Chapter 44

Outfit of a trapper Risks to which he is subjected

Partnership of trappers Enmity of Indians Distant smoke A

country on fire Gun Greek Grand Rond Fine pastures

Perplexities in a smoky country Conflagration of forests.

IT had been the intention of Captain Bonneville, in descending

along Snake River, to scatter his trappers upon the smaller

streams. In this way a range of country is trapped by small

detachments from a main body. The outfit of a trapper is

generally a rifle, a pound of powder, and four pounds of lead,

with a bullet mould, seven traps, an axe, a hatchet, a knife and

awl, a camp kettle, two blankets, and, where supplies are plenty,

seven pounds of flour. He has, generally, two or three horses, to

carry himself and his baggage and peltries. Two trappers

commonly go together, for the purposes of mutual assistance and

support; a larger party could not easily escape the eyes of the

Indians. It is a service of peril, and even more so at present

than formerly, for the Indians, since they have got into the

habit of trafficking peltries with the traders, have learned the

value of the beaver, and look upon the trappers as poachers, who

are filching the riches from their streams, and interfering with

their market. They make no hesitation, therefore, to murder the

solitary trapper, and thus destroy a competitor, while they

possess themselves of his spoils. It is with regret we add, too,

that this hostility has in many cases been instigated by traders,

desirous of injuring their rivals, but who have themselves often

reaped the fruits of the mischief they have sown.

When two trappers undertake any considerable stream, their mode

of proceeding is, to hide their horses in some lonely glen, where

they can graze unobserved. They then build a small hut, dig out

a canoe from a cotton-wood tree, and in this poke along shore

silently, in the evening, and set their traps. These they revisit

in the same silent way at daybreak. When they take any beaver

they bring it home, skin it, stretch the skins on sticks to dry,

and feast upon the flesh. The body, hung up before the fire,

turns by its own weight, and is roasted in a superior style; the

tail is the trapper s tidbit; it is cut off, put on the end of a

stick, and toasted, and is considered even a greater dainty than

the tongue or the marrow-bone of a buffalo.

With all their silence and caution, however, the poor trappers

cannot always escape their hawk-eyed enemies. Their trail has

been discovered, perhaps, and followed up for many a mile; or

their smoke has been seen curling up out of the secret glen, or

has been scented by the savages, whose sense of smell is almost

as acute as that of sight. Sometimes they are pounced upon when

in the act of setting their traps; at other times, they are

roused from their sleep by the horrid war-whoop; or, perhaps,

have a bullet or an arrow whistling about their ears, in the

midst of one of their beaver banquets. In this way they are

picked off, from time to time, and nothing is known of them,

until, perchance, their bones are found bleaching in some lonely

ravine, or on the banks of some nameless stream, which from that

time is called after them. Many of the small streams beyond the

mountains thus perpetuate the names of unfortunate trappers that

have been murdered on their banks.

A knowledge of these dangers deterred Captain Bonneville, in the

present instance, from detaching small parties of trappers as he

had intended; for his scouts brought him word that formidable

bands of the Banneck Indians were lying on the Boisee and Payette

Rivers, at no great distance, so that they would be apt to detect

and cut off any stragglers. It behooved him, also, to keep his

party together, to guard against any predatory attack upon the

main body; he continued on his way, therefore, without dividing

his forces. And fortunate it was that he did so; for in a little

while he encountered one of the phenomena of the western wilds

that would effectually have prevented his scattered people from

finding each other again. In a word, it was the season of setting

fire to the prairies. As he advanced he began to perceive great

clouds of smoke at a distance, rising by degrees, and spreading

over the whole face of the country. The atmosphere became dry and

surcharged with murky vapor, parching to the skin, and irritating

to the eyes. When travelling among the hills, they could

scarcely discern objects at the distance of a few paces; indeed,

the least exertion of the vision was painful. There was evidently

some vast conflagration in the direction toward which they were

proceeding; it was as yet at a great distance, and during the day

they could only see the smoke rising in larger and denser

volumes, and rolling forth in an immense canopy. At night the

skies were all glowing with the reflection of unseen fires,

hanging in an immense body of lurid light high above the horizon.

Having reached Gun Creek, an important stream coming from the

left, Captain Bonneville turned up its course, to traverse the

mountain and avoid the great bend of Snake River. Being now out

of the range of the Bannecks, he sent out his people in all

directions to hunt the antelope for present supplies; keeping the

dried meats for places where game might be scarce.

During four days that the party were ascending Gun Creek, the

smoke continued to increase so rapidly that it was impossible to

distinguish the face of the country and ascertain landmarks.

Fortunately, the travellers fell upon an Indian trail. which led

them to the head-waters of the Fourche de Glace or Ice River,

sometimes called the Grand Rond. Here they found all the plains

and valleys wrapped in one vast conflagration; which swept over

the long grass in billows of flame, shot up every bush and tree,

rose in great columns from the groves, and set up clouds of smoke

that darkened the atmosphere. To avoid this sea of fire, the

travellers had to pursue their course close along the foot of the

mountains; but the irritation from the smoke continued to be

tormenting.

The country about the head-waters of the Grand Rond spreads out

into broad and level prairies, extremely fertile, and watered by

mountain springs and rivulets. These prairies are resorted to by

small bands of the Skynses, to pasture their horses, as well as

to banquets upon the salmon which abound in the neighboring

waters. They take these fish in great quantities and without the

least difficulty; simply taking them out of the water with their

hands, as they flounder and struggle in the numerous long shoals

of the principal streams. At the time the travellers passed over

these prairies, some of the narrow, deep streams by which they

were intersected were completely choked with salmon, which they

took in great numbers. The wolves and bears frequent these

streams at this season, to avail themselves of these great

fisheries.

The travellers continued, for many days, to experience great

difficulties and discomforts from this wide conflagration, which

seemed to embrace the whole wilderness. The sun was for a great

part of the time obscured by the smoke, and the loftiest

mountains were hidden from view. Blundering along in this region

of mist and uncertainty, they were frequently obliged to make

long circuits, to avoid obstacles which they could not perceive

until close upon them. The Indian trails were their safest

guides, for though they sometimes appeared to lead them out of

their direct course, they always conducted them to the passes.

On the 26th of August, they reached the head of the Way-lee-way

River. Here, in a valley of the mountains through which this

head-water makes its way, they found a band of the Skynses, who

were extremely sociable, and appeared to be well disposed, and as

they spoke the Nez Perce language, an intercourse was easily kept

up with them.

In the pastures on the bank of this stream, Captain Bonneville

encamped for a time, for the purpose of recruiting the strength

of his horses. Scouts were now sent out to explore the

surrounding country, and search for a convenient pass through the

mountains toward the Wallamut or Multnomah. After an absence of

twenty days they returned weary and discouraged. They had been

harassed and perplexed in rugged mountain defiles, where their

progress was continually impeded by rocks and precipices. Often

they had been obliged to travel along the edges of frightful

ravines, where a false step would have been fatal. In one of

these passes, a horse fell from the brink of a precipice, and

would have been dashed to pieces had he not lodged among the

branches of a tree, from which he was extricated with great

difficulty. These, however, were not the worst of their

difficulties and perils. The great conflagration of the country,

which had harassed the main party in its march, was still more

awful the further this exploring party proceeded. The flames

which swept rapidly over the light vegetation of the prairies

assumed a fiercer character and took a stronger hold amid the

wooded glens and ravines of the mountains. Some of the deep

gorges and defiles sent up sheets of flame, and clouds of lurid

smoke, and sparks and cinders that in the night made them

resemble the craters of volcanoes. The groves and forests, too,

which crowned the cliffs, shot up their towering columns of fire,

and added to the furnace glow of the mountains. With these

stupendous sights were combined the rushing blasts caused by the

rarefied air, which roared and howled through the narrow glens,

and whirled forth the smoke and flames in impetuous wreaths. Ever

and anon, too, was heard the crash of falling trees, sometimes

tumbling from crags and precipices, with tremendous sounds.

In the daytime, the mountains were wrapped in smoke so dense and

blinding, that the explorers, if by chance they separated, could

only find each other by shouting. Often, too, they had to grope

their way through the yet burning forests, in constant peril from

the limbs and trunks of trees, which frequently fell across their

path. At length they gave up the attempt to find a pass as

hopeless, under actual circumstances, and made their way back to

the camp to report their failure.