Gathering in Green River valley—Visitings and feastings of leaders—Rough wassailing among the trappers—Wild blades of the mountains—Indian belles—Potency of bright beads and red blankets—Arrival of supplies—Revelry and extravagance—Mad wolves—The lost Indian
THE GREEN RIVER VALLEY was at this time the scene of one of those
general gatherings of traders, trappers, and Indians, that we have
already mentioned. The three rival companies, which, for a year past
had been endeavoring to out-trade, out-trap and out-wit each other, were
here encamped in close proximity, awaiting their annual supplies. About
four miles from the rendezvous of Captain Bonneville was that of the
American Fur Company, hard by which, was that also of the Rocky Mountain
Fur Company.
After the eager rivalry and almost hostility displayed by these
companies in their late campaigns, it might be expected that, when thus
brought in juxtaposition, they would hold themselves warily and sternly
aloof from each other, and, should they happen to come in contact, brawl
and bloodshed would ensue.
No such thing! Never did rival lawyers, after a wrangle at the bar,
meet with more social good humor at a circuit dinner. The hunting
season over, all past tricks and maneuvres are forgotten, all feuds and
bickerings buried in oblivion. From the middle of June to the middle of
September, all trapping is suspended; for the beavers are then shedding
their furs and their skins are of little value. This, then, is the
trapper's holiday, when he is all for fun and frolic, and ready for a
saturnalia among the mountains.
At the present season, too, all parties were in good humor. The year had
been productive. Competition, by threatening to lessen their profits,
had quickened their wits, roused their energies, and made them turn
every favorable chance to the best advantage; so that, on assembling
at their respective places of rendezvous, each company found itself in
possession of a rich stock of peltries.
The leaders of the different companies, therefore, mingled on terms of
perfect good fellowship; interchanging visits, and regaling each other
in the best style their respective camps afforded. But the rich
treat for the worthy captain was to see the "chivalry" of the various
encampments, engaged in contests of skill at running, jumping,
wrestling, shooting with the rifle, and running horses. And then their
rough hunters' feastings and carousels. They drank together, they sang,
they laughed, they whooped; they tried to out-brag and out-lie each
other in stories of their adventures and achievements. Here the free
trappers were in all their glory; they considered themselves the "cocks
of the walk," and always carried the highest crests. Now and then
familiarity was pushed too far, and would effervesce into a brawl, and a
"rough and tumble" fight; but it all ended in cordial reconciliation and
maudlin endearment.
The presence of the Shoshonie tribe contributed occasionally to cause
temporary jealousies and feuds. The Shoshonie beauties became objects
of rivalry among some of the amorous mountaineers. Happy was the trapper
who could muster up a red blanket, a string of gay beads, or a paper
of precious vermilion, with which to win the smiles of a Shoshonie fair
one.
The caravans of supplies arrived at the valley just at this period
of gallantry and good fellowship. Now commenced a scene of eager
competition and wild prodigality at the different encampments. Bales
were hastily ripped open, and their motley contents poured forth.
A mania for purchasing spread itself throughout the several
bands—munitions for war, for hunting, for gallantry, were seized upon
with equal avidity—rifles, hunting knives, traps, scarlet cloth, red
blankets, garish beads, and glittering trinkets, were bought at any
price, and scores run up without any thought how they were ever to be
rubbed off. The free trappers, especially, were extravagant in their
purchases. For a free mountaineer to pause at a paltry consideration of
dollars and cents, in the attainment of any object that might strike his
fancy, would stamp him with the mark of the beast in the estimation of
his comrades. For a trader to refuse one of these free and flourishing
blades a credit, whatever unpaid scores might stare him in the face,
would be a flagrant affront scarcely to be forgiven.
Now succeeded another outbreak of revelry and extravagance. The trappers
were newly fitted out and arrayed, and dashed about with their horses
caparisoned in Indian style. The Shoshonie beauties also flaunted
about in all the colors of the rainbow. Every freak of prodigality
was indulged to its fullest extent, and in a little while most of
the trappers, having squandered away all their wages, and perhaps
run knee-deep in debt, were ready for another hard campaign in the
wilderness.
During this season of folly and frolic, there was an alarm of mad wolves
in the two lower camps. One or more of these animals entered the camps
for three nights successively, and bit several of the people.
Captain Bonneville relates the case of an Indian, who was a universal
favorite in the lower camp. He had been bitten by one of these animals.
Being out with a party shortly afterwards, he grew silent and gloomy,
and lagged behind the rest as if he wished to leave them. They halted
and urged him to move faster, but he entreated them not to approach him,
and, leaping from his horse, began to roll frantically on the earth,
gnashing his teeth and foaming at the mouth. Still he retained his
senses, and warned his companions not to come near him, as he should not
be able to restrain himself from biting them. They hurried off to obtain
relief; but on their return he was nowhere to be found. His horse and
his accoutrements remained upon the spot. Three or four days afterwards
a solitary Indian, believed to be the same, was observed crossing a
valley, and pursued; but he darted away into the fastnesses of the
mountains, and was seen no more.
Another instance we have from a different person who was present in the
encampment. One of the men of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company had been
bitten. He set out shortly afterwards in company with two white men on
his return to the settlements. In the course of a few days he showed
symptoms of hydrophobia, and became raving toward night. At length,
breaking away from his companions, he rushed into a thicket of willows,
where they left him to his fate!
