Utah Historical Quarterly Volume IX

004_Old trails, Old Forts, Old trappers and traders - 2

OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 35 had great difficulty in getting their mules and horses across the river, many animals being drowned at the crossing. Jackson and his party continued eastward, bound for New Mexico, along with his mules and horses. Ewing Young and his men, who had accompanied Jackson as far as the Colorado River to assist him in getting the livestock across the river, returned to Los Angeles, where Young remained during the summer of 1832, hunting sea otter. That fall he took a party of beaver trappers to the San Joaquin River and the Sac­ramento River. Ewing Young, with a party of beaver trappers, departed from Taos, New Mexico, in October, 1831. He traveled to the Zuni country and then headed for the tributaries of the Blackwater River. He followed down the Blackwater to where it entered the Salt River. In this region Young's party trapped with great suc­cess. From the Salt River they struck out for the Gila River and then traveled along the course of this stream to where it joined the Colorado River, following along the Colorado River to the vicinity of its mouth, near where they crossed the Colorado River, and the party divided. Ewing Young and most of his party set out for Los Angeles, arriving there about the middle of March, 1832. The rest of his men headed across the desert, bound for the California settlements. In 1833- 1834 Joseph R. Walker was sent by Captain Bonne­ville with a company from the Great Salt Lake Valley to California by way of the Central Route. Captain J. W. Gunnison, with Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith and party, in 1853, made a reconnaissance trip through Colorado and Utah. They traveled from the headwaters of the Rio del Norte, through Cochetopa Pass, and then descended the western slope along Pass Creek and Cochetopa Creek to the Grand River. They continued on, down along the Valley of the Grand River and crossed the Green River. From this crossing they continued west for a distance over the Old Spanish Trail, and then headed north­westerly, striking along the edge of rocky and broken hills and then following the bed of Dry Creek to the ridge that formed the divide between the waters of the Green River and White River. From here thdr trail led northwesterly, by way of Clover Creek, to the summit which divided the water sheds of the White River and the San Rafael River. About sixteen miles beyond this summit, Beckwith states that the Old Spanish Trail was very distinct. He comments that he had counted as many as twenty parallel trails of the ordinary size of horse paths, in a space barely fifty feet in width. On October 12, 1853, the party arrived at the eastern pass of the Wasatch Mountains and from here they crossed these mountains by way of Wasatch Pass. Going north and westerly 36 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY from here, they followed down along Salt Creek, and from the mouth of Salt Creek proceeded on to Sevier Valley until they reached the trail leading from Salt Lake to Los Angeles, by way of Fillmore, Parowan, the Vegas de Santa Clara, and Walker Pass. Shortly after reaching the Sevier, Captain J. W. Gunnison and a number of his party were killed by the Indians. SLAVING EXPEDITIONS Settlers in Utah Territory reported that as late as the forties and fifties occasional parties of Spaniards and Mexicans from New Mexico came into the territory to trade horses, mules, general supplies and ammunition with the Indians in exchange for furs and Indian slaves. The Deseret News of November 15, 1851, carried an article referring to Pedro Leon and a party of 27 Spaniards from New Mexico who were at Manti, Utah, attempting to trade horses and mules for Indian children for slaves. Twenty of this party, taking the larger part of the horses and mules, left after Governor Young had informed them that their trading license issued by the Gov­ernor of New Mexico was invalid in Utah. Leon and seven of his slave buying party with some of the horses and mules did not leave the territory, as they had promised Governor Young they would do, so the authorities at Manti ar­rested Leon and his seven men and brought them before the Justice of the Peace at Manti for trial in the latter part of 1851. Judge Zerubbabel Snow later heard the case in the First District Court and ordered the eight Spaniards to leave Utah and ordered the Indian slaves in their possession to be set free. As a result of these slaving expeditions, the Utah Legislature in 1852 passed a law for " the further relief of Indian slaves and prisoners." Governor Brigham Young on April 23, 1853, issued a proda-mation referring to the activities of " a horde of Mexicans, or outlandish men, who are infesting the settlements, stirring up the Indians to make aggressions upon the inhabitants, and who are also furnishing the Indians with guns, ammunition, etc., contrary to the laws of this territory and the laws of the United States." Brigham Young, as Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Utah, thereupon ordered that a com­pany of 30 men under Captain Wall should proceed south through the entire extent of the settlements, and Captain Wall and his party were " authorized and directed to arrest and keep in dose custody every strolling Mexican party and those associating with them and to leave them safely guarded at the different points of settlement to await further orders," etc. Uncle Dick Wootton, according to the book of that title, by H. L. Conard, Chicago, 1890, ( page 81), says: The Snake Indians used to make war on the Pah- Utes frequently, and sell *> J , J 8 S M » g •^ ra- g id o » • u cJ ffl § S. s tXi°° „ lr II! 38 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY their captives to the Mexicans for slaves. It was no uncommon thing to see a party of Mexicans in that country buying Indian slaves, in those days; and while we were trapping there, I sent a lot of peltry back to Taos by a party of these same slave traders, some of whom I happened to know. ( About 1840.) T. J. Farnham, in his " Life, Adventures and Travels in California," New York, 1849, refers to his friend, Dr. Lyman, of Buffalo, who, he says, traveled from Santa Fe, New Mexico, by way of Colorado River to Upper California, evidently along the Old Spanish Trail, in 1841. In describing the Indians of this part of the country Dr. Lyman, speaking of the Paiuches, or Piutes, says: " The New Mexicans capture them for slaves. The neigh­boring Indians do the same, and even the old beaver hunters sometimes descend to this mean traffic. The price of these slaves in the markets of New Mexico varies with the age and other qualities of person. Those from ten to fifteen years old sell for from $ 50.00 to $ 100.00." In the 1820' s, as the more adventurous and ambitious of the traders pushed ever farther westward into Indian country, they built trading posts as headquarters for their stores of supplies for their trapping expeditions, and of goods to trade with the Indians. Gradually these trading posts were established in places more and more remote from dvilization. Before the 1820' s there had been very little fur trapping by whites in the region of the Rocky Mountains. The Indians would trail into Taos or Santa Fe with their furs to trade in the market place. Then the white men perceived that if they could go out on the trail and meet the Indians before they arrived at the city, a more profitable bargain could be driven with the redmen, and so they penetrated into the Indian country to establish trading posts. Famous among the traders were the Robidoux brothers, An­toine, Joseph and Louis, of French ancestry, who started their original trading operations in St. Louis,* working up and down the river, then westward to Santa Fe and Taos, where they found very lucrative trade. FORT UNCOMPAHGRE ( COMPAHGRE) About 1825, the Robidoux brothers penetrated northward from Santa Fe along the Old Spanish Trail and founded the trading post of Fort Uncompahgre, known to the trappers as Fort Compahgre, and known also as Fort Robidoux. It was located on the Grand River near the present town of Delta, Colorado, a short distance, some three or four miles, below where the Uncom­pahgre River joins the former Grand River, now called the Gun- * The Trading Post of Joseph Robidoux, a brother of Antoine. on Blacksnake Creek, and knovn as Blacksnake Hills Post, became a nucleus for St. Joseph. Missouri which city was founded by Robidoux, July 26, 1843. He was largely instrumental in building up this city, and was one of its leading citizens. OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 39 nison River. Near the site of the old trading fort is the town of Robideau and Robideau Creek. Uncompahgre, meaning Red Water Springs, was the name given by the Ute Indians to the hot mineral springs near Ridgway, Colorado, which have deposited a red substance over a wide area. Uncompahgre River and Uncompahgre Peak take their names from these Red Water Springs. With the exception of the flats where Cochetopa Creek joins the Grand River the only bottom lands of any extent for a con­siderable distance either way along the Grand River are located at the junction of the Uncompahgre River with the Grand River, and upon these bottoms lands was located Fort Uncompahgre of Antoine Robidoux. Fort Uncompahgre consisted of a few rough log cabins endosed in a quadrangle of pickets. It was located on the part of the Old Spanish Trail leading from Taos, New Mexico, to Cochetopa Creek and along the Grand River ( now the Gunnison River) to Green River. A branch trail followed up along the Green River through Brown's Hole to Fort Bridger, Fort Hall and the northwest country, and another trail led to Fort Wintey ( Fort Uinta). About 1846 or 1847 the Utes burned Fort Uncom­pahgre and, it was reported, killed all the occupants. FORT WINTEY ( OR WINTE) A few years after the establishment of Fort Uncompahgre, Antoine Robidoux built another trading post, penetrating still deeper into the wilderness. This fort, built about 1831 or 1832, he called Fort Wintey, from the Indian name of the stream. It was also called " Robidoux' Rendezvous." It was located just east of the present Indian village of White Rocks, Utah, on the north fork of the Wintey River ( Uinta), now known as the White Rocks River, and situated a short distance above the forks of this river. The fort was on the west bank of the Uinta River ( also known as the Wintey, Winte, Tewinty and Euinta River), a few hundred feet from the main stream; and a smaller fork of the Uinta flowed just west of the fort. ( See in this Quarterly, Reed Morrill's, " The Site of Fort Robidoux.") The North Fork of the Uinta River ( now called White Rocks River) is the largest of the Uinta River tributaries. Its sources are a series of glacial lakes along the summit area of the Uinta range, and a number of small creeks. The lower course of the North Fork of the Uinta River is along a fertile valley floor, varying from two to four miles in width and the river, apart from its main channel, separates into many small streams, which meander about and frequently from season to season change their channels. The larger channels are filled with great quantities of boulders 40 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY and rocks, mostly of a whitish appearance; hence, the name " White Rocks" now applied to this river, and also to the White Rocks Indian School located on this river. Fort Duchesne is the head­quarters of the Uintah and Ute Indian Agency and Reservation. Fort Wintey consisted of a small collection of rude log cabins with dirt roofs and dirt floors, surrounded by a log palisade. On one side of the fort was a corral. A number of trappers and their squaws lived inside this fort and others had thdr wickiups scattered around outside the fort. The wickiups were made of a number of dressed buffalo, deer or elk skins sewn together, and usually ranging from 10 to 16 skins, dependent upon the size of the skins and the size of the wickiup required. A framework of lodge poles was set up on a conical shape and the skins then fastened to these poles. A wickiup was usually large enough to accommodate 6 or 8 Indians, and sometimes as many as 10 or 12 Indians. A fire was built in the center of the wickiup and by opening or closing the top skins at the apex of the conical shaped wickiup, the draft was regulated so as to allow the smoke to escape there. Robidoux used these forts as outfitting points for long trips into the mountains, and he also made trips back into Kansas and Missouri. Captain Philip St. George Cooke speaks of meeting Antoine Robidoux at Council Grove, ( Kansas) in September, 1843, and he records that Robidoux told him of his trading post 300 miles beyond Santa Fe ( Fort Uncompahgre). In 1845, or 1846, during one of Robidoux' journeys to the east, the Ute ( Euintah, Utah) Indians, destroyed Fort Wintey and were said to have killed everyone in the fort. Joseph Williams," a Methodist clergyman from Indianapolis who had been on a trip to Oregon Territory, started back home by way of Fort Boise, Fort Hall and Fort Bridger in 1842. Arriving at Fort Bridger on July 3, 1842, he found that the company he expected to join and to travel back to the United States with had left Fort Bridger about thirty days before, so he decided to go by horse from Fort Bridger, over the Uinta range and down the North Fork of the Uinta River to " Rubedeau's Fort Wintey." After some five days of hard travel up and down mountains, he came to the headwaters of the North Fork of the Uinta River and fol­lowed down this stream until he arrived at Fort Wintey, about July 9, 1842. In his " Narrative of a Tour from the State of Indiana to the Oregon Territory in the years 1841- 2," he writes as follows: " . . . This morning, July 9, 1842, we had some frost. We are • Charles P. Everitt. one of the best known of American book sellers, about 1919 discovered, in an obscure book shop in Indianapolis, the then unknown Joseph Williams' " Narrative of a Tour from the state of Indiana to the Oregon territory in the years 1841- 2." ( Published at Cincinnati In 1843.) The discriminating Mr. Everitt at once recognized that he had found a work of much historic importance. It was sold shortly thereafter for a large sum. Mr. Everitt was at that tine one of the proprietors of the Cadmus Book Shop, and in conjunction with Edward Eberstadt. probably the best informed book- man on Far Western Americana, they published in 1921 a reprint of this Interesting book. - a a s * 0 p OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 41 now on the head of the Wintey River, down which we pursued our journey toward Rubedeau's Fort. About two miles of our journey was almost impassable for the brush, and logs, and rocks. Then we got out of the mountains into a prairie, and reached the fort about 2 o'clock. " We had to wait there for Mr. Rubedeau about eighteen days, till he and his company and horse drivers were ready to start with us to the United States. This delay was very disagreeable to me, on account of the wickedness of the people, and the drunk­enness and swearing, and the debauchery of the men among the Indian women. They would buy and sell them to one another. One morning I heard a terrible fuss, because two of their women had ran away the night before. I tried several times to preach to them, but with little, if any effect. " Mr. Rubedeau had collected several of the Indian squaws and young Indians to take to New Mexico, and kept some of them for his own use. The Spaniards would buy them for wives. This place is equal to any I ever saw for wickedness and idleness. The French and Spaniards are all Roman Catholics; but are as wicked men, I think, as ever lived. No one who has not, like me, witnessed it, can have any idea of their wickedness. Some of these people at the Fort are fat and dirty, and idle and greasy. " July 27th. We started from Rubedeau's Fort, over the Wintey River, and next crossed Green and White Rivers. Next night we lay on Sugar Creek, the water of which was so bitter we could scarcely drink it. Here two of Rubedeau's squaws ran away, and we had to wait two days till he could send back to the Fort for another squaw, for company for him. " August 1st. We camped under a large rock, by a small stream, where we could get but very little grass for our animals. Next night we lay under the Pictured Rock, and being sheltered from the rain, slept very comfortably. Next day we traveled over rough roads and rocks, and crossed the Grand River, a branch of the Colorado, which runs into the Gulf of California, at the head thereof. Next day crossed another fork of Grand River, and came to Fort Compogera, ( Uncompahgre) below the mouth of the Com-pogera ( Uncompahgre) River." From Fort Uncompahgre, Williams continued on to Taos, New Mexico, and from there to Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River. From this fort he returned to Indianapolis. Myron Eells, in his book, " Marcus Whitman, Pathfinder and Patriot," tells us that: " Marcus A. Whitman and Dr. A. L. Love-joy, Protestant missionaries from Oregon, traveled with a guide from Fort Hall to Fort Winte in the fall of 1842. They reported terribly severe weather with heavy snowstorms. Arriving at Fort Winte about the 20th of October, 1842, they made some purchases for their trip, and, taking a new guide, left for Fort Uncompahgre. 42 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY From there they proceeded to Taos, and thence to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Fremont gives the following account of his trip to Fort Uinta: " June 1st ( 1844). We left today the Duchesne Fork, and, after traversing a broken country for about sixteen miles, arrived at noon at another considerable branch, a river of great velocity, to which the trappers have improperly given the name of Lake Fork. The name applied to it by the Indians signifies great swift­ness, and is the same which they use to express the speed of a race horse. . . . After infinite difficulty, and the delay of a day, we succeeded in getting the stream bridged, and got over with the loss of one of our animals. Continuing our route across a broken country, of which the higher parts were rocky and timbered with cedar, and the lower parts covered with good grass, we reached on the afternoon of the 3rd the Uintah Fort, a trading post, be­longing to Mr. A. Roubideau, on the principal fork of the Uintah River. We found the stream nearly as rapid and difficult as the Lake Fork, divided into several channels, which were too broad to be bridged. With the aid of guides from the fort, we succeeded with very great difficulty, in fording it; and encamped near the fort, which is situated a short distance above the junction of the two branches which make the river.. . . " By an immersion of the first satellite, the longitude of the post is 109° 56' 42", the latitude 40° 27' 45". " It has a motley garrison of Canadian and Spanish engages and hunters, with the usual number of Indian women. W e obtained a small supply of sugar and coffee, with some dried meat and a cow, which was a very acceptable change from the pinole on which we had subsisted for some weeks past. I strengthened my party at this place by the addition of Auguste Archambeau, an excellent voyageur and hunter, belonging to the class of Carson and Godey." Fremont adds in a footnote: " This fort ( Uintah) was at­tacked and taken by a band of the Utah Indians since we passed it, and the men of the garrison killed, the women carried off. Mr. Roubideau, a trader of St. Louis, was absent, and so escaped the fate of the rest." Rufus B. Sage, in his " Scenes in the Rocky Mountains" ( 1846), reports ( he stopped at Fort Wintey for about 10 days): " The trade of Fort Wintey is conducted principally with the trap­ping parties frequenting the Big Bear ( Yampa), Green, Grand and Colorado Rivers, with their numerous tributaries, in search of fur bearing game. A small business is also carried on with Snake and Utah Indians, living in the neighborhood of this establish­ment. They deal with horses, beaver, otter, deer, sheep and elk skins in barter for ammunition, fire- arms, knives, tobacco, bead* awls, e t c . . . ." OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 43 " While he was at Fort Wintey a trapping party from as far as the Gila River came in bringing with them a rich quantity of beaver, which they had caught during the preceding winter, spring and summer upon the affluents of that river and the adjacent mountain streams...." My questioning of the Ute" Indians now living in this vicinity brought no information about Fort Wintey or Fort Uncompahgre. If the story of their destruction has been handed down from a previous generation, the Indians questioned refused to admit any knowledge of the old forts. FORT KIT CARSON Another trading post on the Old Spanish Trail, also assodated with Antoine Robidoux, was Fort Kit Carson or Fort Robidoux, which was located near the confluence of the Uinta River ( now the Duchesne), the Green River, and the White River, across the Green River from where Ouray, Utah, is today located. Kit Carson built this fort late in 1833, a " Winterquarters" during 1833- 34, consisting of a few log cabins. The wall surrounding these cabins was built of adobe. According to tradition, this fort was also used for a time by Antoine Robidoux, and it was often called Fort Robidoux, leading to some confusion between this fort at the junction of the Uinta River and Green River, and his Fort Wintey on the Uinta River, which was also known as Fort Robidoux. After Robidoux had established Fort Uncompahgre and Fort Wintey and Fort Robidoux ( old Fort Kit Carson), these estab­lishments were so much nearer to the trapping and trading terri­tory than Taos or Santa Fe that Robidoux gradually secured much of the independent trade that had formerly gone to those two towns. Antoine Robidoux joined General Kearney's army in June 1846, as interpreter and guide and accompanied him to California. He was severely wounded at the battle of San Pascual ( an Indian village), on December 6, 1846." The following year he returned to St. Joseph, Missouri. "" Ute" means: " People living in the mountains." 10Major W. H. Emory says: ( Notes of a Military Reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth, In Missouri, to San Diego, California, ( page 111). Washington, D. C, 1848): " Don Antonio Robideaux, a thin man of fifty- five years, slept next to me. The loss of blood from his wounds, added to the coldness of the night, 28° Fahrenheit, made me think he would sever see daylight, but I was mistaken. He woke me to ask if I did not smell coffee, and expressed the belief that a cup of that beverage would save his life, and that nothing else would. Not know­ing there had been any coffee in camp for many days, I supposed a dream had carried him back to the cafes of St. Louis and New Orleans, and it was with some surprise I found my cook heating a cup of coffee over a small fire made of wild sage. One of the most agreeable little offices performed in my life, and I believe in the cook's, to whom the coffee belonged, was, to pour this precious draught into the waning body of our friend Robideaux. His warmth returned, and with it hopes of life. In gratitude he gave me, what was then a great rarity, the half of a cake made i brown nour' almost black with dirt, and which had, for greater security, been hidden in the clothes of his Mexican servant, a man who scorned ablutions. I ate more than half without in­spection, when, on breaking a piece, the bodies of several of the most loathesome insects were ex­posed to my view. My hunger, however, overcame my fastidiousness, and the morceau did not appear particularly disgusting till after our arrival at San Diego, when several hearty meals had taken off the keenness of my appetite, and suffered my taste to be more delicate." 44 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY FORT DAVY CROCKETT Fort Uncompahgre, Fort Kit Carson, Fort Wintey, Fort Davy Crockett, and Fort Bridger were the five important posts in or near the Ute Indian country, a region particularly rich in peltries. Fort Davy Crockett was named in honor of the hero of early Tennessee and Texas- the old hunter- politidan Davy Crockett. It has been described as dirty and squalid, and was dubbed " Fort Misery" by some of the traders and trappers. About 1837 three mountain men, Philip Thompson, William Craig, and one St. Claire, or Sinclair, had built this post and named it Forty Davy Crockett. It was located on the east bank of the Green River in a valley called Brown's Hole, after an early trapper named Baptiste Brown who was snowed in there during the Fall and Winter of 1835 or 1836. This valley is in the far northeast corner of what is now Utah, just above where the Green River crosses the Colorado boundary line from Utah. Brown's Hole has been, from early times, a camping place and a rendezvous for the Shoshone Indians, as well as a gathering place and trading point for the trappers throughout that region. In the early forties Fort Davy Crockett was also destroyed by the Utes. The following description of Fort Davy Crockett is given by a traveler who visited it in 1839: " On August 17th we reached Fort Crockett. It is situated close by the Green River on its left bank. The river valley here is broad, and has good pasturage and sufficient wood. The fort itself is the worst thing of the kind that we have seen on our journey. It is a low one- story building, constructed of wood and clay, with three connecting wings, and no enclosure. Instead of cows the fort had only some goats. In short, the whole estab­lishment appeared somewhat poverty stricken, for which reason it is also known to the trappers by the name of Fort de Misere. The fort belongs to three Americans: Thompson, Gray and Sinclair. The latter was at the fort, and received us very kindly but regret­ted his inability to offer us any supplies. For our store of meat was exhausted, and we had hoped to supply ourselves here with new provisions. But the people at the fort seemed to be worse off than we were. The day before they had bought a lean dog from the Indians for five dollars, and considered its meat a delicacy." ( Wislizenus: See bibliography) During the winter of 1837- 1838, Kit Carson was employed at the fort as a hunter to secure fresh meat for the people living there, which would seem to indicate that at this period there must have been quite a large number of people at the fort, to make the services of a hunter necessary. The winter that Kit Carson was there he secured all the fresh meat needed for twenty men for the entire season. The following spring, after spending the winter in Brown's OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 45 Hole as hunter for Fort Crockett, Kit Carson accompanied Jim Bridger and Owen on a trapping expedition. The valley in which Fort Davy Crockett was located, was comparatively protected and had mild winters, making it ideal for the horses to forage for food, and therefore a popular place for winter camps. Well defined trails connected these four forts in the Ute country- Fort Uncompahgre, Fort Wintey, Fort Kit Carson and Fort Davy Crockett, and other trails branched northward to reach Fort Bridger. All four of these first mentioned trading posts were later ( in middle forties) attacked and destroyed by the Ute In­dians, who had grown more and more resentful as the whites made further inroads into their territory, encroached upon their rights and destroyed through the years the wild animals on which they depended for their living. Futhermore the Utes were usually at war with the Shoshones, who were usually friendly with the Whites. " PORTUGUESE TRADING HOUSES" The earliest trading post in the Wyoming country was ap­parently that of Antonio Montero, ( Montaro, Mateo) whose fort was located near the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Powder River in the southern portion of what is now Johnson County, Wyoming. Mateo was known as a Spaniard or a Port­uguese who had carried on trade with the Crow and Sioux Indians and neighboring tribes at least as early as 1834. His post was referred to as the " Portuguese Trading Houses." The fort consisted of a group of log cabins enclosed by large hewn log pickets. The cabins and a horse corral made of large cottonwood logs were built by Antonio Montero in the winter of 1834- 35, when Montero spent some time trading with the Crow Indians, who had several villages not far from where he built his fort. Although attacked by, and besieged by Blackfeet Indians at various times, Montero successfully defended his fort and defied the Blackfeet. Montero and his men occupied this fort as late as the winter of 1837- 38, and possibly later. Montero prob­ably came originally from the New Mexico country. Between his expeditions in the Crow country, he made occasional trips to the headwaters of the Arkansas region, where he obtained supplies and disposed of his furs. Old timers were unable to tell me why Montero finally quit his trading post or what became of him. FORT BRIDGER Branching off from the Old Spanish Trail, and completing a triangle of trade with Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, were mountain trails leading to Fort Bridger in Wyoming, one of the most important of the western trading posts, 46 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY where the trails of Indians, trappers, traders, hunters, and of settlers bound for California and Oregon converged. Jim Bridger, famous scout and trapper, and founder of Fort Bridger, first came into the mountains in the party of William Henry Ashley, whose enterprise helped to open the great central region of America, and many of the men of whose party later beame among the most famous of the mountain men, as ex­plained later in this article. LIFE IN THE FORTS ON THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL These posts or forts were all very much alike- each a huddle of rough, crudely built huts, with mud floors and mud roofs, usually with cedar, or pine, or cottonwood logs for the rude walls. Around this huddle of cabins was built a rude fence of saplings in a rectangle- a palisade for protection against un­friendly Indians. At intervals in the palisade were slits through which guns could be fired to protect the fort in case of attack. The log huts had a single door opening into the endosed space inside the palisade, but no windows and no chimney. Their main purpose was to protect the supplies of the trappers, to store the furs they secured from the Indians, which at certain seasons would be heaped in the cabins- buffalo hides, beaver and other skins- and to protect the goods they had brought from the East to trade with the Indians. The mountain men, like the Indians, lived much in the open, sleeping on a buffalo robe on the ground, usually in a tent in Winter, and usually following this habit even when they were at the forts. They needed no chimneys in the cabins, because they cooked out of doors over an open bonfire. Usually the Indian squaws did the cooking, as well as the other menial work at the forts. As they spent year after year away from civilization, many of the mountain men adopted Indian customs and lived just as the Indians did. Usually they took one or more Indian squaws, and were accepted then by the tribe as an " in- law," with an entre and a friendship that no other white man, not so associated, could achieve. Friendly Indians pitched their wickiups near the trading post, and sometimes even inside the palisade, and the whole place was lively with the dirty, nearly naked half- breed and Indian children, and with the packs of dogs so characteristic of an Indian camp. From these forts or trading posts the white trappers secured their supplies for their trapping expeditions for beaver along all the streams of the Rockies. Here they could secure traps, guns, ammunition, and also such food as they needed to supplement the meat they could kill- such " civilized" ddicacies as coffee, sugar, flour and salt pork. To the forts the Indians brought their beaver and other pelts, OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 47 their buffalo robes, their fine buckskin, and their bead- work in moccasins, belts and coats. For these items the white men gave trinkets that the Indians prized- bright beads and gaudy jewelry, pocket mirrors, bright calicos, belts, buckles, axes, brass kettles, tin pans, knives, powder horns, beaver and bear traps, pins, thread, needles, combs- and also, of course, the demoralizing " fire- water," which the traders claimed they were forced to give to secure the Indians' wares in competition with the Hudson's Bay Company, ( which had already penetrated as far south as Utah, Peter Skene Ogden having previously reached Ogden's Hole), and other trad­ers. Horses and blankets were very valuable to the Indians, so these were used by the white traders as important items of ex­change. The Indians were often quite willing to sell their squaws and their children to the traders and trappers, who in turn sold and bartered the Indian women and children among themselves, and sometimes took them to New Mexico where the Spaniards and Mexicans would buy them as wives or for slaves. " One of the trappers was a Fleming," says Wislizenus, visit­ing the Rockies in 1839. " He had a squaw with him, of the tribe of the Eutaws, whom he had bought at one time for $ 500, but was disposed to sell for half the purchase price. She was a little, un-shapen bundle of fat; but otherwise seemed to have very good qualities, for he recommended her to us in the following terms, characteristic of the cardinal virtues of a squaw: ' She is young, gentle, easy, and in first rate order.' The trappers seem, un­fortunately, to have adopted from the Indians the habit of looking on their Indian wives as chattels, not persons; and the squaws themselves seem to desire no other position." At the trading posts, as in the Indian camps, the squaws did all of the menial labor, the duties of a man limited to hunting and warfare. The squaws set up the wickiups when the tribe made camp, and took them down when they were ready to move on. They loaded and unloaded the pack animals, and saddled the horses for the hunters. When the Indian " bucks" returned with their kill of game, the women skinned the animals, prepared the meat, and tanned the pelts. When a buffalo was killed, the In­dian squaws would first secure the parts considered most choice. The tongue was esteemed a great delicacy, and a squaw would slash the skin between the prongs of the jaw- bone, pull the tongue down through this opening and cut it off. The hide of the buffalo would then be slit down the backbone, and removed toward the belly. The meat of the hump was considered choice, and also a strip of fat lying along the backbone, which was to the Indians bread and butter." The liver was especially choice if it could be eaten while still warm and raw. The heart, kidneys and intes­tines were esteemed great delicacies. Ribs and the large bones with marrow were roasted and enjoyed hugely. 48 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY The layer of flesh just under the hide was removed all in one piece, and was called the " fleece." This, and the muscles, were hung up to dry in the air and the sun, and the squaws cleverly prepared the meat for drying by cutting it lengthwise with the grain, so that the juices would not run out, as would be the case if it were cut crosswise. After it was dried and brown, the jerked meat would be pounded into powder with a rock by the squaws, and mixed with fat, then packed away for winter use. This mixture was known as " pemican." The tendons were used as we use thread. The brains of the animal were saved by the squaw for use in her process of tanning and softening the hide. The Indian squaws at the forts lived and worked in the way they had always known, and the white men usually adopted In­dian customs and ways of living. TRAPPERS In the mountains were two types of trappers- those who were outfitted by the big fur trading companies, recriving from them their horses, beaver traps, a gun, powder and lead, and getting small wages for their work, and those who were called " Free Trappers," or " Freemen," who supplied their own equipment, and traded their own catch for the highest prices. The men working out of the four forts on the Old Spanish Trail- Fort Uncompahgre, Fort Wintey, Fort Kit Carson and Fort Davy Crockett- were mostly Free Trappers. Each summer at an appointed time, usually in July, and at an appointed place, the mountain men from this entire western country gathered for the yearly rendezvous, where they made new contracts, and spent a week or so of merry- making, and ex­changing merchandise and peltries. SILK HATS AND THE BEAVER TRADE The Rocky Mountain territory and the New Mexico provinces were the source of huge catches of beaver and the upper Missouri area produced large quantities of muskrats. Prior to 1830 muskrat fur and beaver fur were used in great quantities by the European hatters. About 1830 hat styles changed and silk hats came into fashion in place of beaver and muskrat fur hats. This change in style greatly reduced the value of muskrat and beaver. In the early part of the 19th century practically all the Canadian and United States furs were sent to Europe, and most of them found their way first to English auctions and then a part of these, in turn, passed on to the two great fairs at Leipsic, one held at Easter and one at the end of September. Fur prices for the entire world were fixed at these Leipsic fairs. 00 3 O > N &> oo_ g Q ° < <• P | < £ U a> w p D H >- a OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 49 About 1838 German agents started to ship furs direct from America to Leipsic and within a few years only a part of the Canadian and American furs went direct to the English auctions. In 1842 the British Army discontinued their high beaver hats and replaced them with a cap which required no beaver fur. This change caused a further serious dedine in the price of beaver furs. These price changes had an important bearing on the fur trade and on the trapping business. It may well be said that beaver and mules contributed very largely to the development of the great South West country. GENERAL ASHLEY'S RENDEZVOUS ON KAMAS PRAIRIE This preliminary rendezvous, conducted in the summer of 1825 by General Ashley on Kamas Prairie ( present Summit County, Utah), was attended by a large number of representative mountain men, among them James Bridger, Etienne Provost, Jedediah S. Smith, Wm. L. Sublette, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Robert Campbell, James P. Beckwourth, David E. Jackson, and others, with the usual following of Indians, mostly Shoshones. After this rendezvous had ended. General Ashley and his party headed for the junction of the Henry's Fork and the Green River, where the general trading rendezvous had been previously scheduled. Across the west end of the Uinta Mountain range and between the Weber River and the Provo River ( formerly Timpanogos River) lies a broad valley, about 8 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles wide, and at an elevation of about 6500 feet. It is a great plain, to the eye nearly as level as a floor. The Weber River descends to it from the east and flows across its northern end and thence descends to empty into Great Salt Lake. Beaver Creek, a stream about 12 feet in width, emerges from a canyon east of Kamas City, flows through the city and meanders across the Kamas Prairie, entering the Weber River at the north­west corner of the Prairie, near the town of Peoa. A number of smaller streams join Beaver Creek on its way across the Kamas Prairie. The town of Peoa is located at the northwest edge of the Prairie; Oakley is in the north central part; Marion lies midway between the north and south ends, and on its east border; Francis is at the south edge, and the City of Kamas is about three quarters of the way to the south and on the east side of the Prairie, Kamas, founded in 1860, is the center of one of the finest dairy sections in the country. Its situation and the feed grown there is much like that of the dairy country of Switzerland, and its dairy products have a flavor and a quality greatly resembling those of Switzerland. Geologists tell us that during the Tertiary Age the bed of the Provo River was elevated higher than the Kamas Prairie and 50 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY that the Provo River then flowed across the Kamas Prairie and over into the Weber River. Through the ages the stream wore its bed down lower and lower, undercutting it until its level became lower than that of Kamas Prairie, whereupon the Provo River changed its course, and ceased being a tributary of the Weber River, and followed a new channel down through Provo Canyon, approximately as we know it today. The bed of the Provo River has continued to cut down and today the Provo River valley lies about 134 feet below the level of the south edge of Kamas Prairie. Some 9 miles east of the town of Francis is Shingle Creek. The waters of this creek can be made to flow either into the Weber River or into the Provo River. The Indians and the trappers called this plain the " Kamas Prairie," because of the large number of Kamas, or Camas plants flourishing there. The Camas is a genus of plants of the lily family. They have narrow grasslike leaves, known as " bear grass" and many flowered clusters of blue, purple or white flowers, called " wild hyacinths." The Camas plant thrives particularly well in meadows and prairies that are wet and soft in the spring. The starchy bulb of the Camas plant was eaten by the Indians and it formed an impor­tant food among them; it was probably the prindpal native food plant used by the savages. The bulbs were eaten raw or cooked and sometimes were pounded or ground to a powder and mixed with Service berries, Squaw berries or other berries and then baked into a cake, which had a very agreeable taste. The Indians pre­pared a bread of a cornmeal mixed with Camas and other dried roots. The Camas bulb when roasted tastes somewhat like a potato. The Indians obtained molasses by boiling the Camas root in water. The Squaw berries are the fruit of a Sumach plant and were so- called because the Indian squaws picked and dried large supplies of them for use as food. The Camas roots were also a favorite food of the prairie dogs and gophers. These animals were always numerous on the Camas Prairie. The Kamas Prairie and the adjoining country abounded in wild life, such as muskrats, beavers, foxes, porcupines, badgers, bear, deer, elk, and many varieties of birds. From the earliest times it was a favorite hunting resort of Indians and of trappers. The Kamas Prairie formed an easy pass from the Weber River to the Provo ( Timpanogos) Valley and the route was fre­quently used by Indians and Mountain men. From early times a well defined Indian Trail lead from Utah Lake up the Timpanogos River to " Round Prairie" or Heber Valley and from there continued to follow the Timpanogos River up to " Kamas Prairie" and them struck across Kamas Prairie to the Weber River. The trail followed up along the Weber River, turn­ing northeasterly about 20 miles above the north edae of Kamas OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 51 Prairie and followed up the valley of White Clay Creek to the headwaters of this creek and then struck northeasterly to Black's Fork and thence to Fort Bridger. Later in the summer of 1825, the first great general rendezvous of the mountains was held at Henry's Fork of the Green River, which had been discovered by Andrew Henry the year before. At this great summer rendezvous, there were probably 150 white men, including Hudson's Bay deserters, Ashley's men, and inde­pendent trappers from as far as Santa Fe and Taos. There were also more than 800 Indians, including the squaws and children. After this rendezvous General Ashley with some of his men returned to St. Louis with his fur catches, while the others pro­ceeded to the 1825- 26 Winter Quarters at the junction of the Weber River and the Ogden River. The furs brought into St. Louis by Ashley as a result of the trapping done by his men the preceding winter and the trading with the Freemen and Hudson's Bay deserters at the rendezvous, sold for $ 75,000. THE RENDEZVOUS During the late 1820' s and early 30' s, the annual summer rendezvous was a splendid gathering, with many hundreds of Indians from all the friendly tribes swarming in to erect their wickiups in scattered clusters spreading a mile or more along the river bank. The traders and trappers usually brought their squaws to this great trading fair. The women often were bedecked in the gaudiest style for this event, with embroideries, beads, ribbons, red blankets and bright skirts, and with little bells jingling about their persons. Agents of the great fur companies were here to meet thdr own parties of trappers, and also to drive new contracts with the Free Trappers. At the rendezvous were goods in great variety to be bought at " mountain prices." For example, a pound of beaver skins might be paid for with four dollars worth of goods, but the goods them­selves would be sold at enormous profit- a pint of coffee- beans, for example, two dollars, and a pint of sugar the same; a plug of chewing tobacco, one to two dollars; a pint of diluted alcohol, four dollars; guns and ammunition, bear traps, blankets, kerchiefs and gaudy finery for the squaws brought equal profits to the traders and agents. In the days of the fur trade's greatest glory, when beaver were still plentiful, a single trapper might squander several hun­dred dollars in a single week at the rendezvous, compensating in that brief spree for a year of great privation and danger in the wilderness. Much of it he might lose in gambling, and the rest he might squander to satisfy the coaxing of his squaw's begging for the gaudy trinkets of trade. It was a week of great fun. with the trappers renewing old 52 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY acquaintances and exchanging stories of their dangers and ad­ventures during the past year, with the squaws engaging in gossip and their favorite gambling game of " hand," with Indians and whites drinking, gambling and bartering. There were horse races, foot races, wrestling, and contests in shooting- all the spontaneous sports that such a crowd of mountain men enjoyed on their yearly spree. And the feasting was continuous- the gorging of fresh-killed meat in incredible quantities leaving the men happy and relaxed, ready for horse- play and jokes. The second annual summer rendezvous was held in Ogden valley and the third on Bear Lake, near the present town of Laketown, Rich County, Utah. The sixth rendezvous, held on the Wind River, Wyoming, was notable for the sale of thdr interests in the fur trade by Smith, Jackson and Sublette to Thomas Fitzpatrick, Milton G. Sublette, James Bridger, Henry Fraeb, and Jean Baptiste Gervais, who adopted the firm name of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. At this rendezvous- early in August, 1830, the first wheeled vehicles ever driven to the mountains arrived. There were ten large wagons, drawn by five mules each, loaded with goods to sell at the rendezvous. By 1833, conditions in the fur trade had become chaotic, with many traders in the field. The richest period of the trade had already passed. By 1835 the American Fur Company had control of the field, but there were only 200 trappers assembled on the Green in the vicinity of Bonneville's Fort for the rendezvous, and they had only small stocks of beaver to trade in. This was the first rendezvous attended by the missionaries to the Indians- the Reverend Samuel Parker and Marcus Whit­man. Although the fur trade had already passed its peak and this rendezvous could not compare with the earlier ones, there were still so many Indians in attendance that the missionaries were greatly impressed with the possibility of converting so many redmen, and they made plans to secure additional missionaries for the rendezvous the following summer. To this next rendezvous Marcus Whitman returned with his bride, Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, and another white woman, the wife of Reverend Henry Spaulding. These were the first white women to go into the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains and it was considered a feat of great courage and fool- hardiness. There were sixteen of these great mountain fairs in all, the final two in 1839 and 1840 being held on the Green River. After this, the trappers, instead of securing their supplies at the rendez­vous, obtained what they needed from one of the mountain trading gosts- Bent's Fort, Fort Laramie, Fort Hall, Fort Boise, Fort ridger, Fort Uncompahgre, Fort Davy Crockett, or Fort Uinta. In the winter, groups of trappers often made camp in Cache Valley, Utah, which was comparatively mild and open, so that i w o Q 5 CQ 00 Id 2 O 00 h°% W CQ O « < w i j u 2 3 OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 53 the horses could forage for food. Other protected valleys through the Rockies were also used for winter camps. Ferris gives a picturesque description of a winter camp, 1834- 5, in Northeastern Utah. M Many of the trappers stayed at the forts, but during the winter other trappers and traders who had a successful season, would travel down the Old Spanish Trail to Santa Fe and Taos, leaving their Indian squaws at the forts in the wilderness. The squaws could eat their winter dish of " pemican"- but the mountain men would enjoy the wafer- thin tortillas and the hot Mexican sauces! FAMOUS EARLY TRAPPERS AND TRADERS Many of the mountain men who later became famous, came to the mountains in the party of William Henry Ashley. Ashley was a Virginian, who had come to Missouri about the time of the Louisiana purchase and had settled in the Ste. Genevieve district. He became a surveyor, a speculator in land, a manufacturer of gunpowder, a general merchant, and after he acquired consider­able wealth, he moved to St. Louis. He then decided to enter the Indian country, and chose Major Andrew Henry as his field lieutenant. Among his men on various expeditions were James Bridger, only eighteen years old at the time he joined Ashley's party, Etienne Provost, 12 Thomas Fitzpatrick, a young Irishman who was to be­come one of the most famous of the mountain men, Jedediah Strong Smith, William L. Sublette from Kentucky, David E. Jackson, Hugh Glass famous for many thrilling adventures, Robert Camp­bell, Louis Vasquez, who became the partner of Jim Bridger, Thomas Eddie, James Clyman, Jim Beckwourth, Edward Rose, Moses Harris, John Robertson- all of whom later became very famous as leaders in the fur trade. From 1824 to 1827 Ashley's men sent to St. Louis furs amounting to $ 180,000. TRAPPERS AND TRADERS AROUND BLACK'S FORK One of the best known and one of the most interesting moun­tain men in the Black's Fork ( Green River) country, next to Jim Bridger, was John Robertson, also an Ashley man on his first introduction to the mountains. He was generally known as " Uncle" Jack Robertson ( often misspelled " Robinson"). A trapper, and trader, he came into the Black's Fork" country with two inde­pendent French trappers and traders, Antoine Robidoux and Old Sherrell, from Taos, New Mexico, around 1832. John Robertson, or " Uncle Jack" Robertson, was born in North Carolina about " See " Warren A. Ferris in Utah,'' in this Quarterly. 12The author vouches for this spelling, confirmed by a recent assurance from Miss Stella M. Drumm, Librarian, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri. uBlack's Fork of the Green River is said to be named after Arthur Black, one of Ashley's trappers. 54 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 1802 and as a young fellow he went West as an " Ashley man" and trapped and traded in what is now Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and particularly throughout the Green River country. He was associated with Jim Bridger, Louis Vasquez, William Sublette, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Antoine Robi­doux, Lucien Fontenelle, Andrew Drips, and other notable early trappers. The Rio Colorado of the West, or the Spanish River, or the Seedskeedee, ( or Siskadee or Seeds Skeeden River- Indian for Prairie Hen), was in the early twenties renamed by Ashley, the Green River, reputedly in honor of one of his associates in St. Louis. The Green River drains a vast and important territory in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, a drainage area of some 45,000 square miles. It is, by far, the largest and most important tributary of the Colorado River, and furnishes nearly one- half the total volume of water carried by the Colorado River below the junction of the Green and the Grand River, which junction is a short dis­tance south of where Indian Creek enters the Green River in Southern Utah. Formerly the east fork of the River above this junction was known as the Grand River, but in recent years the name Grand River was changed to Colorado River. The Green River and its tributary country was one of the richest sources of Beaver and other fur- bearing animals in the Far West, and became the hunting and trading grounds of many of the most famous trap­pers and traders. Jack Robertson and Antoine Robidoux, in the early thirties, entered into a partnership and acquired some horses and catde to trade to Indians and trappers in the Green River country. Cat­tle, herds of horses, ( and mules and horse trains loaded with hides) were driven from Santa Fe and Taos via the Old Spanish Trail, some going to the Salt Lake Valley and thence to the Black's Fork and Green River country, and some taking Indian cut- off trails from the Uncompahgre River and the Gunnison River to the Wintey ( Uinta) River, and from there to Fort Wintey and the Black's Fork country. Cattle, herds of horses and mule and horse trains loaded with hides were also driven from California over the Old Spanish Trail through Utah Lake Valley and Salt Lake Valley, and thence eastward. During 1834 and 1835, Warren A. Ferris spent some time in the Ute country and along the Green, White, Grand, and Colo­rado Rivers, as he relates in his " Life in the Rocky Mountains."" Jack Robertson, who was a " pal," and at times, a partner of Jim Bridger, tried for several years to persuade Bridger to locate near him on Black's Fork of the Green River, a section particularly " Warren A. Ferris, " Life in the Rocky Mountains." OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 55 rich in Beaver. Bridger trapped there during part of the thirties and he remained there for awhile in 1841 and conducted a tempo­rary trading post. In 1842 he started some cabins, which in 1843 took form as Fort Bridger and Vasquez, or for short, Fort Bridger. Louis Vasquez, with Jim Bridger, had been a member of the Ashley- Henry Expedition which left St. Louis in 1822 for the Upper Missouri country and the two men became close friends, and later partners. Jack Robertson had been the first white man to discover that livestock could winter well on the Black's Fork of the Green River country, and he brought many horses, mules, and cattle in from Taos, New Mexico, and from California. In the thirties he built a cabin on Black's Fork, about two miles from the present Mountain View. Fort Bridger was later built on Black's Fork just a few miles from Jack Robertson's cabin. The town of Robertson, Wyoming, on Smith's Fork, was named after him. " Uncle Jack" Robertson told Samuel H. Auerbach1* that for years, he, Antoine Robidoux ( Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Etienne Provost16, Louis Vasquez, Lucien Fontenelle, who came from New Orleans, and other early mountain men, who later became noted, had hunted and trapped together, and that they all prided them­selves upon being crack shots, so much that they often engaged in marksmanship contests and on occasions had shot tin cups contain­ing whiskey off one another's heads. Jack Robertson also said that during the thirties and forties, he made frequent winter trips to Brown's Hole, where he con­ducted a very profitable trade with the Indians and trappers who congregated there during the winter. While at Brown's Hole he lived with his family and some relatives and friends in wickiups, Indian style, and in one of these wickiups he kept his stock of goods and transacted his trading business. The goods he spread out on buffalo robes laid on the ground, and he and his customers sat cross- legged alongside his wares and examined them and con­ducted their trading pow wows. Uncle Jack spoke the language of various Indian tribes, and his services as interpreter were much in demand. The tin cup of one- half pint size was an essential part of the trapper's outfit. In addition to service as a drinking cup, it was the standard measuring device used for gun- powder, sugar, coffee, tea, salt, flour, and most important of all, alcohol, or so- called " Whiskey." " Uncle Jack Robertson told me," writes Samuel H. Auerbach in his " Recollections," " that when he was traveling around the country, some of the water was so brackish or bad that he had to ^ Pioneer Recollections of Samuel H. Auerbach, Ms. 18Etienne Provost had been a member of the Ashley- Henry Expedition which left St. Louis in 1822 for the headwaters of the Missouri River. 56 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY use considerable alcohol to make the water safe to drink; and that where the water was real pure, he sometimes mixed a little water with the alcohol to make the alcohol safe to drink!" " Uncle Jack was a tall, spare built, active man, and wore a mustache and beard. He lived so intimately with the Indians that he became about the same in his habits and thoughts as an Indian. He was naturally not a talkative man, but once he opened up he was an interesting story teller and could relate many un­usual and exiting experiences and adventures which had befallen him," according to the Auerbach " Recollections." " After having trapped and traded for a long time, Uncle Jack decided to confine his activities mostly to the horse and cattle business, in which he became very successful. ' Unle Jack's' first wife was a very dark complexioned squaw named Marique, or Marooke," says the " Recollections," " by whom he had two chil­dren, Lucien and Bill. She had a brother named Tidzeump, who was the chief of a small band of Shoshone Indians. Tidzeump was a lazy, good- for- nothing fellow, and hung around ' Uncle Jack's' place most of the time. There were quite a number of other Indians, as well as some Mexicans, who made their homes around Uncle Jack's place and ' sponged' on him. He was very big- hearted and generous, always ready to assist those in distress or need. There were usually fifteen or twenty wickiups pitched in the neighborhood of his camp." " Uncle Jack's other squaw was Toggy, who was quite an attractive woman," according to the Auerbach " Recollections." " Marique was very jealous of Toggy, because Toggy was more attractive and younger than Marique, and there was frequent trouble between the two." Uncle Jack spent a great part of his time at Fort Bridger, and Mr. Samuel H. Auerbach reports that he met him there many times. Uncle Jack was a liberal spender and was fond of liquor and fre­quently indulged in champagne, which in those days was quite expensive. " One evening at Fort Bridger," says Samuel H. Auerbach, " a crowd of us were sitting around swapping experiences and finally ' Uncle Jack' spoke up: ' Well, I made three hundred Indians run once!' One of the army officers asked, ' How did you do it?' ' Uncle Jack' disposed of a drink and while we waited impatiently for him to continue he hesitated until he saw that everybody was listening intently and then drawled, ' I was on the fastest horse.' " ' Uncle Jack' had been chased by the Indians a number of times but he always managed to get away. He smoked almost constantly, and was very fond of the Indian smoking mixture known as kinnikinnick. This he prepared himself, using the kinnikinnick bark mixed with several other varieties of bark and roots and the dried leaves of sumac. To this mixture he added tobacco." " ' Uncle Jack' told me," continues the " Recollections," " that OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 57 the preparation of, and the pipe smoking, of kinnikinnick was an important social ceremony among the Indians and that it was fre­quently accompanied by religious rites. Often the tribal medicine man had a hand in the kinnikinnick preparation and in the smok­ing veremony. ' Uncle Jack' said that he had seen medicine men inhalw smoke deeply for so long a period they appeared to go into a trance, during which they had visions, which they later inter­preted. He further told me that he had watched the medicine men burn kinnikinnick as a sacrificial incense to appease certain gods. It was customary for the Indians, following a meal, to fill a pipe with kinnikinnick and pass it around, each one taking a few puffs." " The usual ingredients for this smoking mixture consisted of kinnikinnick, which was scraped from the inner bark of the smaller and more tender willows and then dried before a fire, and a selection of other barks, roots, and the leaves of certain plants, particularly sumac roots and leaves. However, the composition of this smoking compound varied among different tribes, and among individual Indians, many of them having their own formu­lae, which were closely guarded secrets. The Indians often added tobacco to their kinnikinnick compound. If they were unable to obtain tobacco, the kinnikinnick mixture was smoked straight." " The kinnikinnick willow, a species of Dog- wood, grows along the stream banks and in wet places. ' Uncle Jack' told me that the kinnikinnick had a soothing effect and was sleep inducing. He had often seen a concoction of the bark of the kinnikinnick, as well as the berries, used by the Indians to cure colic and as a remedy for fevers, much as we use Peruvian bark. He had also seen them place kinnikinnick bark on open wounds to make the wound heal rapidly. From the willows they made arrow shafts and the squaws used the kinnikinnick willows in the weaving of baskets." " ' Uncle Jack' said that he much preferred to smoke kinnikin­nick mixed with tobacco, rather than straight tobacco. He died in his cabin on Burnt Fork in 1882, about eighty years of age, and was buried in the Fort Bridger cemetery." ETIENNE PROVOST Another of the important and interesting mountain men was Etienne Provost. He was a Canadian, born about 1782, and was one of Ashley's men from approximately 1822 until the summer of 1826. Subsequent to that time he was one of the leaders of the American Fur Company. However, during most of his life as a hunter, trapper and guide, he was regarded as a free trapper. He left St. Louis with a party of Ashley's men in 1822 and later traveled to the Green River, in which vicinity he was later to spend considerable time. He is one of those who has been credited with the discovery of South Pass. He was in the Valley of Great Salt 58 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Lake and the Valley of Utah Lake during the winter of 1824- 1825 and is regarded as one of the very first white men to have seen and visited Great Salt Lake. In 1824 while Provost and LeClerc were on Provost River ( Jordan River; see " W. A. Ferris in Utah," this publication,) with their party of trappers, a fight took place with the Snake- Ute Indians under Chief Mauvaise Gauche in which seven of Provost's men were killed and Provost himself narrowly escaped death. At that time there were a number of Indian villages along the shore of Eutah Lake, one sizable village being located at the southeast end of the lake, and another at the head of the present Jordan River. In the eighteen twenties and eighteen thirties Provost spent much time in the Salt Lake Valley, the Timpanogos or Eutah Lake Valley and along the Timpanogos River and its tributaries; the name of this river was subsequently changed to Provo, in honor of this trapper and trader. Provost spent some time in the Green River region. He also made numerous trips to the headwaters of the Timpanogos River and along the Duchesne River and into the Ute country. Provost, according to the story told to Samuel H. Auerbach by Porter Rockwell, had one trading post near the mouth of the Timpanogos River and another between Utah Lake and Great Salt Lake near the Utah Lake Outlet ( Jordan River), probably near the present Salt Lake City. Etienne Provost led a trapping party in the fall of 1824 from the Green River region. He apparently followed up Black's Fork and crossed the Uinta Mountains and trapped along the headwaters of the Weber River and down the Weber as far as the mouth of the Ogden River, where they made their winter quarters. In the spring of 1825 Provost trapped in the Great Salt Lake Basin and in the Wasatch Mountains. In 1825 General Ashley and his men, who were near to starvation, encountered Etienne Provost, who was camped in Brown's Hole. Provost had an ample supply of food and a number of horses. Ashley and his men went with Provost to Utah Lake and Great Salt Lake Valley, and from there, to the Preliminary Rendezvous of 1825 on Kamas Prairie. Provost accompanied General Ashley from Kamas Prairie to the General Rendezvous at the mouth of Henry's Fork. Provost was at the Ogden Rendezvous in July, 1826. He was employed at Fort Union during 1830. In 1834 he was with Fountenelle and Drips on a trip to Bayou Salado ( South Park, Colorado). He spent some time at Ham's Fork of the Green River in the summer of 1834. Provost was an especially skilled hunter and trapper. He was a hail- fellow- well- met, and a favorite with all the mountain men, as well as with most of the Indians. In the Thirties and Forties, Jack Robertson, Antoine Robi­doux, Jim Bridger and others of the mountain men, made frequent OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 59 trips to Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, over the Old Spanish Trail, to obtain horses, mules, cattle, and supplies for themselves and for trading to the Indians and to trappers and travelers. They often took or sent their fur catches to these settlements to dispose of them. EMIGRANTS AND COLONISTS ON THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL As the mountain streams became trapped out and the fur trade declined, the Old Spanish Trail saw the beginning of an­other era- and over its centuries- old paths traveled at last the men and women who had come to establish homes in the West, and later the California emigrants and gold seekers. In 1843 a party of settlers from New Mexico, led by Don Jose Salajar, had come to La Politano, in the San Bernardino Val­ley, California, and some two years later they started a village which they called Agua Mansa. Louis Robidoux was one of the leaders and founders of this village. Robidoux built a number of houses and a grist mill. He planted vineyards and orchards, and this was the beginning of the development of a vast rancho by Louis Robidoux, who was a brother of Antoine Robidoux. Louis later became alcalde and juez de paz at San Bernardino. In the spring of 1851 Brigham Young sent a party of five hundred colonists to the San Bernardino Valley. This party of five hundred was divided into three sections. The first section was led by Charles C. Rich, assisted by Captain Jefferson Hunt, who had been a captain in the Mormon Battalion and had made several trips into southern California, and who was very familiar with the San Bernardino region. The second section was led by Amasa Lyman, assisted by Captain David Seeley. The third section was led by Andrew Lytle. The Charles C. Rich and Captain Hunt party camped at Sycamore Grove at the mouth of Cajon Pass, on June 10, 1851, and remained there for a while, and then moved on into the San Bernar­dino Valley. During the summer of 1851, a part of the Rancho de San Bernardino, comprising some twenty- eight thousand acres, located in the central part of San Bernardino Valley, was purchased by the Mormon Church from the Lugo family for $ 75,000. This included and surrounded the present city of San Bernardino, Cali­fornia. Here the Mormon colonists lived and prospered until they were recalled to Utah by Brigham Young in 1857, when General Johnston's army threatened the invasion of Utah. In response to this call most of them returned to Utah during 1858; but possibly 35% or 40% of the colonists refused to abandon their farms and remained at San Bernardino. Even before 1851, the Mormons were acquainted with the Old Spanish Trail. In the fall of 1847, shortly after the first 60 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY arrival in the valley of Great Salt Lake, Brigham Young sent Porter Rockwell with a party to California to obtain livestock and needed supplies for the L. D. S. Church in Utah. Their route followed the Old Spanish Trail from the shores of Utah Lake on down through Utah, Nevada, and California, and subsequently this was the route used by Mormon colonists and travelers. Parley P. Pratt and a company was sent by the Mormon Church to explore the southern part of the territory in the fall of 1849, his task being to find places suitable for settlement. Pratt and his party went as far south as the Virgin River, following part way along the Old Spanish Trail. Many of the members of the Mormon Battalion, also followed the Old Spanish Trail when traveling to Utah from California. Many are the stories attached to the Old Spanish Trail during the exciting days of the Gold Rush. A great tragedy of the Trail was the Mountain Meadows Massacre, of 1857, when all of the adults of a party of 132 Arkansas immigrants, camped in the Mountain Meadows on their way to California, were killed, only some of the small children being saved. Rich in history and romance, the Old Spanish Trail and its tributary trails threaded first by the nomadic Indians, then by the Spanish Padres was an important route of travel of the fur trappers, the traders and hunters, prospectors and miners, starting particularly in the late twenties and early thirties. In Summer they gathered at the yearly rendezvous- in the Fall they traveled the streams to secure their harvest of beaver and other pelts, in the Winter they retreated to the forts or protected camps. Thus, the campfires blazed through the night along the Old Spanish Trail like torches to illumine the way for still another era to come- for the wagon trails of yesterday and the railways and the automobile highways of today. BIBLIOGRAPHY This is a partial list of the authorities consulted in preparing this article. Alter, J. Cecil: James Bridger, Trapper, Frontiersman, Scout and Guide- Salt Lake City, Utah. 1925. Alter, J. Cecil: Utah, The Storied Domain. Chicago, Illinois. 1932. Anderson, Frank: Salt Lake City, Utah. Mss. Auerbach, Samuel H.: Pioneer Recollections of Salt Lake City, Utah. Mss. Bancroft, Hubert Howe: History of Utah. San Francisco. 1891. Barber, John W.: History of All The Western States and Terri­tories. Cincinnati. 1867. OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 61 Bartlett, John Russell: Bartlett's Personal Narrative of Explora­tions and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, etc. N. Y. Bonner, T. D.: Life and Adventures of Jas. P. Beckwourth, New York. 1856. Bryant, Wm.: What I saw in California. New York. 1849. Carson, Kit: Kit Carson's Own Story of His Life. Edited by Blanche C. Grant, Taos, New Mexico. 1926. Chittenden, Brig. General Hiram M.: The American Fur Trade of The Far West. New York. 1902. Conard, H. L : Uncle Dick Wootton. Chicago. 1890. Cooke, P. St. George: The Conquest of New Mexico and Cali­fornia. New York. 1878. Cooke, P. St. George: Scenes and Adventures In The Army. Philadelphia. 1857. Coyner, David H.: The Lost Trappers. 1847. Dale, Harrison Clifford: Ashley- Smith Explorations. Cleveland. 1918. Eells, Rev. Myron: Marcus Whitman, Pathfinder and Patriot. Seattle. 1909. Emory, Abert, Cooke & Johnson: New Mexico & California. Washington. 1848. Farnham, T. J.: Travels in The Great Western Prairies. Lon­don. 1843. Ferris, Warren A.: Life in The Rocky Mountains. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1940. Fremont, John Charles: Report of the Exploring Expedition to The Rocky Mountains in the years 1842- 43- 44. Washington. 1845. Gregg, Josiah: Commerce of the Prairies. New York. 1844. Harris, Dean W. R.: The Catholic Church in Utah, Salt Lake City. 1909. Harry, Philip: Summary of Manuscript Journal of Father Es­calante, 1860, p. 489. J. H. Simpson's Explorations across the Great Basin of Utah. Hill, Joseph J.: The Old Spanish Trail. The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. IV, No. 3, August, 1921. Hill, Joseph J.: Ewing Young in the Fur Trade of the Far South­west. Oregon Historical Quarterly. Vol. 24 No. 1. March, 1923. Hill, Joseph J.: Spanish and Mexican Exploration and Trade Northwest from New Mexico into the Great Basin, Utah His­torical Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 1, January, 1930. Huntington Library, Leslie Edgar Bliss, Librarian, San Marino, California, Documents. 62 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Indian Affairs. Reports of the Commissioner of. Various vol­umes. Washington, D. C. Interviews with Pioneers. Irving, Washington: Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains. New York. 1836. Jones, Daniel W.: Forty Years Among the Indians. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1890. Kendall, George Wilkins: Kendall's Santa Fe Expedition. New York. 1844. Larson, E. O.: Construction Engineer U. S. Bureau of Reclama­tion. Salt Lake City, Utah. L. D. S. Church Historian's Office. A. Wm. Lund, Assistant Church Historian, Alvin F. Smith, Librarian. Magoffin, Susan Shelby: Down The Santa Fe Trail. Edited by Stella M. Drumm, Yale University Press. 1926. Mayer, Brantz: Mexico, New Mexico and California. Hartford. Missouri Historical Society. Stella M. Drumm, Librarian. St. Louis, Missouri. Newberry Library, Ruth Lapham Butler, Librarian. Chicago, Illinois. Newberry, J. S.: Geological Report of Exploring Expedition. Washington. 1876. Pacific Railroad Surveys. Reports upon. Various volumes. Wash­ington, D. C. Pattie, James O.: Personal Narrative of an Expedition from St. Louis, etc., Cincinnati. 1833. Peters, De Witt C : Kit Carson. Hartford. 1873. Pike, Zebulon M.: The Expeditions of. To Headwaters of the Mississippi River, Louisiana Territory and new Spain. 1805- 6- 7. Prince, L. Bradford: History of New Mexico. New York. 1883. Robidoux, Orral Messmore: Memorial to the Robidoux Brothers. Kansas City, Mo. 1924. Sage, R. B.: Rocky Mountain Life. Boston. 1860. Simpson, Capt. J. H.: Report of Explorations across The Great Basin of The Territory of Utah. Washington, D. C. 1876. Snow, Dr. Wm. J.: Mss. Also Utah Indians and Spanish Slave Trade, Utah Historical Quarterly, July, 1929. Stuart, Robert. Ed. P. A. Rollins: The Discovery of The Oregon Trail. N. Y 1935. Sullivan, Maurice S.: Jedediah S. Smith. New York. 1936. Warner's Ranch. History of, by J. J. Hill. Los Angeles. 1927. OLD TRAILS, OLD FORTS, OLD TRAPPERS AND TRADERS 63 Williams, Joseph: Tour To Oregon, 1841- 2. New York. 1921. Wislizenus, F. A.: A Journey To The Rocky Mountains. St. Louis. 1912. Woolley, Ralf R.: The Green River and Its Utilization. Water Supply Paper 618 U. S. G. S. Washington, D. C. 1930. EDITOR'S NOTE.- Mr. Herbert S. Auerbach, author of the foregoing article, " Old Trails, Old Forts, Old Trappers and Traders," is president of Auerbach Company, Salt Lake City, the oldest Department Store in the interior West, 77 years under one ownership and management, serving the Intermountain region as widely, if not as exclusively, as did the Fur Traders' Rendezvous of old. Incidentally Mr. Auerbach recently made an independent verification of the discovery of the site of Old Fort Robidoux, Utah, described by Mr. Morrill in his preceding artide; and he sponsored the publication of the original W. A. Ferris Journal, referred to in the last article herein. For the past eight years Mr. Auerbach has been President of the Utah State Historical Society, promoting its interests wisely, and giving substantial aid in furthering its usefulness. Samuel H. Auerbach, whose Memoirs are quoted at length in this article, was the author's father. Thus Mr. Herbert S. Auerbach springs from a lineage of western frontiers- people, which gives him a peculiar advantage, not only in perspective, but in atmosphere and experience, for historical comment and research. He has, moreover, through many years of study and collecting, acquired one of the country's most excellent collections of books and pictures relating to the early far West. Neither an aspiring nor a prolific writer, Mr. Auerbach was reluctant to embark upon a task so pretentious as that implied in the title of his paper; but the lure of the quest itself, finally persuaded him to comply with our urgent request, that he write down what has most interested him in his years of trade, travel and research, more especially that relating to the Old Spanish Trail. As an extensive traveler, hunting and fishing along the far­away streams and mountain sides of the West, he has followed all the Old Trappers' Trails, and encamped with the trappers in spirit and in memory, at scores of their old campsites, fully aware of the historic ground on which he was treading. The recently reported finding of the site of Old Fort Robidoux, touched off Mr. Auerbach's interest afresh in that old post, and sent him coursing over some of the converging trails to check related data. One result of this activity has been the preparation of the paper, " Old Trails, Old Posts, Old Trappers and Traders."- J. C. A.