Show adventurous AMERICANS by I 1 elmo scott watson I 1 immortalized by a dam dam in the colum ba B J bla bin river perpetuates perpetual es tho the mombin memory of on an adventurous explorer e who was both a great success and a groat great failure in 1832 french born capt benjamin bonneville of tho the united states army obtained a leave of absence to engage in a fur trading expedition on condition that ho he explore the trans missouri west and obtain information concerning tho the indians tho the topography of the country and its economic possibilities two years later inter ho he set out at the head of a party of mm commercially his venture was a complete failure ile ho built forts in suc such h poor locations that tho the frontiersmen tiers men called them fort nonsense some were so high in the tha mountains that they were cut oft off from tho the outside by the first snows of winter but his expedition was successful in that ho he explored the route through south pass for wagon trains and mapped the passage of the columbia river through the cascade mountains moreover ho he was an able military leader for ho he did not lose a single man during all his perilous journey through the india daan n infested wil wilberne derne after his return to the east ho he met washington irving at the tha homo home of john jacob astor and the result w was as the book the adventures of captain bonneville by that famous writer the book was a best seller of its time but it did not help Bon nevilles reputation greatly ile ho had long overstayed overstated over stayed his leave of absence and when resident president jackson reinstated him as a captain in 1836 many people protested that bonneville should have been dis missed from the service instead bonneville proved them wrong by his conduct during the mexican war which won tor for him a citation for gallantry in action in 1052 1852 he became commandant at fort vancouver which stood 30 miles down the river from the dam that now bears his nanie name he was brevet ted a brigadier general in 1869 and died in st louis in the spring of 1878 4 A message to garcia f UT in california lives on an 82 0 OUT year old retired army officer whose name was once on every americans lips lie he Is col andrew summers rowan the man who carried a message to garcia in 1898 war with spain was imminent and president mckinley wanted to know it if general garcia commander of the cuban insurgents would operate cooperate co with the american forces it if an army was sent there the man chosen to find out was young lieutenant rowan rowan proved that the confidence of his superiors was not misplaced making his way through the steaming insect infested jungle drinking germ filled water living on such food as he could find and in constant danger of capture and execution by the spaniards as a spy rowan found garcia got the information he sought and safely made an equally perilous return trip rowan was taken to the white house where he received the thanks of the president and promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of volunteers un but the thing which made him famous was an editorial written by elbert hubbard for his magazine the philistine the following year this editorial published under the title of A message to gircza was translated into 20 languages reprinted all over the world and Is one of the best known pieces of english prose ever written As tor for the man who inspired it not until 1922 did he r receive public c recognition from his country in the form of the distinguished service cross tor for carrying the message to garcia 0 death valley sar Sarila damitan ritan T L OU WESTCOTT BECK went into death valley to seek wealth but almost perished he stayed there to devote his life to saving others death valley of the days before good roads and tourist facilities w was a a well welI named hundreds of american americ n adventurers never returned from it A barren waste with trails that led nowhere and alive only with era crawling wl lizards and dartin darting 9 poisonous snakes death valley w was as a trench treacherous trap baited to lu lure re adventurers with promises of g gold old beck became known as the good samaritan of death valley piling up rocks rind nd putting signs on them directing prospectors pr 0 specters to water holes ile he went 0 out ut searching tor for those who were k known to be lost and guided thern them to safety for 13 years aided only by rutus rufus his newfoundland dog beck braved the hardship of the colorado and mojave deserts as well as death valley and saved between and lives in 1917 although warned not to by his dog beck drank from an infected spring and never recovered from the resulting illness although comparatively unknown today lou westcott beck Is probably one of the most self sacrificing of all the great american adventurers 0 newspaper union I 1 |