Show A recently published diary sheds new light on romantic story of fur trade in the rocky mountains a century ago IA q NM P A gar c W T e nr 4 IM I 1 the grand parade of the assembled indians at the fur traders rendezvous in the rocky mountains in 1837 from the painting by alfred J miller of baltimore who accompanied sir william drummond ummond Or stuart or stewart of murthey castle scotland to the far west in 1837 this picture hung in murthey castle until about 1926 when it and other paintings by miller were sold and sent to new york it was pur chased there by E W marland then governor of oklahoma and presented to the oklahoma historical society in 1936 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON n coaxed by western newspaper rhe HE romantic era of the rocky mountain fur trade of a amore century ago came to life again the other day and once M more such frontier notables as old jim bridger kit kat carson nathaniel J wyeth jim beckworth captain B donne bonne onne vine ville lucien fontenelle and the robidoux doux brothers strode across the stage of history they appeared in a new book 49 life in the rocky mountains A diary of wanderings on the sources of the rivers missouri columbia and colorado from february 1830 to november 1835 by W A ferris fearls then in the employ of the american fur company edited by paul C phillips and published by fred A the old west publishing company of denver colo life in the rocky moun daffis is referred to in the foregoing as a I 1 new book perhaps rediscovered narrative would be a more accurate description for after ferris wanderings on the sources of the rivers etc were over the diary which lie he had carefully kept was rewritten as a continuous narrative and published serially n an early american magazine he western literary messenger of buffalo N NY Y in 1843 44 in this form it was known to a few scholars of the fur trade era but chete were many gaps in tile tho narrative because the messenger ceased publication early ea aly in its career and m many any numbers had apparently been lost then mr who had been collecting copies of this magazine traced down the missing numbers and made them available to mr phillips who had already started work on a biography of ferris later research unearthed other important material family papers articles written by ferris in his later years for the dallas texas herald and most imbor tont tant of all a map of the northwest fur country drawn by ferria about 1836 all of this material has gone into the making of this new book which is rated by historians as constituting one of the great I finds in recent re search in the history of the west ferris was born in glens falls N Y december 20 1810 and grew up in buffalo to which his family had moved when he was very young he was trained to be Q n surveyor but at the age of 18 he ran away from home because his mother disapproved of his smoking a pipe and scolded him severely for doing it on the street one day feeling the urge to go west he finally arrived in st louis in june 1829 and entered ent ered the employ of pierre chouteau choute au jr head of the western department part ment of john jacob actors american fur company at that time thre great companies were competing for the control of the fur business in the west into this struggle the young new yorker was plunged when he left st louis with an A F C company in february 1830 and went up the platte river through south pass into the green river country that fall they trapped the western tributaries tributa ries of the green and later moved over to the neighborhood of great salt lake in ferris was with a trapping party on the upper snake river and there had difficulty with a band of rival hudsons Hud sons elay bay trappers that summer he crossed the continental divide into the valley of the jeffel jefferson 0 n then continued north into tile the valley of darks clarks fork of the columbis columbia col urn 0 A the next spring ferris returned to the snake river alvor country was made a clerk and sent aifong adiong the flathead indians with orders to bring them to the annual trap pers pera rendezvous at pierres hole ile he returned with the flatheads Flat heads in time to take part in the famous battle of pierres res hole in july 1832 that fall he was in another famous frontier fight in which ills his leader william if lost his life ferris tells a dramatic story of this incident how the party of seven trappers come came upon traces of an indian hunting party and how they cautiously approached a little grove of trees watching each wavering twig and rustling bough to catch a glimpse of some skulking savage then suddenly the lightning and thunder of at least twenty burst bunt upon our senses from the gully and nd awoke aw oke us to a startling of imminent danger magnified beyond con cep caption tion by the almost magical appear and at the time he perished under thirty years of age bold daring and fearless earless gars y yet t cautious deliberate and prudent uniting the apparent opposite qualities ot of courage and coolness cool neBa a soldier and a scholar h he a died universally beloved belove d and regretted by all who knew him ferris had many other narrow escapes from death during the remainder of his service with the american fur company concerning his career in the phillips writes the five and a half years which warren ferris passed in tile the mountains had done much to broaden his hia experience and develop his powers he had served under such great masters of the fur trade as andrew drips lucien fontenelle joseph robidoux and william henry and his acquaintance with them in the small trading and trapping parties must have been intimate he also met jim br bridger I 1 dg thomas fitzpatrick Fitzpatr lck robert campbell henry draeb william and milton sublette and other leaders of the opposition and learned of their ways and abilities he knew bonneville nathaniel lel P wyeth captain john ghant and other independent traders another man whom h he e met and evidently gre greatly a aly admired but does not mention in his narrative was sir william drummond stuart the famous english explorer and hunter 1 17 Z 1 IS 71 i 1 I 3 I 1 e r 1 g 4 a 41 ml az al V baj IW 07 THE DE DEATH atia OF from the painting by irvin now in the Alon montana alontaga tana stati state university library A reproduction of this picture forms the frontispiece in life in we the rocky mountains ance ot of more than one hundred war flora erect in uncompromising enmity both before and on e either ther side aide of us at t the terrifying distance bhide measured ot of thirty steps imagination can not paint the horrid sublimity ot of the scene A thousand brilli brUl ances lances reflected from their guns as ther they were quickly thrown into various positions either to load or tire succeeded the first volley which was followed by a rapid succession of shots and th the e le leaden aden mesi engerson enger death whistled in our ears as a they passed in unwelcome proximity at that instant I 1 saw aw wee three of our comrades flying like arrows from the place of murder the horse of our parti san was shot ahot dead under him but with unexampled firmness he ted stepped calmly from the lifeless animal presented his bis gun at the adv advancing ancin g toe and exclaimed boys donarun don dont trun run at the same moment the wounded horse of a frenchman threw his rider and broke away towards camp th the yells 0 of I 1 these in internal farnal fiends bends filled the aan air and d dea death th ap appeared inevitable when I 1 was appeared feared aiwas arouse aroused d lo 10 0 energy by observing about out twenty indians advancing to close the already narrow passage between the two unes lines ot 0 warriors dashing my spurs rowel deep into the flank of my noble steed at a single bound he cleared the ditch but before he reached the ground I 1 was struck in the he left shoulder by a ball which nearl nearly threw me oil by a desperate effort however I 1 regained my upright position and fled bed A friend mr K R C nelson c crossed the gully with me but a moment after he was called to return without considering the utter impossibility of rendering assistance to cur bur deva devoted red partisan he wheeled but at the same distant lib his horse was severely severe iv wounded by two balls through the a ejk k which compelled urn him to fly yet ha be kept his ey eye tor for some moments on 61 i r friend aho vho seeing himself surrounded unde without without the possibility of escape to lo aled Us his gun and shot down the forem obern t of his fun oa the indians immediate fired a volley upon him he fell te Uthe the uttered a loud laud and will shrill yell of n and the te noble spirit ot of a good goad and ave brave man had passed away forever 1 thus fell win henry glenry a gentleman born in indiana deducted ed at west paint to la ur tho tUll tary academy Acl demy seated with such men by the campf campfire lre or traveling the trail with them must have given the young man a larger view of the world as well as a better knowledge ot of the problems of how to deal with indians the care with which lie he made his observe eions and the honest and vivid ness with which he portrayed them make his narrative one of absorbing interest it is the only source of information regarding many important events in the savage struggle for control of the fur trade but aside from ferris importance as a firsthand first hand chronicled chronic chroni clel lez of this important era in american history he has other claims to fame ile he left the mountains tn in the winter of 1835 and returned to his home hoine in buffalo to straighten out sk a family tangle one ol of his brothers had gone to texas and the next year warren ferris joined him there he became a surveyor in the service of the new republic of texas and it was he who made the surveys for the town which became the great city of dallas next he settled down as a farm or but took no part in the civil war both because he was over age tor for se sev ivice vice and because of hl hb crippled shoulder recci received ved in the fight with the indians tn in was killed HL hb later years were devoted to arary work and he died on fet auary 8 1873 |