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Show all kinds of contest of skills amongst ourselves and against them Indians who'd join ourcamp. Then we'd all have some of that fire watorand smoke a little of the peace pipe before a choosin' ourselves an Indian woman." "I remember that in the rendezvous of '26 there was about 700 trappers with their wives and kids, then this group of Snake Indians showed up with about 2,500 more people. They brought stock and other property and really set up camp. We even got us an occasional buffalo or two from the Indians. Do you remem-bee- r the boudin we'd get from them? Those buffalo intestines that we'd toast over the coals. Man, were they good. "Anyway can remember whiling away the hoursJn their medicine lodge and have our fortunes read by their medicine man." "Wasn't that the same year of the big raid by the Bannock Indians? know during one of our rendezvous, think it was that one, they came during the night and drove away about 80 of our horses." "You're right, it was that year, Joe. But we surely taught them a lesson. There was 40 of us under Tom Fitzpatrick and Jim Bridger who started after them Indians. For five days we tracked them through all sorts of cold and snow, but we just couldn't overtake them. We estimated that there must've been 400 Indians in camp and we decided not to risk stormin' the camp. "Tom Fitzpatrick took part of the trappers and made a surprise attack on the village, while the rest of us with Jim Bridger stampeded the horses. This really confounded them Indians and while they was trying to fight off Fitzpatrick and his gang, Bridger and the rest of us drove off about 300 horses. When we was a safe distance from the village, Fitzpatrick suddenly retreated and overtook Bridger. The Indians took after us and got most of them horses back. But we still got all the horses back we had stole from us, plus 40 other horses. "James Beckwourth said six of them Indians were killed arr scalped, while not one of us trappers received even a scratch. While we got back to camp with them fine horses we had a big celebration and held a scalp dance. Remember them? We tied all the scalps we had captured to a pole and danced around it. Jim Bridger sure did like that area where we held that rendezvous of '26. He'd go back every year cuz he said he liked the homelike valley' and he liked to trap the streams." "Yah, Zeke, that was nice country. can remember the sweetest berries that we'd eat along with what game we could get. That grass in the area seemed to do wonders for our animals. heard that Bridger thought one day there would be settlers building homes in that region, and now I I I I I 1 1 celebrate." "I remember that, Joe, was already at the rendezvous when you I came into camp with them 17 scalps. General Ashley rode in with supplies while we were celebrating with all that dancing and music. Ashley had them white missionaries with him who said we were actin' just like the Indians and why shouldn't we have? Give me the life of an Indian any day. "That was the same year, Joe, that Jim Clyman and three others were assigned to explore the Great Salt Lake to try to find beaver bearing streams. "I heard a story that they built boats which they made by bending and fastening willows into the shape of a big basket and then covered the frame with green buffalo hides. They sewed these together and rubbed the hides with buffalo tallow. Then they built a fire underneath the boats to harden the skins. "They took these boats out in the lake and rowed around the shore to find some sort of an outlet. That took them near 24 days and they hadn't taken enough water and they couldn't drink that salty stuff in the lake so they suffered, but when they returned they had proved that the lake was not an outlet to the Pacific. They estimated the lake to be 80 miles wide and 100 miles long." "I found out not too long ago that the government supported the trappers as much as they did because they needed updated maps of the area we were trapping and since there was always the element of danger when someone is out in unknown territory, they used us because we were wil ling to go into the country for other reasons and for all that usually only made $1 50 a year which seemed to disappear faster than got it. "Yah, know, Zeke, don't think any of us ever saved any money especially those trappers who had I I there is." "We had another run in with told us that 30 trappers under Robert Campbell were about 2 miles away without any ammo. Us trappers under Beckwourth, Provot and Jean Baptiste took them their ammo, but on the way back we was attacked by a large group of Blackfeet. At first the men all sent back their wives whilst we fought off them savages, and we thought we d all be killed. Campbell asked for volunteers to break through the warriors and try to get to the rendezvous for help. Beckwourth and a trapper named Calhoon volunteered. They disguised themselves as Indians and got away. "On the way they met trappers who were already cornin' to help and soon the Indians had lost 00 men to our four killed and seven wounded. The Indians took most of their dead, but we scalped 17 of em. "Two days later, the Snake Indians showed up at the rendezvous and were sorely disappointed that they hadn't arrived early enough to help us defeat their bitter enemies, the Blackfeet. They were glad we had defeated 'the devil's own' as we called the Blackfeet and helped us the Indians that year. When we first come around for the rendezvous, we were met by some friendly Flatheads who I I I Page 5 wives, but the prices we had to pay for things was ridiculous. They say the prices was 2000 per cent over what folks in St. Louie paid. can remember paying two dollars a pound for bacca', five dollars for a shirt, two dollars for a pint of whiskey, three dollars a pint for sugar and four dollars a pound for gunpowder. But we really blew a lot of it and don't have nothing to show for it. Our beaver pelts only brought in four to six dollars each, and to receive a decent amount of credit with the company, say $1000 worth of credit, we had to bring in 170 pelts. That was hard work." "Ya know it's funny, Joe, how we all seemed to do the same hard work, but because one of us trappers happened to have led a party of other trappers somewhere or been somewhere at the right time or maybe cuz they could read and write, they could write down what happened to all of usuns. It don't hardly seem fair when we all did just about the same things. "But there was some almost as great as Jedidiah Smith, though nobody was quite as courageous. "Take that fella, Peter Skeen Ogden. never met the man, but heard he was educated." "Yah, Joe, he was. They say he started lawyering school 'cuz his pa was a judge or somethin' up there in Canada. They stay he rejected law and started as a clerk in the Northwest Fur Co. He worked for them til the Hudson Bay Co. bought them out in 824. Then he commanded a Snake River expedition and stayed out in the field for many years. I I I I 1 tion against him because I've heard that he was brave in more than just that. They say that when he found the Flatheads one of his men offered the chief of the tribe over a horse. Because Ogden was the 'guvner' of the group , he was to be killed. Ogden was supposed to've said Do you think a white man fears to be shot? Shoot! 'Then he bared his chest to the pistol. The chief decided he was a brave man and even let Ogden marry his daughter." "I can tell you a story Joe, about old Provot and believe it's true cuz heard it from men who was with him. They say he reached the river junction that the rendezvous were later held in '24, and made camp. Later that evening, a large party of Indians came to the camp, actin' peaceful and all, so the trappers invited them to smoke the peace pipe together. A large Snake Indian called I I Mauvaise Gauche said 'the spirits don't like the presence of iron at this ceremony. It is bad medicine to have these objects near while we're smoking! Provot knowin' the superstitions of the Indians did not hesitate to put his guns aside, then they began the ceremony. The Indians then attacked the trappers on a signal. They set upon them with knives they had under their blankets. Provot with three or four of his men escaped but the rest of his 15 men were killed. heard that in '25, Provot lead trappers to the junction of the river, where they stayed for a while." "You know often wonder, Zeke, where the Weber River got its name. know the common belief is that John G. Weber, this Danish trapper "I I I The government subsidized the trappers because they needea updated maps of wilderness areas. understand, he nearly starved in '24. guess he must've been raised in a Christian home cuz he prayed over Christmas. To add to a II his other problems, part of his horses were found limping and they were dying cuz they couldn't find no grass. By New Year's Day he had sent men out after deer, but they didn't find none. Then he really got scared cuz the wolves started hangin' around the camp. They say he had to kill a horse 'cuz the hoof was worn away and only the strings were left. In the end, they survived till spring but over half his company deserted him for the Americans. "I heard tell that he reached the Great Salt Lake in 1 828. He thought the country was barren of everything. "He didn't make it to the site of the river junction which they now are callin' Ogden's Hole until 1 830 and we had camped there for years before." "I know, Zeke, but he must've been made of something to withstand that winter and we can't hold his educa- "From what I 1 who was with Ashley until '27 was the one that the name was taken from. I've also heard that it was named for a trapper in the Ogden party who was killed and buried on the banks of the river." "Well, Joe, heard that story, too, but the man who was killed was supposed to've been a member of the Sublette party , who passed through in 28. But personally think it was taken from Weaver. There was a rumor of an early trapper named Weaver or Weaber who passed through the area." "Then there's this here Fremont character, who's supposed to be such a great pathfinder, well, all he ever done was to cross territory we'd already covered. He actually thought he'd discovered the Great Salt Lake and called one of the islands 'Disappointment Island'." Well, Zeke, guess we had our heyday and it s all gone now. Pass me the kinne kinnick, and we'll have a smoke and forget how those great days are gone." I I I |