Chapter II: The Pathfinders

LEWIS AND CLARKE ASCEND THE MISSOURI.

_"To lose themselves in the continuous woods_
_Where rolls the Oregon."_

Mr. Jefferson had never forgotten his talk with Ledyard at Paris. It was the key-note of future projects. Even before Louisiana was ours, he began to take steps for having it explored, partly with the view of ascertaining its real value, but chiefly to determine whether the Missouri and Columbia Rivers would afford a practicable overland route for commerce with the Pacific. Should they do so, the discovery of the century would be made. It was the very first step taken to open a road across the continent under national auspices, and, as such, has historic importance, going far beyond the aimless wanderings of a few migratory fur-traders, who, thus far, were the sole geographers of this interesting region.

Except that they took their rise somewhere in the great Rocky Mountain chain, next to nothing was known about the higher sources of the Missouri. Something, indeed, was learned from the French traders who had been making canoe voyages up the Missouri for many years. These adventurers had pushed their way into the Osage, the Kansas, and the Platte. To them we owe the names these streams bear to-day, which are derived, the Platte[1] alone excepted, from the tribes inhabiting their banks. For the same reason the great Missouri[2] itself was given this name by the French explorers because they were ignorant of its existing Indian name.

From their known activity and restlessness of character, we should expect to find evidences of the presence of Frenchmen everywhere in a region they had possessed for centuries. We do find that the most adventurous had ascended not only as high as the Yellowstone,[3] but had even found their way into the Black Hills, so establishing an important landmark for after-comers. Indeed, both the Yellowstone and the Black Hills owe their names to these pioneers.

But the knowledge thus gained was, at best, little better than what would be disclosed by the mirage of the prairies themselves. It was vague, mostly inaccurate, and often quite upside down.

Therefore, while an occasional trapper or trader might be met with on the Missouri, no habitation of civilized man existed in all its magnificent valley, if we except the French settlements begun near its mouth. This state of things is all the more striking because it comes within the memory of living men.

Beyond their regular villages, which could be moved at a few hours' warning, the Indians of this valley had no fixed habitations, but roamed the wide, treeless prairies in savage freedom, like wandering Arabs of the desert, carrying their skin-tents on the backs of their shaggy little ponies about with them from camp to camp.

These rovers of the prairies had the same barbaric picturesqueness, the same wild and free manners, the same thieving propensities, as the Arab. Like him, the Indian of the plains set the greatest value on his horse, which, though subdued to his rider's will, was yet as untamed as he.

Once a year the whole village struck its tents, and started off on its annual buffalo-hunt. On the eve of departure, a solemn dance was held and offerings made to the god of the chase, without whose help they believed the hunt would be in vain. Their hunting camps were pitched at some favorite spot, where grass grew and water could be had. Here they lived in savage luxury on the buffalo-meat which the hunters brought in from the chase. When enough meat had been obtained for their winter's supply, they rode back to their villages, and with singing and dancing celebrated the success of the hunt. Thus they hunted, ate, slept, and waged continual war with each other. This was all their life.

Of the Columbia[4] nothing certain was known. More was known, even in America, about the Nile. It was thought, however, that its highest streams would be found interlocked with those of the Missouri, about the feet of the same great mountain chain. Should this prove true, a practicable passage from one to the other through these mountains might be discovered; yet while nothing actual was known about them the difficulties were felt to be so uncommon, that none but men of tried courage would be found equal to them. Clearly it was to be no holiday journey. Just what obstacles lay in the explorer's way, what means of living the country would afford, what sort of people would be met with, were questions no one had so far attempted to solve.

Mr. Jefferson set about solving them. He looked about him for the man to do the work. His first choice fell upon his own secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis,[5] "of courage undaunted," at whose request Captain William Clarke[6] was invited to make one of the party. Clarke accepted the offer with great glee. Both were young men, both had seen service on the frontiers, both were Virginians, and both gave heart and soul to the enterprise in hand.

Though its objects were less scientific than political, the young explorers were commanded to carefully note down every thing of interest about the countries and nations they were going to pass through—what were the natural products of the one, or the numbers, disposition and manners of the other.

It was to be a long voyage to begin with—two thousand miles at the least. The best the Government could do was to provide a keel-boat, fifty-five feet long, drawing three feet, carrying one large square sail and twenty-two oars. A half deck at bow and stern formed forecastle and cabin, the middle being left open for the rowers. This vessel, we see, was but a modification of the galley of ancient times, and quite like those used by the Spaniards in exploring our coasts two centuries before.

Thus equipped the party started down the Ohio on their long journey to the Pacific.

The Spaniards had not yet given up St. Louis to us when the expedition reached there, in the autumn of 1803. It therefore went into winter quarters on the American bank of the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Missouri.

It was the middle of May before the voyage up the Missouri could begin. With sail and oars, the deeply laden keel-boat was forced slowly along against a swift yellow tide, which ever and anon hurled floating trees athwart its course, or brought it to a standstill on some hidden sand-bar. Compared with it, the navigation of the Ohio was but a pleasure-trip. The Platte, however, was reached late in July. Not far above, the explorers landed to hold a council with the Otoes, for which reason they gave the place the name of Council Bluff.

In the last days of October, 1804, they halted for the winter at the Mandan villages, sixteen hundred miles from the Mississippi. So far the journey had been only fatiguing. Its real difficulties were just beginning.

The winter was spent in making ready for the coming season's work, in hunting and exploring, and in talks with the Indians, from whom it was now learned that after many days' journey toward the setting sun, the white men would come to a gorge wondrous deep and wild, where the whole river plunged foaming down with thunderous roar. They even spoke with veneration of the solitary eagle which had built her nest in a dead cottonwood tree, among the mists of the cataract itself.

With the early spring (1805) the party again set out in good health and spirits. Before doing so Captain Lewis sent back all but the bravest and strongest men, as he was now about to enter a region roamed over by predatory savages, whose friendship would be best secured by being always ready to fight them, for though brave, they would seldom attack a well-armed party of whites unless the advantage was on their own side.

As they went on, each day found the navigation of the river growing more and more difficult. Sometimes they were forced to drag their canoes slowly along with the aid of towlines, or again to push them over shallow places or through dangerous rapids with poles. Their hunters kept them supplied with venison, bear and buffalo meat, which they were now mostly to live on for months to come.

The Yellowstone was reached and passed. On the 26th of May the party came in sight of the Rocky Mountains,—a long line of snowy summits nestling among clouds. By the end of the month they were skirting the Black Hills, or _Côte Noire_ of the French traders. The river grew swifter now, and its bed thickly sown with rocks. Since leaving the Mandan villages no permanent habitations had been seen, though the travellers often came upon traces of some transient encampment where the ground would be strewed with the remnants of savage feasts. While the men were wearily dragging the boats on at a snail's pace through the river shallows, Captains Lewis and Clarke would be scouting the country in advance, rifle in hand. Whenever a bluff was climbed to gain a wider view, thousands upon thousands of buffaloes would be seen quietly feeding on the prairies, far as the eye could reach. Then at the evening halt, round the camp-fires, the events of the day would be noted down, its difficulties talked over, and the chances for the morrow discussed, over the joints of venison or bear-meat the hunters had brought in. At dark sentinels were posted. Relaxation gave way to discipline. Fresh logs were thrown on the blazing fires. The men stretched themselves on the ground in their blankets, and soon forgot the fatigues of the day. At dawn the camp was again astir.

FOOTNOTES

[1] PLATTE is French for low or flat. Long says it derives
its name from the fact of being broad and shallow.

[2] THE MISSOURI. So says Charlevoix. Marquette calls it
Pekitanoui, on his map. It was not unfrequently called the
Great River of the Osages.

[3] YELLOWSTONE is English for Roche Jaune, the old French
name. BLACK HILLS were Côte Noire.

[4] THE COLUMBIA. Vancouver had ascended it (1792), one
hundred miles from the sea.

[5] CAPTAIN MERIWETHER LEWIS, afterwards governor of
Louisiana, committed suicide in a fit of depression.

[6] CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARKE kept a journal of the expedition.
Brother of General George Rogers Clarke. Lewis also kept a
diary.

THEY CROSS THE CONTINENT.

On the 13th of June, while scouting in advance of his party, Captain Lewis saw, in the distance, a thin cloudlike mist rising up out of the plain. To him it was like the guiding column which led the Israelites in the desert. Not doubting that it was the Great Fall, which the Mandans had told him about, and of which he was in search, Captain Lewis hastened toward it. He soon heard it roar distinctly, and in a few hours more stood on the brink of the cataract itself. The Indians had told him truly. Not even the eagle's nest was wanting to make their description complete.

He was the first white man who had ever stood there, and he calls it a sublime sight.

Thirteen miles of cascades and rapids! At headlong speed the Missouri rushes down a rocky gorge, through which it has torn its way, now leaping over a precipice, now lost to sight in the depths of the cañon,[1] a thousand feet below the plain, or again, as with recovered breath, breaking away from these dark gulfs into the light of clay and bounding on again. No wonder the discoverer stood forgetful of all else but this wondrous work of nature!

Much valuable time was lost in getting the boats and baggage round these falls. To pass them was impossible. It was necessary to build carriages on which the boats were dragged by hand a distance of eighteen miles, before they could be launched again.

But after all this had been done the boats were found unsuited to the navigation of the river above them, and so new ones had to be hewed out of the trees growing on the banks, which could better withstand the buffeting of the rocks. In these the party again embarked, and on the 19th of July found themselves just entering a deep gorge of the mountains, five miles long, through which the river wound its way between walls of rock that rose a thousand feet above their heads. They named this awful cañon the Gate of the Rocky Mountains.

Boat navigation was now nearly at an end. Every day the scouts were sent out in search of roving Indians from whom they might get horses and guides to cross the mountains. But no Indians could be found. A well-beaten trail had been followed high up into the hills, but lost again among defiles so narrow and stony, that when the scouts came back they said no horseman could go through them. So these great mountains, which so long had been to them a guide and landmark, now seemed sternly forbidding their farther progress.

Yet at all risks horses and guides must be had. Telling his men he would not come back till he had found them, Captain Lewis set out on his forlorn search, knowing that on him depended the success or failure of the expedition. The men remained encamped where he left them.[2]

While engaged in this search, Captain Lewis, on the 12th of August, reached the highest source of the Missouri. At three thousand miles from its mouth it dwindled to a mountain brook. Passing thence over the dividing ridge, he came upon the waters of what proved to be the Columbia. So within a few hours he drank of the waters of both. Following the stream down the mountain, with fresh hope, it led him to a village of the Shoshones or Snake Indians.[3]

No shipwrecked wanderer on an unknown sea ever looked with more eagerness on a rescuing sail than Lewis did upon this uncouth and squalid habitation in the wilderness. The Indians would not believe he had crossed the mountains on foot and without guides. At length, however, some of them agreed to go back with him, and these having found his story true, horses and guides were furnished for the white men's use.

Thus equipped, the party began the passage of the mountains, following the obscure windings of a trail known only to the Indians themselves. They found it a hard march. Sometimes it led them through a wild cañon strewed with stones for miles together. Sometimes the caravan would be painfully climbing some slippery height, or skirting the edge of a precipice where a single false step would have flung horse and rider headlong to the bottom of the ravine.

But these active little horses, which the Indians rode without saddle or bridle, unshod and ill-fed as they were, did their work to the admiration of the white men. Though they frequently slipped and fell with their burdens, they would quickly scramble to their feet again with the agility of mountain goats.

Almost a month was thus spent in getting through the mountains. Snow fell, and water froze among those rocky heights. On some days five miles would be the most they could advance. On others they could scarcely go forward at all. The plenty they had enjoyed in the plains gave way to scarcity or worse. Seldom could the hunters bring in any thing but a pheasant, a squirrel, or a hawk, to men famishing with hunger and worn down by a hard day's tramp. The daily food mostly consisted of berries and dried fish, of which every man got a mouthful, but none a full meal. When a horse gave out he was killed and eaten with avidity. The men grew sick and dispirited under incessant labor for which want of nourishing food rendered them every day more and more incapable. In short, every suffering which cold, hunger, and fatigue could bring, was borne by these explorers.

Ragged, half-starved, and foot-sore, but upheld by the courage of their leaders, the explorers came out on the other side of the mountains less like conquerors than fugitives.

Their guides led them on, past many streams, till they came to one on which they were told they might safely embark. It was the Kooskooskee. This was about four hundred miles from the place where they had left their boats on the other side of the mountains. They had struck one of the southern affluents of the Columbia.

Here the party built canoes in which they began to descend the river, leaving their horses with the Nez Percés Indians[4] to keep against their return. In three days this stream led into a larger one to which they gave the name of Lewis River. In seven, they reached the junction of a larger branch coming from the north, which they named the Clarke. They were now fairly afloat upon the great river itself. Down this they paddled till they came to the point where the Columbia in a series of mad leaps breaks through the lofty Cascade chain.[5] These too were safely passed.

It was now late in October. All along the explorers had found camps pitched on the borders of the rivers, for the Indians of this region lived wholly on salmon, like the tribes Mackenzie had fallen in with on Frazer River. Wherever the river was broken by rapids a noted fishing-place would be found, so the travellers were now in a land of plenty; but the farther they fell down, the more squalid the Indians became, and of meaner looks and stature. Had these people shown themselves unfriendly, Lewis and Clarke might never have reached the ocean, for the valley was everywhere very populous.

Since leaving the cascades, evidences of approach to the sea multiplied. Up to that point no fire-arms had been seen among the Indians. Many now had guns, and showed themselves more and more presuming toward the white men. They traversed the river in great war canoes, having images set up at the stem and stern, like the vikings of old. But our men did not fear them. They were already more than half Indians themselves in dress, looks and habits of life. They had learned to eat dog-meat, and to make their beds wherever the night found them.

Soon the tides were observed. On the 7th of November the roar of the breakers was heard in the distance. They had reached their goal at last.

A most inhospitable welcome awaited the explorers. They had struck the coast in the rainy season. The floods drove them from their first camp on the north side, to the south side of the river, where they set to work building themselves winter quarters. The little clump of cabins was named Fort Clatsop, from the tribe on whose land it stood, with the flag the explorers had brought waving over it. Here the winter was passed.

In March, 1806, the explorers began their journey home. At the Falls of the Columbia they bought horses which took them to the place where their own had been left. From here they travelled on an east line through the mountains till the head of Clarke's River was struck. The party was then divided. One band under Lewis crossed the mountains to the head-waters of the Maria River, while the other, under the lead of Clarke, passed them lower down, so reaching the sources of the Yellowstone, down which they floated to the place of rendezvous.

FOOTNOTES

[1] CAÑON. Spanish for ravine or gorge; pronounced,
_kan-yon_. The word has been naturalized in the West.

[2] ENCAMPED ON THE MISSOURI, at the head of the Jefferson
River.

[3] SHOSHONES, or SNAKES, occupied the country west of the
mountains and south of the Salmon River. They had a custom of
taking off their moccasins when meeting a stranger and wishing
to show amity.

[4] NEZ PERCÉS, or Pierced Noses, lived about the waters of
the Kooskooskee and Lewis, next north of the Shoshones.

[5] CASCADE MOUNTAINS take their name from the cascades
formed by the Columbia in its passage through them.

PIKE EXPLORES THE ARKANSAS VALLEY.

_PIKE'S PEAK A LANDMARK_.

In the course of an expedition made to the Upper Mississippi, in the years 1805 and 1806, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike[1] had shown such aptitude for the work of an explorer, that he was immediately chosen to lead another to the sources of the Arkansas. Pike was directed to go through the country of the Osages, with whom the Kansas nation was then at war, and, after effecting a peace between them, "to ascertain the direction, extent, and navigation of the Arkansas and Red Rivers."

In pursuance of these orders Pike left St. Louis in July, 1806, for the Osage villages, in row-boats which made about fifteen miles a day, his men living on the bears, deer, and turkeys killed along the banks. Turning into the Osage River, the Indian villages were reached about the middle of August, and Pike here began mounting his party for the long land journey before him.

Having accomplished this, the party set out for the Pawnee villages on the Platte. Near the Grand Osage Village, Peter Chouteau,[2] a French trader, had a trading-house, which was the last sign of civilization the explorers would see until the Spanish settlements of New Mexico were reached.

Tents were struck Sept. 1. The exploring party rode away in high spirits, accompanied by a numerous train of warriors who, in this way, did honor to those whom they considered their guests.

After following the Osage for some distance Pike struck across the country to the Neosho, a tributary of the Arkansas. As he rode on across the dividing ridge the prairies of Kansas broke on his sight like a scene of enchantment. He seemed discovering a corner of paradise itself.

From the Neosho, Pike passed over to the Smoky Hill Fork of the Kansas, and thence to the Republican, meaning to proffer friendship to the Pawnees, whose evil reputation, however, boded no good to his mission.

When he came to their villages the Pawnees had just been visited by an embassy sent from New Mexico to sow distrust, if not enmity, toward the Americans. The Spaniards had come with three hundred men, by the side of whom Pike's twenty-three looked small indeed, and to the Pawnees indicated the number of warriors each nation had at its command. They were therefore at no pains to hide their disdain.

Pike found them in this temper. Knowing it would never do to show fear, he hoisted his flag in the chief town to let them see that sour looks and uncivil words could not turn him from his purpose of making them show respect for the government of the United States, even if they felt a preference for the Spaniards.

His mission in this quarter having failed, Pike turned back to the Arkansas, which was reached on the 18th of October. At this point Lieutenant Wilkinson was sent down the river, while Pike himself began the work of tracing it to its source. When he had done this, Pike meant to cross over to the head of Red River and then descend it to Natchitoches, so completing the work laid out for him, which, we have seen, was partly diplomatic and partly geographical in its nature; for the government wished to have the natives not only keep peace toward us, but among themselves. So we at least set out in our new purchase with a sound Indian policy.

Thus Pike's explorations would take in all the great central region lying between the waters of the Red and Platte Rivers and the Rocky Mountains, which to-day is perhaps the most fertile and populous of all the Great West.

But Pike's plans were doomed to meet failure, and he himself to sufferings which a man of weaker mould would have sunk under. As it was, they served to bring out those splendid qualities which raised him to the rank of general at the age of thirty-three, and made his name renowned in our military annals.

On the 15th of November he came in sight of the lofty Spanish Peaks. Soon the diminishing river he was following buried itself among the hills, where it was lost to view. Thinking thus to get a better idea of the country round him, Pike set out on a prospecting tour, in the course of which he climbed the elevated peak now so fitly bearing his own name, and saw the matchless view outspread from its summit.

Winter had now set in. Day by day difficulties multiplied. The streams were frozen up or buried in snow-drifts, so that it was next to impossible to follow them into the ravines which gave them birth. Where to look for the sources of Red River, Pike knew not. Decoyed among the hills, till all bearings were lost, his search for it was in vain. Beaten back, but not dismayed, he then spent days in trying to recover the trail made by the Spaniards in going from Santa Fé to the Platte. It was obliterated by frost and snow. Baffled everywhere, his party wandered to and fro like lost men, often without food or shelter, but directed and encouraged to new efforts by their unconquerable leader.

At last, when nearly spent, the party reached the banks of a stream which Pike believed to be the one he was in search of. One can hardly realize to-day this desperate struggle for life as taking place among the pleasure-grounds of Colorado.

Men and animals being broken down with fatigue, and all in danger of perishing for want of the necessaries of life, Pike resolved to send to Santa Fé for the help without which he could not stir from the place where he then was. Dr. Robinson offered himself to go on this errand. He was one of the strongest men of the party, and second only to Pike as a hunter. The hopes of the explorers went with him. When he had gone, all who could still work were set to building a block-house, for shelter or defence.

One day while Pike was out hunting, two strangers rode up to him. They had come from Santa Fé. Robinson had safely arrived, and would soon be heard from. Feeling no mistrust of them, Pike took these strangers back to his camp. To his surprise he then learned that he was but two days' journey from Santa Fé.

These visitors had not been gone many days when a squadron of Spanish horse rode up to the block-house. The officer in command then notified Pike that he was encamped on the Rio Grande, on Spanish ground. It was now clear that the first visitors were sent to spy out Pike's place of retreat, while this force followed on to take the Americans prisoners. It also came to light that they were suspected of having a design to seize the province[3] of New Mexico.

Pike went to Santa Fé to explain why he was found trespassing on Spanish territory, but was held as a prisoner with his men, whose appearance, as he describes it, is the best proof of the hardships they had undergone while lost in the mountains. He says,—

"When we presented ourselves at Santa Fé, I was dressed in a pair of blue trousers, moccasins, blanket-coat, and a cap made of scarlet cloth lined with fox-skins, and my poor fellows in leggings, breech-cloths, and leather coats. There was not a hat in the whole party. Our appearance was extremely mortifying to us all, especially as soldiers; and although some of the officers would frequently say to me, that 'Worth made the man,' yet the first impression made on the ignorant is hard to eradicate; and greater proof cannot be given of the ignorance of the common people here than their asking if we lived in houses, or camps like the Indians, or if we wore hats in our country."

After a brief detention, the explorers were sent back to the United States, under armed escort, by way of El Paso, San Antonio and Natchitoches. Pike's papers were taken from him, so depriving the world of the interesting details which at that time were eagerly sought for, but now had to be supplied largely from memory.

At the same time that Pike was engaged in these explorations, parties were sent up the Red and Washita Rivers, with the view of enlarging the scope of his undertaking.[4]

FOOTNOTES

[1] ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE, born New Jersey, 1779.
He was killed while leading an attack on York (Toronto),
Upper Canada, in 1813, having then reached the grade of
brigadier-general. His expedition to the upper Mississippi
in 1805-6 was to take formal possession of the country, and
to notify the British intruders of the North-West Company to
leave it. Its objects were chiefly political and military.
At this time Pike bought of the Indians the ground on which
Fort Snelling stands, the post being named for Colonel Josiah
Snelling, a distinguished officer of the United States army.

[2] AUGUSTE and PIERRE (PETER) CHOUTEAU. (See note 2,
"Acquisition of Louisiana.") Founders of St. Louis with
Laclede. Auguste was in charge of the party that commenced
operations here. In time the brothers became the greatest
fur-traders of the West. The post among the Osages was in
charge of Peter, who was subsequently made United States agent
to that nation.

[3] A DESIGN TO SEIZE THE PROVINCE. The Spanish authorities
had been warned to be on their guard against the filibustering
expedition of Aaron Burr. They thought Pike's appearance
on their frontier part of Burr's scheme, and professed to
believe the exploration a cloak for hostile intentions. Burr's
conspiracy, broadly speaking, though it forms an interesting
episode, has no place in the plan of this volume. Its history,
however, should be read by every student.

[4] RED and WASHITA were explored by Dunbar, Hunter and
Sibley.

NEW MEXICO IN 1807.

Although, in its main objects, Pike's expedition seems unfruitful of results, we owe to his capture an interesting account of New Mexico, as he saw it at that time.

"The village of the Warm Springs or Aqua Caliente," he tells us, "at a distance presents to the eye a square enclosure of mud walls, the houses forming the wall. They are flat on top, or with very little ascent on one side, where spouts carry off the water of the melting snow and rain, when it falls, which, we were told, had been but once in two years.

.

"The houses were all of one story, the doors narrow, the windows small, and in one or two houses there were talc lights. This village had a mill near it, situated on the little creek of the same name, which made very good flour. The population consisted of perhaps five hundred Indians, civilized, but of much mixed blood.

"Here we had a dance which is called the fandango, but there was one other, which was copied from the Mexicans, and is now danced in the first societies of New Spain, and has even been introduced at the court of Madrid.

"The greatest natural curiosity is the warm springs, of which there are two, each affording sufficient water for a mill-seat. They appeared to be impregnated with copper, and were more than 33° above blood-heat. From this village, the Indians drove off two thousand horses at one time, when at war with the Spaniards.

"St. John's (San Juan) was also enclosed by a mud wall, and probably contained one thousand souls; its population also chiefly consisted of civilized Indians, as indeed do all the villages of New Mexico, the whites not forming the one-twentieth part of the inhabitants.

"The house-tops of this village, as well as the streets, were crowded when we entered it. At the door of the public quarters, we were met by the priest. When the officer in charge of my escort dismounted, and embraced him, all the poor creatures who stood around strove to kiss the ring or hand of the holy father. My men were taken to the quarters provided for them, and I went to the priest's, who offered me coffee, chocolate, or whatever else he had, and bid me consider myself at home in his house.

"Santa Fé, the capital, is situated along the banks of a small creek, which comes down from the mountains, and runs west to the Rio del Norte. Although it is but three streets in width, it is about a mile long. Seen from a distance, I was struck with the resemblance to a fleet of flat-boats floating down the Ohio in the spring. There are two churches, whose fine steeples form a striking contrast to the squalid appearance of the houses around them.

"In the centre is the public square, or plaza, one side of which forms the flank of the soldiers' square, which is closed and in some degree defended by round towers in the angles, which flank the four curtains: another side of the square is formed by the palace of the governor, his guard-houses, etc. The third side is occupied by the priests and their suite, and the fourth by the Chapetones who reside in the city. The houses are generally only one story high, with flat roofs, and have a very mean appearance on the outside, though some are richly furnished, especially with plate. The supposed population is four thousand five hundred souls. On our entering the town, the crowd was very great, and followed us to the government house. When we dismounted, we were taken through various rooms, the floors of which were covered with buffalo-robes, bear-skins, or those of other animals, to a chamber where we waited for some time, until his excellency appeared."

In going down the valley into Texas, Pike gained some insight into the traffic carried on between Old and New Mexico, and of its regulated movements.

"We passed the encampment," he continues, "of the caravan, going out with about fifteen thousand sheep for the other provinces, from which they bring back merchandise. This expedition consisted of about three hundred men, chiefly citizens, who were escorted by an officer and forty soldiers. They come together at Ciboletta in February, and separate there on their return in March. A similar expedition goes out in the autumn. At other times of the year no citizen travels over the road, the couriers alone excepted. At the pass of the Rio del Norte, the couriers meet and exchange packets, when each returns to his own province. We met a caravan of fifty men and probably two hundred horses, loaded with goods for New Mexico.

"Saturday morning, March 21, we arrived at the Paso del Norte, through a mountainous country. We put up at the house of Don Francisco Garcia, who is a wealthy merchant, and planter. He had, in the neighborhood, twenty thousand sheep and one thousand cows. We were received in a most hospitable manner, by Don Pedro Roderique Rey, the lieutenant-governor, and Father Joseph Prado, the vicar of the place. This was by far the most flourishing town we had so far been in."

GOLD IN COLORADO.

_A Trapper's Story._

Pike found but one American living in Santa Fé. This man had been a trapper, accustomed to the wild and free life of the plains, and this was the story he told.

James Pursley was a Kentuckian who had gone in 1799 to St. Louis, lured by the thirst for adventure for which men of his class willingly give up all the comforts of civilized life. He was one of those men who, like Daniel Boone,[1] thought it time to move on when he could no longer fell a tree so that its top would lie within a few yards of the door of his cabin.

So in advance of the explorer comes the trapper of the West, who, while flying from civilization, is actually paving the way for its coming in spite of himself.

In 1802, with two companions, Pursley left St. Louis, and travelled west to the head of the Osage, where they made a successful hunt. From thence the trappers started for the White River of Arkansas, meaning to go down to New Orleans with their peltries, but while getting ready for the long voyage the Indians stole their horses from them.

The hunters pursued the robbers to their villages. The horses were there, but the Indians would not give them up. Seeing an Indian riding on his horse, Pursley ran up to him, and with his hunting knife ripped open the horse's bowels. The incensed savage instantly ran to his lodge for his gun. It missed fire. Pursley then sprang upon him with his drawn knife in his hand. The Indian took refuge in a lodge filled with children and squaws. The chiefs were so struck with the bravery of the "mad Americans," as they called them, that they gave them back their horses again.

Pursley and his comrades then returned to the place where they had hid their peltry, meaning to go to St. Louis by land, but when they were near the Osage, their horses were again stolen. Hewing themselves a canoe out of a log, they paddled down the Osage without further misadventure till they came to its mouth, when the canoe overset, and the whole year's hunt was lost. They, however, managed to save their powder and guns.

In the Missouri they met a French trader going up to the Mandan country. Pursley at once engaged to go with him for the voyage.

On reaching their destination, Pursley was sent out on a hunting and trading trip with some friendly Paducas and Kiowas, they taking with them a few trading goods. In the ensuing spring, while hunting at the sources of the Platte, they were driven into the neighboring mountains by hostile Sioux. Pursley estimated their number at two thousand, with ten thousand animals. Well was this nation called the Scourge of the Great Plains!

Knowing themselves to be on the borders of New Mexico, it was decided that Pursley, with a few others, should go to Santa Fé in order to learn if the Spaniards would give them good treatment if they came there to trade.

The Spanish governor having promised them good treatment, the Indian deputies went back to their bands, but rather than again risk capture by the cruel Sioux, Pursley thought best to stay where he was, among a civilized people. He arrived at Santa Fé in June, 1805, and had been following the carpenter's trade ever since. Lieutenant Pike describes him as a man of strong natural sense, of dauntless courage, and the first American who had penetrated so far into the wilds of Louisiana.

Among other things, Pursley told Lieutenant Pike "that he had found gold on the head waters of the Platte, and had carried some of the virgin ore about with him in his shot-pouch for months; but being in doubt whether he should ever again behold the civilized world, and having wholly discarded all the ideal value with which mankind has stamped that metal, he threw the sample away; that he had imprudently mentioned it to the Spaniards, who had frequently importuned him to go and show them the place, though, conceiving it to lie in our territory, he had always refused, and was fearful that his doing so might prove an obstacle to his leaving the country."

This man little dreamed that after lying dormant half a century, the discovery of which he thought so little would one day be the making of a great State.

FOOTNOTE

[1] DANIEL BOONE went from Kentucky to Missouri in 1794,
while it was yet a Spanish province. The Spanish governor
allotted him ten thousand acres in the District of St.
Charles, and also made him syndic of the district. The same
want of forecast which had exiled him from Kentucky lost
him this grant. In his old age he was compelled to appeal
to Congress for relief, that body granting him one thousand
arpents of land in the District of St. Charles. In 1811 he was
still following the business of a trapper. A traveller saw
him returning home, at eighty-four years of age, with sixty
beaver-skins. He was then a hale old man. Boone County and
Booneville, Mo., are named for him.

THE FLAG IN OREGON.

We have seen that Mr. Jefferson's plan for securing the commerce of the Great West needed two things for its success. One was a road across the continent. This had been found. The other want was a port on the Pacific. When this had been met, not only would the resources of Louisiana lie open to East and West, but the way to India be found, and the unity of America secured for all time.

As emigration was only just beginning to cross the Mississippi, it scarcely weighed in the balance with commerce, but was as sure to follow it as grass to grow or water run.

Our Government having thus cleared the way, the St. Louis traders were not slow to avail themselves of it. In 1808 they organized the Missouri Fur Company, which immediately sent an agent into the coveted territory, where he set up a trading-house known as Post Henry on the Lewis River.

John Jacob Astor, a merchant of New York, conceived the idea of carrying out the whole scheme as formulated in Mr. Jefferson's mind, not as a monopolist, protected by Government with exclusive privileges, but as a private person, who undertakes an enterprise on his own judgment, and backs it up with his own means.

Mr. Astor was a shrewd and careful merchant who had grown very wealthy from the profits of the fur-trade. He had the money. He knew the price of a beaver or an otter skin in every market of the world. He had the whole A B C of commerce at his fingers' ends. Uniformly successful in whatever he undertook, his judgment inspired confidence in others, as superior business tact is sure to do; hence Mr. Astor had no difficulty in securing partners in his enterprise. It was seen that the key to success lay in the hands of whoever should first occupy the rich fur-bearing valleys of the Columbia River.

There was nothing niggardly about this princely merchant's preparations, once he had made up his mind to embark in the adventure. Every thing was conceived on a most liberal scale, and nothing was left to chance. One company of agents, clerks, and laborers was sent round Cape Horn, with orders to begin a station at the Columbia River, should they first arrive on the ground. Another company, numbering sixty persons, either agents, trappers, guides, or interpreters, went from St. Louis up the Missouri and Yellowstone, and so across the great snowy range into the Columbia basin.

This was in 1810. The next year Mr. Astor despatched a second ship to the Columbia with further supplies of men and means.

The Tonquin, the pioneer ship, arrived in the Columbia before the overland party did. A site was chosen ten miles up the river, on the south side, and the work of erecting a trading-post begun at once, so that when the advance of the overland party reached it (January, 1812), in the utmost destitution, they found relief within its walls.

In honor of its projector the builders called their settlement Astoria. Its history was destined to be brief but eventful. In the first place, the rivalry of the British North-west Company soon made itself felt. Its agents spread themselves out over the upper Columbia waters, so intercepting the Indian trade. Then news was brought to the factory, of the taking of the Tonquin and massacre of her crew by the Indians, with whom she was trading, near the Straits of Fuca.

The ship Beaver, with the third detachment, arrived out in May, 1812. She, too, sailed on a trading-voyage up the coast. A party was sent out from Astoria, at this time, to establish a trading-post on the Spokane River, which, with one already begun at Okonagon, was the second this company had formed in the interior.

In June, 1812, war broke out between England and the United States. It was January before the people at Astoria heard of it. Finding themselves cut off from help on the one side, and threatened with capture on the other, Astor's agents sold the property to the North-west Company, into whose hands it thus passed, not without suspicion of collusion on the part of the sellers. This was in October, 1813.

In this way an enterprise which had been sagaciously planned, backed with abundant means, and had passed through the preliminary stage of trial to assured success, came to an inglorious end because the Government lacked means to protect it. And so Americans were ousted from Oregon, and Englishmen put in possession, which was much like giving the wolf the wether to keep.

LOUISIANA ADMITTED.

Louisiana came into the Union in 1812, so making it the eighteenth State in the order of succession, as it was the first formed of any portion of the territory we had acquired west of the Mississippi. Louisiana is therefore the corner-stone of the new Great West.

Louisiana came in at the beginning of a period of strife and bloodshed. England made a most desperate effort to seize New Orleans, with intent to obtain control of the Mississippi, or at least to gain a vantage-ground from which she could dictate terms to the United States. The fortune of war, however, went against her in the bloodiest battle of the time. Peace was already made when it was fought, so making the effort as useless as it was costly and heroic.