THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL - COLONEL HENRY INMAN (surface ebook reader .TXT) 📗
- Author: COLONEL HENRY INMAN
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Upon The Colonel Devolved the Entire Charge Of The Busy Establishment.
It Soon Became The Most Popular Rendezvous Of The Mountaineers And
Trappers, And In its Immediate Vicinity Several Tribes Of Indians
Took Up Their Temporary Encampment.
In 1852 Fort William Was Destroyed under The Following Strange
Circumstances: It Appears That The United states Desired to Purchase
It. Colonel Bent Had Decided upon A Price--Sixteen Thousand Dollars--
But The Representatives Of The War Department Offered only Twelve
Thousand, Which, Of Course, Bent Refused. Negotiations Were Still
Pending, When The Colonel, Growing Tired of The Red-Tape And
Circumlocution Of The Authorities, And While In a Mad Mood, Removed
All His Valuables From The Structure, Excepting Some Barrels Of
Gunpowder, And Then Deliberately Set Fire To The Old Landmark.
When The Flames Reached the Powder, There Was An Explosion Which
Threw Down Portions Of The Walls, But Did Not Wholly Destroy Them.
The Remains Of The Once Noted buildings Stand To-Day, Melancholy
Relics Of A Past Epoch.
In The Same Year The Indefatigable And Indomitable Colonel Determined
Upon Erecting a Much More Important Structure. He Selected a Site
On The Same Side Of The Arkansas, In the Locality Known As Big Timbers.
Regarding This New Venture, Colonel Or Judge Moore Of Las Animas,
A Son-In-Law Of William Bent, Tells In a Letter To The Author Of
The History Of Colorado The Following Facts:--
Leaving Ten Men In camp To Get Out Stone For The New Post,
Colonel Bent Took A Part Of His Outfit And Went To A Kiowa
Village, About Two Hundred miles Southwest, And Remained
There All Winter, Trading With The Kiowas And Comanches.
In the Spring Of 1853 He Returned to Big Timbers, When
The Construction Of The New Post Was Begun, And The Work
Continued until Completed in the Summer Of 1854; And It
Was Used as A Trading-Post Until The Owner Leased it To
The Government In the Autumn Of 1859. Colonel Sedgwick Had
Been Sent Out To Fight The Kiowas That Year, And In the Fall
A Large Quantity Of Commissary Stores Had Been Sent Him.
Colonel Bent Then Moved up The River To A Point Just Above
The Mouth Of The Purgatoire, And Built Several Rooms Of
Cottonwood Pickets, And There Spent The Winter. In the
Spring Of 1860, Colonel Sedgwick Began The Construction Of
Officers' Buildings, Company Quarters, Corrals, And Stables,
All Of Stone, And Named the Place Fort Wise, In honour Of
Governor Wise Of Virginia. In 1861 The Name Was Changed to
Fort Lyon, In honour Of General Lyon, Who Was Killed at The
Battle Of Wilson Creek, Missouri. In the Spring Of 1866,
The Arkansas River Overflowed its Banks, Swept Up Into The
Fort, And, Undermining The Walls, Rendered it Untenable For
Military Purposes. The Camp Was Moved to A Point Twenty
Miles Below, And The New Fort Lyon Established. The Old
Post Was Repaired, And Used as A Stage Station By Barlow,
Sanderson, And Company, Who Ran A Mail, Express, And
Passenger Line Between Kansas City And Santa Fe.
The Contiguous Region To Fort William Was In the Early Days A Famous
Hunting-Ground. It Abounded in nearly Every Variety Of Animal
Indigenous To The Mountains And Plains, Among Which Were The Panther
--The So-Called california Lion Of To-Day--The Lynx, Erroneously Termed
Wild Cat, White Wolf, Prairie Wolf, Silver-Gray Fox, Prairie Fox,
Antelope, Buffalo, Gray, Grizzly And Cinnamon Bears, Together With
The Common Brown And Black Species, The Red deer And The Black-Tail,
The Latter The Finest Venison In the World. Of Birds There Were
Wild Turkeys, Quail, And Grouse, Besides An Endless Variety Of The
Smaller-Sized families, Not Regarded as Belonging To The Domain Of
Game In a Hunter'S Sense. It Was A Veritable Paradise, Too, For The
Trappers. Its Numerous Streams And Creeks Were Famous For Beaver,
Otter, And Mink.
Scarcely An Acre Of The Surrounding area Within The Radius Of
Hundreds Of Miles But Has Been The Scene Of Many Deadly Encounters
With The Wily Red man, Stories Of Which Are Still Current Among The
Few Old Mountaineers Yet Living.
The Fort Was Six Hundred and Fifty Miles West Of Fort Leavenworth,
In Latitude Thirty-Eight Degrees And Two Minutes North, And Longitude
One Hundred and Three Degrees And Three Minutes West, From Greenwich.
The Exterior Walls Of The Fort, Whose Figure Was That Of A Parallelogram,
Were Fifteen Feet High And Four Feet Thick. It Was A Hundred and
Thirty-Five Feet Wide And Divided into Various Compartments. On The
Northwest And Southeast Corners Were Hexagonal Bastions, In which
Were Mounted a Number Of Cannon. The Walls Of The Building Served
As The Walls Of The Rooms, All Of Which Faced inwards On A Plaza,
After The General Style Of Mexican Architecture. The Roofs Of The
Rooms Were Made Of Poles, On Which Was A Heavy Layer Of Dirt, As In
The Houses Of Native Mexicans To-Day. The Fort Possessed a Billiard
Table, That Visitors Might Amuse Themselves, And In the Office Was
A Small Telescope With A Fair Range Of Seven Miles.
The Occupants Of The Far-Away Establishment, In its Palmy Days
(For Years It Was The Only Building Between Council Grove And The
Mountains), Were Traders, Indians, Hunters, And French Trappers,
Who Were The Employees Of The Great Fur Companies. Many Of The Latter
Had Indian Wives. Later, After A Stage Line Had Been Put In operation
Across The Plains To Santa Fe, The Fort Was Relegated to A Mere
Station For The Overland Route, And With The March Of Civilization
In Its Course Westward, The Trappers, Hunters, And Traders Vanished
From The Once Famous Rendezvous.
The Walls Were Loopholed for Musketry, And The Entrance To The Plaza,
Or Corral, Was Guarded by Large Wooden Gates. During The War With
Mexico, The Fort Was Headquarters For The Commissary Department,
And Many Supplies Were Stored there, Though The Troops Camped below
On The Beautiful River-Bottom. In the Centre Of The Corral, In the
Early Days When The Place Was A Rendezvous Of The Trappers, A Large
Buffalo-Robe Press Was Erected. When The Writer First Saw The Famous
Fort, Now Over A Third Of A Century Ago, One Of The Cannon, That
Burst In firing a Salute To General Kearney, Could Be Seen Half
Buried in the Dirt Of The Plaza.
By Barometrical Measurements Taken By The Engineer Officers Of The
Army At Different Times, The Height Of Bent'S Fort Above The Ocean
Level Is Approximately Eight Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty-Eight
Feet, And The Fall Of The Arkansas River From The Fort To The Great
Bend Of That Stream, About Three Hundred and Eleven Miles East,
Is Seven Feet And Four-Tenths Per Mile.
It Was In a Relatively Fair State Of Preservation Thirty-Three Years
Ago, But Now Not A Vestige Of It Remains, Excepting Perhaps A Mound
Of Dirt, The Disintegration Of The Mud Bricks Of Which The Historical
Structure Was Built.
The Indians Whose Villages Were Located a Few Miles Below The Fort,
Or At Least The Chief Men Of The Various Tribes, Passed much Of Their
Time Within The Shelter Of The Famous Structure. They Were Bountifully
Fed, And Everything They Needed furnished them. This Was Purely From
Policy, However; For If Their Wishes Were Not Gratified, Their
Hunters Would Not Bring In their Furs To Trade. The Principal Chiefs
Never Failed to Be Present When A Meal Was Announced as Ready, And
However Scarce Provisions Might Be, The Indians Must Be Fed.
The First Farm In the Fertile And Now Valuable Lands Of The Valley Of
The Rio De Las Animas[60] Was Opened by The Bents. The Area Selected
For Cultivation Was In the Beautiful Bottom Between The Fort And The
Ford, A Strip About A Mile In length, And From One Hundred and Fifty
To Six Hundred feet In width. Nothing Could Be Grown Without Irrigation,
And To That End An Acequia, As The Mexicans Call The Ditch Through
Which The Water Flows, Was Constructed, And A Crop Put In. Before
The Enterprising Projectors Of The Scheme Could Reap A Harvest,
The Hostile Savages Dashed in and Destroyed everything.
Uncle John Smith Was One Of The Principal Traders Back In the '30'S,
And He Was Very Successful, Perhaps Because He Was Undoubtedly The
Most Perfect Master Of The Cheyenne Language At That Time In the
Whole Mountain Region.
Among Those Who Frequently Came To The Fort Were Kit Carson,
L. B. Maxwell, Uncle Dick Wooton, Baptiste Brown, Jim Bridger,
Old Bill Williams, James Beckwourth, Shawnee Spiebuck, Shawnee Jake
--The Latter Two, Noted indian Trappers--Besides A Host Of Others.
The Majority Of The Old Trappers, To A Stranger, Until He Knew Their
Peculiar Characteristics, Were Seemingly Of An Unsociable Disposition.
It Was An Erroneous Idea, However; For They Were The Most Genial
Companions Imaginable, Generous To A Fault, And To Fall Into One Of
Their Camps Was Indeed a Lucky Thing For The Lost Traveller.
Everything The Host Had Was At His Guest'S Disposal, And Though
Coffee And Sugar Were The Dearest Of His Luxuries, Often Purchased
With A Whole Season'S Trapping, The Black Fluid Was Offered with
Genuine Free-Heartedness, And The Last Plug Of Tobacco Placed at The
Disposition Of His Chance Visitor, As Though It Could Be Picked up
On The Ground Anywhere.
Goods Brought By The Traders To The Rendezvous For Sale To The
Trappers And Hunters, Although Of The Most Inferior Quality, Were
Sold At Enormously High Prices.
Coffee, By The Pint-Cup, Which Was The Usual Measure For Everything,
Cost From A Dollar And Twenty Cents To Three Dollars; Tobacco A Dollar
And A Half A Plug; Alcohol From Two Dollars To Five Dollars A Pint;
Gunpowder One Dollar And Sixty Cents A Pint-Cup, And All Other
Articles At Proportionably Exorbitant Rates.
The Annual Gatherings Of The Trappers At The Rendezvous Were Often
The Scene Of Bloody Duels; For Over Their Cups And Cards No Men Were
More Quarrelsome Than The Old-Time Mountaineers. Rifles At Twenty
Paces Settled all Difficulties, And, As May Be Imagined, The Fall
Of One Or The Other Of The Combatants Was Certain, Or, As Sometimes
Happened, Both Fell At The Word "Fire!"
The Trapper'S Visits To The Mexican Settlements, Or To The Lodges
Of A Tribe Of Indians, For The Purpose Of Trading, Often Resulted
In His Returning To His Quiet Camp With A Woman To Grace His Solitary
Home, The Loving and Lonely Couple As Devoted to Each Other In the
Midst Of Blood-Thirsty Enemies, Howling Wolves, And Panthers, As If
They Were In some Quiet Country Village.
The Easy Manners Of The Harum-Scarum, Reckless Trappers At The
Rendezvous, And The Simple, Unsuspecting Hearts Of Those Nymphs Of
The Mountains, The Squaws, Caused their Husbands To Be Very Jealous
Of The Attentions Bestowed upon Them By Strangers. Often Serious
Difficulties Arose, In the Course Of Which The Poor Wife Received
A Severe Whipping With The Knot Of A Lariat, Or No Very Light
Lodge-Poling at The Hands Of Her Imperious Sovereign. Sometimes
The Affair Ended in a More Tragical Way Than A Mere Beating, Not
Infrequently The Gallant Paying The Penalty Of His Interference With
His Life.
Garrard, A Traveller On The Great Plains And In the Rocky Mountains
Half A Century Ago, From Whose Excellent Diary I Have Frequently
Quoted, Passed many Days And Nights At Bent'S Fort Fifty Years Ago,
And His Quaint Description Of Life There In that Remote Period Of
The Extreme Frontier Is Very Amusing. Its Truth Has Often Been
Confirmed by Uncle John Smith, Who Was My Guide And Interpreter In
The Indian Expedition Of 1868-69, Only Two Decades After Garrard'S
Experience.
Rosalie, A Half-Breed french And Indian Squaw, Wife Of The Carpenter,
And Charlotte, The Culinary Divinity, Were, As A Missouri Teamster
Remarked, "The Only Female Women Here." They Were Nightly Led to
The Floor To Trip The Light Fantastic Toe, And Swung Rudely Or Gently
In The Mazes Of The Contra-Dance, But Such A Medley Of Steps Is
Seldom Seen Out Of The Mountains--The Halting, Irregular March Of The
War-Dance, The Slipping Gallopade, The Boisterous Pitching Of The
Missouri Backwoodsman, And The More Nice Gyrations Of The Frenchman;
For All, Irrespective Of Rank, Age, Or Colour, Went Pell-Mell Into
The Excitement, In a Manner That Would Have Rendered a Leveller Of
Aristocracies And Select Companies Frantic With Delight. And The
Airs Assumed by The Fair Ones, More Particularly Charlotte, Who Took
Pattern From Life In the States, Were Amusing. She Acted her Part
To Perfection; She Was The Centre Of Attraction, The Belle Of The
Evening. She Treated the Suitors For The Pleasure Of The Next Set
With Becoming Ease And Suavity Of Manner; She Knew Her Worth, And
Managed accordingly. When The Favoured gallant Stood By Her Side
Waiting For The Rudely Scraped tune From A Screeching Fiddle,
Satisfaction, Joy, And Triumph Over His Rivals Were Pictured on His
Radiant Face.
James Hobbs, Of Whom I Have Already Spoken, Once Gave Me A Graphic
Description Of The Annual Feast Of The Comanches, Cheyennes,
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