withal full of interest. More 
 than this, while the lack of early scientific 
 training had prevented him from making that 
 record of his travels, which would have given 
 the world the benefit of his explorations, he 
 had treasured in his memory the knowledge 
 of localities, of their conditions, and seasons, 
 and advantages, which in the good time coming, 
 would enable him to associate his labors with 
 another, who possessed the scientific attain- 
 ments which Carson lacked, and who with 
 Carson's invaluable assistance would come to 
 be known world wide as a bold explorer, and 
 who, but for Carson's experience, where such 
 experience was a chief requisite to success, 
 might have failed in his first efforts in the 
 grand enterprise entrusted to him. 
 
 Carson knew the general features of tho 
 
142 LIFE; OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 country, its mountains, plains, and rivers, and 
 the minor points of animal and vegetable pro- 
 ductions, from the head waters of the " mon- 
 arch of rivers," to the mouth of the Colorado, 
 and from the southern Arkansas to the Colum- 
 bia, better, perhaps, than any one living, 
 though yet but twenty-five years of age. 
 
 We left Carson at Robideau Fort, tirec^ of 
 the pursuit of trapping, as soon as it had be- 
 come unprofitable, and while there, he arranged 
 with three or four other trappers, to come 
 down to Bent's Fort. The trip was like others 
 made at this season, through a country where 
 the rifle would supply food for the party, and 
 arriving at Bent's Fort, where his name was 
 already well-known, Carson could not long be 
 idle. He engaged himself to Messrs. Bent 
 and St. Vrain, as hunter to the fort, preferring 
 this by far to the idea of seeking employment 
 nearer civilized life. Indeed no situation 
 could have pleased him better, if we may 
 j udge from the fact that he continued in it for 
 eight years, and until the connection with his 
 ^mployers was broken by the death of one of 
 the partners, Col. Bent. 
 
 Gov. Bent, since appointed to the office of 
 chief magistrate of New Mexico, by the United 
 States Grovernir ent, had been killed by Mexi 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 143 
 
 can Indians, and was universally mourned by 
 Americans and Indians wherever he was 
 known. Mr. St. Vrain, the other partner, was 
 active during the Mexican war, since the date 
 i)f which we write, still lives, and is esteemed, 
 as a father, by many an early mountaineer. 
 Carson owed him gratitude for kindly sympa- 
 thy and words of counsel, when yet a youth he 
 was commencing his mountain life, and Dr, 
 Peters, the first biographer of Kit Carson, 
 dedicates his book to Col. St. Vrain, asserting 
 that he was the first to discover and direct 
 Carson's talents to the path in which they were 
 employed. For both of these gentlemanly 
 proprietors, Carson cherished a warm friend- 
 ship, nor was there ever an unpleasant occur- 
 rence between them. 
 
 When game was plenty, he supplied the 
 forty mouths to be filled with ease, but when 
 it was scarce, his task was sometimes difficult, 
 but skill and experience enabled him to 
 triumph over every obstacle. 
 
 It is not strange that with such long experi- 
 ence Carson became the most skillful of hunt- 
 ers, and won the name of the " Nestor of tho 
 Rocky Mountains." Among the Indians ho 
 had earned the undisputed title of " Monarch 
 of the Prairies." 
 
144 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON". 
 
 t 
 
 But while lie killed thousands of elk, deer, 
 and antelope, nor disdained the rabbit and the 
 grouse, and took the wild goose on the wing, 
 of all the game of beast or bird, he liked the 
 best to hunt the buffalo, for there was an ex- 
 citement in the chase of that noble animal 
 which aroused his spirits to the highest pitch 
 of excitement. 
 
 Assuredly, Christopher Carson's is " a life 
 out of the usual routine, and checkered with 
 adventures which have sorely tested the cour- 
 age and endurance of this wonderful man.' 7 
 Col. St. Vrain, in the preface to Peters' Life 
 of Carson, says, 
 
 " Entering upon his life work at the age of 
 seventeen, choosing now to think for himself, 
 nor follow the lead of those who would detain 
 him in a quiet life, while he felt the restless 
 fire ' in his bones,' that forbade his burying his 
 energy in merely mechanical toil, he had yet 
 been directed in his choice, by the fitness for 
 it the pursuits of youth had given, and spurn- 
 ing the humdrum monotony of the shop, gave 
 hi:i self entirely to what would most aid him 
 in attaining the profession he had chosen. We 
 must admire such spirit in a youth, for it au* 
 gurs well for the energy and will power of the 
 manhood ; therefore, when the biographer says 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 145 
 
 of Christopher Carson, that the neighbors who 
 knew him, predicted an uncommon life in the 
 child with whom they hunted, and conceded to 
 him positions, as well as privileges, that were 
 not accorded to common men, with his life till 
 thirty-three before us, we feel that he has ful- 
 filled the hope of early promise, with a noble 
 manhood." 
 
 We have followed Carson's pathway, with- 
 out much of detail, to the localities where he 
 practised the profession he had chosen, until 
 we saw him leave it because it ceased longer 
 to afford compensation for his toil, and dur- 
 ing as long a period we have written of his 
 quiet pursuit of the, to him, pleasant, but la- 
 borious life of a hunter ; unless we must class 
 the latter eight years with the former, and 
 assume each as a part of the profession he had 
 chosen. 
 
 In all, with perhaps the exception of a few 
 weeks at Santa Fe, when still in his minority, 
 we have found him ever strong to resist the 
 thousand temptations to evil with which his 
 pathway was beset, and which drew other men 
 away. Strong ever in the maintenance of the 
 integrity of his manhood, even when the con- 
 vivial circle and the game had a brief fas- 
 cination for him, they taught him the lesson 
 10 
 
146 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOJN. 
 
 which he needed to learn, that only by earnest 
 resistance, can evil be overcome ; and thus he 
 was enabled to admonish others against those 
 temptations which had once overcome even 
 his powers of resistance; and so he learned to 
 school himself to the idea, that good comes 
 ever through the temptation to evil to all 
 those who have the courage to extract it. 
 
 We have followed him up and down all the 
 streams of our great central western wilds, and 
 indicated the store of geographic knowledge 
 which he had acquired by hard experience be- 
 fore they were known so far to any one be- 
 sides ; and then for eight years more we have 
 seen that this knowledge was digested and re- 
 viewed in the social circle with other moun- 
 tain trappers, and beside the lonely mountain 
 river, and 'neath the wild, steep cliff; or on 
 the grassy bottom, or the barren plain, and in 
 the less sterile places where the sage hen found 
 a covert, and up among the oak openings, and 
 in the gigantic parks, where, as a hunter, he 
 revisited old haunts. 
 
 In all his toilsome and adventurous enter- 
 prises, while he sought to benefit himself, ho 
 never turned away, nor failed to lend a help- 
 ing hand to a needy, suffering brother, or to 
 encourage one who needed such a lesson, to 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 147 
 
 turn his youth to the most account ; and if aft'ec* 
 tionate regard is a recompense for such service, 
 he had his compensation, as he passed along 
 the path he had marked out for himself, not 
 from the white man alone, but from the In- 
 dian who everywhere came to look upon Kit 
 Carson as his friend. 
 
 The Camanches, the Arapahoes, the Utahs, 
 and the Cheyennes, besides several smaller 
 tribes, knew him personally in the hunt, and 
 he had sat by their camp fires, and dandled 
 their children, and sung to them the ditty, 
 
 " What makes the lanib love Mary so ? 
 
 The eager children cry ; 
 Why Mary loves the lamb, you know, 
 And that's the reason why." 
 
 The Indians feared, and reverenced, and 
 loved him, and that this latter may be proved 
 to the reader we relate the following story of 
 private history, nor Avill it be esteemed out of 
 taste : 
 
 The powerful Sioux had come from the 
 north beyond their usual hunting grounds, 
 and had had skirmishes with several Indian 
 bands, some of whom sent for Carson to the 
 Upper Arkansas to come over and help them 
 drive back the Sioux. As the larder at the 
 fort was full, he consented to go with the war 
 
148 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 painted Camanche messengers to a camp of 
 their tribe, united with a band of Arapahoes 
 They told him the Sioux had a thousand war- 
 riors and many rifles, and they feared them, 
 but knew that the " Monarch of the Prairies" 
 could overcome them. Carson sat in council 
 with the chiefs, and finally, instead of encour- 
 aging them to fight, persuaded them to peace, 
 and acted so successfully the part of mediator, 
 that the Sioux consented to retire from the 
 hunting grounds of the Camanches when the 
 season was over, and they separated without a 
 collision. 
 
 It was while engaged as hunter for Messrs. 
 Bent and St. Vrain, Carson took to himself an 
 Indian wife, by whom he had a daughter still 
 living, and who forms the connecting link be- 
 tween his past hardships, and his present 
 greatness ; for that he is emphatically a great 
 man, the whole civilized world has acknow- 
 ledged. 
 
 The mother died soon after her birth, and 
 Carson feeling that his rude cabin was scarcely 
 the place to rear his child, determined, when 
 of a suitable age, to take her to St. Louis, and 
 secure for her those advantages of education 
 which circumstances had denied to him ; and 
 accordingly, when his engagement at the fort 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 149 
 
 had expired, he determined to go to St. Louis 
 for that purpose, embracing on the route the 
 opportunity of visiting the home of his boy- 
 hood, which he had not seen for sixteen years. 
 
 Of course he found everything changed. 
 Many of those whom he had known as men 
 And hop 'Is o f families, were now grown old, 
 while more had died off; but by those to whom 
 he was made known, he was recognized with a 
 heartiness of welcome which brought tears to 
 his eyes, though his heart was saddened at the 
 changes which time had wrought. His fame 
 had preceded him, and his welcome was there- 
 fore doubly cordial, for he had more than veri- 
 fied the promise of his youth. 
 
 Thence he proceeded to St. Louis, with the 
 intention of placing his daughter at school, but 
 here, to his great amazement, he found himself 
 a lion ; for the advent of such a man in such a 
 city, which had so often rung with his deeds 
 of daring and suffering, could not be per- 
 mitted to remain among its citizens unknown 
 or unrecognized. He was courted and feted 
 and though gratified at the attentions showered 
 upon him, found himself so thoroughly out of 
 his element, that he longed to return to more 
 pleasant and more familiar scenes, his old 
 hunting grounds. 
 
150 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 Having accomplished the object of his visit 
 lo St. Louis, in placing his daughter under 
 proper guardianship, he left the city, carrying 
 with him pleasing, because merited remem- 
 brances of the attentions paid to him, and 
 leaving behind him impressions of the most 
 favorable character. 
 
 Soon after he reached St. Louis, he had the 
 good fortune to fall in with Lieut. Fremont, 
 who was there organizing a party for the ex- 
 ploration of the far western country, as yet 
 unknown, and who was anxiously awaiting the 
 arrival of Captain Drips, a well known trader 
 and trapper, who had been highly recom- 
 mended to him as a guide. 
 
 Kit Carson's name and fame were familiar 
 as household words to Fremont, and he gladly 
 availed himself of his proffered services in 
 lieu of those of Capt. Drips. It did not take 
 long for two such men as John C. Fremont 
 and Kit Carson to become thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with each other, and the accidental 
 meeting at St. Louis resulted in the cementing 
 of a friendship which has never been impaired, 
 won as it was on the one part by fidelity, 
 truthfulness, integrity, and courage, united to 
 vast experience and consummate skill in the 
 prosecution of the duty he had assumed on the 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 151 
 
 other by every quality which commands honour, 
 regard, esteem, and high personal devotion. 
 
 And now Carson's life has commenced in 
 earnest, for heretofore he has only been fitting 
 himself to live. His name is embodied in the 
 archives of our country's history, and no one 
 has been more ready to accord to him the credit 
 he so well earned, as has he who had the good 
 fortune to secure, at the same time, the services 
 of the most experienced guide of his day, and 
 the devotion of a friend. 
 
 Lieut. Fremont had instructions to explore 
 and report upon the country lying between 
 the frontiers of Missouri and. the South Pass 
 in the Rocky Mountains, on the line of the 
 Kansas and Great Platte Rivers, and with his 
 party, leaving St. Louis on the 22nd of May, 
 1842, by steamboat for Chouteau's Landing 
 on the Missouri, near the mouth of the Kansas, 
 at a point twelve miles beyond at Chouteau's 
 trading post, he encamped there to complete 
 lus arrangements for this important expedition. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 FREMONT was delayed several days at Chou- 
 teau's Landing, by the state of the weather, 
 which prevented the necessary astronomical 
 observations, but finally all his arrangements 
 being completed, and the weather permitting, 
 the party started in the highest spirit, and 
 filled with anticipations of an exciting and ad- 
 venturous journey. 
 
 He had collected in the neighborhood of Si, 
 Louis twenty-one men, principally Creole am 
 Canadian voyageurs, who had become familia. 
 with prairie life in the service of the fur com* 
 panics in the Indian country. Mr. Charles 
 Preuss, a native of Germany, was his assistant 
 in the topographical part of the survey. L. 
 Maxwell, of Kaskaskia, had been engaged as 
 hunter, and Christopher Carson as guide. 
 
 Mr. Cyprian Chouteau, to whose kindness, 
 during their stay at his house, all were much 
 
 indebted, accompanied them several miles OD 
 (152) 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 153 
 
 their way, until they met an Indian, whom he 
 had engaged to conduct them on the first thirty 
 or forty miles, where he was to consign them 
 to the ocean prairie, which stretched, without 
 interruption, almost to the base of the Rocky 
 Mountains. 
 
 During the journey, it was the customary 
 practice to encamp an hour or two before sun- 
 set, when the carts were disposed so as to form 
 a sort of barricade around a circle some eighty 
 yards in diameter. The tents were pitched, 
 and the horses hobbled and turned loose to 
 graze ; and but a few minutes elapsed before 
 the cooks of the messes, of which there were 
 four, were busily engaged in preparing the 
 evening meal. At nightfall, the horses, mules, 
 and oxen, were driven in and picketed that 
 is, secured by a halter, of which one end was 
 tied to a small steel-shod picket, and driven into 
 the ground ; the halter being twenty or thirty 
 feet long, which enabled them to obtain a lit- 
 tle food during the night. When they had 
 reached a part of the country where such a 
 precaution became necessary, the carts being 
 regularly arranged for defending the camp, 
 guard was mounted at eight o'clock, consist- 
 ing of three men, who were relieved every two 
 hours j the morning watch being horse guard 
 
154 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 for the clay. At daybreak, the camp was 
 roused, the animals turned loose to graze, and 
 breakfast generally over between six and 
 seven o'clock, when they resumed their march, 
 making regularly a halt at noon for cne or 
 two hours. Such was usually the order jf the 
 day, except when accident of country forced 
 a variation, which, however, happened but 
 rarely. 
 
 They reached the ford of the Kansas late in 
 the afternoon of the 14th, where the river was 
 two hundred and thirty yards wide, and com- 
 menced immediately preparations for crossing. 
 The river had been swollen by the late rains, 
 and was sweeping by with an angry current, 
 yellow and turbid as the Missouri. Up to 
 this point, the road traveled was a remarka- 
 bly fine one, well beaten and level the usual 
 road of a prairie country. By this route, the 
 ford was one hundred miles from the mouth 
 of the Kansas river, on reaching which several 
 mounted men led the way into the stream, to 
 swim across. The animals were driven in after 
 them, and in a few minutes all had reached 
 the opposite bank in safety, with the exception 
 of the oxen, which swam some distance down 
 the river, and, returning to the right bank, 
 were not got over until the next morning. In 
 
LIFE OF CHRiSTOPIIER CAHSOX. 155 
 
 the meantime, the carts had been unloaded 
 and dismantled, and an India-rubber boat, 
 which had been brought for the survey of the 
 Platte River, placed in the water. The boat 
 was twenty feet long and five broad, and on it 
 were placed the body and wheels of a carl, 
 with the load belonging to it, and three men 
 with paddles. 
 
 The velocity of the current, and the incon- 
 venient freight, rendering it difficult to be 
 managed, Basil Lajeunesse, one of the best 
 swimmers, took in his teeth a line attached to 
 the boat, and swam ahead in order to reach a 
 footing as soon as possible, and assist in draw- 
 ing her over. In this manner, six passages 
 had been successfully made, and as many carts 
 with their contents, and a greater portion of the 
 party, deposited on the left bank ; but night 
 was drawing near, and in his great anxiety to 
 complete the crossing before darkness set in, 
 he put on the boat, contrary to the advice of 
 Carson, the last two carts with their loads. 
 The consequence was, the boat was capsized, 
 and everything on board was in a moment 
 floating down stream. They were all, how- 
 ever, eventually recovered, but not without 
 great trouble. Carson and Maxwell, who had 
 beon in the water nearly all the succeeding day, 
 
156 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 searching for the lost articles, were taken so 
 ill in consequence of the prolonged exposure, 
 the party was obliged to lie by another day to 
 enable them to recruit, for to proceed without 
 them would have been folly. 
 
 The dense timber which surrounded their 
 camp, interfering with astronomical observa- 
 tions, and the wet and damaged stores requir- 
 ing exposure to the sun, the tents were struck 
 early the next day but one after this disaster, 
 and the party moved up the river about seven 
 miles, where they camped upon a handsome 
 open prairie, some twenty feet above the 
 water, and where the fine grass afforded a lux- 
 urious repast to the weary animals. They lay 
 in camp here two days, during which time the 
 men were kept busy in drying the provisions, 
 painting the cart covers, and otherwise com- 
 pleting their equipage, until the afternoon 
 when powder was distributed to them, and 
 they spent some hours in firing at a mark, as 
 they were now fairly in the Indian country, 
 and it began to be time to prepare for tho 
 chances of the wilderness. 
 
CHAPTER XVII, 
 
 LEAVING the river bottom, the road 
 was the Oregon trail, past Fort Laramie, ran 
 along the uplands, over a rolling country, 
 upon which were scattered many boulders oi 
 red sand-stone, some of them of several tons 
 weight ; and many beautiful plants and flowers 
 enlivened the prairie. The barometer indi- 
 cated fourteen hundred feet above the level of 
 the sea, and the elevation appeared to have its 
 influence on vegetation. 
 
 The country became more broken, rising 
 still and covered everywhere with fragments 
 of silicious limestone, strewn over the earth 
 like pebbles on the sea shore ; especially upcn 
 the summits and exposed situations; and in 
 these places but few plants grew, while in the 
 creek bottoms, and ravines, a great variety of 
 plants flourished. 
 
 For several days they continued their jour- 
 ney, annoyed only by the lack of water, and 
 
 (157) 
 
158 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 at length reached the range of the Pawnees 
 who infested that part of the country, stealing 
 horses from companies on their way to the 
 mountains, and when in sufficient force, openly 
 attacking them, and subjecting them to various 
 insults; and it was while encamped here, that 
 a regular guard was mounted for the first time, 
 but the night passed over without annoyance. 
 
 Speaking of the constant watchfulness re- 
 quired when in the neighborhood of hostile or 
 thieving Indians, Fremont says, 
 
 " The next morning we had a specimen of 
 the false alarms to which all parties in these 
 wild regions are subject. Proceeding up the 
 valley, objects were seen on the opposite hills, 
 which disappeared before a glass could be 
 brought to bear upon them. A man, who was 
 a short distance in the rear, came spurring up 
 in great haste, shouting, Indians ! Indians ! 
 He had been near enough to see and count 
 them, according to his report, and had made 
 out twenty-seven. I immediately halted ; arms 
 were examined and put in order; the usual 
 preparations made ; and Kit Carson, springing 
 upon one of the hunting horses, crossed the 
 river, and galloped off into the opposite 
 prairies, to obtain some certain intelligence of 
 their movements. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSO1NT. 159 
 
 " Mounted on a fine horse, without a saodle, 
 and scouring bareheaded over the prairies, Kii 
 was one of the finest pictures of a horseman 1 
 have ever seen. A short time enabled him to 
 (ibcovcr that the Indian war party of twenty- 
 seven consisted of six elk, who had been 
 gazing curiously at our caravan as it passed 
 by, and were now scampering off at full speed. 
 This was our first alarm, and its excitement 
 broke agreeably on the monotony of the day. 
 At our noon halt, the men were exercised at a 
 target; and in the evening we pitched our 
 tents at a Pawnee encampment of last July. 
 They had apparently killed buffalo here, as 
 many bones were lying about, and the frames 
 where the hides had been stretched were yet 
 standing." 
 
 Leaving the fork of the " Blue," upon a high 
 dividing ridge, in about twenty-one miles they 
 reached the coast of the Platte, or Nebraska 
 River as it is called, a line of low hills, or the 
 break from the prairie to the river bottom. 
 Cacti here were numerous, and the amorplia, 
 remarkable for its large and luxuriant purplo 
 clusters, was in full bloom. From the foot of 
 the coast, two miles across the. level bottom, 
 brought them to the shore of the river twenty 
 miles below the head of Grand Island, and 
 
160 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSt N. 
 
 more than three hundred from the mouth of the 
 Kansas. The elevation of the Platte valley 
 here was about two thousand feet above the 
 level of the sea. 
 
 The next day they met a party of fourteen, 
 * ho had started sixty days before from Fort 
 Laramie, in barges laden with furs for the 
 American Fur Company, hoping to come down 
 the Platte without difficulty, as they left upon 
 the annual flood, and their boats drew only 
 nine inches of water. But at Scott's bluffs^ 
 one hundred and thirty miles below Fort Lar- 
 amie, the river became so broad and shallow, 
 and the current so changeful among the sand- 
 bars, that they abandoned their boats and 
 cached their cargoes, and were making the rest 
 of their journey to St. Louis on foot, each with 
 a pack as large as he could carry. 
 
 In the interchange of news, and the re- 
 newal of old acquaintanceships, they found 
 wherewithal to fill a busy hour. Among 
 them Fremont had found an old companion 
 on the northern prairie, a hardened and hardly 
 served veteran of the mountains, who had 
 been as much hacked and scarred as an old 
 moustache of Napoleon's " old guard." He 
 flourished in the sobriquet of La Tulipe, and his 
 real name no one knew. Finding that he was 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 to the Stales only because his company 
 was bound in that direction, and that he was 
 rather more willing to return with Fremont, 
 Uo was taken again into his service. 
 
 A few days more of travel, whose monotony 
 was not relieved by any incident worth nar- 
 rating, brought the party in sight of the buf- 
 falo, swarming in immense numbers over the 
 plains, where they had left scarcely a blade of 
 grass standing. " Mr. Preuss," says Fremont, 
 " who was sketching at a little distance in tho 
 rear, had at first noted them as large groves 
 of timber. In the sight of such a mass of life, 
 the traveler feels a strange emotion of gran- 
 deur. We had heard from a distance a dull 
 and confused murmuring, and when we came 
 in view of their dark masses, there was not 
 one among us who did not feel his heart beat 
 quicker. It was the early part of the day, 
 when the herds are feeding; and everywhere 
 they were in motion. Here and there a huge 
 old bull was rolling in the grass, and clouds 
 of dust rose in the air from various parts of 
 the bands, each the scene of some obstinate 
 tiirht. Indians and buffalo make the poetry 
 and life of the prairie, and our camp was full 
 of their exhilaration. In place of the quiet 
 monotony of the march, relieved only by tho 
 
162 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 cracking of the whip, and an ' avance done ! en- 
 fant de c/arce /' shouts and songs resounded 
 from every part of the line, and our evening 
 camp was always the commencement of a feast, 
 which terminated only with our departure on 
 the following morning. At any time in the 
 night might be seen pieces of the most delicate 
 meat, roasting en appolas, on sticks around the 
 fire, and the guard were never without com- 
 pany. With pleasant weather, and no eneirrv 
 to fear, an abundance of the most excellent 
 meat, and no scarcity of bread or tobacco, they 
 were enjoying the oasis of a voyageur's life." 
 
 Three cows were killed on that day, but a 
 serious accident befell Carson in the course of 
 the chase, which had nearly cost him his life 
 Kit had shot one, and was continuing the 
 chase, in the midst of another herd, when his 
 horse fell headlong, but sprang up and joined 
 the flying band. Though considerably hurt, 
 he had the good fortune to break no bones ; 
 and Maxwell, who was mounted on a fleet 
 hunter, captured the runaway after a hard 
 chase. He was on the point of shooting him, 
 to avoid the loss of his bridle, (a handsomely 
 mounted Spanish one,) when he found that his 
 horse was able to come up with him. 
 
 This mishap, however, did not deter Kit 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 103 
 
 from his favorite pursuit of buffalo hunt ing. 
 for on the following day, notwithstanding his 
 really serious accident, we find him ready and 
 eager for another chase. Fremont in his nar- 
 rative thus relates the occurrence : 
 
 "As we were riding quietly along the bank, 
 a grand herd of buffalo, some seven or eight 
 hundred in number, came crowding up from 
 the river, where they had been to drink, and 
 commenced crossing the plain slowly, eating 
 as they went. The wind was favorable; the 
 coolness of the morning invited to exercise ; 
 the ground was apparently good, and the dis- 
 tance across the prairie (two or three miles) 
 gave us a fine opportunity to charge them be- 
 fore they could get among the river hills. It 
 was too fine a prospect for a chase to be lost ; 
 and halting for a few moments, the hunters 
 were brought up and saddled, and Kit Carson, 
 Maxwell, and I, started together. They were 
 now somewhat less than half a mile distant, 
 and we rode easily along until within about 
 tln'ee hundred yards, when a sudden agitation, 
 a wavering in the band, and a galloping to 
 and fro of some which were scattered along 
 the skirts, gave us the intimation that wo 
 were discovered. We started together at a 
 hand gallop, riding steadily abreast of each 
 
164 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON 
 
 other, and here the interest of the chase bo- 
 came so engrossingly intense, that we were sen- 
 sible to nothing else. We were now closing 
 upon them rapidly, and the front of the mass 
 was already in rapid motion for the hills, and 
 in a few seconds the movement had communi- 
 cated itself to the whole herd. 
 
 " A crowd of bulls, as usual, brought up the 
 rear, and every now and then some of them 
 faced about, and then dashed on after the band 
 a short distance, and turned and looked again, 
 as if more than half inclined to stand and 
 fight. In a few moments, however, during 
 which we had been quickening our pace, the 
 rout was universal, and we were going over 
 the ground like a hurricane. When at about 
 thirty yards, we gave the usual shout (the 
 hunter's pas de charge), and broke into the 
 herd. We entered on the side, the mass giv- 
 ing way in every direction in their heedless 
 course. Many of the bulls, less active and 
 less fleet than the cows, paying no attention to 
 the ground, and occupied solely with the hun- 
 ter, were precipitated to the earth with great 
 force, rolling over and over with the vio- 
 lence of the shock, and hardly distinguishable 
 in the dust. We separated on entering, each 
 singling out his game. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 " My horse was a trained hunter, famous in 
 I he west under the name of Proveau, and ^ith 
 his eyes flashing, and the foiim flying from 
 his mouth, sprang on after the cow like a 
 tiger. In a few moments he brought mo 
 alongside of her, and rising in the stirrups, I 
 fired at the distance of a yard, the ball enter- 
 ing at the termination of the long hair, and 
 passing near the heart. She fell headlong at 
 the report of the gun, and, checking my horse, 
 I looked around for my companions. 
 
 "At a little distance, Kit was on the ground, 
 engaged in tying his horse to the horns of a 
 cow which he was preparing to cut up. Among 
 the scattered bands, at some distance below, I 
 caught a glimpse of Maxwell ; and while I was 
 looking, a light wreath of white smoke curled 
 away from his gun, from w r hich I was too far 
 to hear the report. Nearer, and between me 
 and the hills, towards which they were direct- 
 ing their course, was the body of the herd, and 
 giving my horse the rein, we dashed after 
 them. A thick cloud of dust hung upon their 
 rear, which filled my mouth and eyes, and 
 nearly smothered me. In the midst of this I 
 could see nothing, and the buffolo were not 
 distinguishable until within thirty feet. 
 
 " They crowded together more densely still 
 
166 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 as I came upon them, and rushed along in a 
 such a compact body, that I could not obtain 
 an entrance the horse almost leaping upon 
 them. In a few moments the mass divided to 
 the right and left, the horns clattering with a 
 noise heard above everything else, and my 
 horse darted into the opening. 
 
 " Five or six bulls charged on us as we 
 dashed along the line, but were left far be- 
 hind ; and singling out a cow, I gave her my 
 fire, but struck too high. She gave a tremen- 
 dous leap, and scoured on swifter than before. 
 I reined up my horse, and the band swept on 
 like a torrent, and left the place quiet and 
 clear. Our chase had led us into dangerous 
 ground. A prairie-dog village, so thickly set- 
 tled that there were three or four holes in every 
 twenty yards square, occupied the whole bot- 
 iom for nearly two miles in length. Looking 
 around, I saw only one of the hunters, nearly 
 out of sight, and the long dark line of our car- 
 avan crawling along, three or four miles dis- 
 tant." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE encampment of the party on the 4th 
 of July, was a few miles from where the road 
 crosses over to the north fork of the Platte, 
 where a grand dinner was prepared, toasts 
 drank, and salutes fired ; and it was here Fre- 
 mont decided to divide his party, wishing, him- 
 self, to explore the south fork of the Platte, as 
 far as St. Vrain's Fort ; and taking with him 
 Maxwell and two others of his men, and the 
 Cheyenne Indians, whose village was upon 
 this river, he left the rest of the party to pro- 
 ceed under the direction of Clement Lambert 
 up the north fork to Fort Laramie, where they 
 were to wait his arrival, as he intended to cross 
 the country between the two forts. 
 
 Buffalo were still plenty upon Fremont's 
 route, and the Indians with him made an un- 
 successful attempt to lasso the leader of a 
 drove of wild horses, which they passed. They 
 
 met a band of two or three hundred Arapahoe 
 
 (167) 
 
168 LIFE OF CHKISTOPHER CAKSCLV. 
 
 Indians, and were only saved from an attack 
 by Maxwell, who secured a timely recognition 
 from the old chief who led the party, which 
 proved to be from a village among whom he 
 iiad resided as a trader, and whose camp the 
 chief pointed out to them some six miles dis- 
 tant. They had come out to surround a band 
 of buffalo which was feeding across the river, 
 and were making a large circuit to avoid gi ring 
 them the wind, when they discovered JFre- 
 mont's party, whom they had mistaken for 
 Pawnees. In a few minutes the women came 
 galloping up, astride of their horses, and 
 naked from their knees down, and the hips up. 
 They followed the men to assist in cutting up 
 and carrying oif the meat. 
 
 The wind was blowing directly across the 
 river, and the chief having requested Fremont 
 to remain where he then was, to avoid raising 
 the herd, he readily consented, and having un- 
 saddled their horses, they sat down to view tho 
 scene. The day had become very hot, the ther- 
 mometer standing at 108. The Indians com- 
 menced crossing the river, and as soon as they 
 were upon the other side, separated into two 
 bodies. 
 
 Fremont thus describes this exciting hunt, 
 or massacre, as the reader may choose to de 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOtf. 169 
 
 signate it, and his subsequent visit to the Ar- 
 apahoe village : 
 
 " One party proceeded directly across the 
 prairie, towards the hills, in an extended line, 
 while the other went up the river; and in- 
 stantly, as they had given the wind to the herd, 
 the chase commenced. The buffalo started for 
 the hills, but were intercepted and driven back 
 toward the river, broken and running in every 
 direction. The clouds of dust soon covered 
 the whole scene, preventing us from having 
 any but an occasional view. It had a very 
 singular appearance to us at a distance, espe- 
 cially when looking with the glass. 
 
 " We were too far to hear the report of the 
 guns, or any sound, and at every instant, 
 through the clouds of dust, which the sun 
 made luminous, we could see for a moment 
 two or three buffalo dashing along, and close 
 behind them an Indian with his long spear, 
 or other weapon, and instantly again they 
 disappeared. The apparent silence, and the 
 dimly seen figures flitting by with such ra< 
 pidity, gave it a kind of dreamy effect, and 
 seemed more like a picture than a scene of 
 real life. 
 
 " It had been a large herd when the cerne 
 commenced, probably three or four hundred in 
 
170 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 number; but though I watched them closely, 
 I did not see one emerge from the fatal cloud 
 whore the work of destruction was going on. 
 After remaining here about an hour, we re- 
 sumed our journey in the direction of the vil- 
 lage. 
 
 " Gradually, as we rode on, Indian after In- 
 dian came dropping along, laden with meat ; 
 and by the time we had reached the lodges, 
 the backward road was covered with the re- 
 turning horsemen. It was a pleasant contrast 
 with the desert road we had been traveling. 
 Several had joined company with us, and one 
 of the chiefs invited us to his lodge. 
 
 " The village consisted of about one hun- 
 dred and twenty-five lodges, of which twenty 
 were Cheyennes ; the latter pitched a little 
 apart from the Arapahoes. They were dis- 
 posed in a scattering manner on both sides of 
 a broad, irregular street, about one hundred 
 and fifty feet wide, and running along the river. 
 As we rode along, I remarked near some of 
 the lodges a kind of tripod frame, formed of 
 three slender poles of birch, scraped very 
 clean, to which were affixed the shield and 
 spear, with some other weapons of a chief. All 
 were scrupulously clean, the spear head was 
 burnished bright, and the shield white and 
 
LIFE OF CHRIS furllER CARSON. 171 
 
 stainless. It reminded me of the clays of 
 feudal chivalry; and when, as I rode by, I 
 yielded to tho passing impulse, and touched 
 one of the spotless shields with the muzzle of 
 my gun, I almost expected a grim warrior to 
 start from the lodge and resent my challenge. 
 
 " The master of the lodge spread out a robe 
 for me to sit upon, and the squaws set before 
 us a large wooden dish of buffalo meat. He 
 had lit his pipe in the meanwhile, and when it 
 had been passed around, we commenced our 
 dinner while he continued to smoke. Gradu- 
 ally, five or six other chiefs came in, and took 
 their seats in silence. When we had finished, 
 our host asked a number of questions relative 
 to the object of our journey, of which I mado 
 no concealment ; telling him simply that I had 
 made a visit to see the country, preparatory to 
 the establishment of military posts on the way 
 to the mountains. 
 
 " Although this was information of the 
 highest interest to them, and by no means 
 calculated to please them, it excited no expres- 
 sion of surprise, and in no way altered the 
 grave courtesy of their demeanor. The others 
 listened and smoked. I remarked, that in 
 taking the pipe for the first time, each had 
 turned the stem upward, with a rapid glance, 
 
172 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX 
 
 as in offering to the Great Spirit, before he put 
 it in his mouth." 
 
 Riding near the river, Fremont and Max- 
 well had an interview with Jim Beckwith, who 
 had been chief of the Crow Indians, but had 
 left them some time before, and was now re- 
 siding in this river bottom, with his wife, a 
 Spanish woman from Taos. They also passed 
 a camp of four or five JS T ew Engianders, with 
 Indian wives a party of independent trap- 
 pers, and reached St. Vrain's Fort on the eve- 
 ning of July 10th 7 where they were hospitably 
 entertained by Mr. St. Train, and received 
 from him such needed assistance as he was 
 able to render. Maxwell was at home here, 
 as he had spent the last two or three years be- 
 tween the fort and Taos. 
 
 On the evening of the fifteenth, they arrived 
 at Fort Laramie, a post of the American Fur 
 Company, near the junction of the Laramie 
 Creek with the Platte River, which had quite 
 a military appearance, with its lofty Avails 
 whitewashed and picketed, and large bastions 
 at the angles. A cluster of lodges belonging 
 to the Sioux Indians was pitched under the 
 Avails. He was received with great hospitality 
 by the gentleman in charge of the fort, Mr. 
 Boudeau, having letters of introduction to him 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 173 
 
 from the company at St. Louis, and it is hardly 
 necessary to say that he was hospitably re- 
 ceived and most kindly treated. He found 
 Carson with the party under his command 
 camped on the bank near the fort, by whom 
 they were most warmly welcomed, and in the 
 enjoyment of a bountiful supper, which coffee 
 and bread converted almost into a luxury, 
 they forgot the toils and sufferings of the past 
 ten days. 
 
 The news brought by Mr. Preuss, who it 
 will be remembered was with Carson's party, 
 was as exciting as it w r as unpleasant. He had 
 learned that the Sioux who had been badly 
 disposed, had now broken out into open hos- 
 tility, and his informant, a well known trap- 
 per, named Bridger, had been attacked by them, 
 and had only defeated them after serious losses 
 on both sides. United with the Cheyennes 
 and Gros Ventre Indians, they were scouring 
 the country in war parties, declaring war upon 
 every living thing which should pass the Red 
 Suites; their special hostility being, however, di- 
 rected against the white men. In fact the coun- 
 try was swarming with hostile Indians, and it 
 was but too evident that any party who should 
 attempt to enter upon the forbidden grounds, 
 must do so at the certain hazard of their lives, 
 
174 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 Of course such, intelligence created greri com 
 motion throughout the camp, and it *ormoil 
 the sole subject of conversation and discussion 
 during the evenings around the camp fires. 
 
 Speaking of this report, and the effect pro 
 duced upon his men, Fremont uses the follow- 
 iag language: 
 
 " Carson, one of the best and most experi- 
 enced mountaineers, fully supported the opin- 
 ion given by Bridger of the dangerous state 
 of the country, and openly expressed his con- 
 viction that we could not escape without some 
 sharp encounters with the Indians. In addi- 
 tion to this, he made his will ; and among the 
 circumstances which were constantly occurring 
 to increase their alarm, this was the most 
 unfortunate ; and I found that a number of 
 my party had become so much intimidated 
 that they had requested to be discharged at 
 this place." 
 
 Carson's apprehensions were fully justified 
 by the circumstances surrounding them ; and 
 while we might have omitted the above quota 
 tion, as tending to exhibit him in a false l ; ghl , 
 doubtless unintentionally, we choose rather to 
 say a few words which will rob the insinuation 
 of its sting. 
 
 While there was reason to expect an en 
 
LIFE OP CI1KISTOPHER CAKSOX. 175 
 
 Counter with Indians, in whom it was reported 
 the spirit of revenge was cherished towards 
 the whites, more than ever it had boen before, 
 and whom numbers and acquisition of fire- 
 arms rendered really formidable foes, he felt 
 that the party with whom he was now associ- 
 ated, were not the men upon whom he could 
 rely with certainty in an engagement against 
 such terrible odds. In the days of his earlier 
 experiences, the old trappers with him were 
 men who had as little fear as himself, and 
 were also experienced in such little affairs, for 
 such they considered them. Now, except 
 Maxwell, an old associate, and two or three 
 others, the men of the party were half para- 
 lyzed with fear at the prospect which this re- 
 port presented to them ; and it was the know- 
 ledge of their fear, which they made no attempt 
 to conceal, which excited in his mind appre- 
 hensions for the worst, for he did not choose 
 to guide others into danger recklessly, even if 
 he had no care for himself. 
 
 Headlong rashness, which some might mis- 
 take for courage, was not a trait of his charac- 
 ter ; but the voice of a whole country accords 
 to Aim cool bravery, presence of mind, and 
 courage to meet whatever danger forethoughl 
 could not guard against. 
 
176 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 With a party of men like those he had 5^d 
 several times against the Blackfeet, nothing 
 could have persuaded him to turn back from 
 any enterprise which he had undertaken, from 
 a fear of hostile Indians. Of course he could 
 not state his reason for his apprehensions even 
 to his employer, because it would reflect upon 
 his ability to arrange for such an enterprise, 
 or his courage to conduct it to a successful ter- 
 mination, neither of which he could doubt ; and 
 it is therefore with something of regret we 
 read in an official report, emanating from one 
 who owed more to Kit Carson, of the fame and 
 reputation so justly earned, than to any other 
 living man, the assertion that Carson, stimu- 
 lated by fear, made his will. The best contra- 
 diction which can be afforded, is found in the 
 fact, that notwithstanding his apprehensions, l|e 
 did accompany the party, discharging with his 
 usual zeal, ability, and fidelity, the duties which 
 devolved upon him ; and we have yet to learn 
 that Kit Carson ever shrunk from any danger. 
 
 His reputation has, however, outlived this 
 covert insinuation, and we presume that no 
 man on this continent would hesitate to award 
 to Kit Carson, the highest attributes of moral 
 and physical courage. 
 
 " During our stay here," says Fremont in 
 
OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 177 
 
 continuation, " the men had been engaged in 
 making numerous repairs, arranging pack- 
 saddles, and otherwise preparing for the 
 chances of a rough road, and mountain travel, 
 all of which Carson had superintended, urging 
 upon the men that tjieir comfort and their 
 safety required it. All things of this nature 
 being ready, I gathered them around me in the 
 evening, and told them that ' I had determined 
 to proceed the next day. They were all well 
 armed. I had engaged the services of Mr. 
 Bissonette as interpreter, and had taken, in 
 the circumstances, every possible means to in- 
 sure our safety. In the rumors we had heard, I 
 believed there was much exageration, and then 
 they were men accustomed to this kind of life, 
 and to the country ; and that these were tho 
 clangers of every day occurrence, and to be ex- 
 pected in the ordinary course of their service. 
 They had heard of the unsettled condition of 
 the country before leaving St. Louis, and there- 
 fore could not make it a reason for breaking 
 their engagements. Still, I was unwilling 
 to take with me, on a service of some certain 
 danger, men on whom I could not rely ; and 
 as I had understood that there were among 
 them some who were disposed to cowardice, 
 and anxious to return, they had but to come 
 12 
 
178 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 forward at once, and state their desire, and they 
 would be discharged with the amount due to 
 them for the time they had served." To thuir 
 honor, be it said, there was but one among them 
 who had the face to come forward and a^ail 
 himself of the permission. I asked him some 
 few questions, in order to expose him to the ridi- 
 cule of the men, and let him go. The day after 
 our departure, he engaged himself to one of 
 the forts, and set off with a party to the Upper 
 Missouri. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 As our explorers advanced, one of the most 
 prominent features of the country was the 
 abundance of artemi^ia growing everywhere, 
 on the hills and in the river bottoms, in twisted 
 wiry clumps, filling the air with the odor of 
 mingled camphor and spirits of turpentine, 
 and impeding the progress of the wagons out 
 of the beaten track. 
 
 They met a straggling party of the Indians 
 which had followed the trail of the emigrants, 
 and learned from them that multitudes of 
 grasshoppers had consumed the grass upon the 
 road, so that they had found no game, and 
 were obliged to kill even their horses, to ward 
 off starvation. Of course danger from these 
 Indians was no longer to be apprehended, 
 though the prospect was a gloomy one, but 
 new courage seemed to inspire the party when 
 the necessity of endurance seemed at hand. 
 
 The party now followed Carson's advice, 
 
 (179) 
 
180 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 given at Fort Laramie, to disencumber them- 
 selves of all unnecessary articles, and accord- 
 ingly they left their wagons, concealing them 
 among low shrubbery, after they had taken 
 them to pieces, and made a cache of such other 
 effects as they could leave, among the sand heaps 
 of the river bank, and then set to work to mend 
 and arrange the pack saddles, and packs, the 
 whole of which was superintended by Carson, 
 and to him was now assigned the office of 
 guide, as they had reached a section of the 
 country, with a great part of which long resi- 
 dence had made him familiar. Game was 
 found in great abundance after they reached 
 the river bottom, off the traveled road, both 
 upon the Platte and after they crossed over 
 the divide to the Sweet Water. 
 
 Speaking of the gorge where the Platte 
 River issues from the Black Hills, changing its 
 character abruptly from a mountain stream to 
 a river of the plain, Fremont says, " I visited 
 this place with my favorite man, Basil Lajeu- 
 nesse ;" and this extraordinary expression, left 
 unexplained, would lead the casual reader to 
 believe or think that Carson had lost the con- 
 fidence of the official leader of the party. 
 
 It has seemed to us, in reading Fremont's 
 narrative of this first expedition to the 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 181 
 
 &vtfantains, that in view of some failures to 
 achieve what was sought, and to avoid what 
 was suffered, Carson's advice,, given with a 
 larger experience, and with less of impetuosity 
 than that of the young Huguenot's, would, if 
 followed, have secured different results, both 
 for the comfort of the party, and the benefit 
 of science; and while those of like tempera- 
 ment were chosen for companions by Lieuten- 
 ant Fremont, it detracts nothing from his rep- 
 utation for scientific analysis and skill, or for 
 high courage, but only gives to Carson the de- 
 . served meed of praise to say, his was the hand 
 that steadied the helm, and kept the vessel on 
 her way, at times when, without his judgment, 
 sagacity, and experience, it must have been se- 
 riously damaged, if not destroyed ; and with 
 this balance wheel, a part of his machinery, 
 the variety of difficulties that might have de- 
 iVvited the scientific purpose of the expedition, 
 or have made it the last Fremont would de- 
 sire, or the Government care to have him un- 
 dertake, were avoided ; and no one inquired to 
 know the cause. 
 
 It often happens that the quiet, simpler 
 offices of life become imperative, and first 
 duties, to one who feels that all the qualifica- 
 tions fitting for more honorable place, are poa 
 
182 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 sessed by him, in much larger measure than 
 by the occupant of the higher official position, 
 as men are wont to esteem it and, as there 
 is no explanation given, nor, by declaration, 
 even the fact stated that this was true now in 
 respect to Christopher Carson, we shall give 
 no reason, further than to say, that the care of 
 finding suitable places for .camping, of seeing 
 that the party were all in, and the animals 
 properly cared for, their saddles in order, and 
 the fastenings secure ; of finding game, and 
 watching to see that the food is properly ex- 
 pended, so that each supply shall last till re 
 can be replenished ; of seeing that the general 
 property of the party is properly guarded, and 
 a variety of other matters, which pertain to 
 the success of an enterprise like this, and 
 without which it must be a failure, could not all 
 be borne by Fremont; and while he had 
 assigned to each his position in the labor of 
 the camp, the place of general care-taker, 
 which comes not by apointment, fell naturally 
 to the lot of Carson ; and such supervision wai 
 cheerfully performed, though it brought no 
 other reward than the satisfaction of knowing 
 that the essential elements of success were not 
 neglected. 
 Shall we not then deem him worthy of all 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON". 183 
 
 praise for being content to occupy such a posi- 
 tion ? Employed to guide the party, he had 
 hoped to share the confidence of its leader, but 
 the latter had already other friends, jealous of 
 his attentions ; he had another hunter, jealous 
 of his own reputation in his profession, and 
 of his knowledge of the country ; then there 
 were two youths in the party, one of whom 
 wished to be amused, and both to be instructed ; 
 and in becoming the general providence of the 
 party, which is scarcely thought of, because it 
 seems to come of itself, we find the reason why 
 Fremont's first narrative shows Carson so 
 little like the brave, bold hunter we have 
 known him hitherto. We allude to two lads, 
 one a son of the Hon. T. H. Benton, who ac- 
 companied him out during a portion of his 
 first expedition, and for whom it is evident he 
 made many sacrifices. 
 
 Buffalo were numerous, and they saw many 
 tracks of the grizzly bear among the cherry 
 trees and currant bushes that lined the river 
 banks, while antelope bounded fitfully before 
 them over the plains. 
 
 But the reader is already familiar with this 
 condition of things in the country, because the 
 hero of cur story has been here before, and to 
 apply the term explorer here to Fremont, and 
 
384 LIFE OF CHEISTOPHEB CARSOff. 
 
 to call this an exploring expedition, seems 
 farcical, only as we remember that there had 
 not been yet any written scientific description 
 of this region, so long familiar to the trappers, 
 and to none more than Carson. 
 
 They had now approached the road at what 
 is called the South Pass. The ascent had been 
 so gradual, that, with all the intimate know- 
 ledge possessed by Carson, who had made this 
 country his home for seventeen years, they 
 were obliged to watch very closely to find the 
 place at which they reached the culminating 
 point. This was between two low hills, rising 
 on either hand fifty or sixty feet. 
 
 Approaching it from the mouth of the 
 Sweet Water, a sandy plain, one hundred and 
 twenty miles long, conducts, by a gradual and 
 regular ascent, to the summit, about seven 
 thousand feet above the sea ; and the traveler, 
 without being reminded of any change by toil- 
 some ascents, suddenly finds himself on the 
 waters which flow to the Pacific ocean. By 
 the route they had traveled, the distance from 
 Fort Laramie was three hundred and twenty 
 miles, or nine hundred and fifty from the 
 mouth of the Kansas. 
 
 They continued on till they came to a tribu- 
 tary of the Green River, and then followed 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 185 
 
 tne stream up to a lake at its source in the 
 mountains, and had here a view of extraordi- 
 nary magnificence and grandeur, beyond what 
 is seen in any part of the Alps, and here, be- 
 side the placid lake, they left the mules, in- 
 tending to ascend the mountains on foot, and 
 measure the altitude of the highest point. 
 
 Fremont had wished to make a circuit of a 
 few miles in the mountains, and visit the 
 sources of the four great streams, the Colorado, 
 the Columbiyi, the Missouri, and the Platte, 
 but game was scarce, and his men were not ac- 
 customed to their entirely meat fare, and were 
 discontented. 
 
 With fifteen picked men, mounted on the 
 best mules, was commenced the ascent of the 
 mountains, and amid views of most romantic 
 beauty, overlooking deep valleys with lakes 
 nestled in them, surrounded by precipitous 
 ridges, hundreds of feet high, they wound 
 their way up to the summits of the ridges, to 
 descend again, and plod along the valley of a 
 little stream on the other side. 
 
 For two days they continued upon their 
 mules, through this magnificent region, when 
 the peak appeared so near, it was decided to 
 leave the mules beside a little lake, and pro- 
 ceed 01: foot; and as the day was warm, sumo 
 
186 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 of the party left their coats. But at night 
 they had reached the limit of the piney region, 
 when they were ten thousand feet above the 
 waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and still the 
 peak rose far above them, so that they camped 
 without suffering, in a liMle green ravine, bor- 
 dered with plants in oloom, and the next 
 morning continued the f .scent. Carson had led 
 this day, and succeeded in reaching the sum- 
 mit of a snowy peak, supposed to be the highest, 
 but saw from it the one they had been seeking, 
 towering eight > andrecl or a thousand feet 
 above him. 7 .ley now descended off the 
 snow, and sen ' back for mules, -and food, and 
 blankets, and oy a blazing fire all slept soundly 
 until mornir g. 
 
 Carson h .d understood that they had now 
 clone with the mountains, and by directions 
 had gone at day break to the camp, taking 
 with him all but four or five men, w r ho were 
 to remain with Fremont, and take back the 
 mules and instruments. But after their de- 
 parture, the programme was changed, and now 
 understanding the topography of the country 
 better, the party left, continued with the mules 
 as far as possible, and then on foot, over 
 chasms, leaping from point to point of crags, 
 until they came, with extreme difficulty, in the 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 187 
 
 intense cold and rarified air, to the height of 
 the crest, and Fremont stood alone upon the 
 pinnacle, and able to tell the story of this vic- 
 tory of Science to the world. He had been 
 sick the day before, and Carson could not urge 
 the prosecution of the enterprise, to reach the 
 highest point, when the leader of the expedi- 
 tion was too ill to climb the summit, and there- 
 fore had not objected to the arrangement of 
 returning to the camp. 
 
 But we have nothing more to say. The 
 reader of the story, as Fremont tells it. wishes 
 there were evidences of higher magnanimity, 
 which are wanting. Carson finds no fault, 
 seems to notice none. He performed faithfully 
 the duty assigned to him, utters no complaint, 
 but is content in carrying out a subordinate's 
 first obligation, that of obeying orders. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 FREMONT succeeded, but not without much 
 danger and suffering, in reaching the highest 
 peak of the Rocky Mountains, and waved over 
 it his country's flag, in triumph. The return 
 trip to Fort Laramie was not marked by any 
 incident of special note, and Carson's services 
 being no longer required, he left his com- 
 mander here, and set out for New Mexico. In 
 1843, he married a Spanish lady, and his time 
 was occasionally employed by Messrs. Bent 
 and St. Vrain, his old and tried friends. 
 
 While thus engaged at Bent's Fort, he 
 learned that his old commander and friend 
 had passed two days before, on another ex- 
 ploring expedition, and being naturally anx- 
 ious to see again one to whom he was so 
 strongly attached, he started on his trail, and 
 after following it for seventy miles, came up 
 with him. The meeting was mutually pleas- 
 ing, but resulted quite contrary to Carson's 
 (188) 
 
L[FE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 189 
 
 anticipations, for, instead of merely meeting 
 and parting, Fremont, anxious to regain the ser- 
 vices of one whose experience, .judgment, and 
 courage, had been so well tried, persuaded 
 him to join this second expedition, and again 
 we find him launched as guide and hunter. 
 
 Carson was at once despatched to the fort with 
 directions to procure a supply of mules which the 
 party much needed, and to meet him with the 
 animals at St. Train's Fort. This was accom- 
 plished to Fremont's entire satisfaction. The 
 object of this second exploration was to connect 
 the survey of the previous year with those of 
 Commander Wilkes on the Pacific coast, but 
 Fremont's first destination was the Great Salt 
 Lake, which has since become so famous in the 
 annals of our country. 
 
 Fremont's description of this journey, and 
 of his passage across the lake in a frail India 
 rubber boat, which threatened at every mo- 
 ment destruction to the entire party, is so truo 
 to life, and so highly interesting, we quote it 
 entire. The party reached, on the 21st of Au- 
 gust, the Bear River, which was the principal 
 tributary of the lake, and from this point we 
 quote Fremont's words : 
 
 "We were now entering a region, which for 
 us, possessed a strange and extraordinary in- 
 
190 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 terest. We were upon the waters of the fa 
 mous lake which forms a salient point amon# 
 the remarkable geographical features of the 
 country, and around which the vague and su- 
 perstitious accounts of the trappers had thrown 
 a delightful obscurity, which we anticipated 
 pleasure in dispelling, but which, in the mean- 
 time, left a crowded field for the exercise of our 
 imagination. 
 
 " In our occasional conversations with the few 
 old hunters who had visited the region, it had 
 been a subject of frequent speculation ; and the 
 wonders which they related were not the less 
 agreeable because they were highly exag- 
 gerated and impossible. 
 
 " Hitherto this lake had been seen only by 
 trappers, who were wandering through the 
 country in search of new beaver streams, car- 
 ing very little for geography ; its islands had 
 never been visited ; and none were to be found 
 who had entirely made the circuit of its shores, 
 and no instrumental observations, or geogra- 
 phical survey of any description, had ever been 
 made ary where in the neighboring region. It 
 was generally supposed that it had no visible 
 outlet ; but, among the trappers, including 
 those in my own camp, were many who be- 
 lieved that somewhere on its surface was a tor- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 191 
 
 rible whirlpool, through which its waters found 
 their way to the ocean by some subterranean 
 communication. All these things had been made 
 a frequent subject of discussion in our desultory 
 conversations around the fires at night ; and 
 my own mind had become tolerably well filled 
 with their indefinite pictures, and insensibly 
 colored with their romantic descriptions, which, 
 in the pleasure of excitement, I was well dis- 
 posed to believe, and half expected to real- 
 ize. 
 
 " In about six miles' travel from our en- 
 campment, we reached one of the points in our 
 journey to which we had always looked for- 
 ward with great interest the famous Beer 
 Springs, which, on account of the effervescing 
 gas and acid taste, had received their name 
 from the voyageurs and trappers of the coun- 
 try, who, in the midst of their rude and hard 
 lives, are fond of finding some fancied resem- 
 blance to the luxuries they rarely have the 
 good fortune to enjoy. 
 
 "Although somewhat disappointed in the 
 expectations which various descriptions had led 
 me to form of unusual beauty of situation ami 
 scenery, I found it altogether a place of very 
 great interest ; and a traveler for the first time 
 in a volcanic region remains in a constant ex- 
 
192 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSGN. 
 
 citement, and at every step is arrested by 
 something remarkable and new. There is a 
 confusion of interesting objects gathered to- 
 gether in a small space. Around the place of 
 encampment the Beer Springs were numerous ; 
 but, as far as we could ascertain, were entirely 
 confined to that locality in the bottom. In the 
 bed of the river, in front, for a space of several 
 hundred yards, they were very abundant ; the 
 effervescing gas rising up and agitating tho 
 water in countless bubbling columns. In the 
 vicinity round about were numerous springs 
 of an entirely different and equally marked 
 mineral character. In a rather picturesque 
 spot, about 1,300 yards below our encampment 
 and immediately on the river bank, is the 
 most remarkable spring of the place. In an 
 opening on the rock, a white column of scat- 
 tered water is thrown up, in form like a jet- 
 d'eau, to a variable height of about three feet, 
 and, though it is maintained in a constant 
 supply, its greatest height is attained only at 
 regular intervals, according to the action of tho 
 force below. It is accompanied by a subterra- 
 nean noise, which, together with the motion 
 of the water, makes very much the impression 
 of a steamboat in motion ; and, without know- 
 ing that it had been already previously so 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 193 
 
 called, we gave to it the name of the Steam- 
 boat Spring. The rock through which it J8 
 forced is slightly raised in a convex mannei , 
 and gathered at the opening into an urn 
 mouthed form, and is evidently formed bj 
 continued deposition from the water, and col 
 ored bright red by oxide of iron. 
 
 " It is a hot spring, and the water has a pun- 
 gent, disagreeable metallic taste, leaving a 
 burning effect on the tongue. Within perhaps 
 two yards of the jet-ffeau, is a small hole of 
 about an inch in diameter, through which, at 
 regular intervals, escapes a blast of hot air 
 with a light wreath of smoke, accompanied by 
 a regular noise. 
 
 " As they approached the lake, they passed 
 over a country of bold and striking scenery, 
 and through several ' gates,' as they called cer- 
 tain narrow valleys. The ' standing rock' is a 
 huge column, occupying the centre of one of 
 these passes. It fell from a height of perhaps 
 3,000 feet, and happened to remain in its 
 present upright position. 
 
 " At last, on the 6th of September, the ob- 
 ject for which their eyes had long been strain- 
 ing was brought to view. 
 
 " Sept. 6. This time we reached the butte 
 
 without any difficulty ; and, ascending to the 
 13 
 
194 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSO.V. 
 
 summit, immediately at our feet behold the 
 object of our anxious search, the wateis of tho 
 Inland Sea, stretching in still and solitary 
 grandeur far beyond the limit of our vision, 
 1 1 was one of the great points of the explora- 
 tion ; and as we looked eagerly over the lake 
 in the first emotions of excited pleasure, I am 
 doubtful if the followers of Balboa felt more 
 enthusiasm when, from the heights of the 
 Andes, they saw for the first time the great 
 Western Ocean. It was certainly a magnifi- 
 cent object, and a noble terminus to this part 
 of our expedition ; and to travelers so long 
 shut up among mountain ranges, a sudden 
 view over the expanse of silent waters had in 
 it something sublime. Several large islands 
 raised their high rocky heads out of the waves ; 
 but whether or not they were timbered was 
 still left to our imagination, as the distance 
 was too great to determine if the dark hues 
 upon them were woodland or naked rock. 
 During the day the clouds had been gathering 
 black over the mountains to the westward, and 
 while we were looking, a storm burst down 
 with sudden fury upon the lake, and entirely 
 hid the islands from our view. 
 
 u On the edge of the stream a favorable spot 
 \> iected in a grove, and felling the timber, 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 195 
 
 we made a strong corral, or horse-pen, for the 
 animals, and a little fort for the people who 
 were to remain. We were now probably in 
 the country of the Utah Indians, though none 
 reside upon the lake. The India-rubber boat 
 was repaired with prepared cloth and gum, 
 and filled with air, in readiness for the next 
 day. 
 
 " The provisions which Carson had brought 
 with him being now exhausted, and our stock 
 reduced to a small quantity of roots, I deter- 
 mined to retain with me only a sufficient num- 
 ber of men for the execution of our design ; 
 and accordingly seven were sent back to Fort 
 Hall, under the guidance of Frangois Lajeu- 
 nesse, w r ho, having been for many years a 
 trapper in the country, was an experienced 
 mountaineer. 
 
 " We formed now but a small family. With 
 Mr. Preuss and myself, Carson, Bernier, and 
 Basil Lajeunesse had been selected for the 
 boat expedition the first ever attempted on 
 this interior sea; and Badau, with Derosicr, 
 nrid Jacob (the colored man), were to be left 
 in charge of the camp. We were favored with 
 most delightful weather. To-night there was 
 a brilliant sunset of golden orange and green, 
 which left the western sky clear and beauti 
 
196 LIFE OF CHRISTOPFKE CARSON. 
 
 fully pure ; but clouds in the ea-st made me lose 
 an occupation. The summer frcgo were singing 
 around us, and the evening was very pleasant, 
 with a temperature of 60 a night of a more 
 southern autumn. For our supper, we had 
 yampah, the most agreeably flavored of the roots, 
 seasoned by a small fat duck, which had come 
 in the way of Jacob's rifle. Around our fire* 
 to-night were many speculations on what to- 
 morrow would bring forth ; and in. our busy 
 conjectures we fancied that we should find 
 every one of the large islands a tangled wil- 
 derness of trees and shrubbery, teeming with 
 game of every description that the neighbor 
 ing region afforded, and which the foot of a 
 white man or Indian had never violated. Fre- 
 quently, during the day, clouds had rested on 
 the summits of their lofty mountains, and we 
 believed that we should find clear streams and 
 springs of fresh water; and we indulged in 
 anticipations of the luxurious repasts with 
 which we wore to indemnify ourselves for past 
 privations. Neither, in our discussions, were 
 the whirlpool and other mysterious dangers for- 
 gotten, which Indian and hunters' stories attri- 
 buted to this unexplored lake. The men had dis- 
 covered that, instead of being strongly sewed, 
 (like that of the preceding year, which had so tri- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHEK CARSOX. 197 
 
 umphantly rode the canons of the Upper Great 
 Platte,) our present boat was only pasted to- 
 gether in a very insecure manner, the maker 
 having been allowed so little time in the con- 
 struction that he was obliged to crowd the 
 labor of two months into several days. The 
 insecurity of the boat was sensibly felt by us ; 
 and mingled with the enthusiasm and excite- 
 ment that we all felt at the prospect of an 
 undertaking which had never before been ac- 
 complished, was a certain impression of dan- 
 ger, sufficient to give a serious character to our 
 conversation. The momentary view which 
 had been had of the lake the day before, its 
 great extent, and rugged islands, dimly seen 
 amidst the dark waters in the obscurity of the 
 sudden storm, were well calculated to heighten 
 the idea of undefined danger with which the 
 lake was generally associated. 
 
 " Sept. 8. A calm, clear day, with a sunrise 
 temperature of 41. In view of our present 
 enterprise, a part of the equipment of the boat 
 had been made to consist of three air-tight 
 bags, about three feet long, and capable each 
 of containing five gallons. These had been 
 filled with water the night before, and were 
 now placed in the boat, with our blankets and 
 
198 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 instruments, consisting of a sextant, telescope, 
 spy-glass, thermometer, and barometer. 
 
 " In the course of the morning we discovered 
 that two of the cylinders leaked so much as to 
 require one man constantly at the bellows, to 
 keep them sufficiently full of air to support 
 the boat. Although we had made a very 
 early start, we loitered so much on the way 
 stopping every now and then, and floating si- 
 lently along, to get a shot at a goose or a duck 
 that it was late in the day when we reached 
 the outlet. The river here divided into seve- 
 ral branches, filled with fluvials, and so very 
 shallow that it was with difficulty we could get 
 the boat along, being obliged to get out and 
 wade. We encamped on a low point among 
 rushes and young willows, where there was a 
 quantity of driftwood, which served for our fires, 
 The evening was mild and clear ; w r e made a 
 pleasant bed of the young willows ; and geese 
 and ducks enough had been killed for an abun- 
 dant supper at night, and for breakfast next 
 morning. The stillness of the night was en- 
 livened by millions of water-fowl. 
 
 "Sept. 9. The day was clear and calm ; the 
 thermometer at sunrise at 49. As is usual 
 with the trappers on the eve of any enterprise, 
 our people ^ad made dreams, and theirs hap- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 199 
 
 pencil to be a bad one one which always pre- 
 ceded evil and consequently they looked very 
 gloomy this morning ; but we hurried through 
 our breakfast, in order to make an early start, 
 and have all the day before us for our adven- 
 ture. The channel in a short distance became 
 so shallow that our navigation was at an end, 
 being merely a sheet of soft mud, with a few 
 inches of water, and sometimes none at all, 
 forming the low-water shore of the lake. All 
 this place was absolutely covered with flocks of 
 screaming plover. We took off our clothes, and, 
 getting overboard, commenced dragging th^ 
 boat making, by this operation, a very curi 
 ous trail, and a very disagreeable smell in 
 stirring up the mud, as we sank above the 
 knee at every step. The water here was still 
 fresh, with only an insipid and disagreeable 
 taste, probably derived from the bed of fetid 
 mud. After proceeding in this way about a 
 a mi'e, we came to a small black ridge on the 
 bottom, beyond which the water became sud- 
 denly salt, beginning gradually to deepen, and 
 the bottom was sandy and firm. It was a re- 
 markable division, separating the fresh water 
 of the rivers from the briny water of the lake, 
 which was entirely saturated with common salt. 
 Pushing our little vessel across the narrow 
 
200 LIRE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOTST. 
 
 boundary, we sprang on board, and at length 
 were afloat on the waters of the unknown 
 sea. 
 
 "We did not steer for the mountainous 
 islands, but directed our course towards a 
 lower one, which it had been decided we should 
 first visit, the summit of which was formed 
 like the crater at the upper end of Bear River 
 valley. So long as we could touch the bottom 
 with our paddles, we were very gay ; but grad- 
 ually, as the water deepened, we became more 
 still in our frail batteau of gum cloth distended 
 with air, and with pasted seams. Although 
 the day was very calm, there was a consider- 
 able swell on the lake ; and there were white 
 patches of foam on the surface, which were 
 slowly moving to the southward, indicating the 
 set of a current in that direction, and recalling 
 the recollection of the whirlpool stories. The 
 water continued to deepen as we advanced ; 
 the lake becoming almost transparently clear, 
 of an extremely beautiful bright green color; 
 and the spray, which was thrown into the boat 
 and over our clothes, was directly converted 
 into a crust of common salt, which covered 
 also our hands and arms. i Captain.' said Car- 
 son, who for some time had been looking sus- 
 piciously at some whitening appearances out- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 201 
 
 side the nearest islands, ' what are those yon- 
 der? won't you just take a look with the 
 glass? 1 AVe ceased paddling for a moment, 
 and found them to be the caps of the waves 
 that were beginning to break under the force 
 of a strong breeze that was coming up the 
 lake. The form of the boat seemed to be an 
 admirable one, and it rode on the waves like a 
 water bird ; but, at the same time, it was ex- 
 tremely slow in its progress. When w r e were 
 a little more than half away across the reach, 
 two of the divisions between the cylinders 
 gave way, and it required the constant use of 
 the bellows to keep in a sufficient quantity of 
 air. For a long time we scarcely seemed to 
 approach our island, but gradually we worked 
 across the rougher sea of the open channel, 
 into the smoother water under the Ice of the 
 island, and began to discover that what we 
 took for a long row of pelicans, ranged on the 
 beach, were only low cliffs whitened with salt 
 by the spray of the waves ; and about noon 
 we reached the shore, the transparency of the 
 water enabling us to see the bottom at a con- 
 siderable depth. 
 
 " The cliffs and masses of rock along the 
 shore were whitened by an incrustation of salt 
 where the waves dashed up against them ; and 
 
202 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 the evaporating water, which had been left in 
 holes and hollows on the surface of the rocks, 
 was covered with a crust of salt about ono- 
 cMglith of an inch in thickness. 
 
 " Carrying with us the barometer and other 
 instruments, in the afternoon we ascended to 
 the highest point of the island a bare, rocky 
 peak, 800 feet above the lake. Standing on 
 the summit, we enjoyed an extended view of 
 the lake, inclosed in a basin of rugged moun- 
 tains, which sometimes left marshy flats and 
 extensive bottoms between them and the shore, 
 and in other places came directly down into 
 the water with bold and precipitous bluffs. 
 
 " As we looked over the vast expanse of 
 water spread out beneath us, and strained our 
 eyes along the silent shores over which hung 
 so much doubt and uncertainty, and which 
 were so full of interest to us, I could hardly 
 repress the almost irresistible desire to con- 
 tinue our exploration ; but the lengthening 
 snow on the mountains was a plain indication 
 of the advancing season, and our frail linen 
 bout appeared so insecure that I was unwilling 
 to trust our lives to the uncertainties of tho 
 lake. I therefore unwillingly resolved to ter- 
 minate our survey here, and remain satisfied for 
 the present with what we had been able to add 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 203 
 
 to the unknown geography of the region. "We 
 felt pleasure also in remembering that we were 
 the first who, in the traditionary annals of the 
 country, had visited the islands, and broken, 
 with the cheerful sound of human voices, the 
 long solitude of the place. 
 
 " I accidentally left on the summit the brass 
 cover to the object end of my spy-glass ; and 
 as it will probably remain there undisturbed 
 by Indians, it will furnish matter of specula- 
 tion to some future traveler. In our excur- 
 sions about the island, we did not meet with 
 any kind of animal ; a magpie, and another 
 larger bird, probably attracted by the smoke 
 of our fire, paid us a visit from the shore, and 
 were the only living things seen during our 
 stay. The rock constituting the cliffs along 
 the shore where we were encamped, is a tal- 
 cous rock, or steatite, with brown spar. 
 
 " At sunset, the temperature was 70. We 
 had arrived just in time to obtain a meridian 
 altitude of the sun, and other observations 
 were obtained this evening, which place our 
 camp in latitude 41 10 42^, and longitude 
 112 21' 05" from Greenwich. From a discus- 
 sion of the barometrical observations made 
 during our stay on the shores of the lake, we 
 have adopted 4,200 feet for its elevation above 
 
204 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON, 
 
 the Gulf of Mexico. In the first disappoint- 
 ment we felt from the dissipation of our dream 
 of the fertile islands, I called this Disappoint- 
 ment Island. 
 
 " Out of the driftwood, we made ourselves 
 pleasant little lodges, open to the water, and, 
 after having kindled large fires to excite the 
 wonder of any straggling savage on the lake 
 shores, lay down, for the first time in a long 
 journey, in perfect security; no one thinking 
 about his arms. The evening was extremely 
 bright and pleasant ; but the wind rose during 
 the night, and the waves began to break hea- 
 vily on the shore, making our Island tremble. 
 I had not expected in our inland journey to 
 hear the roar of an ocean surf; and the 
 strangeness of our situation, and the excite- 
 ment we felt in the associated interests of the 
 place, made this one of the most interesting 
 nights I remember during our long expedi- 
 tion. 
 
 " In the morning, the surf was breaking 
 heavily )n the shore, and we were up early. 
 The lake was dark and agitated, and we hur- 
 ried through our scanty breakfast, and em- 
 barked having first filled one of the buckets 
 with water from which it was intended to make 
 fealt. The sun had risen by the time we were 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 205 
 
 ready to start ; and it was blowing a strong 
 gale of wind, almost directly off the shore, and 
 raising a considerable sea, in which our boat 
 strained very much. It roughened as we got 
 away from the island, and it required all the 
 efforts of the men to make any head against 
 the wind and sea; the gale rising with the 
 sun ; and there was danger of being blown into 
 one of the open reaches beyond the island. 
 At the distance of half a mile from the beach, 
 the depth of water was sixteen feet, with a clay 
 bottom ; but, as the working of the boat was 
 very severe labor, and during the operation of 
 sounding, it was necessary to cease paddling, 
 during which, the boat lost considerable way, 
 I was unwilling to discourage the men, and 
 reluctantly gave up my intention of ascertain- 
 ing the depth and character of the bed. There 
 was a general shout in the boat when we found 
 ourselves in one fathom, and we soon after 
 landed on a low point of mud, where we un- 
 loaded the boat, and carried the baggage to 
 firmer ground." 
 
 Roughly evaporated over the fire, the five 
 gallons of* water from this lake yielded four- 
 teen pints of very fine-grained and very white 
 salt, of which the whole lake may be regarded 
 as a saturated solution. 
 
206 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 On the 12th they resumed their journey, re- 
 turning by the same route, and at night had a 
 supper of sea gulls, which Carson killed near 
 the lake. 
 
 The next day they continued up the river, 
 hunger making them very quiet and peaceable ; 
 and there was rarely an oath to be heard in 
 the camp not even a solitary enfant de garce 
 It was time for the men with an expected sup- 
 ply of provisions from Fitzpatrick to be in 
 the neighborhood ; and the gun was fired at 
 evening, to give notice of their locality, but 
 met with no response. 
 
 They killed to-day a fat young horse, 
 purchased from the Indians, and were very 
 soon restored to gaiety and good humor. 
 Fremont and Mr. Preuss, not having yet 
 overcome the prejudices of civilization, did 
 not partake, preferring to turn in supper- 
 less. 
 
 The large number of emigrants constantly 
 encamping here, had driven the game into the 
 mountains, so that not an elk or antelope was 
 seen upon the route ; but an antelope was pur- 
 chased from an Indian, for a little powder and 
 some ball, and they camped early to enjoy an 
 abundant supper; which, while not yet pro 
 pared, was interrupted by the arrival of a 
 
LIFE OF CH-tviSTOPHEK CARSON. 207 
 
 trapper, who startled and rejoiced all by an- 
 nouncing the glad news, that Mr. Fitzpatrick 
 was in camp a little way from them, with a 
 plentiful supply of provisions, flour, r x,e, dried 
 moat, and even butter. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE difficulty, in view of the approaching 
 winter season, of supporting a large party, de- 
 termined Fremont to send back a number of 
 the men who had become satisfied that they 
 were not fitted for the laborious service and 
 frequent privation to which they were necessa- 
 rily exposed, and which there was reason to 
 believe would become more severe in the 
 further extension of the voyage. They were 
 accordingly called together, and after being 
 fully informed as to the nature of the duties 
 imposed upon them, and the hardships they 
 would have to undergo, eleven of the party 
 consented to abandon Fremont, and return ; 
 but Carson was not one of these. 
 
 Taking leave of the homeward party, they 
 resumed their journey down the valley, the 
 weather being very cold, and the rain coming 
 in hard gusts, which the wind blew directly in 
 
 their faces. They forded the Portneuf in a storm 
 (208) 
 
LIFE OF CIIRISTOrilER CARSON. 209 
 
 of rain, the water in the river being frequently 
 up to the axles. 
 
 Fremont in. his official report thus enum- 
 erates some of the difficulties and sufferings 
 the party had to encounter : 
 
 " September 27. It was now no longer pos- 
 sible, as in our previous journey, to travel reg- 
 ularly every day, and find at any moment a 
 convenient place for repose at noon, or a camp 
 at night; but the halting places were now 
 generally fixed along the road, by the nature 
 of the country, at places where, with water, 
 there was a little scanty grass. Since leaving 
 the American falls, the road had frequently 
 been very bad ; the many short, steep ascents 
 exhausting the strength of our worn out ani- 
 mals, requiring always at such places the assis- 
 tance of the men to get up each cart, one by 
 one ; and our progress with twelve or fourteen 
 wheeled carriages, though light and made for 
 the purpose, in such a rocky country, was ex- 
 tremely slow. 
 
 " Carson had met here three or four buffalo 
 bulls, two of which were killed. They were 
 among the pioneers which had made the exper- 
 iment of colonizing in the valley of the Co- 
 lumbia. 
 
 " Opposite to the encampment, a subterra- 
 14 
 
210 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER JARSON. 
 
 nean river bursts out directly from the face of 
 the escarpment, and falls in white foam to the 
 river below. The main river is enclosed with 
 mural precipices, which form its characteristic 
 feature, along a great portion of its course. A 
 melancholy and strange-looking country -one 
 of fracture, and violence, and fire. 
 
 " We had brought with us, when we sepa- 
 rated from the camp, a large gaunt ox, in ap- 
 pearance very poor ; but, being killed to-night, 
 to the great joy of the people, he was found to 
 be remarkably fat. As usual at such occur- 
 rences, the evening was devoted to gaiety and 
 feasting; abundant fare now made an epoch 
 among us ; and in this laborious life, in such a 
 country as this, our men had but little . else to 
 enjoy." 
 
 On arriving at the ford where the road 
 crosses to the right bank of Snake River, an 
 Indian was hired to conduct them through the 
 ford, which proved impracticable ; the water 
 sweeping away the howitzer and nearly drown- 
 ing the mules. Fortunately they had a re- 
 source in a boat, which w T as filled with air and 
 launched ; and at seven o'clock were safely en- 
 camped on the opposite bank, the animals 
 swimming across, and the carriage, howitzer, 
 
LIFK OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON 211 
 
 and baggage of the camp being carried over in 
 the boat. 
 
 It was while at Fort Boise where Fremont 
 first met Mons. Payette, an employee of the 
 Hudson Bay Co., that he came across the 
 " Fish-eating Indians," a class lower if possible 
 in the scale of humanity than the "Diggers." 
 He says : 
 
 " Many little accounts and scattered histo- 
 ries, together w r ith an acquaintance which I 
 gradually acquired of their modes of life, had 
 left the aboriginal inhabitants of this vast 
 region pictured in my mind as a race of people 
 whose great and constant occupation was the 
 means of procuring a subsistence. 
 
 " While the summer weather and the salmon 
 lasted, they lived contentedly and happily, 
 scattered along the different streams where 
 the fish were to be found ; and as soon as the 
 winter snows began to fall, little smokes would 
 be seen rising among the mountains, where 
 they would be found in miserable groups, 
 starving out the winter ; and sometimes, ac- 
 cording to the general belief, reduced to the 
 horror of cannibalism the strong, of course, 
 preying on the weak. Certain it is, they aro 
 driven to an extremity for food, and eat every 
 insect, and every creeping thing, however 
 
212 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 loathsome and repulsive. Snails, lizards, ants 
 all are devoured with the readiness and 
 greediness of mere animals." 
 
 The remainder of the overland journey, 
 until they reached Nez Perce, one of the trad- 
 ing establishments of the Hudson Bay Com- 
 pany, was not marked by any incident bring- 
 ing Carson into special notice. 
 
 Having now completed the connection of 
 his explorations with those of Commander 
 Wilkes, and which was the limit of his in- 
 structions, Fremont commenced preparations 
 for his return, Carson being left at the Dalles 
 with directions to occupy the people in making 
 pack-saddles, and refitting the equippage ; 
 while Fremont continued his journey to the 
 Mission, a few miles down the Columbia River, 
 where he passed a few days in comparative 
 luxury. 
 
 The few days of rest, added to an abundance 
 of wholesome food, had so far recruited the 
 party, that they were soon prepared to encoun- 
 ter and conquer the difficulties of this overland 
 journey in mid- winter. Three principal ob- 
 jects were indicated by Fremont for explora- 
 tion and research, and which, despite the ob- 
 Btacles which the season must so surely inter 
 pose, he had determined to visit. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 213 
 
 The first of these points was the Tlainath 
 Lake, on the table-land between the head of 
 Fall River, which comes to the Columbia, and 
 the Sacramento, which goes to the bay of San 
 Francisco ; and from which lake a river of the 
 game name makes its way westwardly direct to 
 the ocean. 
 
 From this lake their course was intended to 
 be about southeast, to a reported lake called 
 Mary's, at some days' journey in the Great 
 Basin ; and thence, still on southeast, to the 
 reputed Buenaventura River, which has had a 
 place in so many maps, and countenanced the 
 belief of the existence of a great river flowing 
 from the Rocky Mountains to the Bay of San 
 Francisco. From the Buenaventura, the next 
 point was intended to be in that section of the 
 Rocky Mountains w r hich includes the heads of 
 Arkansas River, and of the opposite waters of 
 the Californian Gulf; and thence down tho 
 Arkansas to Bent's Fort, and home. This 
 was the projected line of return a great part of 
 it absolutely new to geographical, botanical, and 
 geological science and the subject of reports 
 in relation to lakes, rivers, deserts, and sa- 
 vages, hardly above the condition of mere wild 
 animals, which inflamed desire to know what 
 this terra incognita really contained 
 
214 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 It was a serious enterprise at the commence- 
 ment of winter to undertake the traverse of 
 such a region, and with a party consisting 
 only of twenty-five persons, and they of many 
 nations American, French, German, Cana- 
 dian, Indian, and colored and most of them 
 young, several being under twenty-one years 
 of age. All knew that a strange country was 
 to be explored, and dangers and hardships to 
 be encountered; but no one blenched at the 
 prospect. On the contrary, courage and con- 
 fidence animated the whole party. Cheerful- 
 ness, readiness, subordination, prompt obedi- 
 ence, characterized all ; nor did any extremity 
 of peril and privation, to which they were after- 
 wards exposed, ever belie, or derogate from, 
 the fine spirit of this brave and generous com- 
 mencement. 
 
 For the support of the party, he had pro- 
 vided at Vancouver a supply of provisions for 
 not less than three months, consisting princi- 
 pally of flour, peas, and tallow the latter 
 being used in cooking ; and, in addition to 
 this, they had purchased at the mission, some 
 California cattle, which were to be driven on 
 the hoof. They had one hundred and four 
 mules and horses part of the latter procured 
 from the Ind'.^ns about the mission ; and for 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 215 
 
 the sustenance of which, their reliance was 
 upon the grass which might be found, and the 
 soft porous wood, which was to be substituted 
 when there was no grass. 
 
 Mr. Fitzpatrick, with Mr. Talbot and the 
 remainder of the party, arrived on the 21st; 
 and the camp was now closely engaged in the 
 labor of preparation. Mr. Perkins succeeded 
 in obtaining as a guide, to the Tlamath Lake, 
 two Indians one of whom had been there, 
 and bore tae marks of several wounds he had 
 received from some of the Indians in the 
 neighborhood. 
 
 Tlamath Lake, however, on examination, 
 proved to be simply a shallow basin, which, 
 for a short period at the time of melting snows, 
 is covered with water from the neighboring 
 mountains ; but this probably soon runs off, 
 and leaves for the remainder of the year a 
 green savannah, through the midst of which, 
 the river Tlamath, which flows to the ocean, 
 winds its way to the outlet on the southwestern 
 side. 
 
 After leaving Tlamath Lake the part} 
 headed for Mary's Lake, which, however, 
 alter incredible sufferings and hardships, they 
 failed to discover, but they found one which 
 was appropriately christened " Pyramid Lake," 
 
216 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 and here the record of toils, dangers and suf 
 ferings, undergone by the whole party, can 
 only be told in the language of him, who 
 cheerfully toiled and suffered with those under 
 his command, and it is not too much to say, 
 that with the exception of the " Strain ex- 
 pedition," across the Isthmus of Darien, no 
 party of men have ever lived to narrate such 
 sad experiences. We therefore let Fremont, 
 in his own modest way, tell the tale of his own 
 and his cemjp'inions' sufferings. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 " January 3. A fog, so dense that we could 
 not see a hundred yards, covered the country, 
 and the men tlxat were sent out after the horses 
 were bewildered and lost ; and we were conse- 
 quently detained at camp until late in the day. 
 Our situation had now become a serious one. 
 We had reached and run over the position 
 where, according to the best maps in my pos- 
 session, we should have found Mary's Lake or 
 river. We were evidently on the verge of the 
 desert which had been reported to us ; and the 
 appearance of the country was so forbidding, 
 that I was afraid to enter it, and determined to 
 bear away to the southward, keeping close 
 along the mountains, in the full expectation of 
 reaching the Buenaventura River. This morn- 
 ing I put every man in the camp on foot my- 
 self, of course, among the rest and in this 
 manner lightened by distribution the loads of 
 
 the an finals. 
 
 (217) 
 
218 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 " January 4. The fog to-day was still more 
 dense, and the people again were bewildered 
 We traveled a few miles around the western 
 point of the ridge, and encamped where there 
 were a few tufts of grass, but no water. Our 
 animals now were in a very alarming state, 
 and there was increasing anxiety in the camp. 
 
 " January 5. Same dense fog continued, 
 and one of the mules died in camp this morn- 
 ing. We moved to a place where there was a 
 little better grass, about two miles distant. 
 Taplin, one of our best men, who had gone out 
 on a scouting excursion, ascended a mountain 
 near by, and to his great surprise emerged into 
 a region of bright sunshine, in which the upper 
 parts of the mountain were glowing, while 
 below all was obscured in the darkest fog. 
 
 " January 6. The fog continued the same, 
 and with Mr. Preuss and Carson, I ascended 
 the mountain, to sketch the leading features of 
 the country, as some indication of our future 
 route, while Mr. Fitzpatrick explored the 
 country below. In a very short distance we 
 had ascended above the mist, but the view ob- 
 tained was not very gratifying. The fog had 
 partially cleared off from below when we 
 reached the summit; and in the south-west 
 corner of a basin communicating with that in 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 219 
 
 which we had encamped, we saw a lofty column 
 of smoke, 16 miles distant, indicating the 
 presence of hot springs. There, also, appeared 
 to be the outlet of those draining channels of 
 the country; and, as such places afforded al- 
 ways more or less grass, I determined to steer 
 in that direction. The ridge we had ascended 
 appeared to be composed of fragments of white 
 granite. We saw here traces of sheep and 
 antelope. 
 
 " Entering the neighboring valley, and 
 crossing the bed of another lake, after a hard 
 day's travel over ground of yielding mud and 
 sand, we reached the springs, where we found 
 an abundance of grass, which, though only 
 tolerably good, made this place, with reference 
 to the past, a refreshing and agreeable spot. 
 
 " This is the most extraordinary locality of 
 hot springs we had met during the journey. 
 The basin of the largest one has a circumfer- 
 ence of several hundred feet ; but there is at 
 one extremity a circular space of about fifteen 
 feet in diameter, entirely occupied by the ooil* 
 ing water. It boils up at irregular intervals, 
 and with much noise. The water is clear, and 
 the spring deep ; a pole about sixteen feet long 
 was easily immersed in the centre, but tve 
 
220 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 had no means of forming a good idea of tL<- 
 depth. 
 
 "Taking with me Godey and Carson, 1 
 made to-day a thorough exploration of the 
 neighboring valleys, and found in a ravine in 
 the bordering mountains a good campihg 
 place, where was water in springs, and a suf- 
 ficient quantity of grass for a night. Oversha- 
 dowing the springs were some trees of the 
 sweet cotton-wood, which, after a long int^val 
 of absence, we saw again with pleasure, re- 
 garding them as harbingers of a better coun- 
 try. To us, they were eloquent of green prai- 
 ries and buffalo. We found here a broad and 
 plainly marked trail, on which there were tracks 
 of horses, and we appeared to have regained 
 one of the thoroughfares which pass by the 
 watering places of the country. On the west- 
 ern mountains of the valley, with^ which this 
 of the boiling spring communicates, we re- 
 marked scattered cedars probably an indica- 
 tion that we were on the borders of the tim- 
 bered region extending to the Pacific. We 
 reached the camp at sunset, after a day's ride 
 of about forty miles. 
 
 " January 10. We continued our reconnois- 
 gance ahead, pursuing a south direction in the 
 basin along the ridge ; the camp following 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 221 
 
 slowly after. On a large trail there is never 
 any doubt of finding suitable places lor en- 
 campments. We reached the end of the basin, 
 where we found, in a hollow of the mountain 
 which enclosed it, an abundance of good bunch 
 grasg. Leaving a signal for the party to en- 
 camp, we con'.aued our way up the hollow, 
 intending to see what lay beyond the moun- 
 tain. The hollow was several miles long, 
 forming a good pass, the snow deepening to 
 about a foot as we neared the summit. Be- 
 yond, a defile between the mountains descended 
 rapidly about two thousand feet; and, filling 
 up all the lower space, was a sheet of green 
 water, some twenty miles broad. It broke 
 upon our eyes like the ocean. The neighbor- 
 ing peaks rose high above us, and we ascended 
 one of them to obtain a better view. The 
 waves were curling in the breeze, and their 
 dark-green color showed it to be a body of 
 deep water. For a long time we sat enjoying 
 the view, for we had become fatigued with 
 mountains, and the free expanse of moving 
 waves was very grateful. It was set like a 
 gem in the mountains, which, from our posi- 
 tion, seemed to enclose it almost entirely. At 
 the western end it communicated with the 
 line of basins we had left a few days since ; 
 
222 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 and on the opposite side it swept a ridge of 
 snowy mountains, the foot of the great Sierra. 
 Its position at first inclined us to believo 
 it Mary's Lake, but the rugged mountains 
 were so entirely discordant with descriptions 
 of its low rushy shores and jpen country, that 
 we concluded it some unknown body of water; 
 which it afterwards proved to be. 
 
 " We saw before us, in descending from the 
 pass, a great continuous range, along which 
 stretched the valley of the river ; the lower 
 parts steep, and dark with pines, while above 
 it was hidden in clouds of snow. This, we felt 
 instantly satisfied was the central ridge of the 
 Sierra Nevada, the great California mountain, 
 which only now intervened between us and 
 the waters of the bay. We had made a forced 
 inarch of 26 miles, and three mules had given 
 out on the road. Up to this point, with the 
 exception of two stolen by Indians, we had 
 lost none of the horses which had been brought 
 from the Columbia river, and a number of 
 these were still strong and in tolerably good 
 order. We had now sixty-seven animals in 
 the band. 
 
 " We had scarcely lighted our fires, when the 
 camp was crowded with nearly naked Indians. 
 There were two who appeared particularly in- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 223 
 
 telligcnt one, a somewhat old man. He told 
 me that, before the snows fell, it was six sleeps 
 to the place where the whites -lived, but that 
 now it was impossible to cross the mountain on 
 account of the deep snow ; and showing us, as 
 the others had done, that it was over our 
 heads, he urged us strongly to follow tho 
 course of the river, which he said would con- 
 duct us to a lake in which there were many 
 large fish. There, he said, were many people; 
 there was no snow on the ground ; and we 
 might remain there until spring. From their 
 descriptions, we were enabled to judge that wo 
 had encamped on the upper water of the Sal- 
 mon-trout River. It is hardly necessary to 
 say that our communication was only by signs, 
 as we understood nothing of their language ; 
 but they spoke, notwithstanding, rapidly and 
 vehemently, explaining what they considered 
 the folly of our intentions, and urging us to go 
 down to the lake. Tah-ve, a word signifying 
 snow, we very soon learned to know, from its 
 frequent repetition. I told him that the men 
 and the horses were strong, and that we would 
 break a road through the snow ; and spreading 
 before him our bales of scarlet cloth, and trink- 
 ets, showed him what we would give for a 
 guide. It was necessary to obtain one, if pos- 
 
224 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 sible ; for I had determined here to attempt 
 the passage of the mountain. Pulling a bunch 
 of grass from the ground, after a short discus- 
 sion among themselves, the old man made us 
 Comprehend, that if we could break through 
 the snow, at the end of three days we would 
 come down upon grass, which he showed 
 us would be about six inches high, and where 
 the ground was entirely free. So far he said 
 he had been in hunting for elk ; but beyond 
 that (and he closed his eyes) he had seen noth- 
 ing ; but there was one among them who had 
 been to the whites, and, going out of the lodge, 
 he returned with a young man of very intelli- 
 gent appearance. Here, said he, is a young 
 man who has seen the whites with his own 
 eyes ; and he swore, first by the sky, and then 
 by the ground, that what he said was true 
 With a large present of goods, we prevailed 
 upon this young man to be our guide, and he 
 acquired among us the name Melo a word 
 signifying friend, which they used very fre- 
 quently. He was thinly clad, and nearly bare- 
 foot ; his moccasins being about worn out. We 
 gave him skins to make a new pair, and to en- 
 able him to perform his undertaking to us. 
 The Indians remained in camp during the 
 ni^rht, and we kept the guide and two others 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 225 
 
 to sleep in the lodge with us Carson lying 
 across the door, and having made them com 
 prohcnd the use of our fire-arms." 
 
 Fremont here, after a consultation with some 
 Indians who came into his camp, made up his 
 mind to attempt the passage of the mountains 
 at every hazard. He therefore, to quote his 
 cwn words, called his men together, and " re- 
 minded them of the beautiful valley of the 
 Sacramento, with which they were familiar 
 from the descriptions of Carson, who had been 
 there some fifteen years ago, and who, in our 
 late privations, had delighted us in speaking 
 of its rich pastures and abounding game, and 
 drew a vivid contrast between its summer 
 climate, less than a hundred miles distant, and 
 the falling snow around us. I informed them 
 (and long experience had given them confi- 
 dence in my observations and good instru- 
 ments) that almost directly west, and only 
 about seventy miles distant, was the great 
 fanning establishment of Captain S utter a 
 gentleman who had formerly lived in Missouri, 
 and, emigrating to this country, had become 
 the possessor of a principality. I assured them 
 that, from the heights of the mountain before 
 us, we should doubtless see the valley of the 
 
 Sacramento River, and with one effort place 
 ]5 
 
226 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 ourselves again in the midst of plenty. The 
 people received this decision with the cheerful 
 obedience which had always characterized 
 them; and the day was immediately devoted 
 to the preparations necessary to enable us to 
 tarry it into effect. Leggins, moccasins, cloth- 
 ingall were put into the best state to resist 
 the cold. Our guide was n6t neglected. Ex- 
 tremity of suffering might make him desert ; 
 we therefore did the best we could for him. 
 Leggins, moccasins, some articles of clothing, 
 and a large green blanket, in addition to the 
 blue and scarlet cloth, were lavished upon him, 
 and to his great and evident contentment. He 
 arrayed himself in all his colors ; and, clad in 
 green, blue, and scarlet, he made a gay-looking 
 Indian ; and, with his various presents, was 
 probably richer and better clothed than any of 
 his tribe had ever been before. 
 
 " I have already said that our provisions 
 were very low ; we had neither tallow nor 
 grease of any kind remaining, and the want 
 of salt became one of our greatest privations. 
 The poor dog w r hich had been found in the 
 Bear River valley, and which had been a 
 cowpagnon de voyage ever since, had now be- 
 come fat, and the mess to which it belonged 
 requested permission to kill it. Leave was 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 227 
 
 granted. Spread out on the snow, the meat 
 looked very good ; and it made a strengthen- 
 ing meal for the greater part of the camp. 
 
 " The people were unusually silent ; foi 
 every man knew that our enterprise was Laz 
 ardous, and the issue doubtful. 
 
 "The snow deepened rapidly, and it soon be- 
 came necessary to break a road. For this ser- 
 vice, a party of ten was formed, mounted on 
 the strongest horses ; each man in succession 
 opening the road on foot, or on horseback, 
 until himself and his horse became fatigued, 
 when he stepped aside ; and, the remaining 
 number passing ahead, he took his station in 
 the rear. 
 
 " The camp had been all the day occupied in 
 endeavoring to ascend the hill, but only the 
 best horses had succeeded ; the animals, gener- 
 ally, not having sufficient strength to bring 
 themselves up without the packs ; and all the 
 line of road between this and the springs was 
 strewed with camp stores and equipage, and 
 horses floundering in snow. I therefore imme- 
 diately encamped on the ground with my own 
 mess, which was in advance, and directed Mr, 
 Fitzpatrick to encamp at the springs, and send 
 all the animals, in charge of Tabeau, with a 
 strong guard, back to the place where they had 
 
228 LIFE OF CHKISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 been pastured the night before. Here v. as 
 a small spot of level ground, protected on 
 one side by the mountain, and on the other 
 sheltered by a little ridge of rock. It was an 
 open grove of pines, which assimilated in si/e 
 to the grandeur of the mountain, being fre- 
 quently six feet in diameter. 
 
 " To-night we had no shelter, but we made a 
 large fire around the trunk of one of the huge 
 pines; and covering the snow with small 
 boughs, on which we spread our blankets, soon 
 made ourselves comfortable. The night was 
 very bright and clear, though the thermometer 
 was only at 10. A strong wind which sprang 
 up at sundown, made it intensely cold ; and 
 this was one of the bitterest nights during the 
 journey. 
 
 " Two Indians joined our party here ; and 
 one of them, an old man, immediately began 
 to harangue us, saying that ourselves and ani- 
 mals would perish in the snow ; and that, if we 
 would go back, he w r ould show us another and 
 a better way across the mountain. He spoke 
 in a very loud voice, and there was a singular 
 repetition of phrases and arrangement of 
 words, which rendered his speech striking, and 
 not unmusical. 
 
 4i We had now begun to understand some 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON, 229 
 
 words, and, with the aid of signs, easily com- 
 prehended the old man's simple ideas. 'Rods 
 upon rock rock upon rock sn6w upon snow 
 snow upon snow,' said he ; ' even if you gel 
 over the snow, you will not be able to get 
 down from the mountains.' He made us the 
 sign of precipices, and showed us how the feet 
 of the horses would slip, and throw them off 
 from the narrow trails which led along their 
 sides. Our Chinook, who comprehended even 
 more readily than ourselves, and believed our 
 situation hopeless, covered his head with his 
 blanket, and began to weep and lament. N ' I 
 wanted to see the whites,' said he ; ' I came 
 away from my own people to see the whites, 
 and I wouldn't care to die among them ; but 
 here' and he looked around into the cold 
 night and gloomy forest, and, drawing his 
 blanket over his head, began again to lament 
 
 " Seated around the tree, the fire illumina- 
 ting the rocks and the tall bolls of the pines 
 round about, and the old Indian haranguing, 
 we presented a group of very serious faces. 
 
 " February 5. The night had been too cold 
 to sleep, and we were up very early. Our 
 guide was standing by the fire with all his 
 linery on ; and seeing him shiver in the cold, I 
 threw on his shoulders one of my blankets. 
 
230 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 We missed him a few minutes afterwards, and 
 never saw him again. He had deserted. His 
 bad faith and treachery were in perfect keeping 
 with the estimate of Indian character, which a 
 long intercourse with this people had grad- 
 ually forced upon my mind. 
 
 " While a portion of the camp were occupied 
 in bringing up the baggage to this point, the 
 remainder were busied in making sledges and 
 snow shoes. I had determined to explore the 
 mountain ahead', and the sledges were to be 
 used in transporting the baggage. 
 
 "Crossing the open basin, in a march of 
 about ten miles we reached the top of one 
 of the peaks, to the left of the pass indi- 
 cated by our guide. Far below us, dimmed 
 by the distance, was a large, snowless valley, 
 bounded on the western side, at the distance 
 of about a hundred miles, by a low range of 
 mountains, which Carson recognized with de- 
 light as the mountains bordering the coast. 
 4 There/ said he, ' is the little mountain it is 
 fifteen years ago since I saw it ; but I am just as 
 sure as if I had seen it yesterday.' Between 
 us, then, and this low coast range, was tin 
 va)!ey of the Sacramento ; and no one who had 
 not accompanied us through the incidents of 
 our life for the last few months, could realize 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 231 
 
 the delight with which at last we looked down 
 upon it. At the distance of apparently thirty 
 miles beyonci us were distinguished spots of 
 prairie ; and a dark line, which could be traced 
 with the glass, was imagined to be the course 
 of the river; but we were evidently at a great 
 height above the valley, and between us and 
 the plains extended miles of snowy fields and 
 broken ridges of pine-covered mountains. 
 
 " It was late in the day when we turned 
 towards the camp ; and it grew rapidly cold 
 as it drew towards night. One of the men be- 
 came fatigued, and his feet began to freeze, 
 and building a fire 'in the trunk of a dry old 
 cedar, Mr. Fitzpatrick remained with him 
 until his clothes could be dried, and he was in 
 a condition to come on. After a day's march 
 of twenty miles, we straggled into camp, ono 
 after another, at nightfall ; the greater number 
 excessively fatigued, only two of the party 
 having ever traveled on snow-shoes before. 
 
 "All our energies were now directed to getting 
 
 our animals across the snow; and it was sup- 
 
 tl that, after all the baggage had been drawn 
 
 with the sleighs over the trail we had made, it 
 
 would be sufficiently hard to bear our animals. 
 
 At several places, between this point and the 
 ridge, we had disc* vered some grassy spots, 
 
232 LIFE OF CHEISTOPHEK CAKSOW. 
 
 where the wind and sun had dispersed the snow 
 from the sides of the hills, and these were to 
 form resting places to support the animals for 
 a night in their passage across. On our way 
 across, we had set on fire several broken stumps 
 and dried trees, to melt holes in the snow for 
 the camp. Its general depth was five feet ; but 
 we passed over places where it was twenty feet 
 deep, as shown by the trees. 
 
 " With one party drawing sleighs loaded 
 with baggage, I advanced to-day about four 
 miles along the trail, and encamped at the first 
 grassy spot, where we expected to bring our 
 horses. Mr. Fitzpatrick, with another party, 
 remained behind, to form an intermediate sta- 
 tion between us and the animals. 
 
 " Putting on our snow-shoes, we spent the 
 afternoon in exploring a road ahead. The 
 glare of the snow, combined with great fatigue, 
 had rendered many of the people nearly blind ; 
 but we were fortunate in having some black 
 silk handkerchiefs, which, worn as veils, very 
 much relieved the eye. 
 
 " In the evening I received a message from 
 Mr, Fitzpatrick, acquainting me with the utter 
 failure of his attempt to get our mules and 
 horses over the snow the half-hidden trail 
 had proved entirely too slight to support 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 233 
 
 lliem, and they had broken through, and were 
 plunging about or lying half buried in snow. 
 He was occupied in endeavoring to get them 
 back to his camp ; and in the mean time sent 
 to me for further instructions. I wrote to him 
 to send the animals immediately back to their 
 old pastures ; and, after having made mauls 
 and shovels, turn in all the strength of his 
 party to open and beat a road through the 
 snow, strengthening it with branches and 
 boughs of the pines. 
 
 "February 12. We made mauls, and worked 
 hard at our end of the road all the day. The 
 wind was high, but the sun bright, and the 
 snow thawing. We worked down the face of 
 the hill, to meet the people at the other end. 
 Towards sundown it began to grow cold, and 
 we shouldered our mauls, and trudged back 
 to camp. 
 
 "February 13. We continued to labor on 
 the road ; and in the course of the day had the 
 satisfaction to see the people working down the 
 face of the opposite hill, about three miles dis- 
 tant. During the morning we had the plea- 
 sure of a visit from Mr. Fitzpatrick, with the 
 information that all was going on well. A 
 party of Indians had passed on snow-shoes, 
 who said they were going to the western side 
 
234 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 of the mountain after fish. This was an indi- 
 cation that the salmon were coming up the 
 streams ; and we could hardly restrain our im- 
 patience as we thought of them, and worked 
 with increased vigor. 
 
 " I was now perfectly satisfied that we had 
 struck the stream on which Mr. Sutter lived, 
 and turning about, made a hard push, and 
 reached the camp at dark. Here we had the 
 pleasure to find all the remaining animals, 
 57 in number, safely arrived at the grassy 
 hill near the camp ; and here, also, we were 
 agreeably surprised with the .sight of an 
 abundance of salt. Some of the horse guard 
 had gone to a neighboring hut for pine nuts, 
 and discovered unexpectedly a large cake of 
 very white fine-grained salt, which the In 
 dians told them they had brought from the 
 other side of the mountain ; they used it to 
 eat with their pine nuts, and readily sold it 
 for goods. 
 
 " On the 19th, the people were occupied in 
 making a road and bringing up the baggage ; 
 and, on the afternoon of the next day, Febru* 
 ary 20, 1844, we encamped with the animals 
 and all the materiel of the camp, on the sum- 
 mit of the PASS in the dividing ridge, 3,000 
 
LIFE OF CTIRISTOriTER CALSOtf. 235 
 
 miles by our traveled road from the Dalles of 
 the Columbia. 
 
 " February 21. We now considered our- 
 selves victorious over the mountain; having 
 only the descent before us, and the valley 
 under our eyes, we felt strong hope that we 
 should force our way down. But this was a 
 case in which the descent was not facile. 
 Still, deep fields of snow lay between, and 
 there was a large intervening space of rough- 
 looking mountains, through which we had 
 yet to wind our way. Carson roused me this 
 morning with an early fire, and we were all 
 up long before day, in order to pass the 
 snow fields before the sun should render the 
 crust soft. We enjoyed this morning a scene 
 at sunrise, which, even here, was unusually 
 glorious and beautiful. Immediately above 
 the eastern mountains was repeated a cloud- 
 formed mass of purple ranges, bordered with 
 bright yellow gold ; the peaks shot up into a 
 narrow line of crimson cloud, above which 
 the air was filled with a greenish orancre ; 
 and over all was the singular beauty of the 
 blue sky. Passing along a ridge which 
 commanded the lake on our right, of which 
 we began to discover an outlet through a 
 chasm on the west, we passed over alternat- 
 
236 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 ing open ground and hard- crusted snow-fields 
 which supported the animals, and encamped 
 on the ridge after a journey of six miles. 
 The grass was better than we had yet seen, 
 and we were encamped in a clump of trees, 
 twenty or thirty feet high, resembling white 
 pine. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 " WE had hard and doubtful labor yet before 
 us, as the snow appeared to be heavier where 
 the timber began further down, with few open 
 spots. Ascending a height, we traced out the 
 best line we could discover for the next day's 
 march, and had at least the consolation to see 
 that the mountain descended rapidly. The 
 day had been one of April ; gusty, with a few 
 occasional flakes of snow ; which, in the af- 
 ternoon, enveloped the upper mountains in 
 clouds. We watched them anxiously, as now 
 we dreaded a snow storm. Shortly afterwards 
 we heard the roll of thunder, and looking 
 toward the valley, found it all enveloped in a 
 thunder-storm. For us, as connected with the 
 idea of summer, it had a singular charm ; and 
 we watched its progress with excited feelings 
 until nearly sunset, when the sky cleared off 
 brightly, and we saw a shining line of water 
 
 directing its course towards another, a broader 
 
 (237) 
 
238 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 and larger sheet. We knew that these could 
 be no other than the Sacramento and the bay 
 of San Francisco ; but, after our long wander- 
 ing in rugged mountains, where so frequently 
 we had met with disappointments, and where 
 the crossing of every ridge displayed ^Dine 
 unknown lake or river, we were yet almost 
 afraid to believe that we were at last to escape 
 mto the genial country of which we have heard 
 so many glowing descriptions, and dreaded 
 again to find some vast interior lake, whose 
 bitter waters would bring us disappointment. 
 On the southern shore of what appeared to be 
 the bay, could be traced the gleaming line 
 where entered another large stream; and again 
 the Buenaventura rose up in our mind. 
 
 " Carson had entered the valley along the 
 southern side of the bay, but the country then 
 was so entirely covered with water from snow 
 and rain, that he had been able to form no 
 correct impression of watercourses. 
 
 " We had the satisfaction to know that at 
 least there were people below. Fires were lit 
 up in the valley just at night, appearing to be 
 in answer to ours ; and these signs of life re- 
 newed, in some measure, the gayety of tho 
 camp. They appeared so near, .that we judged 
 them to be among the timber of some of the 
 
MOCGAFIN GLANCED FROM TIIK irv HOCK, AND PRECIPITATKD 
 
 ME INTO THE RIVER." 
 
LIFE OF ettiUSTOPHER CARSON 239 
 
 ncigli boring ridges; but, having them con- 
 stantly in view day after day, and night after 
 night, we afterwards found them to be fires that 
 had been kindled by the Indians among tht> 
 tulares, on the shore of the bay, eighty miles 
 distant. 
 
 " Axes and mauls were necessary to-day to 
 make a road through the snow. Going ahead 
 with Carson to reconnoitre the road, we reached 
 in the afternoon the river which made the 
 outlet of the lake. Carson sprang over, clear 
 across a place where the stream was com- 
 pressed among rocks, but the parfleche sole of 
 my moccasin glanced from the icy rock, and 
 precipitated me into the river. It was some 
 few seconds before I could recover myself in 
 the current, and Carson, thinking me hurt, 
 jumped in after me, and we both had an icy 
 bath. We tried to search a while for my gun, 
 which had been lost in the fall, but the cold 
 drove us out ; and making a large fire on the 
 bank, after we had partially dried ourselves 
 we went back to meet the camp. We after- 
 wards found that the gun had been slung 
 under the ice which lined the banks of the 
 creek. 
 
 "The sky was clear and pure, with a sharp 
 
24C LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 wind from the northeast, and the thermometer 
 2 below the freezing point. 
 
 " We continued down the south face of the 
 mountain ; our road leading over dry ground, 
 we were able to avoid the snow almost entirely. 
 In the course of the morning, we struck a foot 
 path, which we were generally able to keep ; 
 and the ground was soft to our animal's feet, 
 being sandy or covered with, mould. Green 
 grass began to make its appearance, and occa- 
 sionally we passed a hill scatteringly covered 
 with it. The character of the forest continued 
 the same ; and, among the trees, the pine with 
 sharp leaves and very large cones was abund- 
 ant, some of them being noble trees. We 
 measured one that had ten feet diameter, 
 though the height was not more than one hun- 
 dred and thirty feet. All along, the river was 
 a roaring torrent, its fall very great; and, de- 
 scending with a rapidity to which we had long- 
 been strangers, to our great pleasure oak trees 
 appeared on the ridge, and soon became very 
 frequent ; on these I remarked unusually great 
 quantities of misletoe. 
 
 u The opposite mountain side was very steep 
 and continuous unbroken by ravines, and 
 covered with pines and snow; while on the 
 side we were traveling, innumerable rivulets 
 
LIFE OF CHIUSTOrilKU CARSCN. 241 
 
 poured down from the ridge. Continuing on, 
 \ve halted a moment at one of these rivulets, 
 to admire some beautiful evergreen trees, re- 
 sembling live oak, which shaded the little 
 stream. They were forty to fifty feet high, 
 and two in diameter, with a uniform tufted 
 top ; and the summer green of their beautiful 
 foliage, with the singing birds, and the sweet 
 summer wind which was whirling about the 
 dry oak leaves, nearly intoxicated us with de- 
 light ; and we hurried on, filled with excite- 
 ment, to escape entirely from the horrid region 
 of inhospitable snow, to the perpetual spring 
 of the Sacramento. 
 
 " "February 25. Believing that the difficul- 
 ties of the road were passed, and leaving Mr. 
 Fitzpatrick to follow slowly, as the condition 
 of the animals required, I started ahead this 
 morning with a party of eight, consisting (with 
 myself) of Mr. Preuss, and Mr. Talbot, Car- 
 son, Derosier, Towns, Proue, and Jacob. AVc 
 took with us some of the best animals, and my 
 intention was to proceed as rapidly as possible 
 to the house of Mr. Sutter, and return to meet 
 the party with a supply of provisions and 
 fresh animals. 
 
 "Near night-fall we descended into tlie 
 steep ravine of a handsome creek thirty foot 
 
 16 
 
242 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 wide, and I was engaged in getting the horsea 
 up the opposite hill, when I heard a shout 
 from Carson, who had gone ahead a few hun- 
 dred yards ' Life yet,' said he, as he came up, 
 4 life yet; I have found a hill side sprinkled 
 with grass enough for the night? AVe drove 
 along our horses, and encamped at the place 
 about dark, and there was just room enough to 
 make a place for shelter on the edge of the 
 stream. Three horses were lost to-day Pro 
 veau ; a fine young horse from the Columbia, 
 belonging to Charles Towns ; and another In- 
 dian horse which carried our cooking utensils ; 
 the two former gave out, and the latter strayed 
 off into the woods as we reached the camp : 
 and Derosier, knowing my attachment to Pro- 
 veau, volunteered to go and bring him in. 
 
 " Carson and I climbed one of the nearest 
 mountains ; the forest land still extended 
 ahead, and the valley appeared as far as ever. 
 The pack horse wab found near the camp, but 
 Derosier did not get in. 
 
 " We began to be uneasy at Derosier's ab- 
 sence, fearing he might have been bewildered in 
 the woods. Charles Towns, who had not yet re- 
 covered his mind, went to swim in the river, 
 as if it was summer, and the stream placid, 
 when it was a cold mountain torrent foaming 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 243 
 
 among the rocks. We were happy to sec DC- 
 rosier appear in the evening. He came in, 
 and sitting down by the fire, began to tell us 
 where he had been. He imagined lie had 
 been gone several days, and thought we were 
 still at the camp where he had left us ; and we 
 were pained to see that his mind was deranged. 
 It appeared that he had been lost in the moun- 
 tain, and hunger and fatigue, joined to weak- 
 ness of body, and fear of perishing in the 
 mountains had crazed him. The times were 
 severe when stout men lost their minds from 
 extremity of suffering when horses died and 
 when mules and horses, ready to die of star\ a- 
 tion, were killed for food. Yet there was no 
 murmuring or hesitation. In the mean time 
 Mr. Preuss continued on down the river, and 
 unaware that we had encamped so early in the 
 day, was lost. When night arrived and ho 
 did not come in, we began to understand what 
 had happened to him ; but it was too late to 
 make any search. 
 
 " March ;3. We followed Mr. Preuss's trail 
 for a considerable distance along the river, 
 until we reached a place where he had de- 
 scended to the stream below and encamped. 
 Here we shouted and tired guns, but received 
 no answer; and we concluded that he had 
 
244 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARS01ST. 
 
 pushed on down the stream. I determined to 
 keep out from the river, along which it was 
 nearly impracticable to travel with animals, 
 until it should form a valley. At every step 
 the country improved in beauty ; the pines 
 were rapidly disappearing, and oaks became 
 the principal trees of the forest. Among 
 these, the prevailing tree was the evergreen 
 oak (which, by way of distinction, we shall call 
 the live oak}; and with these, occurred fre- 
 quently a new species of oak, bearing a long, 
 slender acorn, from an inch to an inch and a 
 half in length, which we now began to see 
 formed the principal vegetable food of the 
 inhabitants of this region. In a short distance 
 we crossed a little rivulet, where were two old 
 huts, and near by were heaps of acorn hulls. 
 The ground round about was very rich, co- 
 vered with an exuberant sward of grass ; and 
 we sat down for a while in the shade of the 
 oaks, to let the animals feed. We repeated 
 our shouts for Mr. Preuss ; and this time wo 
 were gratified with an answer. The voice 
 grew rapidly nearer, ascending from the river, 
 but when we expected to see him emerge, it 
 ceased entirely. We had called up some strag- 
 gling Indian the first we had met, although 
 for two days back we had seen tracks who, 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSO5 245 
 
 mistaking us for his fellows, had been only 
 undeceived by getting close up. It would 
 have been pleasant to witness his astonish- 
 ment ; he would not have been more fright- 
 ened had some of the old mountain spirits they 
 are so much afraid of suddenly appeared in 
 his path. Ignorant of the character of these 
 people, we had now additional cause of uneasi- 
 ness in regard to Mr. Preuss ; he had no arms 
 with him, and we began to think his chance 
 doubtful. Occasionally we met deer, but had 
 not the necessary time for hunting. At ono 
 of these orchard grounds, we encamped about 
 noon to make an effort for Mr. Preuss. One 
 man took his way along a spur leading into 
 the river, in hope to cross his trail ; and ano- 
 ther took our own back. Both were volun- 
 teers ; and to the successful man was promised 
 a pair of pistols not as a reward, but as a 
 token of gratitude for a service which would 
 free us all from much anxiety." 
 
 It was not until the 6th, and after a continu- 
 ation of the most incredible sufferings, already 
 narrated, that the party reached Slitter's Fort, 
 where, it is needless to say, they were warmly 
 and cordially received by that gentleman. and 
 to close this stirring narrative, we will only 
 add as an evidence of the terrible sufferings to 
 
246 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 which they had been subjected, that out of 
 sixty-seven horses and mules with which the 
 expedition was commenced, only thirty-three 
 reached the valley of the Sacramento, and they 
 had to be led. In quoting above from Fre- 
 mont's narrative, a continuous record has not 
 been kept, as we have used only such portions 
 as contain the narrative of incidents directly 
 connected with the expedition, and of which, 
 though scarcely mentioned throughout, save in 
 the most incidental manner, Carson might well 
 say, and with pride, magna pars fid. 
 
 In the course of this narrative we have fre- 
 quently used the word cache, and a brief inter- 
 pretation of its meaning, we are sure will not 
 be uninteresting to the uninitiated. 
 
 A cache is a term common among traders 
 and hunters, to designate a hiding place for 
 provisions and effects. It is derived from the 
 French word cacher, to conceal, and originated 
 among the early colonists 'of Canada and 
 Louisiana ; but the secret depository which it 
 designates was in use among the aboriginals 
 long before the intrusion of the white men. It 
 is,, in fact, the only mode that migratory hordes 
 have of preserving their valuables from rob- 
 bery, during their long absences from their 
 villages or accustomed haunts on hunting ex- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON". 247 
 
 pcditions, or during the vicissitudes of war. 
 The utmost skill and caution are required to 
 render these places of concealment invisible to 
 the lynx eye of an Indian. 
 
 The first care is to seek out a proper situ- 
 ation, which is generally some dry low bank 
 of clay, on the margin of a water course. As 
 soon as the precise spot is pitched upon, blan- 
 kets, saddle-cloths, and other coverings are 
 spread over the surrounding grass and bushes, 
 to prevent foot tracks, or any other derange- 
 ment ; and as few hands as possible are em- 
 ployed. A circle of about two feet in diameter 
 is then nicely cut in the sod, which is care- 
 fully removed, with the loose soil immediately 
 beneath it, and laid aside in a place where it 
 will be safe from any thing that may change 
 its appearance. The uncovered area is then 
 digged perpendicularly to the depth of about 
 three feet, and is then gradually widened so as 
 to form a conical chamber six or seven feet 
 deep. 
 
 The whole of the earth displaced by this 
 process, being of a different color from that on 
 the surface, is handed up in a vessel, and 
 heaped into a skin or cloth, in which it is con- 
 veyed to the stream and thrown into the midst 
 of the current, that it may be entirely carried 
 
248 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CAKSOW. 
 
 off. Should the cache not be formed in the 
 vicinity of a stream, the earth thus thrown up 
 is carried to a distance, and scattered in such 
 a manner as not to leave the minutest trace, 
 The cave being formed, is well lined \tith dry 
 grass, bark, sticks, and poles, and occasionally 
 a dried hide. The property intended to be 
 hidden is then laid in, after having been well 
 aired : a hide is spread over it, and dried grass, 
 brush, and stones thrown in, and trampled 
 down until the pit is filled to the neck. The 
 loose soil which had been put aside is then 
 brought, and rammed down firmly, to prevent 
 its caving in, and is frequently sprinkled with 
 water to destroy the scent, lest the wolves and 
 bears should be attracted to the place, and 
 root up the concealed treasure. 
 
 When the neck of the cache is nearly level 
 with the surrounding surface, the sod is again 
 fitted in with the utmost exactness, and any 
 bushes, stocks, or stones, that may have origin- 
 ally been about the spot, are restored to theii 
 former places. The blankets and other cover- 
 ings are then removed from the surrounding 
 herbage: all tracks are obliterated: the grass 
 is gently raised by the hand to its natural posi- 
 tion, and the minutest chip or straw is scrupu- 
 lously gleaned up and thrown into the stream, 
 
1IFE OF CKHRISTOPHER CARSON. 249 
 
 After all is done, the place is abandoned for 
 die night, and, if all be right next morning, is 
 not visited again, until there be a necessity for 
 reopening the cache. Four men aie sufficient 
 in this way, to conceal the amount of three 
 tons weight of merchandize in the course of 
 days, 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 CARSON had passed the autumn and winter 
 with his family, in the society of old compan- 
 ions, amid various incidents amusing to the 
 reader if they were detailed, because so unlike 
 the style of life to which he has been accus- 
 tomed, the particulars of which we must how- 
 ever leave to his imagination, aiding it by 
 some general description of the customs of the 
 country and locality. 
 
 The town of Taos is the second in size in 
 New Mexico, (Santa Fe claiming of right to be 
 first,) with very little regard to beauty in its 
 construction, the houses being huddled upon 
 narrow streets, except in the immediate vicinity 
 of the plaza, on which are located the church 
 and the better class of houses ; and where, as 
 in all Mexican towns, the marketing is carried 
 on. It is situated in the centre of the valley 
 of Taos, which is about thirty miles long, and 
 
 fifteen broad, and surrounded by mountains, 
 C250) 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 25] 
 
 upon whose tops snow lies during the greater 
 part of the year. 
 
 The valley appears to be a plain, but is in- 
 tersected by many ravines, which flow into the 
 Rio Grande on its western side. There is no 
 timber, but in the mountains it is abundant, 
 and of excellent quality. The population in 
 the whole valley numbers scarcely more than 
 ten thousand, and as their farming operations 
 require but a portion of the soil, the larger 
 part of the land is still wild, and grazed only 
 by horses, cattle, and sheep, which are raised 
 in large numbers. 
 
 They are obliged to expend much labor upon 
 their crops, as the climate is too dry to mature 
 them without irrigation ; and yet in their com- 
 munity of interest, in a country without fences, 
 they find much satisfaction in rendering kind 
 offices to each other ; and social life is more cul- 
 tivated than in communities whose interests 
 are more separate. The high altitude, and 
 dryness of the atmosphere, render the climate 
 exceedingly healthful, rather severe in winter, 
 but very mild and salubrious in summer, so 
 that disease is scarcely known in the valley. 
 
 The dress of the people has changed very 
 much since the population became partially 
 Americanized, so that often the buckskin 
 
252 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 pants have given place to cloth, and the blan- 
 ket to the coat, aucl the moccasin to the 
 leathern shoe, and the dress of the women has 
 undergone as great a change. They are learn- 
 ing to employ American implements for agri- 
 culture, instead of the rude Egyptian yoke fas* 
 tened to the horns of the oxen ; and the plough 
 composed of a single hooked piece of timber, 
 and the axe that more resembles a pick, than 
 the axe of the American woodsman ; and the 
 cart, whose wheels are pieces sawed from the 
 butt end of a log, with a hole bored for the 
 axle, whose squeaking can be heard for miles, 
 and which are themselves a sufficient burden 
 without any loading. Their diet is simple, as 
 it is with all Mexicans, consisting of the pro- 
 ducts of the locality, with game, which is al- 
 ways to be included in a bill of fare such as Car- 
 son would furnish ; corn, and wheat, and peas, 
 beans, eggs, pumpkins, and apples, pears, 
 peaches, plums, and grapes, constitute the 
 principal products of their culture. Their 
 great source of enjoyment is dancing, and the 
 fandango is so much an institution in a town 
 of the size of Taos, that, during the win- 
 ter, scarcely a night passes without a dance. 
 This is doubtless familiar to the reader, as the 
 acquisition of California has introduced a 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 253 
 
 knowledge of the customs of its natives to 
 every eastern household. 
 
 In the spring of 1845, Carson had decided 
 to commence the business of farming at Taos, 
 and had made the necessary arrangements for 
 building a house, and for stocking and plant- 
 ing, when an express arrived from Col. Fre- 
 mont, bringing despatches to remind him of 
 his promise to join a third exploring expedi- 
 tion, in case he should ever undertake another, 
 and to designate the place where he would 
 meet the party Fremont was organising. 
 
 Before parting with Fremont in the previous 
 summer, Fremont had secured the promise 
 from Carson, that he would again be his guide 
 and companion, should he ever undertake 
 another expedition ; but Carson was not ex- 
 pecting its execution at this time, and yet, 
 though it would entail severe loss on him to 
 make a hasty sale of his possessions, and ar- 
 range for leaving his family, he felt bound by 
 his promise, as well as by his attachment to 
 Fremont, and at once closing up his business, 
 together with an old friend by the name of 
 Owens, who had become, as it were, a partner 
 with him in his enterprise of farming, they 
 having been old trapping friends, they re- 
 paired together to the point designated for 
 
254 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CAllSOtf. 
 
 joining the exploring party, upon the upper 
 Ark an Seas, at Bent's Fort, where they had last 
 parted from Fremont. 
 
 The meeting was mutually satisfactory, and 
 with Fremont were Maxwell, an old arid well- 
 tried friend, and a Mr. Walker, who had been 
 in Captain Bonneville's expedition to the 
 Columbia, and in other trapping parties in 
 California and vicinity, so that with other 
 mountain men, whose names are less known, 
 but every man of whom w r as Carson's friend, 
 Fremont's corps was more efficient for the pre- 
 sent service, than it had been in either of the 
 former expeditions. 
 
 After some months spent in examining the 
 headwaters of the great rivers which flow to 
 either ocean, the party descended at the begin- 
 ning of winter to the Great Salt Lake, and in 
 October encamped on its southwestern shore, in 
 view of that undescribed country which at that 
 time had not been penetrated, and which vague 
 and contradictory reports of Indians repre- 
 sented as a desert without gross or water. 
 
 Their previous visit to the lake had given it 
 a somewhat familiar aspect, and on leaving it 
 they felt as if about to commence tiieir journey 
 anew. Its eastern shore w r as frequented by 
 large bands of Indians, but here they 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CAESOX. 255 
 
 dwindled down to a single family, which was 
 Cleaning from some hidden source, enough to 
 support life, and drinking the salt water of a 
 little stream near by, no fresh water being 
 at hand. This offered scanty encouragement 
 as to what they might expect on the desert 
 beyond. 
 
 At its threshold and immediately before 
 them was a naked plain of smooth clay surface, 
 mostly devoid of vegetation the hazy weather 
 of the summer hung over it, and in the dis- 
 tance rose scattered, low, black and dry-looking 
 mountains. At what appeared to be fifty miles 
 or more, a higher peak held out some promise 
 of wood and water, and towards this it was re- 
 solved to direct their course. 
 
 Four men, with a pack animal loaded with 
 water for two days, and accompanied by a 
 naked Indian who volunteered for a reward 
 to be their guide to a spot where he said then? 
 was grass and fine springs were sent forward 
 to explore in advance for a foothold, and verity 
 the existence of water before the whole party 
 should be launched into the desert. Their way 
 led toward the high peak of the mountain, on 
 which they were to make a smoke signal in the 
 event of finding water. About sunset of the 
 second day, no signal having been seen, Fremont 
 
256 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 became uneasy at the absence of his men, and 
 set out with the whole party upon their trail, 
 traveling rapidly all the night. Towards 
 morning one of the scouts -was met returning 
 
 The Indian had been found to know less 
 than themselves, and had been sent back, but 
 the men had pushed on to the mountains, where 
 they found a running stream, with wood and 
 sufficient grass. The whole party no\t lay 
 down to rest, and the next day, after a hard 
 march, reached the stream. The distance 
 across the plain was nearly seventy miles, and 
 they called the mountain which had guided 
 them Pilot Peak. This was their first day's 
 march and their first camp in the desert. 
 
 A few days afterwards the expedition was 
 divided into two parties the larger one under 
 the guidance of Walker, a well-known moun- 
 taineer and experienced traveler, going around 
 to the foot of the Sierra Nevada by a circuitous 
 route which he had previously traveled, and 
 Fremont, with ten men, Delawares and whites, 
 penetrated directly through the heart of the 
 desert. 
 
 Some days after this separation, Fremont's 
 party, led by Carson, while traveling along the 
 foot of a mountain, the arid country covered 
 with dwarf shrubs, discovered a volume of 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 257 
 
 smoke rising from a ravine. Hilling cautiously 
 up, they discovered a single Indian on the 
 border of a small creek. He was standing 
 before a little fire, naked as he was born, ap- 
 parently thinking, and looking at a small 
 earthen pot which was simmering over the fire, 
 filled with the common ground-squirrel of the 
 country. Another bunch of squirrels lay near 
 t, and close by were his bow and arrows. Ho 
 was a well-made, good-looking young man, 
 about twenty-five years of age. Although so 
 taken by surprise that he made no attempt to 
 es.-ape, and evidently greatly alarmed, he re- 
 ceived his visitors with forced gaiety, and 
 offered them part of his pot au feu and his 
 bunch of squirrels. He was kindly treated 
 and some little presents made him, and the 
 party continued their way. 
 
 His bow was handsomely made, and the ar- 
 rows, of which there were about forty in his 
 quiver, were neatly feathered, and headed with 
 obsidian, worked into spear-shape by patient 
 hbor. 
 
 After they had separated, Fremont found 
 that his Delawares had taken a fancy to tho 
 Indian's bow and arrows, and carried them off. 
 '1 hey carried them willingly hack, when they 
 \\ere reminded that they had exposed the poor 
 
258 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 fellow to almost certain starvation by depriving 
 him, in the beginning of winter, of his only 
 means of subsistence, which it would require 
 months to replace. 
 
 One day the party had reached one of the 
 idkes lying along the foot of the Sierra Nevada, 
 which was their appointed rendezvous with 
 their friends, and where, at this season, tho 
 scattered Indians of the neighborhood wero 
 gathering, to fish. Turning a point on the lake 
 shore, a party of Indians, some twelve or four- 
 teen in number, came abruptly in view. They 
 were advancing along in Indian file, one fol- 
 lowing the other, their heads bent forward, with 
 eyes fixed on the ground. As the two parties 
 met, the Indians did not turn their heads or 
 raise their eyes from the ground, but passed 
 silently along. The whites, habituated to the 
 chances of savage life, and always uncertain 
 whether they should find friends or foes in 
 those they met, fell readily into their humor, 
 and they too passed on their way without word 
 or halt. 
 
 It was a strange meeting: two parties of 
 such different races and different countries, 
 coming abruptly upon each other, with every 
 occasion to excite curiosity and provoke ques- 
 tion, pass in a desert without a word of inquiry 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 259 
 
 or a single remark on either side, or without 
 any show of hostility. 
 
 'Walker's party joined Fremont at the 
 appointed rendezvous, at the point where 
 Walker's river discharges itself into the lake, 
 but it was now mid- winter, they were out of 
 provisions and there was no guide. The 
 hecivy snows might be daily expected to block 
 up the passes in the great Sierra, if they had 
 not already fallen, and with all their experience 
 it was considered too hazardous to attempt the 
 passage with the materiel of a whole party ; it 
 was arranged therefore that Walker should 
 continue with the main party southward along 
 the Sierra, and enter the valley of the San 
 Joaquin by some one of the low passes at its 
 head, where there is rarely or never snow. 
 Fremont undertook, with a few men, to cross 
 directly westward over the Sierra Nevada to 
 Slitter's Fort, with the view of obtaining there 
 the necessary supplies of horses and beef cattle 
 with which to rejoin his party. 
 
 After some days' travel, leaving the Mercedes 
 River, they had entered among the foothills of 
 the mountains, and were journeying through 
 a beautiful country of. undulating upland, 
 openly timbered with oaks, principally ever 
 green, ard watered with small streams. 
 
2GO LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 Traveling along, they came suddenly upon 
 broad and deeply-worn trails, which had been 
 freshly traveled by large bands of horses, ap- 
 parently coming from the settlements on tho 
 coast. These and other indications warned 
 (hem that they were approaching villages of tho 
 Horse-Thief Indians, who appeared to have 
 just returned from a successful foray. With 
 the breaking up of the missions, many of the 
 Indians had returned to their tribes in tho 
 mountains. Their knowledge of the Spanish 
 language, and familiarity with the ranches and 
 towns, enabled them to pass and repass, at 
 pleasure, between their villages in the Sierra 
 and the ranches on the coast. They very soon 
 availed themselves of these facilities to steal 
 and run off into the mountains bands of horses, 
 and in a short time it became the occupation 
 of all the Indians inhabiting the southern 
 Sierra Nevada, as well as the plains beyond. 
 
 Three or four parties would be sent at a time 
 from different villages, and every week was 
 signalized by the carrying-off of hundreds of 
 horses, to be killed and eaten in the interior. 
 Repeated expeditions had been made against 
 them by the Californians, who rarely succeeded 
 in reaching the foot of the mountains, and were 
 invariably defeated when they did. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOrilER CARSON. 261 
 
 As soon as this fresh trail had been discov- 
 ered, four men, two Delaware's with Maxwell 
 and Dick Owens, two of Fremont's favorite 
 men, were sent forward upon the trail. Tho 
 rest of the party had followed along at their 
 usual gait, but Indian signs became so thick, 
 trail after trail joining on, that they started 
 rapidly after the men, fearing for their safety. 
 After a few miles ride, they reached a spot 
 which had been the recent camping ground of 
 a village, and where abundant grass and good 
 water suggested a halting place for the night, 
 and they immediately set about unpacking 
 their animals and preparing to encamp. 
 
 While thus engaged, they heard what seemed 
 to be the barking of many dogs, coming appa- 
 rently from a village, not far distant ; but they 
 had hardly thrown off their saddles when they 
 suddenly became aware that it was the noise 
 of women and children shouting and crying; 
 and this was sufficient notice that the men who 
 had been sent ahead had fallen among un- 
 friendly Indians, so that a fight had already 
 ci inmenced. 
 
 It did not need an instant to throw the sad- 
 dle on again, and leaving four men to guard 
 the camp. Fremont, with the rest, rode off in 
 the direction of the sounds. 
 
262 LIFE OF CHEISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 They had galloped but half a mile, when 
 crossing a little ridge, they came abruptly in 
 view of several hundred Indians advancing on 
 each side of a knoll, on the top of which were 
 the men, where a cluster of trees and rocks 
 made a good defence. It was evident that they 
 bad come suddenly into the midst of the Indian 
 village, and jumping from their horses, with 
 the instinctive skill of old hunters and moun- 
 taineers as they were, had got into an admira- 
 ble place to fight from. 
 
 The Indians had nearly surrounded the 
 knoll, and were about getting possession of the 
 horses, as Fremont's party came in view. 
 Their welcome shout as they charged up the 
 hill, was answered by the yell of the Delawares 
 as they dashed down to recover their animals, 
 and the crack of Owens' and Maxwell's rifles. 
 Owens had singled out the foremost Indian 
 who went headlong down the lull, to steal 
 horses no more. 
 
 Profiting by the first surprise of the Indians, 
 and anxious for the safety of the men who had 
 been left in camp, the whites immediately re- 
 treated towards it, checking the Indians with 
 occasional rifle shots, with the range of which 
 it seemed remarkable that they were ac- 
 quainted. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 263 
 
 The whole camp were on guard until day- 
 light. As soon as it was dark, each man crept 
 to his post. They heard the-women and child- 
 ren retreating towards the mountains, but 
 nothing disturbed the quiet of the camp, except 
 when one of the Delawares shot at a wolf as it 
 jumped over a log, and which he mistook for 
 an Indian. As soon as it grew light they took 
 to the most open ground, and retreated into 
 ihe plain. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE record of Fremont and Carson's journey 
 through this region of country, already so 
 thoroughly explored at such great hazard, and 
 accompanied with such unheard-of sufferings, 
 would be but a repetition of what has already 
 been written, for they were again driven to 
 mule meat, or whatever else chance or Provi- 
 dence might throw in their way, to sustain life. 
 In every need in every peril in every quar- 
 ter where coolness, sagacity, and skill were 
 most required, Carson was ever first, and his 
 conduct throughout cemented, if possible, more 
 firmly the friendship between him and his 
 young commander. 
 
 They reached, at last, Suiter's Fort, where 
 they were received with the hospitality which 
 has made Mr. Sutter's name proverbial ; and 
 leaving his party to recruit there, Fremont 
 pushed on towards Monterey, to make known 
 
 to the authorities there the condition of hia 
 (264) 
 
LIFE OF CHIUSTOPIIETl CARSON. 265 
 
 party, and obtained permission to recruit and 
 procure the supplies necessary for the prosecu- 
 tion of his exploration. 
 
 Journeying in the security of this permission, 
 he was suddenly arrested in his march, near 
 Monterey, by an officer at the head of a body 
 of cavalry, who bore him a violent message 
 from the commanding officer in California 
 Gen. Castro commanding him to retire in- 
 stantly from the country. 
 
 There was now no alternative but to put 
 himself on the defensive, as he had come to the 
 country for an entirely peaceable purpose, and 
 it was not in the blood of Americans to submit 
 to dictation. The direction of travel was there- 
 fore changed ; a strong point was selected and 
 fortified as thoroughly as could be with the 
 means at their command, which work was 
 hardly completed before Gen. Castro, at the 
 IKMC! of several hundred men, arrived and es- 
 tablished his camp within a few hundred yards 
 and in sight of the exploring party, evidently 
 under the mistaken idea that he could intimi- 
 date them by his numbers. 
 
 Though the Americans were but forty in 
 number, every man had already seen service, 
 and the half score of old traders and trappers, 
 who had been leaders in many an Indian light, 
 
266 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 made the party, small as it was, quite equal ti 
 that of the ten fold greater number of the 
 Mexicans; for the men, equally with their 
 leader, were determined to maintain their 
 rights, and if need be, to sacrifice their lives 
 in defence of the cause of American citizens 
 in Mexico ; for in the three days during which 
 they lay there encamped, expresses came in 
 from the American citizens in Monterey, warn- 
 ing them of their danger, and announcing too, 
 the probability of a war with Mexico, and 
 urging the propriety that every American 
 should unite in a common defence against the 
 Mexican authorities. 
 
 At the end 6f three days the council which 
 Fremont now called, agreed with him, that the 
 Mexican General had no intention of attacking 
 them, and that it was the more, prudent course 
 to break up camp, push on to the Sacramento 
 River, and endeavor at Lawson's trading post 
 to obtain the needed outfit for their return 
 homeward through Oregon, as further explora- 
 tion in southern California seemed out of the 
 question; and because, as an officer in tho 
 United States service, Fremont felt he couKl 
 not commence, or willingly court hostility with 
 the Mexican authorities besides, all the Amer- 
 ican residents in the country were equally in 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 267 
 
 peril ; and if the event of war pressed upon 
 them, preparation was needed, and should be 
 made at once. 
 
 In council Fremont found Carson ready for 
 Huch, as for every emergency; and, around the 
 camp fires, where the subject was discussed, 
 every man was ready for the affray ; and while 
 willing to retire and wait the command of the 
 leader evinced no disposition to avoid it. 
 
 The party remained ten days at Lawson's 
 post, when information was brought that the 
 Indians were in arms at the instigation of the 
 Mexicans, as it was supposed, and were advan- 
 cing to destroy the post, and any other Amer- 
 ican settlement ; and it was soon rumored that 
 a thousand warriors were collected, and on 
 their way to aid in this purpose. The time 
 had now come for action, and, with five men 
 from the post, Captain Fremont and his com- 
 mand, with Carson for his Lieutenant, by 
 choice of the party, as well as of its leader, 
 took up their march against the savages, in aid 
 of their countrymen. 
 
 They had no difficulty in finding the Indian 
 war party, and immediately made the attack, 
 which was responded to with vigor by the In- 
 dians, and contested bravely; but, of course, 
 with inability to conquer. The red men were 
 
268 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 defeated with terrible slaughter, and learned 
 here the lesson not forgotten for many years, 
 that it was useless to measure their strength 
 with white men. 
 
 Carson was, of course, as was his invariable 
 custom, in the thickest of the fight, and when 
 it was over, and the Indians had retired, cowed 
 and defeated, ventured the opinion that they 
 had received a lesson which would not be re- 
 quired to he repeated in many years. 
 
 This victory won, and present danger from 
 these Indians thus avoided, the party returned 
 to Lawson's post, where, having completed 
 their outfit, they turned their backs on Mexi- 
 can possessions, and started northward, Fre- 
 mont looking to Oregon as the field of his 
 future operations, intending to explore a new 
 route to the Wah-lah-math settlements. 
 
 While on that journey, Carson being as ever 
 his guide, companion, and friend, the party 
 was suddenly surprised by the appearance of 
 two white men, who, as all knew from experi- 
 ence, must have incurred the greatest perils 
 and hazards to reach that spot. 
 
 They proved to be two of Mr. Fremont's 
 old wyageurs, and quickly told their story. 
 They were part of a guard of six men conduct- 
 ing a United States officer, who was on hia 
 
LIFE OF CRHllISTOPHER CARSON. 2G9 
 
 trail with despatches from Washington, and 
 whom they had left two days back, while they 
 came on to give notice of his approach, and to 
 ask that assistance might be sent him. They 
 themselves had only escaped the Indians by 
 the swiftness of their horses. It was a case ii. 
 which there was no time to be lost, nor a mis- 
 take made. Mr. Fremont determined to go 
 himself; and taking ten picked men, Carson 
 of course accompanying him, he rode down the 
 western shore of the lake on the morning of 
 the 9th, (the direction the officer was to come,) 
 and made a journey of sixty miles without a 
 halt. But to meet men, and not to miss them, 
 w r as the difficult point in this trackless region. 
 It was not the case of a high road, where all 
 travelers must meet in passing each other : at 
 intervals there were places defiles, or camping 
 grounds where both parties might pass ; and 
 watching for these, he came to one in the after- 
 noon, and decided that, if the party was not 
 killed, it must be there that night. He halted 
 and encamped; and, as the sun was going 
 down, had the inexpressible satisfaction to seo 
 the four men approaching. The officer proved 
 to be Lieutenant Gillespie, of the United 
 States marines, who had been despatched from 
 Washington the November previous, to make 
 
27C LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 his way by Vera Cruz, the City of Mexico, and 
 Mazatlan, to Monterey, in Upper California, 
 deliver despatches to the United States consul 
 there; and then find Mr. Fremont, wherever 
 he should be. 
 
 Carson, in a letter to the Washington Union 
 in June 1847, thus describes the interview, and 
 the events consequent upon it : 
 
 " Mr. Gillespie had brought the Colonel let- 
 ters from home the first he had had since 
 leaving the States the year before and he was 
 up, and kept a large fire burning until after 
 midnight ; the rest of us were tired out, and 
 all went to sleep. This was the only night in 
 all our travels, except the one night on the 
 island in the Salt Lake, that we failed to keep 
 guard ; and as the men were so tired, and we 
 expected no attack now that we had sixteen in 
 the party, the Colonel didn't like to ask it of 
 them, but sat up late himself. Owens and I 
 were sleeping together, and we were waked at 
 the same time by the licks of the axe that 
 killed our men. At first, I didn't know it was 
 that ; but I called to Basil, who was on that side 
 < What's the matter there? What's that 
 fuss about?' he never answered, for he was 
 dead then, poor fellow, and he never knew 
 what killed him his head had been cut in, ir 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 271 
 
 his sleep; the other groaned a little as he 
 died. The Delawares (we had four with us) 
 were sleeping at that fire, and they sprang up 
 as the Tlamaths charged them. One of them 
 iu.ii.ight up a gun, which was unloaded; but, 
 although he could do no execution, he kept 
 them at bay, fighting like a soldier, and didn't 
 give up until he was shot full of arrows 
 three entering his heart ; he died bravely. As 
 soon as I had called out, I saw it was Indians 
 in the camp, and I and Owens together cried 
 out ' Indians.' There were no orders given ; 
 things went on too fast, and the Colonel had 
 men with him that didn't need to be told their 
 duty. The Colonel and I, Maxwell, Owens, 
 Godey, and Stepp, jumped together, we six, 
 and ran to the assistance of our Delawares. I 
 don't know who fired and w r ho didn't ; but I 
 think it was Stepp's shot that killed the 
 Tlamath chief; for it was at the crack of 
 Stepp's gun that he fell. He had an English 
 half-axe slung to his w r rist by a cord, and there 
 were forty arrows left in his quiver the most 
 beautiful and warlike arrows I ever saw. He 
 must have been the bravest man among them, 
 from the way he was armed, and judging by 
 his cap When the Tlamaths saw him fall, 
 they ran ; but we lay, every man with his riflo 
 
272 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 cocked, until daylight, expecting another at- 
 tack. 
 
 " In the morning we found by the tracks 
 that from fifteen to twenty of the Tlamaths 
 had attacked us. They had killed three of our 
 men, and wounded one of the Delawares, who 
 scalped the chief, whom we left where he fell. 
 Our dead men we carried on mules ; but, after 
 going about ten miles, we found it impossible 
 to get them any farther through the thick tim 
 ber, and finding a secret place, we buried them 
 under logs and chunks, having no way to dig 
 a grave. It was only a few days before this 
 fight that some of these same Indians had 
 come into our camp ; and, although we had 
 only meat for two days, and felt sure that we 
 should have to eat mules for ten or fifteen 
 days to come, the Colonel divided with them, 
 and even had a mule unpacked to give them 
 eotne tobacco and knives." 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THOSE who have not been in similar 
 cannot properly appreciate the feelings of the 
 survivors, as they watched with their dead and 
 performed for them the last sad rites. Fre- 
 mont had lost Lajeunesse, whom they all loved, 
 and the other two, Crane and the Delaware 
 Indian, were not less brave than he. The In- 
 dians had watched for Lieutenant Gillespie, 
 but in Fremont's coming up, while three were 
 taken, more were saved, and the benefit to the 
 country, and perhaps the safety to Fremont's 
 whole force was secured by the receipt of the 
 dispatches, and this early rencontre. None 
 had apprehended danger that night, being, as 
 they erroneously supposed, far removed from 
 the Tlamath country, and equally far from the 
 point where they already had encountered and 
 defeated the red men. The Indians never 
 again found Fremont's party off guard, for the 
 events of this night proved a serious and mol- 
 18 U73) 
 
274 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 ancholy, as well as a sufficient lesson. That 
 they cherished revenge, is not to be wondered 
 at, nor that they vowed to seek it at the 
 earliest opportunity, as it was now known that 
 war had been declared with Mexico, for such 
 was the tenor of Lieut. Gillespie's information. 
 Fremont determined to return to California, 
 and choosing to give his men a chance for re- 
 venge before doing so, he traveled around 
 Tlamath lake, and, camping at a spot nearly 
 opposite where his three men had been killed, 
 the next morning sent Carson on in advance, 
 with ten chosen men, and with instructions 
 that, if he discovered a large Indian village, 
 without being seen himself, he should send 
 back word, and that he would hasten on with 
 the rest of the party and give them battle : 
 but if this could not be done, to attack the 
 village himself, if he thought the chances were 
 equal. 
 
 Of course Carson and his men were parties 
 to this advice, choosing the situation of danger 
 because only in that w r ay could they revenge 
 the death of their comrades. 
 
 They were not long in finding a trail, which 
 they followed to a village of fifty lodges, in 
 each of which were probably three warriors. 
 The village was in commotion, which indicated 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 275 
 
 tnnt they had discovered Carson and his party ; 
 so that no time could be lost, and Carson and 
 his comrades at once determined to take ad- 
 vantage of the confusion in which the Indian 
 camp seemed to be, by making a sudden 
 charge. 
 
 The Indians had their families to defend, and 
 were brave in proportion as that motive is an 
 incentive to activity, therefore the attack of the 
 white men was received and met with despera- 
 tion. But a panic of fear seized them, owing 
 to the suddenness of the attack, and they fled, 
 leaving behind them all their possessions, while 
 the victors pursued and shot them down with- 
 out mercy, and when the victory was declared 
 complete by their leader Carson, they returned 
 to the richly-stored village. In all their travels 
 and adventures, they had never seen an Indian 
 village in which the lodges were more tasteful 
 in their workmanship and their decorations, or 
 which were better supplied with utensils of con- 
 venience. The wigwams were woven of the 
 broad leaves of a kind of flag which was highly 
 combustible. Carson therefore ordered that 
 they should be burned, having first visited them 
 to see that their contents were so arranged as 
 to be consumed in the conflagration. Iho 
 work was completed in a few moments, and 
 
276 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON". 
 
 F^mont, seeing the smoke, knew that Carson 
 was engaged with the Indians, and hastened 
 forward to render him any needed assistance. 
 But he arrived only to hear the report of his 
 lieutenant, and to have the gloom of the whole 
 party dispelled by the news of the victory ac- 
 complished ; and to move on a little for an en- 
 campment, and a talk in regard to their future 
 operations. 
 
 The next day all started for the valley of the 
 Sacramento, and were four days out from their 
 camp when they came to a point on the river 
 where it passes through a deep canon, through 
 which the trail would take them, hut Carson 
 advised to avoid this gorge, and they were wise 
 in doing so, as Tlamath Indians were concealed 
 there, intending to cut off the party of white 
 men. Disappointed that they had lost their 
 prey, the Indians came out from this ambush, 
 and were immediately dispersed by Carson and 
 Godey, and a few others, who made a charge 
 upon them. But one old Indian, inspired 
 probably by revenge for some friend lost, stood 
 his ground, and with several arrows in his 
 mouth waited the attack he courted. Carson 
 and Godey advanced, and when within shooting 
 distance, were obliged to dodge rapidly to avoid 
 the arrows leveled at them. The Indian was 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 277 
 
 behind a tree, and only by cautiously advancing 
 while dodging the death he was sending from 
 his bow, did Carson gain a position where he 
 was able to aim a bullet at his heart. The 
 beautiful bow and still unexhausted quiver that 
 Carson took from this Indian, he presented to 
 Lieutenant Gillespie on his return to camp. 
 
 They were in a locality where game was 
 scarce, not being able to find any, the whole 
 party went supperless that night and breakfast- 
 less next morning, but the next day they found 
 some game, and came, after severe traveling 
 fur some days longer, safely in to Peter Law- 
 son's Fort, where they rested and hunted a 
 week, and then moved lower down on the Sac- 
 ramento, and again camped. But his men 
 were restless from inactivity, and Fremont de- 
 cided it was no longer wise to wait for positive 
 instructions, as the war was probably com- 
 menced ; he therefore sent a part of his force 
 to take the little town and fort at Sonoma, 
 which had but a weak garrison. They captured 
 General Vallejos here, with two captains and 
 several cannon, and a quantity of arms. The 
 whole force united at Sonoma, and learning 
 that the Mexicans and Americans in the south 
 were engaged in open hostility, Fremont was 
 preparing to join them, calling in all the 
 
278 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 Americans in the vicinity to come to his com- 
 mand, when a large Mexican force, dispatched 
 by General Castro from San Francisco, with 
 orders to drive the Americans out of the country, 
 came into the vicinity, and took prisoners and 
 killed two men, whom Fremont had sent out 
 as messengers to the American settlers, to in- 
 form them that Sonoma was taken, and that 
 they could fly thither for safety. 
 
 The captain of this party of Mexicans, bear- 
 ing that Fremont and his forces were anxious 
 to attack him, lost all courage and fled, to be 
 pursued by the party of explorers, who fol- 
 lowed them closely for six days, and captured 
 many horses which they had abandoned in 
 their fright. But finding they could not over- 
 take them, Fremont returned to Sonoma, and 
 the party of Mexicans continued their march 
 to Los Angelos, where General Castro joined 
 them. 
 
 Around Fremont's party, the American citi- 
 zens now rallied in great numbers nearly all 
 who were in the country knowing that their 
 time to aid in its emancipation had arrived. 
 Fremont left a strong garrison at Sonoma, and 
 went to S utter 's Fort, where he left his pris- 
 oners, General Vallejos and the two captains, 
 and an American, a brother-in-law of General 
 
LIKE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 279 
 
 Vallejos, and having put the fort under military 
 rules, with all his mountain men, started to 
 take possession of Monterey. But he had been 
 anticipated in this work by Commodore Sloat, 
 who was in port with the American squadron, 
 and who left soon after Fremont's arrival, 
 Commodore Stockton assuming the command. 
 While at Sonoma, Fremont and his moun- 
 tain men, with the American settlers, had de- 
 clared the Independence of California, and 
 assumed the Bear Fkg, which he gallantly 
 tendered to Commodore Sloat, and the flag of 
 the United States was hoisted over his camp 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 WITH Carson as his constant advisor, as he 
 was new his acknowledged friend, Fremont 
 here obtained the use of the ship Cyanne, to 
 convey himself and his command to San Diego, 
 where they hoped to be able to obtain animals, 
 and march upon the Mexicans under General 
 Castro, who was then at Los Angelos, leaving 
 their own for the use of Commodore Stockton 
 and his marines, who were to meet them at 
 that place. 
 
 With the Americans who joined him at San 
 Diego, all of them pioneers of the true stamp, 
 inured to hardships, hard fare, and Indian 
 fights, Fremont's command numbered one 
 hundred and fifty men, who started for Los 
 Angelos, with perfect confidence in their own 
 success, though the force of the enemy was 
 seven or eight hundred. 
 
 Fremont camped a league from this beautiful 
 tcwn, to await the arriral of the Commodore, 
 
 (280) 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 281 
 
 who soon joined him, with "as fine a body of 
 men as I ever looked upon," to quote Carson's 
 own words, and the forces thus united, marched 
 at once upon Los Angelos, which they found 
 deserted, as General Castro* dared not risk a 
 battle with such men as he knew Fremont 
 commanded. 
 
 After this, Fremont was appointed Governor 
 of California by Commodore Stockton, and re- 
 turned to Monterey and the northern portion 
 of the country, while the Commodore went to 
 San Diego, as that was a better port than San 
 Pedro, the port of Los Angelos ; and General 
 Castro returned to the possession of Los An 
 gelos. 
 
 Meantime, Carson, with a force of fifteen 
 men, was dispatched to make the overland 
 journey to Washington, as the bearer of im- 
 portant dispatches. He was instructed to make 
 the journey in sixty days if possible, which he 
 felt sure of being able to accomplish, though 
 no one knew, better than he did, the difficulties 
 he might expect to encounter. 
 
 When two days out from the copper mines 
 of New Mexico, he came suddenly upon a 
 village of Apache Indians, which his quick wit 
 enabled him to elude. He rode forward in his 
 path, as if unmindful of their presence, and 
 
282 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 halted in a wood a few yards from the village, 
 which seemed to disconcert the inhabitants, 
 unused to being approached with so much 
 boldness, as they had never been treated in 
 that manner by the Mexicans. He here de- 
 manded a parley, which was granted, and ho 
 told them that his party were simply travelers 
 on the road to New Mexico, and that they had 
 come to their village for an exchange of ani- 
 mals, as theirs were nearly exhausted. 
 
 The Indians were satisfied with his explana- 
 tion ; and Carson, choosing as his camping- 
 ground a suitable spot for defense, traded with 
 the Apaches to advantage, and at an early hour 
 on the following morning resumed his journey, 
 glad to be thus easily rid of such treacherous, 
 thieving rascals. A few more clays of travel 
 brought him to the Mexican settlements, and 
 near to his own home and family. The party 
 had been, for some time, short of provisions, as 
 their haste in traveling did not allow them to 
 stop to hunt, and on the route desert much 
 of the way there had been little game ; and 
 now, with only a little corn which they ate 
 parched, they were glad of relief, which Carson 
 readily obtained from friends at the first rancho 
 he entered ; for though the country was at war 
 with the United States, Carson was a Mexican 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 283 
 
 as much as an American, having chosen their 
 country for his home, and taken a wife from 
 their people. He was pursuing his course 
 towards Taos, when, across a broad prairie, he 
 espied a speck moving towards him, which his 
 eagle eye soon discerned could not belong to 
 the country. As it neared him, and its form 
 became visible, hastening on, he met an expe- 
 dition sent out by the United States Govern- 
 ment to operate in California, under the com- 
 mand of General Kearney, to which officer he 
 lost no time in presenting himself, and narrated 
 to him his errand, and the state of affairs in 
 California, with the most graphic fidelity. 
 Kearney was extremely glad to meet him, and 
 after detaining him as long as Carson thought 
 it wise to remain, proposed to Carson to return 
 with him, while he should send the dispatches 
 to Washington by Mr. Fitzpatrick with whom 
 Carson had a familiar acquaintance ; and know- 
 ing how almost invaluable his services would 
 be to General Kearney, Carson gave the ready 
 answer, " As the General pleases/' trusting en- 
 tirely to his fidelity in the matter, and as the 
 exchange was a self-denial to him, he had no 
 occasion to weigh the motives that might influ- 
 ence a man like General Keamey in the affair 
 of the dispatches, or the good that his presence 
 
284 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 with them might be to himself when he should 
 arrive in Washington, but while he would have 
 been glad to have met his family, he cared for 
 the honor of having done his duty. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 ON the 18th of October, Gen. Kearney took 
 tip his march from his camp upon the Rio 
 Grande, having Christopher Carson for his 
 guide, with instructions to lead the party by 
 the most direct route to California: and so 
 ably did Carson fulfill this official duty, so un- 
 expectedly imposed upon him, that, with their 
 animals in good condition still, they camped 
 within the limit of California on the evening 
 of the third of December, and the next morn- 
 ing advanced towards San Diego. 
 
 But the Mexicans were not unapprised of 
 the approach of American troops, and spies 
 sent out by General Castro, to meet Kearney's 
 force, were surprised and brought into camp 
 by a scout which Carson attended. Compelled 
 to give information, they said that the Mexi- 
 can forces under its general, were planning an 
 attack upon the Americans before they could 
 
 join their California allies. Carson, with the 
 
 (285) 
 
286 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 understanding he had of Gen. Kearney, aM 
 his knowledge of guerrilla warfare, would have 
 advised another route, to evade the Mexican 
 troops and avoid a battle, until the weary and 
 newly arrived soldiery had had some rest, and 
 the assistance and advice of those who knew 
 the last movements of the Mexicans, could 
 make a battle more effectual with less of risk 
 than now; but General Kearney w r as impa- 
 tient for an encounter with the stupid Mex- 
 icans, as he deemed them, and only learned by 
 experience that the Californians were superior 
 to those he had known in other of the Mexican 
 States, both in courage and natural tact, and in 
 their military order and discipline, as the story 
 will fully show. 
 
 lie kept on his course until he approached 
 within fifteen miles of the Mexican camp, 
 where he halted, and despatched a party to 
 reconnoitre. They reported on their return, 
 that the enemy were strongly fortified in an 
 Indian village; but in making the observation 
 (lie scout had been discovered and pursued 
 back to camp. 
 
 General Kearney determined to make an 
 immediate attack, and commenced his march 
 at one o'clock in the morning, with no rest 
 that night for his animals or for his men ; and 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 287 
 
 weary and hungry before day, when within a 
 mile of Castro's camp, the advance guard of 
 the Americans came upon the advance guard 
 of the Mexicans, which had been stationed to 
 prevent a surprise. 
 
 This Mexican guard slept in their dress, 
 ready at a five minutes' warning to mount in 
 their saddles, which were their pillows, while 
 their horses were tied to feed close around 
 them. The sound of the trumpet com- 
 manded first a rapid trot, then a gallop, and 
 the fifteen Americans under Captain Johnson 
 with Kit Carson, of course, for his next officer, 
 had a brisk fight with this Mexican outpost, 
 but failed to stampede their animals, as each 
 Mexican mounted his own horse immediately, 
 and the guard drew back into camp. Capt. 
 Johnson and Carson were now joined by Capt. 
 Moore with twenty five Americans, a force 
 that had united with Kearney's since he 
 came into California, when Moore ordered an 
 attack upon the centre of the Mexican force, 
 in order to divide it, and cause confusion in 
 the Mexican ranks. 
 
 The command of forty men were within a 
 hundred yards of the enemy, and Carson 
 among the foremost, when his horse suddenly 
 fell and threw its rider, who was not seriously 
 
288 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOff. 
 
 injured ; but the stock of his gun was shivered 
 to splinters, and his position one of exceeding 
 danger, as the whole body of dragoons went 
 galloping over him. When he could arise 
 from the ground, he saw a dead horseman 
 lying near, whom he relieved of gun and 
 cartridge box, and again mounting his horse, 
 upon whose bridle he had managed to retain 
 his hold, he was speedily in the thickest of the 
 fight, where the contest was becoming des- 
 perate. 
 
 Capt. Johnson and several of the soldiers in 
 the advance had already been killed, and 
 probably only the fall of his horse had saved 
 Carson's life, but he was now able to assist 
 Moore and his men to dislodge the Mexicans, 
 and oblige them to retreat. The Americans 
 pursued them, but as there were only forty in 
 the whole of General Kearney's command who 
 were mounted on horses, and the mules which 
 were ridden by the rest had become at once 
 unmanageable when the firing commenced, 
 (heir success was not complete. The horses 
 they had were wild, having been captured by 
 Capt. Davidson and Kit Carson since their ar- 
 rival in California, from a party of Mexicans 
 bound for Sonora, so that even Moore's party 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 289 
 
 had become scattered in the chase, and the 
 pursuit accomplished very little. 
 
 The Mexicans immediately discovered the 
 condition of the Americans, and turning buc k, 
 recommenced the fight, which had been nearly 
 a bloodless victory until now, but soon became 
 for the Americans, a terrible slaughter. Every 
 moment some dragoon yielded his life to the 
 bullet or the deadly blow of an exasperated 
 Mexican, and of the forty dragoons on horses 
 thirty were either killed or severely wounded. 
 Captain Moore, whom Carson calls, " as brave 
 a man as ever drew the breath of life," was 
 already among the killed. As fast as the 
 American soldiers could come up, they joined 
 the battle, but the Mexicans fought with a 
 bravery unsurpassed, and seemed to carry all 
 before them. 
 
 Gen. Kearney now drew his sword, and 
 placed himself at the head of his remaining 
 forces, and though severely wounded, attempted 
 to nuTiin force the Mexicans to retreat, while 
 Lieutenant Davidson came up with two moun- 
 tain howitzers; but before he could unlimber 
 them for use, the men who were working them 
 were shot down, and the lasso, thrown with 
 unerring aim, h:ul captured the horses attached 
 
 to one of them, and the gun was taken to 
 19 
 
290 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 ranks of the enemy, who, for some reason^ 
 could not make it go off, or the American 
 howitzer, at the distance of three hundred 
 yards, would have done execution against those 
 who had brought it thousands of miles to this 
 point, to have it turned against them ; though 
 Lieutenant Davidson had nearly lost his life in 
 the attempt to save it, but to no purpose. 
 
 The Americans were now obliged to take 
 refuge at a point of rocks that offered, near 
 where they had been defeated, for they had but 
 two officers besides Carson, who were not either 
 killed or wounded ; and here they waited for 
 the Mexicans, but they did not again venture 
 an attack. 
 
 The fighting had continued throughout the 
 entire day; both sides were weary and spent, and 
 night closed over this scene of battle, without 
 any positive result to either party. Gen. 
 Kearney must now attend to the wounded, and 
 all night the camp was occupied in the sad 
 work of burying its dead, and alleviating the 
 agony of the sufferers ; while, at the same 
 time, a close watch was kept for the enemy, 
 who were constantly receiving reinforcements, 
 of Indians as well as Mexicans, from the 
 country around. A council of war was held, 
 which at once decided it was best to advance 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 291 
 
 toward San Diego in the morning, with the 
 hope of soon receiving additions to their forces. 
 Gen. Kearney had dispatched three men to San 
 Diego, with messages to Commodore Stockton, 
 and before the battle commenced, they had 
 come back within sight of their comrades, 
 when they were taken prisoners by the enemy ; 
 and whether they had succeeded in getting 
 through to San Diego, Gen. Kearney did not 
 know. Early in the morning, the command 
 was again upon its way, with the following 
 order of march : Carson, with twenty-five still 
 able-bodied men, formed the advance, and the 
 remainder, a much crippled band of soldiers, 
 followed in the trail that he had made. Their 
 march was continued all the morning, in the 
 constant expectation of an attack from the 
 Mexicans, who were also moving on, sometimes 
 out of sight in the valleys, and sometimes seen 
 from the neighboring hills. When the first 
 opportunity occurred, Gen. Kearney demanded 
 a parley, and arranged to exchange a lieutenant, 
 whose horse had been shot from under him 
 during the battle, and who had consequently 
 fallen into the hands of the Americans, for one 
 of the express messengers the Mexicans were 
 detaining ; but it availed nothing, for the ex- 
 pressman stated that, finding it impossible to 
 
292 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER 
 
 reacli San Diego, he and his companions had 
 returned, when the/ were captured by tho 
 Mexicans. 
 
 The Mexicans had been manoeuvering all 
 day, and toward evening, as the Americana 
 were about going into camp by a stream of 
 water, came down upon them in two divisions, 
 making a vigorous charge. The Americans 
 were obliged to retire before such vastly 
 superior numbers, and marched in order to a 
 nill a little distance off, where they halted to 
 give the Mexicans battle ; but the latter, seeing 
 the advantage of the position, drew off to a 
 neighboring height, where they commenced and 
 continued a deadly cannonade upon the Ameri- 
 cans. A party of Americans w r as sent to dis- 
 lodge them, which they accomplished, and the 
 whole force of the Americans went over to 
 occupy that position, as they were compelled to 
 make a resting place somewhere, because it was 
 no longer possible for them to continue their 
 march, with the Mexican force ready at any 
 time to fall upon them. Upon this hill there 
 was barely water enough for the men, and to 
 take the horses to the stream could not bo 
 thought of, for the Mexicans would surely cap- 
 ture them; nor had they any food left, except 
 as they killed and ate their mules. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 293 
 
 The condition of the party had become ex- 
 tremely desperate, and the war council that 
 \vas called, discussed a variety of measures, 
 equally desperate with their condition, for im- 
 mediate relief, until, when the rest had made 
 their propositions, Carson again showed him- 
 self " the right man in the right place," and 
 when all besides were hopeless, was the salva- 
 tion of his party. He rose in the council and 
 said : 
 
 " Our case is a desperate one, but there is yet 
 hope. If we stay here, we are all dead men ; 
 our animals cannot last long, and the soldiers 
 and marines at San Diego do not know of our 
 coming. But if they receive information of our 
 position, they would hasten to our rescue. 
 There is no use in thinking why or how we are 
 here, but only of our present and speedy es- 
 cape. I will attempt to go through the Mexi- 
 can lines, and will then go to San Diego, and 
 send relief from Commodore Stockton." 
 
 Lieutenant Beale, of the United States Navy, 
 at once seconded Carson, and volunteered to 
 accompany him. 
 
 Lieutenant Beale is now widely known for 
 his valuable services to the country, and, as an 
 explorer, he has few equals in the world. 
 
 The writer is informed that he is now deeply 
 
294 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 interested in a wagon road across the country 
 by the route he had just crossed, at the time 
 of which we write. His life has been full of 
 strange adventures, since he left the service of 
 the seas. 
 
 Gen. Kearney immediately accepted the pro- 
 posal of Carson and Lieutenant Beale, as his 
 only hope, and they started at once, as soon as 
 the cover of darkness was hung around them. 
 Their mission was to be one of success or of 
 death to themselves, and the whole force. Car- 
 son was familiar with the custom of the Mexi- 
 cans, as well as the Indians, of putting their 
 ear to the ground to detect any sound, and 
 knew, therefore, the necessity of avoiding the 
 slightest noise. As this was not possible, 
 wearing their shoes, they removed them, and 
 putting them under their belts, crept on over 
 the bushes and rocks, with the greatest caution 
 and silence. 
 
 They discovered that the Mexicans had three 
 
 / 
 
 rows of sentinels, whose beats extended past 
 each other, embracing the hill where Kearney 
 and his command were held in siege. They 
 were, doubtless, satisfied that they could not 
 be eluded. But our messengers crept on, often 
 go near a sentinel as to see his figure and 
 equipment in the darkness ; and once, when 
 
LIFE OF CRHRISTOPHER CARSON. 295 
 
 within a few yards of them, one of the senti- 
 nels had dismounted and lighted his cigaretto 
 with his flint and steel. Kit Carson seeing 
 this, as he lay flat on the ground, had put his 
 foot back and touched Lieutenant Beale, a sig- 
 nal to be still as he was doing. The minutes 
 the Mexican was occupied in this way, seemed 
 hours to our heroes, who expected they were 
 discovered ; and Carson affirms that they were 
 so still he could hear Lieutenant Beale's heart 
 pulsate, and in the agony of the time he lived 
 a year. But the Mexican finally mounted his 
 horse, and rode off in a contrary direction, as 
 if he were guided by Providence, to give safety 
 to these courageous adventurers. For full two 
 miles Kit Carson and Lieutenant Beale thus 
 worked their way along, upon their hands and 
 knees, turning their eyes in every direction to 
 detect any thing which might lead to their dis- 
 covery, and having past the last sentinel, and 
 left the lines sufficiently behind them, they felt 
 an immeasurable relief in once more gaining 
 their feet. 
 
 But their shoes were gone, and in the ex- 
 citement of the journey, neither of them had 
 thought of their shoes since they first put them 
 in their belts ; but they could speak a^ain, and 
 congratulate each other that the imminent 
 
296 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 danger was past, and thank heaven that the) 
 had been aided thus far. But there were 
 still abundant difficulties, as their path was 
 rough with bushes, from the necessity of 
 avoiding the well-trodden trail lest they be 
 detected; and the prickly pear covered the 
 ground, and its thorns penetrated their feet at 
 every step ; and their road was lengthened by 
 going around out of the direct path, though 
 the latter would have shortened their journey 
 many a w^eary mile. All the day following 
 they pursued their journey, and on still, 
 without cessation, into the night following, for 
 they could not stop until assured that relief 
 was to be furnished to their anxious and peril- 
 ous conditioned fellow soldiers. 
 
 Carson had pursued so straight a course, and 
 aimed so correctly for his mark, that they en- 
 tered the town by the most direct passage, and 
 answering " friends" to the challenge of the 
 sentinel, it was known from whence they came, 
 and they were at once conducted to Commo- 
 dore Stockton, to whom they related the errand 
 on which they had come, and the further par- 
 ticulars we have described. 
 
 Commodore Stockton immediately detailed a 
 force of nearly twu hundred men, and with his 
 
LIFE OF ClIRISTOrHER CAKSON. 207 
 
 usual promptness, ordered them to seek their 
 besieged countrymen by forced marches. 
 
 They took with them a piece of ordnance, 
 which the men were obliged to draw them- 
 selves, as there were in readiness no animals 
 to be had. Carson did not return with them, 
 as his feet were in a terrible condition, and he 
 needed to rest or he might lose them, but he 
 described the position of General Kearney so 
 accurately, that the party to relieve him would 
 find him with no difficulty ; and yet, if the 
 Commodore had expressed the wish, he would 
 have undertaken to conduct the relief party 
 upon its march. 
 
 Lieutenant Beale was partially deranged for 
 several days, from the effects of this severe 
 service, and was sent on board the frigate lying 
 in port for medical attendance ; but he did not 
 fully recover his former physical health for 
 more than two years ; but he never spoke re- 
 gretfully of an undertaking, which was not ex- 
 celled by any feat performed in the Mexican 
 war. 
 
 The reinforcement reached General Kearney 
 without a collision with the Mexicans, and very 
 soon all marched to San Diego, where the 
 wounded soldiers received medical attendance. 
 
 Wo have spoken of the superiority of char' 
 
208 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 
 
 acter of the California Mexicans over that of 
 the inhabitants of the other Mexican States. 
 The officials Appointed at the Mexican capital 
 for this State, were treated deferentially or 
 cavalierly, as they consulted or disregarded the 
 tdshes of the people, and often it happened 
 that a Governor-General of California was put 
 on board a ship at Monterey, and directed to 
 betake himself back to those who sent him. 
 
 California was so remote from the head- 
 quarters of the general government, that these 
 things were done with impunity, for it would 
 have been difficult to send a force into the State 
 that could subdue it, with its scattered popula- 
 tion, and if laws obnoxious to them were en- 
 acted, and they violated them, or expelled an 
 official who proposed their enforcement, it was 
 quietly overlooked. Managing their own affairs 
 in this way, a spirit of independence and bold 
 daring had been cultivated, especially since 
 the time when our story of California life com- 
 menced in Carson's first visit to that State, nor 
 had the intercourse with Americans hitherto 
 lessened these feelings, for the California Mex- 
 icans admired the Americans, as they called 
 them, and cultivated good fellowship with them 
 generally ; so that we see when the Bear Flag 
 and Independence of the State became the 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 299 
 
 order under Fremont and his party, many of 
 its leading citizens came at once into the ar- 
 rangement, or were parties in it at the first. 
 
 Had the conquest and government of the 
 country been conducted wholly by Fremont, it 
 would have exhibited very little expenditure 
 of life, for conciliation and the cultivation of 
 kindly feeling was the policy he pursued ; in- 
 deed, with Carson as prime counselor, whose 
 wife at home in Taos owned kindred with this 
 people as one of the same race, how could it 
 have been otherwise ! though as Americans and 
 citizens of the United States, in whose employ 
 they acted, first allegiance was ever cheerfully 
 accorded to their country, by Carson equally 
 with Fremont, as the history of California most 
 fully proves. 
 
 The United States forces at San Diego were 
 not in condition to again take the field, until a 
 number of weeks had elapsed, when a command 
 of six hundred had been organized for the pur- 
 pose of again capturing Los Angelos, where 
 the Mexican forces were concentrated , and 
 General Kearney and Commodore Stockton 
 were united in conducting it, and in two days 
 arrived within fifteen miles of the town, near 
 where the Mexican army, to the number of 
 seven hundred, had established themselves 
 
300 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 strongly upon a hill beside their camp, an! 
 between whom and the Americans flowed * 
 stream of water. 
 
 General Kearney ordered two pieces of ar 
 tillery planted where they would rake the po 
 si lion of the Mexicans, which soon forced them 
 to break up their camp, when Gen. Kearney 
 and Commodore Stockton immediately marched 
 into the town, but only to find it destitute of 
 any military control, as the Mexican army had 
 gone northward to meet Col. Fremont, who had 
 left Monterey with a force of four hundred 
 Americans, to come to Los Angelos. 
 
 The Mexicans found Col. Fremont, and laid 
 down their arms to him, probably preferring to 
 give him the honor of the victory rather than 
 Gen. Kearney, though if this was or was not the 
 motive, history now sayeth not. Col. Fremont 
 continued his march and came to Los Angelos, 
 and as the fighting for the present certainly 
 was over, he and his men rested here for the 
 winter, where Carson, who had been rendering 
 all the aid in his power to Gen. Kearney, now 
 gladly joined his old commander. 
 
 The position of the American forces, had the 
 camps been harmonious, was as comfortable 
 and conducive to happiness during the winter 
 as it was possible for it to be, and the Mexican 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 301 
 
 
 
 citizens of Los Angelos had been so conciliated, 
 the time might have passed pleasantly. But, 
 as we have intimated, Gen. Kearney had a 
 general contempt for the Mexicans, and his 
 position in the camp forbade those pleasant 
 civilities which had commenced in San Diego 
 before his arrival, and would have been prose- 
 cuted in Los Angelos, to the advantage of all 
 concerned ; for, as many of the men in Fre 
 mont's camp were old residents of the country, 
 and known and respected by the Mexican 
 citizens, with whom some of them had con- 
 tracted intimate social relations, it is not 
 wonderful that the Mexican officers and sol- 
 diers chose to lay down their arms to him 
 and his command. Fremont had beside, at 
 the instigation of Carson as well as of his own 
 inclination, taken every reasonable opportunity 
 to gratify their love of social life, by joining in 
 their assemblies as opportunity offered ; and 
 for this, as well as his magnanimous courage, 
 we can appreciate their choice in giving him 
 palm of victory. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. ;s 
 
 EVENTS transpire rapidly when a country is 
 in a state of revolution. Early in March of 
 '46 the little party of explorers received the 
 " first hostile message" from General Castro 
 the Commandant General of California which, 
 though really a declaration of war, upon a 
 party sent out by the United States Govern- 
 ment on a purely scientific expedition, had 
 been received and acted upon by Fremont with 
 moderation, and actual war had not been de- 
 clared until July, when Sonoma was taken, and 
 the flag of Independence hoisted on the fourth 
 of that month, and Fremont elected Governor 
 of California. 
 
 While hearing indefinitely of these events, 
 Commodore Sloat, who, with the vessels be- 
 longing to his command, was lying at Mon- 
 terey, had hoisted the flag of the United 
 States over that city, anticipating any com- 
 mand to do so on the part of his government, 
 1302) 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 303 
 
 and anticipating also the action of the com- 
 mander of the British ship of war, sent for a 
 similar purpose, which arrived at Monterey 
 on the 19th of July, under the command of 
 Sir George Seymour ; one of whose officers, in 
 a book published by him after his return to 
 England, describes the entrance of Fremont 
 and his party into Monterey as follows : 
 
 " During our stay in Monterey," says Mr, 
 AValpole, " Captain Fremont and his party ar- 
 rived. They naturally excited curiosity. Here 
 were true trappers, the class that produced the 
 heroes of Fennimore Cooper's best works. 
 These men had passed years in the wilds, 
 living upon their own resources; they were a 
 curious set. A vast cloud of dust appeared 
 first, and thence in long file emerged this 
 wildest wild party. Fremont rode ahead, a 
 spare, active-looking man, with such an eyel 
 He was dressed in a blouse and leggings, and 
 wore a felt hat. After him came five Dela- 
 ware Indians, who were his body-guard, and 
 have been with him through all his wander- 
 ings ; they had charge of t\vo baggage horses. 
 The rest, many of them blacker than the In- 
 dians, rode two and two, the rifle held by one 
 hand across the pommel of the saddle. Thir- 
 ty-nine of them are his regular men, the rest 
 
304 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 are loafers picked up lately ; his original men 
 are principally backwoodsmen, from the Stato 
 of Tennessee and the banks of the upper 
 waters of the Missouri. He has one or two 
 with him who enjoy a high reputation in the 
 prairies. Kit Carson is as well known there 
 as ' the Duke' is in Europe. The dress of 
 these men was principally a long loose coat of 
 deer skin, tied with thongs in front ; trowsers 
 of the same, of their own manufacture, which, 
 when wet through, they take off, scrape well 
 inside with a knife, and put on as soon as dry ; 
 the saddles were of various fashions, though 
 these and a large drove of horses, and a brass 
 field-gun, were things they had picked up 
 about California. They are allowed no liquor, 
 tea and sugar only ; this, no doubt, has much 
 to do w r ith their good conduct; and the disci- 
 pline, too, is very strict. They were marched 
 up to an open space on the hills near the town, 
 under some large fires, and there took up their 
 quarters, in messes of six or seven, in the open 
 air. The Indians lay beside their leader. Ona 
 man, a doctor, six feet six high, was an odd- 
 looking fellow. May I never come under his 
 nands !" 
 
 Commodore Stockton had arrived the same 
 day with Fremont and Carson and their corn- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 305 
 
 mand, and under him Fremont had been ap- 
 pointed General in Chief of the California 
 forces, with Carson for his first Lieutenant; 
 Stockton assuming the civil office of Governor 
 of tho country. This had been deemed a 
 measure of necessity, from the fact that the 
 California Mexicans had not yet learned, from 
 the Mexican authorities, the actual delaration 
 of war between the United States and Mexico ; 
 and therefore looked upon the operations of 
 the Americans as the acts of adventurers for 
 their own aggrandizement ; and yet, with all 
 the intensity of feeling such ideas aroused, 
 Fremont and Carson had won their admiration 
 and their hearts, by the rapidity of their 
 movements, their sudden and effective blows, 
 and the effort by dispatch to avoid all cruelty 
 and bloodshed as far as possible. 
 
 In this way had San Diego, San Pedro, Los 
 Angelos, Santa Barbara, and the whole coun- 
 try, as the Mexican authorities declared, come 
 into the possession of Commodore Stockton 
 and General Fremont, as a conquered territory, 
 taken in behalf of the United States; and the 
 whole work been completed in about sixty days 
 from the time the first blow was struck; and 
 when all was accomplished, and the conquest 
 complete, Carson started upon his errand to 
 20 
 
306 LIFE OF CHKISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 communicate the intelligence to the general 
 government at Washington ; with the know- 
 ledge that all the leading citizens of California, 
 native as well as the American settlers, were 
 friendly to Fremont, and on his account to 
 Commodore Stockton. 
 
 During the three months of Carson's absence, 
 events had transpired that made it necessary 
 to do this work over again, resulting in a 
 measure from the indiscretions of American 
 officers, which induced insurrection on the part 
 of the Mexicans. The arrival of General 
 Kearney with United States troops still further 
 excited them, and produced results which were 
 everything but pleasant to Fremont and Com- 
 modore Stockton, the details of which we for- 
 bear to give, simply saying that Carson's re- 
 gard for Fremont showed itself by his return 
 to his service, and doing all that he could to 
 forward his interests, and in his often attend- 
 ing him in his excursions. Fremont's com- 
 mand was an independent battalion ; and con- 
 cerning the last and final contest, General 
 Kearney thus wrote to the War Department : 
 
 " This morning, Lieutenant-Colonel Fre- 
 mont, of the regiment of mounted riflemen, 
 reached here with four hundred volunteers 
 from the Sacramento ; the enemy capitulated 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 307 
 
 with him yesterday, near San Fernando, agree- 
 ing to lay down their arms ; and we have now 
 the prospect of having peace and quietness in 
 this country, which I hope may not be inter- 
 rupted again." 
 
 It was during Carson's absence, en route for 
 Washington, that Fremont accomplished the 
 most extraordinary feat of physical energy and 
 endurance ever recorded. We find it in the 
 "National Intelligencer," of November 22, 1847, 
 and quote it entire, as illustrating not only the 
 physical powers of human endurance produced 
 by practice and culture, but the wonderful 
 sagacity and enduring qualities of the Califor- 
 nia horses : 
 
 " THE EXTRAORDINARY RIDE OF LIEUT. COL. FREMONT, 
 HIS FRIEND DON JESUS PlCO, AND HIS SERVANT, JACOB 
 
 DODSON, FROM LOS ANGELOS TO MONTEREY AND BACK 
 
 IN MARCH, 1847. 
 
 " This extraordinary ride of 800 miles in 
 eight days, including all stoppages and near 
 two days' detention a whole day and a night 
 at Monterey, and nearly two half days at San 
 Luis Obispo having been brought into evi- 
 dence before the Army Court Martial now in 
 session in this city, and great desire being ex- 
 pressed by some friends to know how the ride 
 
308 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 was made, I herewith send you the particulars, 
 that you may publish them, if you please, in 
 the National Intelligencer, as an incident con- 
 nected with the times and affairs under review 
 in the trial, of which you give so full a report. 
 The circumstances were first got from Jacob, 
 afterwards revised by Col. Fremont, and I 
 drew them up from his statement. 
 
 " The publication will show, besides the 
 horsemanship of the riders, the power of the 
 California horse, especially as one of the horses 
 was subjected, in the course of the ride, to an 
 extraordinary trial, in order to exhibit the 
 capacity of his race. Of course this statement 
 will make no allusion to the objects of the 
 journey, but be confined strictly to its per- 
 formance. 
 
 " It was at daybreak on the morning of the 
 22cl of March, that the party set out from La 
 Ciudad de los Angelos (the city of the Angels) 
 in the southern part of Upper California, to 
 proceed, in the shortest time, to Monterey on 
 the Pacific coast, distant full four hundred 
 miles. The way is over a mountainous coun- 
 try, much of it uninhabited, with no other road 
 than a trace, and many defiles to pass, particu- 
 larly the maritime defile of el Eincon or Puntc 
 Grordo, fifteen miles in extent, made by the 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOrflEK CAKSOX. 309 
 
 jutting of a precipitous mountain into the sea, 
 and which can only be passed when the tide is 
 out and the sea calm, and then in many places 
 through the waves. The towns of Santa Bar- 
 bara and San Luis Obispo, and occasional 
 ranches, are the principal inhabited places on 
 the route. Each of the party had three hoi 
 nine in all, to take their turns under the saddle. 
 The six loose horses ran ahead, without bridle 
 or halter, and required some attention to keep 
 to the track. When wanted for a change, say 
 at the distance of twenty miles, they were 
 caught by the lasso, thrown either by Don Jesus 
 or the servant Jacob, who, though born in 
 Washington, in his long expeditions with Col. 
 Fremont, had become as expert as a Mexican 
 with the lasso, as sure as the mountaineer with 
 the rifle, equal to either on horse or foot, and 
 always a lad of courage and fidelity. 
 
 " None of the horses were shod, that beini: a. 
 practice unknown to the Californians. The 
 most usual gait was a sweeping gallop. The 
 first day they ran one hundred and twenty-live 
 mile?, passing the San Fernando mountain, the 
 defile of the Rincon, several other mountains, 
 and slept at tin* hospitable ranche of Don 
 Thomas Uoltbcris, beyond the town of Santa 
 Barbara. The only fatigttC complained of in 
 
310 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARS.Off. 
 
 this day's ride, was in Jacob's right arm, made 
 tired by throwing the lasso, and using it as a 
 whip to keep the loose horses to the track. 
 
 " The next day they made another one hun- 
 dred arid twenty-five miles, passing the formi- 
 dable mountain of Santa Barbara, and counting 
 upon it the skeletons of some fifty horses, part 
 of near double that number which perished in 
 the crossing of that terrible mountain by the 
 California battalion, on Christmas day, 1846, 
 amidst a raging tempest, and a deluge of rain 
 and cold more killing than that of the Sierra 
 Nevada the day of severest suffering, say 
 Fremont and his men, that they have ever 
 passed. At sunset, the party stopped to sup 
 with the friendly Capt. Dana, and at nine at 
 night San Luis Obispo was reached, the home 
 of Don Jesus, and where an affecting reception 
 awaited Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont, in con- 
 sequence of an incident which occurred there 
 that history will one day record ; and he was 
 detained till 10 o'clock in the morning receiving 
 the visits of the inhabitants, (mothers and 
 children included,) taking a breakfast of honor, 
 and waiting for a relief of fresh horses to be 
 brought in from the surrounding country. 
 Here the nine horses from Los Angelos were 
 left, and eight others taken in their place, mid 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 311 
 
 a Spanish boy added to the party to assist in 
 managing the loose horses. 
 
 u Proceeding at the usual gait till eight 
 at night, arid having made some seventy miles, 
 Don Jesus, who had spent the night before 
 with his family and friends, and probably with 
 but little sleep, became fatigued, and proposed 
 a halt for a few hours. It was in the valley of 
 the Salinas (salt river called Buena Ventura in 
 the old maps,) and the haunt of marauding 
 Indians. For safety during their repose, the 
 party turned off the trace, issued through a 
 canon into a thick wood, and laid down, the 
 horses being put to grass at a short distance, 
 with the Spanish boy in the saddle to watch. 
 Sleep, when commenced, was too sweet to be 
 easily given up, and it was half way between 
 midnight and day, when the sleepers were 
 aroused by an estampedo among the horses, and 
 the calls of the boy. The cause of the alarm 
 was soon found, not Indians, but white bears 
 this valley being their great resort, and the 
 place where Col. Fremont and thirty-live of 
 his men encountered some hundred of them 
 the summer before, killing thirty upon the 
 ground. 
 
 " The character of these bears is well known, 
 and the bravest hunters do not like to meet 
 
312 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 them without the advantage of numbers. On 
 discovering the enemy, Col. Fremont felt for 
 his pistols, but Don Jesus desired him to lie 
 still, saying that 'people could scare bears;' 
 and immediately hallooed at them in Spanish, 
 and they went off. Sleep went off also; and 
 the recovery of the horses frightened by the 
 bears, building a rousing fire, making a break- 
 fast from the hospitable supplies of San Luis 
 Obispo, occupied the party till daybreak, when 
 the journey was resumed. Eighty miles, and 
 the afternoon brought the party to Monterey. 
 11 The next day, in the afternoon, the party 
 set out on their return, and the two horses rode 
 by Col. Fremont from San Luis Obispo, being 
 a present to him from Don Jesus, he (Don 
 Jesus) desired to make an experiment of what 
 one of them could do. They were brothers, 
 one a grass younger than the other, both of the 
 same color, (cinnamon,) and hence called el 
 canalOj or los canalos, (the cinnamon or the cin- 
 namons.) The elder was to be taken for the 
 trial ; and the journey commenced upon him 
 at leaving Monterey, the afternoon well ad* 
 vanced. Thirty miles under the saddle done 
 that evening, and the party stopped for the 
 night. In the morning, the elder canalo waa 
 under the saddle for Col. Fremont, and 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 313 
 
 for ninety miles he carried him witluut a 
 change, and without apparent fatigue. It was 
 still thirty miles to San Luis Obispo, whore 
 the night was to be passed, and Don Jesus in- 
 sisted that canalo could do it, and so said the 
 horse by his looks and action. But Col. Fre- 
 mont would not put him to the trial, and, 
 shifting the saddle to the younger brother, the 
 elder was turned loose to run the remaining 
 thirty miles without a rider. He did so, im- 
 mediately taking the lead and keeping it all 
 the way, and entering San Luis in a sweeping 
 gallop, nostrils distended, snuffing the air, and 
 neighing with exultation at his return to his 
 native pastures; his younger brother all the 
 time at the head of the horses under the 
 saddle, bearing on his bit, and held in by his 
 rider. The whole eight horses made their one 
 hundred and twenty miles each that day, (after 
 thirty the evening before,) the elder cinnamon 
 making ninety of his under the saddle that 
 day, besides thirty under the saddle the 
 evening before; nor was there the least doubt 
 that he would have done the whole distance in 
 the same time if he had continued under the 
 saddle. 
 
 " After a hospitable detention of another 
 half a day at San Luis Obispo, the party set 
 
314 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER OARSOX. 
 
 out for Los Angelos, on the same nine horses 
 which they had rode from that place, and 
 made the ride back in about the same time 
 they had made it up, namely, at the rate of 125 
 miles a day. 
 
 "On this ride, the grass on the road was the 
 food for the horses. At Monterey they had 
 barley ; but these horses, meaning those 
 trained and domesticated, as the cafialos were, 
 eat almost anything of vegetable food, or even 
 drink, that their master uses, by whom they 
 are petted and caressed, and rarely sold. 
 Bread, fruit, sugar, coffee, and even wine, (like 
 the Persian horses,) they take from the hand 
 of their master, and obey with like docility his 
 slightest intimation. A tap of the whip on the 
 saddle, springs them into action ; the check of 
 a thread rein (on the Spanish bit) would stop 
 them : and stopping short at speed they do not 
 jostle the rider or throw him forward. They 
 leap on anything man, beast, or weapon, on 
 which their master directs them. But this 
 description, so far as conduct and behavior are 
 concerned, of course only applies to the trained 
 and domesticated horse. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 DURING the autumn of 1846, Fremont had 
 had no time to visit his Mariposa purchase ; 
 but in the winter, while at Los Angelos, in- 
 viting Carson and Godey and two of his Dela- 
 ware Indians, and his constant attendant Dob- 
 son, to take a tramp with him for hunting, in 
 the time of sunny skies in February, he ex- 
 tended his hunt thither, and accomplished the 
 discovery that he had a well-wooded and well- 
 watered for California well watered tract 
 of land, of exceeding beauty, clothed, as it was 
 at this season, with a countless variety of flow- 
 ering plants, these being the grasses of tho 
 country, and seemingly well adapted for tillage, 
 certainly an excellent spot for an immense 
 cattle ranche. They killed deer and antelope 
 and smaller irame, and with the lasso captured 
 a score of wild horses from a drove of hundreds 
 
 that fled at their approach; retiirniiiir to Los 
 
 (315) 
 
316 LIFE CF JHMdTCTflKH CARSON. 
 
 Angel os viliiin a week from the time of theii 
 departure, laden with the spoils of the chase. 
 ]N"or could taese busy men refuse the kindly 
 hospitalities tendered them by the old and 
 wealthy natives of Los Angelos. We have 
 described their style of life as Carson had wit- 
 nessed it in 1828 ; and now at a ball given by 
 Don Pio Pico for the fandango of the Mexi- 
 can is a part of his life, and with all his re- 
 verses of fortune it must come in for its place 
 Carson and Fremont are of course guests, 
 and Lieutenant Gillespie, and some other of 
 the American officers. As the company was a 
 mixed one, we will not attempt a description, 
 out quote from Bayard Taylor's California, a 
 scene of a similar kind at the close of the Con- 
 stitutional Convention, about two years later, 
 when, with the discovery of gold, California 
 had a population sufficient to demand a State 
 government, and made one for herself, and 
 prepared to knock for admission into the Union 
 of States. In this Convention were the old 
 fathers of California, American army officers, 
 and some more recent arrivals ; and well was 
 it for California that the steps for the organi- 
 zation of her State government w^ere taken so 
 early, when the fact of Mexicans and natives 
 having a claim was not ignored, as it might 
 
LIFL OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 317 
 
 have been at a later da 4 e liy the rtvkh's ad- 
 venturers who throiiLrrd the golden shore. 
 
 But it is only the ball at the close of the 
 Convention we propose to describe, at which 
 Col. .Fremont and David C. Broderick were 
 present, as members of the Convention. 
 
 " The morning Convention was short and ad- 
 journed early yesterday, on account of a ball 
 given by the Convention to the citizens of Mon- 
 terey. The members, by a contribution of :?."> 
 each, raised the sum of $1,100 to provide for 
 the entertainment, which was got up in re- 
 turn for that given by the citizens about four 
 weeks since. 
 
 " The Hall was cleared of the forms and 
 tables, and decorated with young pines from 
 the forest. At each end were the American 
 colors tastefully disposed across the boughs. 
 Then chandeliers, neither of bronze ov cut- 
 glass, but neat and brilliant withal, j^ured 
 their light upon the festivities. At right 
 o'clock the fashionable hour in Monterey 
 the guests began to assemble, and in an 1 
 afterward the Hall was crowded with n< 
 all the California!! and American residi 
 There were sixty ladies present, and an e< 
 number of gentlemen, in addition to the men - 
 bers of the Convention The dark-eyed daugl 
 
318 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 ters of Monterey, Los Angelos, and Santa 
 Barbara mingled in pleasing contrast with the 
 fairer bloom of the trans-Nevadian belles. 
 The variety of feature and complexion was 
 fully equaled by the variety of dress. In the 
 whirl of the waltz, a plain, dark, nun-like robo 
 would be followed by one of pink satin and 
 gauze ; next, perhaps, a bodice of scarlet velvet, 
 with gold buttons, and then a rich figured bro- 
 cade, such as one sees on the stately dames of 
 Titian. 
 
 " The dresses of the gentlemen showed con- 
 siderable variety, but were much less pictu- 
 resque. A complete ball-dress was a happi- 
 ness attained only by a fortunate few, many 
 appearing in borrowed robes. 
 
 " The appearance of the company, neverthe- 
 less, was genteel and respectable ; and perhaps 
 the genial, unrestrained social spirit, that pos- 
 sessed all present, would have been less, had 
 there been more uniformity of costume. Gen. 
 Riley was there in full uniform, with the yel- 
 low sash he wore at Contreras ; Mayors Canby, 
 Hill, and Smith, Captains Burton, and Kane, 
 and the other officers stationed at Monterey, ac- 
 companying him. In one group might be seen 
 Capt. Slitter's soldierly mustache and blue eye, 
 in another the erect figure and quiet, dignified 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 3l9 
 
 bearing of Gen. Vallejo ; Don Peblo cle la 
 Gucrra, with his handsome, aristocratic fea- 
 tures, was the floor manager, and gallantly 
 discharged his office. Conspicuous among the 
 members were Don Miguel cle Rodrazena, and 
 Jacinto Rodriguez, both polished gentlemen 
 and deservedly popular. Dominguez, the In- 
 dian member, took no part in the dance, but 
 evidently enjoyed the scene as much as any 
 one present. The most interesting figure to 
 me, was that of Padre Remisez, who, in his 
 clerical cassock, looked on until a late hour. 
 If the strongest advocate of priestly gravity 
 and decorum had been present, he could not 
 have found in his heart to grudge the good old 
 padre the pleasure that beamed from his 
 honest countenance. 
 
 " The band consisted of two violins and two 
 guitars, whose music made up in spirit what it 
 lacked in skill. They played, as it seemed to 
 me, but three'pieces alternately, for waltz, con- 
 tra-dance, and quadrille. The latter dance 
 was evidently an unfamiliar one, for once or 
 twice the music ceased in the middle of the 
 figure. The etiquette of the dance was marked 
 by that grave, stately courtesy, which has I.HMMI 
 handed down from the old Spanish times. The 
 gentlemen invariably gave the ladies their 
 
320 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON 
 
 hand to lead them to their places on the floor ; 
 in the pauses of the dance both parties stood 
 motionless side by side, and at the conclusion 
 the lady was gravely led back to her seat. 
 
 " At twelve o'clock supper was announced. 
 J he Court room in the lower story had been 
 fitted up for the purpose, and as it was not 
 large enough to admit all the guests, the ladies 
 were first conducted thither, and waited upon 
 by a select committee. The refreshments con- 
 sisted of turkey, roast-pig, oeef, tongue, and 
 pates, with wines and liquors of various sorts, 
 and coffee. A large supply had been provided 
 but after everybody \vas served, there was not 
 much remaining. The ladies began to leave 
 about two o'clock, but an hour later the dance 
 was still going on with spirit." 
 
 The dance at the home of Pico, was after 
 the same fashion and similar to those we have 
 mentioned as the constant amusement of the 
 people at Taos, where Carson resided, and in 
 all the Mexican cities. 
 
 But Carson was too valuable an aid to be 
 long allowed to be idle. In March, 1847, he 
 was ordered to be the bearer of important dis- 
 patches to the War Department at Washing- 
 ton, and Lieutenant Beale was directed to ac- 
 company him with dispatches for the Depart 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 321 
 
 ment of the Navy. The latter was still so 
 much an invalid as to require Carson to lift 
 him on and off his horse for the first twenty 
 days of the journey, but Carson's genial spirits 
 and kindly care, with the healthful exercise of 
 horsemanship, recovered him rapidly ; and the 
 country was so well known to Carson, that they 
 avoided collisions with the Indians by eluding 
 their haunts ; except once upon the Gila, when 
 they were attacked in the night, and a shower 
 of arrows sent among them as they lay in 
 camp, from which his men had escaped, being 
 injured by holding their packsaddles before 
 them. They stopped briefly at Taos, and pur- 
 sued their journey so rapidly that the two 
 thousand five hundred miles on horseback, 
 and the fifteen hundred by railroad, were accom- 
 plished in less than three months. 
 
 The incidents of such a journey had become 
 every-day scenes to Carson, so that their nar- 
 ration would seem to him a waste of words on 
 the part of his biographer. And yet the emo- 
 tions with which he witnessed, for the first 
 time, the monument of advancing civilization 
 in the Eastern cities, and the zest with which 
 he enjoyed the social comforts of the hospitality 
 aflbrded him at the homes of Lieutenant lk\-ilo 
 and Col. Benton, can be better imagined than 
 
322 LIFE OF CHEISTOPHER CAESON. 
 
 described. He had taken but a small supply 
 of provisions from Los Angelos, lest it should 
 be cumbersome to him, and as the road lay 
 often through a country destitute of game, there 
 had been fasting on the way, sometimes days 
 together ; but his party, which he had selected, 
 making their ability to endure such an enter- 
 prise a leading quality of commendation to 
 him, bore all without a murmur ; stimulated 
 by the one impulse, of reaching their homes and 
 friends, while Carson cared to secure the appro- 
 bation of those whom he served, and the con- 
 sciousness of having been an honor to his 
 country. 
 
 Col. Benton met him at St. Louis, and reach- 
 ing Washington, Mrs. Fremont was at the 
 depot to take him to her's and her father's 
 home. She waited for no introduction, but at 
 once approached him, calling him by name, and 
 telling him she should have known him from 
 her husband's description. After a brief tarry 
 in Washington, a lion himself and introduced 
 to all the lions, he departed with Lieutenant 
 Bcale for St. Louis, but business detained the 
 latter who went later by sea ; while Carson, 
 whom President Polk had made a Lieutenant 
 in the ^trmy, with fifty troops under his com- 
 mand to take through the Camanche country, 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 323 
 
 again commenced his journey across the prai- 
 ries, having a battle with these Indians as was 
 expected, for they were at war with the whites 
 
 This did not occur, however, until near the 
 Rocky Mountains, near the place called " Tito 
 Point of Rocks," on the Santa Fe trail, which 
 place is regarded as one of the most dangerous 
 in the New Mexican country, because affording 
 shelter for ambush at a place where the travel 
 has to pass a spur of rocky hills, at whose base 
 is found the water and camp ground travelers 
 seek, and where unwritten history counts many 
 a battle. 
 
 Arriving here, Carson foun a company of 
 United States volunteers, and went into camp 
 near them. Early in the morning the animals 
 of the volunteer company were captured by a 
 band of Indians, while the men were taking 
 them to a spot of fresh pasture. The herders 
 were without arms, and in the confusion the 
 cattle came into Carson's camp, who, with his 
 men, were ready with their rifles, and recap- 
 tured the cattle from the Indians, but tho 
 horses of the picketing party were successfully 
 stampeded. 
 
 Several of the thieves had been mortally 
 wounded, as the signs after their departure 
 showed, but the Indian custom of tying the 
 
324 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 wounded upon their horses, prevented taking 
 the Indian's trophy of victory, the scalp, and 
 the object of the Indians in their assaults. 
 The success of the Arab-like Camanches is well 
 illustrated by this skirmish, giving best assur- 
 ance that Carson, who was never surprised in 
 this whole journey, possessed that element of 
 caution so requisite in a commander in such a 
 country. 
 
 Of the two soldiers whose turn it had been 
 to stand guard this morning, it was found that 
 one was sleeping when the alarm was given, 
 and when it was reported to Carson, he at once 
 administered the Chinook method of punish- 
 ment the dress of a squaw for that day, and 
 resuming his journey, arrived safely in Santa 
 Fe, where he left the soldiers, and hired sixteen 
 men of his own choosing, to make with him the 
 remainder of the journey, as he had been or- 
 dered at Fort Leavenworth. To his great joy, 
 his family were here to meet him, as he had 
 requested. Upon Virgin River, he had to com- 
 mand the obedience of Indians who came into 
 his camp and left it tardily, by firing upon 
 them, which required some nerve and experi- 
 ence in a leader of so small a party, while the 
 Indians numbered three hundred warriors, 
 They arrived at Los Angelos without further 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 323 
 
 incident than the killing and eating of two 
 mules, to eke out their scanty subsistence, in 
 the destitution of game and time to hunt it; 
 whence Carson proceeded to Monterey, to de- 
 liver his dispatches at headquarters, and re- 
 turned to the duty assigned him as an acting 
 Lieutenant in the United States Army, in the 
 company of dragoons under Capt. Smith, allow- 
 ing himself no time to recruit ; and soon he was 
 sent with a command of twenty-five dragoons, 
 to the Tejon Pass, to examine the papers and 
 cargoes of Indians passing this point, the route 
 which most of the Indian depredators took in 
 passing in and out of California ; and here ho 
 did much good service during the winter. 
 
 In the spring he again went overland to 
 Washington with dispatches, meeting no serious 
 difficulty till he came to the Grand River, where 
 in the time of spring flood he was obliged to 
 construct a raft, and the second load over was 
 swamped, the men barely saving their lives, 
 which rendered his party destitute of comforts 
 in their onward journey, but arriving at Taos 
 he stopped with his family, and at his own 
 hnnie gave his men a few days to recruit, and 
 himself the luxury of intercourse with his 
 family and friends, which no one enjoys more 
 than Christopher Carson. 
 
326 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 They had encountered several hundred In- 
 dians of the Apaches and Utahs, whom Carson 
 told he had nothing to give, and upon whom 
 the appearance of his men gave assurance they 
 would make little by attacking. At Santa Fe, 
 Carson learned that his appointment as Lieu- 
 tenant by the President had not been confirmed 
 by the Senate, and his friends advised him not 
 to carry the dispatches any further ; but Carson 
 was not to be deterred from doing his duty be- 
 cause the honor he deserved was not accorded 
 to him, saying that " as he had been selected 
 for an important trust, he should do his best to 
 fulfill it, if it cost him his life ;" and he proceeded 
 to Washington, feeling that if ill-usage had 
 reached him in connection with Fremont, to 
 whom he had been of so much service, it was 
 no more than he might have expected ; as, 
 for many months past, political considerations 
 and* rivalries had been seen~~by him to govern 
 the actions of certain men, instead of a care for 
 the best interests of the country. He had seen 
 men in command of troops in the prairies who 
 had the least possible knowledge of the country, 
 and especially of Indian warfare. He would 
 have advised that frortier men be chosen for 
 such appointments, rather than those simply 
 educated in the schools and entirely unaccus- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 327 
 
 to endure privations, but if others ne- 
 glected the wiser course, that was no reason 
 why he should not do his duty. 
 
 Learning that the Camanches were up^n the 
 Santa Fe road, several hundred strong, he re- 
 duced his escort to ten choice mountain men, 
 and determined upon making a trail of his own 
 returned to Taos, and struck over to the head- 
 waters of the Platte, and past Fort Kearney to 
 Leavenworth, where he left his escort and pro- 
 ceeded alone to Washington, and delivering his 
 dispatches as directed, returned immediately to 
 Leavenworth, and thence to Taos, where he ar- 
 rived in October; and was again at home and 
 free from the burdens and responsibilities of 
 public life, with the settled purpose of making 
 a protracted stay, and providing himself with a 
 permanent home. 
 
 Perhaps there is no tribe of Indians besides 
 the Seminoles in Florida, that have given the 
 United States more trouble than the Apaches, 
 in the time that we have held the claim of their 
 country ; and the best proof of their bravery 
 may be found in the fact that. the warriors 
 nearly all die in battle. Living in a country 
 as healthy as any in the world, and constantly 
 occupied in hunting buffalo, or Mexicans and 
 whites, with whom they are at war, thev are 
 
328 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOIT. 
 
 exceedingly regardful of their national honor, 
 and as their mountain retreats are almost in- 
 accessible, they have the advantage of regular 
 troops, and almost of old mountaineers, only 
 as the latter can equal them in numbers. 
 
 Col. Beale was occupying this department at 
 the time of which we write, and engaged in an 
 effort to chastise the Apaches under Clico Ve- 
 lasquez, their exceedingly blood-thirsty and 
 cruel chief, whose habit was to adorn his dress 
 with the finger bones of the victims he had 
 slaughtered. Col. Beale took charge of the 
 command himself, and employed Carson as his 
 guide. They crossed snow mountains to search 
 for the Indians, and returning came upon a 
 village, which they attacked, and captured a 
 large amount of goods and two of the chiefs of 
 the tribe, with whom Col. Beale had a long 
 talk, and then dismissed to return to their 
 tribe, hoping thus to convince them of the mag- 
 nanimity of the United States Government, 
 \vhen the command returned to Taos to recruit 
 his troops. 
 
 Meantime . Carson entertained, at his own 
 home in Taos, Fremont and his party of suffer- 
 ing explorers, who were making a winter survey 
 of a pass for a road to California, and by taking 
 a difficult mountain pass, had lost all their 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 329 
 
 mules and several of their party. Science is 
 not all that is needed for such undertakings, 
 and as labor and learning should act in co- 
 partnership, to be most effective, so theoretic 
 and practical skill should be associated in any 
 effort of difficulty, as this trip of Col. Fremont, 
 without an experienced mountaineer for a 
 guide, proved to him and his men, some of 
 whom had fed upon the others who bad 
 starved. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 IN the last chapter, we left Fremont in the 
 hospitable mansion of his old and tried friend 
 Carson, after one of the most extraordinary 
 journeys ever performed by any man who sur- 
 vived to tell its horrors ; and as the names of 
 Carson and Fremont are inseparably cemented 
 in history, as in friendship, and as the former 
 had often endured sufferings almost as great 
 as those of his old commander and friend, we 
 shall be pardoned if we allude to this journey 
 at some length. There is no earthly doubt 
 that had Carson been the guide, many valuable 
 lives of noble, glorious men might have been 
 spared, and sufferings on the part of those 
 who survived this disastrous expedition, almost 
 UK) horrible for belief, avoided. 
 
 Col. Fremont, in a letter written to his wife 
 from Taos, the day after his arrival there in a 
 famishing condition, and having lost one full 
 
 third of his party by absolute starvation and 
 
 (330 j J J 
 
LIFE Of CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 3*31 
 
 , mentions that at Pueblo he engaged 
 as ft guide, an old trapper of twenty-five years. 
 experience, named " Bill Williams," and ho 
 frankly admits that the "error of his journey 
 was committed in engaging this man." 
 
 In narrating some of the incidents of this 
 terribly disastrous journey, we shall use, of 
 course, the language of those best qualified to 
 depict its horrors, i. e., Col. Fremont, and 
 Mr. Carvalho, a gentleman of Baltimore, who 
 accompanied the expedition as daguerreotypist 
 and artist. 
 
 Col. Fremont, in his letter to his wife, treats 
 of the subject generally, but when we quote 
 from the narrative of Mr. Carvalho, we think 
 our readers will admit that such a record of 
 human suffering, and human endurance, added 
 to such an exhibition of moral and physical 
 courage, has never been paralleled. 
 
 Col. Fremont writes, (speaking first of Wil- 
 liams the guide,) 
 
 "He proved never to have in the least 
 known, or entirely to have forgotten, the whole 
 region of country through which we were to 
 pass. We occupied more than half a month 
 in making the journey of a few days, blunder- 
 ing a tortuous way through deep SP.OW which 
 already began to choke up the passes, for 
 
332 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 which we were obliged to waste time in search- 
 ing. About the llth December we found 
 ourselves at the North of the Del Norte Canon, 
 where that river issues from the St. John's 
 Mountain, one of the highest, most rugged 
 and impracticable of all the Rocky Mountain 
 ranges, inaccessible to trappers and hunters 
 even in the summer time. 
 
 " Across the point of this elevated range our 
 guide conducted us, and having still great con- 
 fidence in his knowledge, we pressed onwards 
 with fatal resolution. Even along the river 
 bottoms the snow was already belly deep for 
 the mules, frequently snowing in the valley 
 and almost constantly in the mountains. The 
 cold was extraordinary ; at the warmest hours 
 of the day (between one and two) the ther- 
 mometer (Fahrenheit) standing in the shade 
 of only a tree trunk at zero ; the day sun- 
 shiny, with a moderate breeze. We pressed 
 np towards the summit, the snow deepening ; 
 and in four or five days reached the naked 
 ridges which lie above the timbered country, 
 and which form the dividing grounds between 
 the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, 
 
 u Along these naked ridges it storms nearly 
 all winter, and the winds sweep across them 
 with remorseless fury. On our first attempt 
 
LIFE OF CEHIUSTOPHER CARSOtf. 333 
 
 to cross we encountered a ponder i (dry snow 
 driven thick through the air by violent wind, 
 and in which objects are visible only at a short 
 distance,) and were driven back, having some 
 ten or twelve men variously frozen, face, hands, 
 or feet. The guide became nigh being frozen 
 tc death here, and dead mules were already 
 lying about the fires. Meantime, it snowed 
 steadily. The next day we made mauls, and 
 beating a road or trench through the snu\v, 
 crossed the crest in defiance of the pouderie, 
 and encamped immediately below in the edge 
 of the timber. 
 
 " Westward, the country was buried in deep 
 snow. It was impossible to advance, and to 
 turn back was equally impracticable. We 
 were overtaken by sudden and inevitable ruin, 
 and it was instantly apparent that we should 
 lose every animal. 
 
 " I determined to recross the mountain more 
 towards the open country, and haul or pack 
 the baggage (by men) down to the Del Norte. 
 With great labor the baggage was transported 
 across the crest to the head springs of a little 
 stream leading to the main river. A few days 
 were sufficient to destroy our fine band of 
 mules. They generally kept huddled together, 
 and as they froze, one would be seen to tumblo 
 
334 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 down, and the snow would co\er him; some- 
 times they would break off and rush down 
 towards the timber until they were stopped by 
 the deep snow, where they were soon bidder, 
 by the ponder ie. 
 
 "The courage of the men failed fast; in 
 fact, I have never seen men so soon discouraged 
 by misfortune as we were on this occasion; 
 but, as you know, the party was not consti 
 tuted like the former ones. But among those 
 who deserve to be honorably mentioned, and 
 who behaved like what they were men of the 
 old exploring party, were Godey, King, and 
 Taplin ; and first of all Godey. 
 
 " In this situation, I determined to send in a 
 party to the Spanish settlements of New 
 Mexico for provisions and mules to transport 
 our baggage to Taos. With economy, and 
 after we should leave the mules, we had not 
 two weeks' provisions in the camp. These 
 consisted of a store which I had reserved for a 
 hard day, macaroni and bacon. From among 
 the volunteers I chose King, Brackenridge, 
 Creutzfeldt, and the guide Williams ; the party 
 under the command of King. In case of tha 
 least delay at the settlements, he was to send 
 une an express. 
 
 Day alter day passed by, and no news from 
 
LIFE OF CTIRISTOPJIF.il CARSOiN". 335 
 
 our express party. Snow continued to fall 
 almost incessantly on the mountain. The 
 spirits of the camp grew lower. Prone laid 
 down in the trail and froze to death. In a sun- 
 shiny day, and having with him means to make 
 a fire, he threw his blankets down in the trail 
 and laid there till he froze to death. After 
 sixteen days had elapsed from King's depart- 
 ure, I became so uneasy at the delay that I 
 decided to wait no longer. I was aware that 
 our troops had been engaged in hostilities with 
 the Spanish Utahs and Apaches, who range in 
 the North River valley, and became fearful 
 that they (King's party) had been cut off by 
 these Indians ; I could imagine no other acci- 
 dent. Leaving the camp employed with the 
 baggage and in charge of Mr. Vincenthaler, I 
 started down the river with a small party con 
 sisting of Godey, (with his young nephew,) Mr. 
 Prcuss and Saunders. We carried our arms 
 and provision for two or three days. In tho 
 camp the messes had provisions for two or 
 three meals, more or less ; and about five 
 pounds of sugar to each man. Failing to meet 
 King, my intention was to make the Red River 
 settlement about twenty-five miles north of 
 Taos, and send back the speediest relief possi- 
 ble. My instructions to the camp were, that 
 
336 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 if thry did not hear from me within a stated 
 lime, they were to follow down the Del Nortc. 
 
 "A bout sunset on the sixth day, we discov- 
 ered a little smoke, in a grove of timber off 
 from the river, and thinking perhaps it might 
 be our express party on its return, we A\ent to 
 sec. This was the twenty-second day since 
 they had left us, and the sixth since w r e had 
 left the camp. We found them three of 
 them Creutzfeldt, Brackenridge, and Wil- 
 liams the most miserable objects I have ever 
 seen. 1 did not recognize Creutzfeldt's features 
 when Brackenridge brought him up to me and 
 mentioned his name. They had been starving. 
 King had starved to death a few days before. 
 His remains were some six or eight miles 
 above, near the river. By aid of the horses, 
 we carried these three men with us to Red 
 River settlement, which we reached (Jan. 20,) 
 on the tenth evening after leaving our camp in 
 the mountains, having traveled through snow 
 and on foot one hundred and sixty miles. 
 
 " The morning after reaching the Red River 
 town, Godey and myself rode on to the Rio 
 Hondo and Taos, in search of animals and 
 supplies, and on the second evening after that 
 on which we had reached Red River, Godey 
 had returned to that place with about thirty 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON". 337 
 
 animals, provisions, and four Mexicans, with 
 which he set out for the camp on the following 
 morning. 
 
 " You will remember that I had left the 
 camp with occupation sufficient to employ 
 them for three or four days, after which they 
 were to follow me down the river. Within 
 that time I had expected the relief from King, 
 if it was to come at all. 
 
 " They remained where I had left them seven 
 days, and then started clown the river. Manuel 
 you will remember Manuel, the Cosumne 
 Indian gave way to a feeling of despair after 
 they had traveled about two miles, begged 
 Haler to shoot him, and then turned and made 
 his way back to the camp ; intending to die 
 there, as he doubtless soon did. They followed 
 our trail down the river twenty-two men they 
 tvere in all. About ten miles below the camp, 
 Wise gave out, threw away his gun and 
 blanket, and a few hundred yards further fell 
 over into the snow and died. Two Indian 
 boys, young men, countrymen of Manuel, were 
 behind. They rolled up Wise in his blanket, 
 and buried him in the snow on the river bank. 
 N"o more died that day none the next. Carver 
 raved during the night, his imagination wholly 
 occupied with images of many things which ho 
 22 
 
338 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON, 
 
 fancied himself eating. In the morning, lie 
 wandered off from the party, and probably 
 soon died. They did not see him again. 
 
 "Sorel on this day gave out, and laid down 
 to die. They built him a fire, and Morin, who 
 was in a dying condition, and snow-blind, re- 
 mained. These two did not probably last till 
 the next morning. That evening, I think, Hub- 
 bard killed a deer. They traveled on, getting 
 here and there a grouse, but probably nothing 
 else, the snow having frightened off the game. 
 Things were desperate, and brought Haler to 
 the determination of breaking up the party, in 
 order to prevent them from living upon each 
 other. He told them ' that he had done all he 
 could for them, that they had no other hope 
 remaining than the expected relief, and that 
 their best plan was to scatter and make the 
 best of their way in small parties down the 
 river. That, for his part, if he was to be eaten, 
 he would, at all events, be found traveling 
 when he did die.' They accordingly separated. 
 
 " With Mr. Haler continued five others and 
 the two Indian boys. Rohrer now became 
 very despondent; Haler encouraged him by 
 recalling to mind his family, and urged him to 
 hold out a little longer. On this day he fell 
 behind, but promised to overtake them at 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CAKSOX. 339 
 
 evening. Haler, Scott, Hubbard, and Martin 
 agreed that if any one of them should give 
 out, the others were not to wait for him to die, 
 but build a fire for him, and push on. At 
 night, Kern's mess encamped a few hundred 
 yards from Haler's, with the intention, accord- 
 ing to Taplin, to remain where they were until 
 the relief should come, and in the meantime to 
 live upon those who had died, and upon the 
 weaker ones as they should die. With the 
 three Kerns were Cathcart, Andrews, McKie, 
 Stepperfeldt, and Taplin. 
 
 Ferguson and Beadle had remained to- 
 gether behind. In the evening, Rohrer camo 
 up and remained with Kern's mess. Mr. Haler 
 learned afterwards from that mess that Rohrer 
 and Andrews wandered off the next day and 
 died. They say they saw their bodies. In the 
 morning Haler's party continued on. After a 
 few hours, Hubbard gave out. They built 
 him a fire, gathered him some wood, and left 
 him, without, as Haler says, turning their 
 heads to look at him as they went off. About 
 two miles further, Scott you remember Scott 
 who used to shoot birds for you at the fron- 
 tier u-ave out. They did the -same for him as 
 for Iluhbard, and continued on. In th^ ni 
 noon, the Indian boys went ahead, and before 
 
340 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 nightfall met Godey with the relief. Haler 
 heard and knew the guns which he fired for 
 him at night, and starting early in the morn- 
 ing, soon met him. * I hear that they all cried 
 together like children. Haler turned back 
 with Godey, and went with him to where they 
 had left Scott. He was still alive, and was 
 saved. Hubbard was dead still warm. From 
 Kern's mess they learned the death of An- 
 drews and Rohrer, and a little above, met 
 Ferguson, w r ho told them that Beadle had died 
 the night before." 
 
 Such is a portion of the brief, but thrilling 
 narrative of this extraordinary and disastrous 
 journey, as detailed in a familiar letter by 
 Col. Fremont to his wife ; but Mr. Carvalho 
 gives in detail some of the particulars of the 
 horrors which overtook them, all through the 
 unfortunate er/or of engaging as guide, a man 
 who either knew nothing, or had forgotten all 
 he had ever known, of the localities which tho 
 party designed and hoped to reach. 
 
CHAlTJ&B, XXXII. 
 
 WE quote now from the closing part of Mr. 
 Carvalho's narrative : 
 
 " At last we are drawn to the necessity of 
 killing our brave horses for food. To-day the 
 first sacrifice was made. It was with us all a 
 solemn event, rendered far more solemn how- 
 ever by the impressive scene which followed. 
 Col. Fremont came out to us, and after refer- 
 ring to the dreadful necessities to which his 
 men had been reduced on a previous expedi- 
 tion, of eating each other, he begged us to 
 swear that in no extremity of hunger, would 
 any of his men lift his hand against, or at- 
 tempt to prey upon a comrade ; sooner let him 
 die with them than live upon them. They all 
 promptly took the oath, and threatened to 
 shoot the first one that hinted or proposed 
 such a thing. 
 
 " It was a most impressive scene, to witness 
 twenty-two men on a snowy mountain, with 
 
 bare heads, and hands and eyes upraised to 
 
 (341) 
 
342 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 heaven, uttering the solemn vow, ( So help mo 
 God !' and the valley echoed, i So help me 
 God!' I never, until that moment, realized 
 the awful situation in which I was placed. I 
 remembered the words of the Psalmist, and 
 felt perfectly assured of my final safety. They 
 wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way ; 
 they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and 
 thirsty their soul fainteth within them, and they 
 cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he deliv- 
 ered them out of their distresses. 
 
 ******* 
 
 " When an animal gave out, he was shot down 
 by the Indians, who immediately cut his 
 throat, and saved all the blood in our camp 
 kettle. This animal was divided into twenty- 
 two-parts. Two parts for Col. Fremont and 
 his cook, ten parts for the white camp, and ten 
 parts for the Indians. Col. Fremont hitherto 
 messed with his officers ; at this time he re- 
 quested that they would excuse him, as it gave 
 Jiirn pain, and called to mind the horrible 
 scenes which had been enacted during his last 
 expedition he could not see his officers obliged 
 to partake of such disgusting food. 
 
 " The rule he adopted was that one animal 
 should serve for six meals for the whole party. 
 If one gave out in the meantime, of course it 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 343 
 
 an exception ; but otherwise, on no consid- 
 eration was an animal to be slaughtered, for 
 every one that was killed, placed a man on 
 foot, and limited our chances of escape from 
 our present situation. If the men chose to cat 
 up their six meals all in one day, they would 
 have to go ^vithout until the time arrived for 
 killing another. It frequently happened that 
 the white camp was without food from twenty- 
 four to thirty-six hours, while Col. Fremont 
 and the Delawares always had a meal. The 
 latter religiously abstained from encroaching 
 on the portion allotted for another meal, while 
 many men of our camp, I may say all of them, 
 not content with their portion, would, to satisfy 
 the cravings of hunger, surreptitiously purloin 
 from their pile of meat, at different times, 
 sundry pieces, thus depriving themselves of 
 each other's allowance. My own sense of right 
 was so subdued by the sufferings I endured by 
 hunger, and- walking almost barefooted through 
 the snow, that while going to guard one night, 
 I stole a piece of frozen horse liver, ate it raw, 
 and thought it, at the time, the most delicious 
 morsel I ever tasted. 
 
 "The entrails of the horse were 'well 
 shaken' (for we had no water to wash them 
 in) and boiled with snow, producing a highly 
 
344 LIFE or CHRISTOPHER 
 
 flavored soup, which the men considered so 
 valuable and delicious that they forbade the 
 cook to skim the pot for fear any portion of it 
 might be lost. The hide was divided into 
 equal portions, and with the bones roasted and 
 burnt to a crisp. This we munched on the 
 road ; but the men not being satisfied with the 
 division of the meat by the cook, made him 
 turn his back, while another took up each 
 share separately, and enquired who should 
 have it. When the snows admitted it, we col- 
 lected the thick leaves of a species of cactus 
 which we also put in the fire to burn off the 
 prickles, and ate. It then resembled in taste 
 and nourishment an Irish potato peeling. We 
 lived in this way for nearly fifty days, traveling 
 from Grand River across the divide to Green 
 River, and over the first range of the Wahsach 
 Mountains, on foot, Col. Fremont at our head, 
 tramping a pathway for his men to follow. He, 
 as well as the rest of the party, towards the 
 last was entirely barefoot some of them had 
 a piece of raw hide on their feet, which, how- 
 ever, becoming hard and stiff by the frost, 
 made them more uncomfortable than walking 
 without any. 
 
 " Yesterday, Mr. Oliver Fuller, of St. Louis, 
 ftrho had been on foot for som^ weeks, suddenly 
 
LIFE OF CiriUSTOniER CARSON. 345 
 
 gn r e out. Our engineers and myself were with 
 him* He found himself unable to proceed 
 the snow was very deep, and his feet were 
 badly frozen. He insisted that we should leave 
 him, and hasten to camp for relief; not being 
 able to render him any assistance by remain- 
 ing, we wrapped his blankets around him and 
 left him on the trail. In vain we searched for 
 material to build him a fire nothing was 
 visible but a wild waste of snow ; we were also 
 badly crippled, and we did not arrive in camp 
 until ten o'clock at night, at which time it began 
 snowing furiously. We told Col. Fremont of 
 Mr. Fuller's situation, when he sent a Mexican 
 named Frank, with the two best animals and 
 cooked horsemeat, to bring Mr. Fuller in. 
 There was not a dry eye in the whole camp 
 that night the men sat up anxiously awaiting 
 the return of our companions. 
 
 " At daylight, they being still out, Col Fre- 
 mont sent three Delawares mounted, to look 
 for them. About ten o'clock one of them re- 
 turned with the Mexican and two mules, 
 Frank was badly frozen, he had lost the track, 
 and bewildered and cold, he sank down hold- 
 ing on to the animals, where he was found by 
 the Delaware during the afternoon. The two 
 Delawares supporting Mr. Fuller were 
 
346 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER GARSOff. 
 
 approaching. He was found awake, but almost 
 dead from the cold and faintness. Col. Fre- 
 mont personally rendered him all the assist- 
 ance in his power. So did all of us for he 
 was beloved and respected by the whole camp 
 for his gentlemanly behavior and his many 
 virtues. Col. Fremont remained at this dreary 
 place near three days, to allow poor Fuller 
 time to recruit and afterwards assigned to 
 him the best mule to carry him, while two of 
 the men walked on either side to support him. 
 A portion of our scanty food was appropriated 
 at every meal from each man's portion to make 
 Mr. Fuller's larger, as he required sustenance 
 more than they did. 
 
 " On the 7th February, almost in sight of 
 succor, the Almighty took him to himself: he 
 died on horseback his two companions 
 wrapped him in his India rubber blanket and 
 laid him across the trail. We arrived next 
 day at Parawan. After the men had rested a 
 little, we went in company with three or four 
 of the inhabitants of Parawan, to bury our 
 deceased friend. His remains had not been 
 disturbed during our absence." 
 
 In the month of February, and soon after 
 Fremont's arrival and departure, Col. Beale 
 again solicited Carson to be his guide while he 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER UAESOff. 347 
 
 paid a visit to a large village of Indians con- 
 gregated on the Arkansas, for the purpose of 
 carrying out a stipulation of the treaty with 
 Mexico, that the captives the Indians retained 
 in the territory ceded to the United States, 
 should be returned to Mexico. He found four 
 tribes congregated, to the number of two thou- 
 sand, for the purpose of meeting their agent, 
 an experienced mountaineer, who informed 
 Col. Beale that it would be useless to attempt 
 to enforce the provisions of the treaty here, 
 especially when so many Indians were together, 
 and succeeded in persuading him to desist from 
 the use of force against them. 
 
 These Indians had been accustomed to deal- 
 ing with poorly clad Mexican soldiers, and the 
 sight and bearing of Col. Beale and Carson and 
 the men under their command, must have in- 
 duced a respect for the government they repre- 
 sented, so that they did not consider the expe- 
 dition as without good result. 
 
 The Camanche Indians could not well have 
 been induced to fulfill the provisions of the 
 treaty with Mexico, especially as they were not 
 a party to it, for in the very many years past, 
 it had been their custom to make incursions 
 upon the Mexican settlements and parties of 
 travelers, and to capture their cattle and take 
 
348 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 their goods, besides bringing away as many 
 children as possible, in order that the girls pro- 
 cured in this way should, when grown, marry 
 the braves of the tribe ; till now at least a third 
 of the blood of the tribe was Mexican. This 
 amalgamation had become more extensive in 
 this than in any of the other New Mexican 
 tribes. 
 
 The Apache is smaller in stature and more 
 closely built than the Camanche ; less skilled 
 in horsemanship, but equally brave, with 
 beautiful symmetry of form, and " muscles as 
 hard as iron," with an elasticity of movement 
 that shows a great amount of physical train- 
 ing, and an eye that reveals the treachery of 
 their character. 
 
CHAPTER XXXtll, 
 
 ARRIVING again in Taos, to carry ihk> effect 
 at once, the resolution he had formed of estab- 
 lishing for himself a permanent home, ho 
 joined his old friend Maxwell in the purpose 
 of occupying a beautifully romantic mountain 
 valley, fifty miles east of Taos, called by the 
 Indians Rayedo, which would long since have 
 been settled by the Mexicans, only it was very 
 much exposed to Indian depredations. 
 
 Through the centre of this valley flows a 
 broad mountain stream, and, for the loveliness 
 of the scenery, or the fertility of its broad, 
 sloping basin, or the mountain supply of tim- 
 ber, there can scarcely be found a spot to equal 
 it. Carson and Maxwell established a settle- 
 ment about mid-way in the valley ; and at the 
 present date, have an imposing little village, 
 in which the houses of Carson and Maxwell 
 
 are prominent by reason of their greater di- 
 
 (349) 
 
350 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 mensions, and indicate to the trader a style 
 of plenteous comfort, which, while it might 
 offend the pale-faced denizen of our most fash- 
 ionable thoroughfares, the traveler, who has 
 learned to love nature and health, gazes upon 
 with pleasure, and gladly tarries to enjoy the 
 patriarchal hospitality, and the sumptuous, 
 almost regal luxury of their hunter occupants, 
 who "count their horses and their cattle by 
 the hundreds," and whose thousand sheep are 
 on the hills ; whose larder is replenished from 
 the still countless herds of prairie oxen which 
 roam through those magnificent plains, and 
 the lesser bands of speed- defy ing, beauteous 
 quadrupeds of the hills, and the fleet climbers 
 of the rocks and big-horned mountain cliffs, 
 and the flocks that build their eyrie in their 
 crags, all of which are occupants of the sheep- 
 pasture of these chevaliers of the wilderness, 
 and in whose court-yards may be seen speci- 
 mens of this game, of which they are not 
 ashamed; for a young Carson has lassoed a 
 little grizzly, while antelope and young fawn 
 feed from his sister's fingers. 
 
 Here too the Indian braves fear not to come 
 and call the master of the mansion, Father, 
 " Father Kit," is his long time appellation 
 and they have learned to look on him and his, 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 351 
 
 \vith all that reverence and fondness with 
 which grateful children look upon a worthy 
 sire. 
 
 Carson cannot tarry at his pleasant home, 
 much more than to care for its necessary super- 
 intendence, for his life is the property of the 
 public; and to the quiet settlement of the In- 
 dians into the condition which is happiest for 
 them, so far as it can be secured in the condi- 
 tion of the country and their own habitudes, is 
 the work to which he has wisely devoted him- 
 self. He has given to the Indians the best 
 years of his ever busy life, and gives them 
 still, neglectful of immediate personal comfort 
 or rather finding highest satisfaction in 
 doing what is fittest he should do, because it is 
 the work in which he can accomplish the most 
 good. 
 
 In the vicinity of the home of Carson, and 
 that of his friend Maxwell, are gathered a 
 number of their old comrades men of the 
 mountains, who have survived the multitudi- 
 nous and conflicting events which have come 
 over the spirit of the Yankee, and the activi- 
 ties of the Yankee nation, since the business of 
 trapping first became for her hardy sons a lu- 
 crative employment ; and here, in the society of 
 each other, and the conscious security of pro- 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 tection for each other, in a locality congenial to 
 their tastes, with occasional old time occupa- 
 tions, and where the rivalries of their predi- 
 lections can be still indulged, and quietly main- 
 tained, they are ever ready after every test to 
 concede to Christopher Carson the palm of 
 being first as a hunter, first as an experienced 
 traveler and guide through the mountain coun- 
 try, whether it be by a route he has, or one he 
 has never before traveled. 
 
 The stories of his exploits in defence of his 
 neighbors and friends, and to recover from the 
 Indians property they had stolen, since he left 
 the service of the Army of the United States, 
 would of themselves fill a volume, and we 
 have space to allude to but a very few. 
 
 A Mrs. White, the wife of a merchant of 
 Santa Fe, had been taken captive with her 
 child, (which was soon killed before her eyes,) 
 by a party of Apaches, who had shot her hus- 
 band, and all the men of his company, before 
 capturing her. A party of New Mexicans was 
 at once organized to pursue the Indian band, 
 and effect Mrs. White's release if possible. 
 The guidance of this party was entrusted to 
 a neighbor by the name of Watkins Lsroux, 
 rather than to Carson. They found the ApacV* 
 murderers, and Carson was advanciKg t v i ' - 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 3- r '3 
 
 most to attack them, when he discovered that 
 tlie rest of the party were not following ; con- 
 sequently he had to retire, and when the com- 
 mander ordered the attack to be made, it was 
 too late, for the Indians had murdered Mrs. 
 White and were preparing to escape by flight. 
 Carson tells this story with all the generous 
 magnanimity a great soul exercises in speaking 
 of a failure on the part of a rival ; admitting 
 that, if his advice had been followed, they 
 might have saved Mrs. White, but affirming 
 that the command " did what seemed to it the 
 best, and therefore no one has any right to 
 find fault." 
 
 This occurred in the autumn of eighteen 
 hundred and forty-nine, directly after the com- 
 mencement of the settlement of Rayedo. 
 
 Near the close of the following winter, all 
 the animals belonging to the party of ten dra- 
 goons which had been stationed there to pro- 
 tect the settlement, were run off by the ma- 
 rauding Apaches, and the two herders having 
 thorn in charge, were wounded. Early the fol- 
 lowing morning, Carson and three of the set- 
 tlers with the ten dragoons, started in pursuit, 
 discovered the Indians twenty well armed 
 warriors and four of the party being obliged 
 to stop, because their animals had given out, 
 23 
 
354 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 the remaining ten rode down the Indians, 
 who might themselves have escaped but for 
 their persistence in retaining the stolen horses, 
 which were all recaptured except four, while 
 fi re of the warriors were killed, and several 
 more wounded. This expedition w T as planned 
 and executed under the direction of Carson, and 
 the fact that he was their leader gave every 
 man confidence, as they knew that with him an 
 engagement implied success or death. 
 
 The next spring Carson went to Fort Laramie 
 with a drove of horses and mules, making the 
 journey successfully and pleasantly in company 
 with Timothy Goodell, another old moun- 
 taineer, being the observed of all observers to 
 the large numbers of overland emigrants to 
 California whom he met at the fort, where 
 Goodell left him to go to California. 
 
 Carson found a Mexican to attend him upon 
 his return, and taking a circuitous course, he 
 managed to avoid the Apaches ; often traveling 
 by moon-light, and taking their animals into a 
 quiet nook, and climbing a tree for a little 
 Bleep during the day, they finally reached tho 
 Mexican settlements in safety. 
 
 The days of the following summer winged 
 their happy flight with great rapidity, while 
 Carson was directing and aiding in his farm 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 355 
 
 ing, and, of course, pursuing his favorite em- 
 ployment of hunting, ever returning from a 
 hunt with his horse laden with deer or ante- 
 lope, wild turkey and ducks, or perhaps a halt 
 score or more of prairie chickens, to complete 
 the list. Only once was his work interrupted 
 by the harsher business of chastising offenders 
 against justice, and this time the guilty parties 
 were two white men. 
 
 A party of desperadoes, so frequently the 
 nuisance of a new country, had formed a plot 
 to murder and rob two wealthy citizens, whom 
 they had volunteered to accompany to the set- 
 tlements in the States, and were already many 
 miles on their way, when Carson was informed 
 of the nefarious design. In one hour he had 
 organized a party, and was on his way in quick 
 pursuit, taking a more direct route to intercept 
 the party, and endeavoring at the same time to 
 avoid the vicinity of the Indians, who were 
 now especially hostile, but of whose move- 
 ments Carson was as well informed as any ono 
 could be. In two days out from Taos, they 
 came upon a camp of United States recruits, 
 whose officer volunteered to accompany him witli 
 twenty men, which offer was accepted, and by 
 forced marches they soon overtook the party 
 of traders, and at once arrested Fox, the leadei 
 
356 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CAKSOX. 
 
 of the wretches, and then proceeded to inform 
 Messrs. Breve jrt and Weatherheacl of the dan- 
 ger which they had escaped; and they, though 
 at first astounded by the disclosure, had noticed 
 many things to convince them that the plot 
 would soon have been put in execution. 
 
 Taking the members of their party whom 
 they knew were trusty, they at once ordered 
 the rest, thirty-five in number, to leave imme- 
 diately, except Fox, who remained in charge 
 of Carson, to whom the traders were abundant 
 in their thanks for his timely interference in 
 their behalf, and who refused every offer of 
 recompense. 
 
 Fox was taken to Taos, and imprisoned for 
 a number of months ; but as a crime only in 
 intent was difficult to be proved, and the adobe 
 walls of their houses were not secure enough to 
 retain one who cared to release himself, Fox 
 was at last liberated, and went to parts un- 
 known. 
 
 On the return of Messrs. Brevoort and 
 Weatherhead from St. Louis, they presented 
 Carson with a magnificent pair of pistols, upon 
 whose silver mounting were inscribed such 
 words as would laconically illustrate his noble 
 deed, and the appreciation of the donors of the 
 great service rendered. 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 357 
 
 The summer following was consumed in an 
 excursion for trade, on behalf of himself ami 
 Maxwell, and a visit to the home of his daugh- 
 ter, now married in St. Louis ; and which was 
 prosecuted without incident worthy of note, 
 until he came to a Cheyenne village on the 
 Arkansas, upon his return. This village had 
 received an affront from the officer of a party 
 of United States troops bound to New Mexico, 
 who had whipped one of their chiefs, some ten 
 days before the arrival of Carson ; and to have 
 revenge upon some one of the whites, was now 
 the passion of the w r hole tribe. 
 
 The conduct of this officer is only a specimen 
 of that which thousands have exercised toward 
 the Indians of the different tribes; and the 
 result is the same in all cases. Carson's was 
 the first party to pass the Indian village after 
 this insult; and so many years had elapsed 
 since he was a hunter at Bent's Fort, and so 
 much had this nation been stirred by their 
 numberless grievances, that Carson's name was 
 no longer a talisman of safety to his party, nor 
 even of respect to himself, in their then state 
 of excitement ; and as Carson went deliberately 
 into the war council, which the Indians were 
 holding on the discovery of his party, having 
 ordered his men to keep their force close to- 
 
358 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 getlier, the Indians supposing he could not 
 understand them, continued to talk freely of 
 the manner of capturing the effects, and killing 
 the whole party, and especially himself, whom 
 they at once concluded was the leader. When 
 Kit had heard all their plans, he coolly ad- 
 dressed them in the Cheyenne language, telling 
 them who he was, his former association with 
 and kindness to their tribe ; and that now, he 
 should be glad to render them any assistance 
 they might need ; but as to their having his 
 scalp, he should claim the right of saying a 
 word. The Indians departed, and Carson went 
 on his way ; but there were hundreds of the 
 Cheyennes in sight upon the hills, and though 
 they made no attack, Carson knew he was in 
 their power, nor had they given up the idea of 
 taking his train. His cool deliberation kept 
 his men in spirits, and yet, except upon two or 
 three of the whole fifteen, he could place no 
 reliance in an emergency. At night the men 
 and ?nules were all brought within the circle 
 of wagons, grass was cut with their sheath- 
 knives, and brought into the mules, and as 
 large a guard was placed as possible. AVhen 
 all was quiet, Carson called outside the camp 
 with him. a Mexican boy of the party, and ex- 
 plaining to him the danger which threatened 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 359 
 
 them, told him it was in his power to save the 
 lives of the company, and giving him instruc- 
 tions how to proceed, sent him on alone to 
 Rayedo, a journey of nearly three hundred 
 miles, to ask an escort of United States troops 
 to be sent out to meet him, telling the bravo 
 young Mexican to " put a good many miles 
 between him and the camp before morning;" 
 and so he started him, with a few rations of 
 provisions, without toiling the rest of the party 
 that such a step was necessary. This boy had 
 long been in Carson's service, and was well 
 known to him as faithful and active, so that ho 
 had no doubts as to the faithful execution of 
 the trust confided to him ; and in a wild coun- 
 try like JS T ew Mexico, with the out-door life 
 and habits of its people, a journey like the one 
 on which he was dispatched, was not an unusual 
 occurrence : indeed, in that country, parties or. 
 foot often accompany those on horse, for days 
 together, and do not seem to feel the fatigue. 
 Carson now returned to the camp to watch 
 all night himself; and at break of day they 
 were again upon the road. JN r o Indians ap- 
 peared until nearly noon, when five warriors 
 came galloping toward them. As they camo 
 near enough to hear him, Carson ordered them 
 to halt, and approaching, told them that tho 
 
360 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOtf. 
 
 niglit before, he had sent a messenger to 
 Rayedo, to inform the troops that their tribe 
 were annoying him ; and if he or his men were 
 molested, terrible punishment would be in- 
 flicted by those who would surely come to his 
 relief. The Indians replied, that they would 
 look for the moccasin tracks, which they pro- 
 bably found, and Carson considered this the 
 reason that induced the whole village to pass 
 away toward the hills after a little time, evi- 
 dently seeking a place of safety. The young 
 Mexican overtook the party of troops whose 
 officer had caused the trouble, to whom he told 
 his story, and failing to secure sympathy, he 
 continued to Rayedo, and procured thence im- 
 mediate assistance. Major Grier dispatched a 
 party oC troops, under Lieutenant R. Johnston, 
 which, making rapid marches, met Carson 
 twenty- five miles below Bent's Fort ; and, 
 though they encountered no Indians, the effect 
 of the quick transit of troops from one part of 
 the country to another, could not be other than 
 good, as a means of impressing the Indians 
 with the effective force of the United States 
 troops, 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 EIGHTEEN years had elapsed, full of eventful 
 history especially the last ten since Carson 
 had renounced the business of trapping, and 
 of late there had been an almost irrepressible 
 longing once more to try his skill at his old 
 employment, in company with others who had 
 been, with himself, adepts at the business. 
 Accordingly he and Maxwell, by a great effort, 
 succeeded in collecting sixteen more of their 
 old companions, and taking care to provide 
 themselves abundantly with all the necessaries 
 for such a service, and with such added articles 
 of comfort as the pleasurable character of the 
 excursion dictated, they started, with Carson at 
 the head of the band, " any one of whom would 
 have periled his life for any other, and having 
 voted that the expedition should be one for hard 
 work, as when they trapped for gain long ago," 
 they dashed on across the plains, till they came 
 
 to the South Platte, and upor its well rem.vu- 
 
 (3611 
 
362 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 bercd waters, formed their camp and set their 
 traps, having first apprised themselves, by the 
 "signs," that the beaver were abundant. In- 
 deed, so long ago had trapping gone into disuse, 
 that the hunt proved successful beyond their 
 anticipations, and they worked down this 
 stream, through the Laramie plains to the 
 New Park, on to the Old Park, and upon a 
 large number of the streams, their old resorts, 
 and returned to Rayedo with a large stock of 
 furs, having enlivened the time by the recital 
 to each other of many of the numberless enter- 
 taining events which had crowded upon their 
 lives while they had been separated. 
 
 Would not the reader like to have made 
 this excursion with them, and witnessed the 
 infinite zest with which these mature and ex- 
 perienced men entered again upon what seemed 
 now to them the sport of their earlier years ? 
 They made it, as much as possible, a season of 
 enjoyment. One of the party had lassoed a 
 grizzly, but, finding it inconvenient to retain 
 him, he had been shot, and bear steaks, again 
 enjoyed together, had been a part of the 
 Fourth of July treat they afforded their vis- 
 itors, the Sioux Indians. As w^e have but little 
 further opportunity, we will quote Fremont's 
 description of the Mountain Parks, f>r the 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSOX. 363 
 
 sake of giving the reader an idea of the locality 
 of this last trapping enterprise of Kit Carson : 
 
 " Our course in the afternoon brought us to 
 the main Platte River, here a handsome stream, 
 with a uniform breadth of seventy yards, ex- 
 cept where widened by frequent islands. It 
 was apparently deep, with a moderate current, 
 and wooded with groves of large willow. 
 
 " The valley narrowed as we ascended, and 
 presently degenerated into a gorge, through 
 which the river passed as through a gate. We 
 entered it, and found ourselves in the K"ew 
 Park a beautiful circular valley of thirty miles 
 diameter, walled in all round with snowy 
 mountains, rich with water and with grass, 
 fringed with pine on the mountain sides below 
 the snow line, and a paradise to all grazing 
 animals. The Indian name for it signifies 
 "cow lodge" of which our own may be consid- 
 ered a translation ; the enclosure, the grass, the 
 water, and the herds of buffalo roaming over 
 it, naturally presenting the idea of a park, 
 7,720 feet above tide water. 
 
 " It is from this elevated cove, and from the 
 gorges of the surrounding mountains, and some 
 lakes within their bosoms, that the Great Platte 
 River collects its first waters, and assumes Ha 
 
364 LIFE OF CHKISTOrilER CARSON. 
 
 first form ; and certainly no river has a more 
 beautiful origin. 
 
 "Descending from the pass, we found our- 
 selves again on the western waters ; and halted 
 to noon on the edge of another mountain val- 
 ley, called the Old Park, in which is formed 
 Grand River, one of the principal branches 
 of the Colorado of California. We were now 
 moving with some caution, as, from the trail, 
 we found the Arapahoe village had also passed 
 this way. As we were coming out of their 
 enemy's country, and this was a war ground, 
 we were desirous to avoid them. After a long 
 afternoon's march, we halted at night on a 
 small creek, tributary to a main fork of Grand 
 River, which ran through this portion of the 
 valley. The appearance of the country in the 
 Old Park is interesting, though of a different 
 character from the New ; instead of being a 
 comparative plain, it is more or less broken 
 into hills, and surrounded by the high moun- 
 tains, timbered on the lower parts with quaking 
 asp and pines. 
 
 " AVe entered the Bayou Salacle, (South 
 Park,) and immediately below us was a green 
 valley, through which ran a stream ; and a 
 short distance opposite rose snowy mountains, 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CAHSON. 365 
 
 whose summits were formed into peaks of 
 naked rock. 
 
 " On the following day we descended the 
 stream by an excellent buffalo trail, along the 
 open grassy bottom of the river. On our 
 right, the bayou was bordered by a mountainous 
 range, crested with rocky and naked peaks ; 
 and below it had a beautiful park-like char- 
 acter of pretty level prairies, interspersed 
 among low spurs, wooded openly with pine 
 and quaking asp, contrasting well with the 
 denser pines which swept around on the moun- 
 tain sides. 
 
 "During the afternoon, Pike's Peak had 
 been plainly in view before us. 
 
 " The next day we left the river, which con- 
 tinued its course towards Pike's Peak ; and 
 taking a south-easterly direction, in about ten 
 miles we crossed a gentle ridge, and, issuing 
 from the South Park, found ourselves involved 
 among the broken spurs of the mountains 
 which border the great prairie plains. Al- 
 though broken and extremely rugged, the 
 country was very interesting, being well wa- 
 tered by numerous affluents to the Arkansas 
 River, and covered with grass and a variety 
 of trees." 
 
 Carson had disposed of his furs, and was 
 
366 LIFE OF CHEISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 again quietly attending to his ranclie, when ho 
 heard of the exorbitant prices for which sheep 
 were selling in California, and determined to 
 outer upon a speculation. He had already vis- 
 ited the JNTavajos Indians, and thither he went 
 again, and in company with Maxwell and an- 
 other mountaineer, purchased several thousand 
 sheep ; and with a suitable company of trusty 
 men as shepherds, took them to Fort Laramie, 
 and thence by the regular emigrant route, past 
 Salt Lake to California, and arriving without 
 any disaster, disposed of them in one of the 
 frontier towns, and then went down to the Sac- 
 ramento valley, to witness the change which 
 had come over old familiar places ; not that 
 the mining did not interest him ; he had seen 
 that before in Mexico, but he had not seen the 
 cities which had sprung into existence at a 
 hundred points, in the foot hills of the Sierras, 
 nor had he seen San Francisco, that city of 
 wondrous growth, which now contained thirty- 
 five thousand inhabitants. 
 
 But for the remembrance of the hills on 
 which the city rested, Carson would not have 
 known the metropolis of California, as the spot 
 where in '48 " the people could be counted in an 
 hour." In San Francisco he met so many old 
 friends, and so many, who, knowing him 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 367 
 
 the history of his deeds, desired to do him 
 honor, that the attentions he received, while it 
 gratified his ambition, were almost annoying. 
 
 Tired by the anxiety and hard work of 
 bringing his property over a long and dan- 
 gerous journey to a good market, he had 
 looked for rest and retirement; but instead, ho 
 was everywhere sought out and made conspic- 
 uous. 
 
 He found himself surrounded with the 
 choice spirits of the new El Dorado; his name 
 a prestige of strength and position, and his so- 
 ciety courted by everybody. The siren voice 
 of pleasure failed not to speak in his ear her 
 most flattering invitations. Good-fellowship 
 took him incessantly by the hand, desiring to 
 lead him into the paths of dissipation. But 
 the gay vortex, with all its brilliancy, had no 
 attractions for him; the w r ine cup, with its 
 sparkling arguments, failed to convince his 
 calm earnestness of character, that his simple 
 habits of life needed remodeling. To the storm, 
 however, he was exposed ; but, like a good ship 
 during the gale, he weathered the fierce blast, 
 and finally took his departure from the new 
 city of a day, with his character untarnished, 
 but nevertheless leaving behind him many 
 golden opinions. 
 
368 LIFE OF CIJTUSTOPHER CARSON*. 
 
 Some newspaper scribbler, last autumn, an- 
 nounced the death of Carson, and said, in con- 
 nection, " His latest and most remarkable ex- 
 ploit on the plains, was enacted in 1853, when 
 h 3 conducted a drove of sheep safely to Cali- 
 fornia." Probably the writer was one of those 
 whose eager curiosity had met a rebuff, in the 
 quiet dignity with which Carson received the 
 officiousness of the rabble who thronged around 
 him on that visit. Not that he appreciated 
 honor less, but that its unnecessary attach- 
 ments were exceedingly displeasing to him. 
 
 In this terribly fast city, where the monie 
 table, and its kindred dissipations, advertised 
 themselves without a curtain, and where to in- 
 dulge was the rule rather than the exception, 
 Carson was able to stand fire, for he had been 
 before now tried by much greater temptations. 
 
 In the strange commingling of people from 
 all quarters of the globe, whom Carson wit- 
 nessed in San Francisco, he saw but a slight 
 exaggeration of what he had often witnessed 
 in Santa Fe, and indeed, for the element of 
 variety, in many a trapping party, not to name 
 the summer rendezvous of the trappers, or the 
 exploring parties of Col. Fremont. To be 
 sure the Chinamen and the Kanackers were a 
 new feature in society. But whether it te in 
 
LIFE OF CIIHISTOPIIER CARSON. SOD 
 
 the many nationalities represented, or in tlio 
 pleasures they pursued, except that in San 
 Francisco there was a lavishncss in the ex- 
 penditure of wealth commensurate with i(s 
 speedier accumulation, there was little new to 
 him, and while he saw its magic growth with 
 glad surprise, the attractions this city offered 
 could not allure him. Nor could the vista it 
 opened up of a chance to rise into position in 
 the advancing struggles for political ascen- 
 dency, induce one wish to locate his home in a 
 spot so wanting in the kindly social relation- 
 ships ; for he had tried the things and found 
 them vanity and vexation of spirit, and now 
 he yearned for his mountain home, and the 
 sweet pastoral life which it afforded in his cir- 
 cle of tried friends. 
 
 He saved the money he had secured by the 
 sale of his flocks, and went down overland to 
 Los Angelos to meet Maxwell, who took the 
 trip by sea, which Carson having tasted once, 
 could not be persuaded to try again, and there 
 renewing his outfit, and visiting again some of 
 its honored citizens, they started homeward, 
 and had a pleasant passage till they reached 
 the Gila River, where grass became so scarce 
 that they were compelled to take a new course 
 in order to find food for their horses ; but Car- 
 
 24 
 
370 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 son had no difficulty in pursuing a measure) ly 
 direct course, and without encountering a su >w 
 storm, often terribly severe in the mountains 
 of this interior country, he reached Taos on 
 the third of December 1853. 
 
 He here received the unexpected information 
 that he had been appointed Indian agent for 
 New Mexico, and immediately wrote and sent 
 to Washington the bonds of acceptance of this 
 office. And now commences Carson's official 
 career, in a capacity for which he was better 
 fitted than any other person in the Territory. 
 
 Long had the Indians in his vicinity called 
 him " father," but now he had a new claim to 
 this title, for he was to be to them the almoner 
 of the bounty of the United States Govern- 
 ment. There was immediate call for the exer- 
 cise of the duties of his office, (for the Indians 
 of New Mexico, had all buried the tomahawk 
 and calumet,) in visiting and attempting to 
 quiet a band of Apaches, among whom he 
 went alone, for they all knew him, and secured 
 from them plenty of promises to do well ; but 
 he had scarcely left them, before they were 
 tired of the self-imposed restraint, and renew- 
 edly continued their depredations, and several 
 serious battles were fought with them by the 
 United States troops, the first having proved 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHEll CARSON. 371 
 
 unsuccessful, but never was success wanting 
 when the commander of United States dragoons 
 had placed his confidence in the advice, and fol 
 lowed the suggestions of Kit Carson, who was 
 admitted by them to be the prince of Indian 
 fighters though he never tolerated cruelty or 
 the expenditure of life when there was no im- 
 perious necessity, but yet regarded severe 
 measures better than a dawdling policy. 
 
 There had been serious fights in New Mex- 
 ico in 1846, while Carson was away with Fre- 
 mont; and it was better so, as the Mexicans 
 were his blood and kin ; yet, in the change of 
 authority, he fully sympathized. But now, the 
 enemy was the different tribes of Indians, and 
 in the capacity of Agent for them, Carson 
 chose to impress them with the power of the 
 government for which he acted for their own 
 good, that they might be induced to desist from 
 their plundering, and be prepared for the in- 
 fluences and practices of civilization ; and all 
 the victories secured over them were due, as 
 history truly records, " To the aid of Kit Car- 
 son," "With the advice of Kit Carson;" Tnid 
 never once is his name associated with a defeat ; 
 for, if he made a part of an expedition, a con- 
 dition must be, that such means should be em- 
 ployed as he knew would accomplish the 
 
372 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 desired ; for he did not choose, by one s 
 failure, to give the Indians a chance to think 
 their lawlessness could escape its merited retri- 
 bution. 
 
 JSTor yet did Carson ever advise that confi- 
 dence in the promises of the Indians which 
 was not backed by such exhibition of power as 
 to command obedience ; knowing that with 
 these children of the forest, schooled in the 
 arts of plunder, and the belief that white men 
 and white men's property were an intrusion on 
 their hunting grounds, and therefore lawful 
 prey this was and is their law non-resist\nce 
 would not answer, and only stern command, 
 backed by the rifle, ever has secured obedi- 
 ence though they appreciate the kindnesses 
 done by those friends who have such reliance. 
 But it was Carson's opinion that the country 
 cannot be safe while the Indians roam over it 
 in this wild way, or until they are located on 
 lands devoted to them and theirs for permanent 
 homes, and are compelled to settle upon and 
 cultivate the soil, when he thinks they will 
 come, by careful teaching, to display sentiments 
 of responsibility for their own acts. 
 
 There is little doubt that, had Carson been 
 appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for 
 the department of Xew Mexico, the reliance 
 
LIFE OF CIIRISTOPHER CARSON. 373 
 
 sometimes placed on treaties would have been 
 discarded, and measures taken at an earlier 
 date, to locate the Apaches and Camanches and 
 Utiihs, which might have been accomplished 
 with less expenditure of blood and of treasure ; 
 but he quietly pursued his business, relying upon 
 the influence which his knowledge and skill had 
 given him to induce his superiors in official 
 authority to undertake such measures as seemed 
 to him the wisest. 
 
 The headquarters of his Indian agency were 
 at Taos, and while he spent as much of his time 
 as possible at Rayedo, the duties of his office 
 compelled the larger part of it at Taos. The 
 thousand kindly acts he was able to perform for 
 the Indians, by whom he was constantly sur- 
 rounded, had secured such regard for himself 
 that he needed no protection where he was 
 known and what Indian of New Mexico did 
 not know him? He went among them, and 
 entertained them as the children of his charge, 
 having their unbounded confidence and love. 
 
 Every year, in the hey-day of the season, 
 Carson continued the custom of a revival of 
 earlier associations, by indulging, for a few days, 
 or perhaps weeks, in the chase; and was joined 
 in these excursions by a goodly company of his 
 old compeers, as well as later acquired friends. 
 
374 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 and men of reputation and culture, from what- 
 ever quarter of the world, visiting the territory ; 
 and especially by a select few of the braves of 
 the Indian tribes under his charge. These were 
 seasons of grateful recurrence, and their pleasures 
 were long anticipated amid the wearisome duties 
 of his office. 
 
 The incidents of his every-day life, inter- 
 vening his appointment as Indian agent and the 
 rebellion, would furnish an abundance of material 
 for a romance even stranger than fiction. A life 
 BO exciting as that among the Indians and brave 
 frontiersmen, and a name so renowned as that 
 of Christopher Carson, could not but attract 
 and concentre wild and romantic occurrences. 
 Ilis life during these years is inseparably con- 
 nected with the history of the Territory of New 
 Mexico, which, could it be given to the public 
 in all its copious and interesting details, would 
 unquestionably concede to him all the noblest 
 characteristics in man. 
 
 The treaties between the United States and 
 the Indians, during the term of his appointment, 
 were mainly the result of his acquaintance with 
 the Indians, his knowledge of their character, 
 and his influence over them. Nor did the 
 Government fail to recognize his valuable ser- 
 vices. During the rebellion, and while serving 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 375 
 
 principally in New Mexico, where he distirt- 
 guished himself by his untiring prosecution of 
 hostilities witli his savage foes, then at war with 
 the Government, he was promoted from rank to 
 rank, until he finally reached that of Brevet 
 Brigadier-General. 
 
 In a report to the National headquarters, 
 dated at Camp Florilia, near FortCanb}', N. M., 
 January 26, 1864, we find the following detailed 
 account of operations in New Mexico : 
 
 " The culminating point in this expedition has 
 been reached at last by the very successful 
 operations of our troops at Canon de Chelly. 
 Col. Kit Carson left Fort Canby on the sixth 
 instant with a command of four hundred men, 
 twenty of whom were mounted. He had a 
 section of mountain artillery with him, and 
 taking the road via Puebla, Colorado, he started 
 for Calion de Chelly. He gave orders to Capt. 
 Plieiffer with his command of one hundred men 
 to enter the canon at the east opening, while he 
 himself intended to enter it at the ' mouth/ or 
 west opening, and by this movement he ex- 
 pected that both columns would meet in the 
 cafion on the second day, as it was supposed to 
 be forty miles in length. 
 
 "Capt. PheifTer's party proceeded two days 
 through the canon, fighting occasionally ; but al 
 
376 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 f hough the Indians frequently fired on them from 
 the rocky walls above, the balls were spent long lx?- 
 fore they reached the bottom of the canon, which, 
 in many places, exceeded one thousand five 
 hundred feet in depth. It was a singular spec- 
 tacle to behold. A small detachment of troops 
 moving cautiously along the bottom of one of 
 the greatest canons on the globe, (the largest is 
 in Asia, I believe,) and firing volleys upward at 
 hundreds of Navajoes, who looked, on the dizzy 
 height above them, like so many pigmies. As 
 they advanced the canon widened in places, and 
 various spots of cultivated land were passed, 
 where wheat, maize, beans, melons, etc., had 
 been planted last year; while more than a 
 thousand feet above their heads they beheld 
 neat-looking stone houses built on the receding 
 ledges of rocks, which reminded the beholder of 
 the swallows' nests in the house eaves, or on the 
 rocky formation overhanging the ' sea-beat caves/ 
 Further on, an orchard containing about six hun- 
 dred peach-trees was passed, and it was evident 
 that the Indians had paid great attention to their 
 culture. 
 
 " On the second day a party from Col. Carson's 
 column met the Captain in the canon, and re' 
 turned with him to Col. Carson's ca^inp. A 
 party from the Colonel's command had, in the 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 377 
 
 meantime, .attacked a party of Indians, twenty* 
 t\vo of whom were killed. This had a dis- 
 piriting effect on many others, who sent in three 
 of their number under a white flag. Col. Carson 
 received them, and assured them that the Gov- 
 ernment did not desire to exterminate them, but 
 that, on the contrary, the President wished to 
 save and civilize them; and to that end Gen. 
 Carl ton had given him instructions to send all 
 the Navajoes who desired peace to the new 
 reservation on the Rio Pecos, where they would 
 be supplied with food for the present, and be 
 furnished with implements, seeds, etc., to culti- 
 vate the soil. They departed well-satisfied, and 
 Col. Carson immediately ordered Capt. A. B. 
 Carey, Thirteenth United States Infantry, with 
 a battalion to enter the canon, and make a 
 thorough exploration of its various branches, 
 and at the same time to be in readiness to 
 chastise any body of hostile Navajoes he might 
 encounter, and to receive all who were friendly, 
 and who wished to emigrate to the new reserva- 
 tion. Capt. Carey, during a passage of twenty- 
 four hours through a.branch of the canon hither- 
 to unexplored, made an exact geographical map 
 of this terrible chasm, and discovered many side 
 canons hitherto unknown. About one hundred 
 Indians came in to him and declared that * the 
 
378 LIFE OF CI/RISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 Navajo nation was no more;' that they were 
 tired of fighting and nearly starved, and that 
 they wished to be permitted to advise their 
 friends and families in the mountains ; many of 
 whom were willing to leave the land forever, 
 and go to a country where they would be cared 
 for and protected. They said they understood 
 agriculture, and were certain they would make 
 comfortable homes on the Pecos. This was, of 
 course, only the opinion of some ; others would 
 prefer to remain and culture the soil on which 
 they were born, and live at peace with the 
 territory. However, the latter were positively 
 informed that unless they were willing to 
 remove they had better not come in, and, 
 moreover, that the troops would destroy every 
 blade of corn in the country next summer. 
 
 " On the 20th of January Col. Carson came 
 to Fort Canby, and about six hundred Indians 
 had collected there; but when the wagons arrived 
 to remove them only one hundred wished to go, 
 and the remainder desired to return to their 
 villages and caves in the mountains, on pretence 
 of bringing in some absent member of their 
 families. Col. Carson very nobly and generously 
 permitted them to choose for themselves; but 
 told them if ever they came in again they should 
 be sent to Borgue Redondo, whether willing or 
 
LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 379 
 
 not. Col. Carson himself took the Indians to 
 Santa Fe, and will remain absent about a month. 
 Since his departure many Indians came in and 
 agreed to go to the reservation. 
 
 " I think the Colonel foresaw this, as no 
 person understands Indian character better than 
 he does. Capt. A. B. Carey, Thirteenth In- 
 fantry, commanding in his absence, will see that 
 all Indians coming in will be removed, and, I 
 think, before April next, if the present good 
 feeling exists, we shall have accomplished tho 
 removal of the entire tribe. Capt. A. B. Carey, 
 after successfully marching through the canon 
 and noting its topography, reached Fort Canby 
 on the eighteenth instant, and relieved Capt. 
 Francis M'Cabe, First New Mexico Cavalry, 
 who commanded in the absence of Col. Kit 
 Carson. 
 
 "As the Navajo expedition is now entirely 
 successful, it is but justice to the officers and 
 men of the First Cavalry of New Mexico, and 
 to Col. Christopher Carson and his staff to say 
 that they have all acted with zeal and devotion 
 for the accomplishment of that great desidera- 
 tum the removal of the Navajoes. Cut off 
 from the enjoyments of civilized life, deprived 
 of its luxuries, comforts, and even many of its 
 necessaries, and restricted to the exploration of 
 
380 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 a wilderness and the castigation of an army of 
 savages, who defied them, and endeavored to 
 find a shelter among the cliffs, groves, and 
 canons of their country ; in pursuing them to 
 their haunts they have encountered appalling 
 difficulties, namely : want of water, grass, and 
 fuel ; often exposed to the merciless fury of the 
 elements, and to the bullets and arrows of a 
 hidden foe. In the face of these difficulties they 
 have discovered new rivers, springs, and moun- 
 tains in a region hitherto unexplored, and pene- 
 trated by companies into the very strongholds 
 of the enemy, who fled farther west as our 
 columns advanced, and on various occasions the 
 dismounted cavalry have, by rapid and unpar- 
 alleled night marches, surprised that enemy, 
 capturing his camp and securing his flocks and 
 herd?, at a time when he imagined himself fai 
 beyond our reach, and really when he occupied 
 a country never before trodden by the foot of a 
 white man. 
 
 " Much of the credit is due to the perseverance 
 and courage of Col. Kit Carson, commanding the 
 expedition, whose example excited all to great 
 enenry, and inspired great resolution; but it may 
 not be out of place to remark that it is now de- 
 monstrated beyond a doubt that, while the troops 
 of New Mexico have long borne the reputation 
 
LIFE OF CIlRISTOniEK CARSON. 08] 
 
 of being the best cavalry, they have proved 
 themselves in the present campaign to be the 
 best infantry in the world. 
 
 " Gen. James H, Carl ton, who knows, perhaps, 
 and understands the material for an army as 
 well as any General in our army, has directed 
 the formation of a New-Mexican Brigade, and 
 when the savage foe is removed, that Brigade, 
 commanded by Brigadier-Gen. Kit Carson, would 
 surely reflect credit on the Territory and on the 
 Department Commander." 
 
 After the close of the war Christopher Carson 
 continued in the employ of the Government, 
 rendering such services as only one equally 
 skilled and experienced could render, until his 
 death. He died at Fort Lyon, Colorado, on the 
 23d of May, 1868, from the effects of the rupture 
 of an artery, or probably an aneurism of an 
 artery, in the neck. But a few weeks previous 
 he had visited Washington on a treaty mission, 
 in company with a deputation of red men, and 
 made a tour of several of the Northern and 
 Eastern cities. 
 
 Li his death the country has lost the most 
 noted of that intrepid race of mountaineers, 
 trappers, and guides that have ever been the 
 pioneers of civilization in its advancement west- 
 ward. As an Indian fighter he was raatcklew 
 
382 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CARSON. 
 
 His rifle, when fired at a redskin, never failed 
 him, and the number that fell beneath his aim, 
 who can tell ! (The identical rifle which Carson 
 used in all his scouts, during the last thirty-five 
 years of his life, he bequeathed, just previous to 
 his death, to Montezuma Lodge, A. F. and A. 
 M., Santa Fe, of which he was a member.) The 
 country will always regard him as a perfect 
 representative of the American frontiersman, 
 and accord to him the most daring valor, con- 
 sistent kindliness, perseverant energy and truth- 
 fulness which that whole great territory, that 
 we must still regard as lying between the civile 
 , Is capable of furnishing.