THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL, COLONEL HENRY INMAN [well read books .txt] 📗
- Author: COLONEL HENRY INMAN
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Successful In this, His First Venture, He Returned to The Missouri
River With A Well-Filled purse, And Intensely Enthusiastic Over The
Result Of His Excursion To The Newly Found Market.
Excited listeners To His Tales Of Enormous Profits Were Not Lacking,
Who, Inspired by The Inducement He Held Out To Them, Cheerfully
Invested five Thousand Dollars In merchandise Suited to The Demands
Of The Trade, And Were Eager To Attempt With Him The Passage Of
The Great Plains. In this Expedition There Were Thirty Men, And
The Amount Of Money In the Undertaking Was The Largest That Had Yet
Been Ventured. The Progress Of The Little Caravan Was Without
Extraordinary Incident, Until It Arrived at "The Caches" On The
Upper Arkansas. There Becknell, Who Was In reality A Man Of The
Then "Frontier," Bold, Plucky, And Endowed with Excellent Sense,
Conceived the Ridiculous Idea Of Striking Directly Across The Country
For Santa Fe Through A Region Absolutely Unexplored; His Excuse
For This Rash Movement Being That He Desired to Avoid The Rough And
Circuitous Mountain Route He Had Travelled on His First Trip To Taos.
His Temerity In abandoning The Known For The Unknown Was Severely
Punished, And His Brave Men Suffered untold Misery, Barely Escaping
With Their Lives From The Terrible Straits To Which They Were Reduced.
Not Having The Remotest Conception Of The Region Through Which Their
New Trail Was To Lead Them, And Naturally Supposing That Water Would
Be Found In streams Or Springs, When They Left The Arkansas They
Neglected to Supply Themselves With More Than Enough Of The Precious
Fluid To Last A Couple Of Days. At The End Of That Time They Learned,
Too Late, That They Were In the Midst Of A Desert, With All The
Tortures Of Thirst Threatening Them.
Without A Tree Or A Path To Guide Them, They Took An Irregular Course
By Observations Of The North Star, And The Unreliable Needle Of An
Azimuth Pocket-Compass. There Was A Total Absence Of Water, And When
What They Had Brought With Them In their Canteens From The River Was
Exhausted, Thirst Began Its Horrible Office. In a Short Time Both Men
And Animals Were In a Mental Condition Bordering On Distraction.
To Alleviate Their Acute Torment, The Dogs Of The Train Were Killed,
And Their Blood, Hot And Sickening, Eagerly Swallowed; Then The Ears
Of The Mules Were Cut Off For The Same Purpose, But Such A Substitute
For Water Only Added to Their Sufferings. They Would Have Perished
Had Not A Superannuated buffalo Bull That Had Just Come From The
Cimarron River, Where He Had Gone To Quench His Thirst, Suddenly
Appeared, To Be Immediately Killed and The Contents Of His Stomach
Swallowed with Avidity. It Is Recorded that One Of Those Who Partook
Of The Nauseous Liquid Said Afterward, "Nothing Had Ever Passed
His Lips Which Gave Him Such Exquisite Delight As His First Draught
Of That Filthy Beverage."
Although They Were Near The Cimarron, Where There Was Plenty Of Water,
Which But For The Affair Of The Buffalo They Never Would Have Suspected,
They Decided to Retrace Their Steps To The Arkansas.
Before They Started on Their Retreat, However, Some Of The Strongest
Of The Party Followed the Trail Of The Animal That Had Saved their
Lives To The River, Where, Filling all The Canteens With Pure Water,
They Returned to Their Comrades, Who Were, After Drinking, Able To
March Slowly Toward The Arkansas.
Following That Stream, They At Last Arrived at Taos, Having Experienced
No Further Trouble, But Missed the Trail To Santa Fe, And Had Their
Journey Greatly Prolonged by The Foolish Endeavour Of The Leader
To Make A Short Cut Thither.
As Early As 1815, Auguste P. Chouteau And His Partner, With A Large
Number Of Trappers And Hunters, Went Out To The Valley Of The
Upper Arkansas For The Purpose Of Trading With Indians, And Trapping
On The Numerous Streams Of The Contiguous Region.
The Island On Which Chouteau Established his Trading-Post, And Which
Bears His Name Even To This Day, Is In the Arkansas River On The
Boundary Line Of The United states And Mexico. It Was A Beautiful
Spot, With A Rich Carpet Of Grass And Delightful Groves, And On
The American Side Was A Heavily Timbered bottom.
While Occupying The Island, Chouteau And His Old Hunters And Trappers
Were Attacked by About Three Hundred pawnees, Whom They Repulsed
With The Loss Of Thirty Killed and Wounded. These Indians Afterward
Declared that It Was The Most Fatal Affair In which They Were Ever
Engaged. It Was Their First Acquaintance With American Guns.
The General Character Of The Early Trade With New Mexico Was Founded
On The System Of The Caravan. She Depended upon The Remote Ports
Of Old Mexico, Whence Was Transported, On The Backs Of The Patient
Burro And Mule, All That Was Required by The Primitive Tastes Of The
Primitive People; A Very Tedious And Slow Process, As May Be Inferred,
And The Limited traffic Westwardly Across The Great Plains Was
Confined to This Fashion. At The Date Of The Legitimate And
Substantial Commerce With New Mexico, In 1824, Wheeled vehicles Were
Introduced, And Traffic Assumed an Importance It Could Never Have
Otherwise Attained, And Which Now, Under The Vast System Of Railroads,
Has Increased to Dimensions Little Dreamed of By Its Originators
Nearly Three-Quarters Of A Century Ago.
It Was Eight Years After Pursley'S Pilgrimage Before The Trade With
New Mexico Attracted the Attention Of Speculators And Adventurers.
Messrs. Mcknight,[13] Beard, And Chambers, With About A Dozen Comrades,
Started with A Supply Of Goods Across The Unknown Plains, And By
Good Luck Arrived safely At Santa Fe. Once Under The Jurisdiction
Of The Mexicans, However, Their Trouble Began. All The Party Were
Arrested as Spies, Their Wares Confiscated, And Themselves
Incarcerated at Chihuahua, Where The Majority Of Them Were Kept For
Almost A Decade. Beard And Chambers, Having By Some Means Escaped,
Returned to St. Louis In 1822, And, Notwithstanding Their Dreadful
Experience, Told Of The Prospects Of The Trade With The Mexicans
In Such Glowing Colours That They Induced some Individuals Of Small
Capital To Fit Out Another Expedition, With Which They Again Set Out
For Santa Fe.
It Was Really Too Late In the Season; They Succeeded, However,
In Reaching The Crossing Of The Arkansas Without Any Difficulty,
But There A Violent Snowstorm Overtook Them And They Were Compelled
To Halt, As It Was Impossible To Proceed in the Face Of The Blinding
Blizzard. On An Island[14] Not Far From Where The Town Of Cimarron,
On The Santa Fe Railroad, Is Now Situated, They Were Obliged to
Remain For More Than Three Months, During Which Time Most Of Their
Animals Died for Want Of Food And From The Severe Cold. When The
Weather Had Moderated sufficiently To Allow Them To Proceed on
Their Journey, They Had No Transportation For Their Goods And Were
Compelled to Hide Them In pits Dug In the Earth, After The Manner
Of The Old French Voyageurs In the Early Settlement Of The Continent.
This Method Of Secreting Furs And Valuables Of Every Character
Is Called caching, From The French Word "To Hide." Gregg Thus
Describes It:
The Cache Is Made By Digging a Hole In the Ground, Somewhat
In the Shape Of A Jug, Which Is Lined with Dry Sticks,
Grass, Or Anything Else That Will Protect Its Contents
From The Dampness Of The Earth. In this Place The Goods
To Be Concealed are Carefully Stowed away; And The Aperture
Is Then So Effectually Closed as To Protect Them From
The Rains. In caching, A Great Deal Of Skill Is Often
Required to Leave No Sign Whereby The Cunning Savage May
Discover The Place Of Deposit. To This End, The Excavated
Earth Is Carried some Distance And Carefully Concealed,
Or Thrown Into A Stream, If One Be At Hand. The Place
Selected for A Cache Is Usually Some Rolling Point,
Sufficiently Elevated to Be Secure From Inundations.
If It Be Well Set With Grass, A Solid Piece Of Turf Is
Cut Out Large Enough For The Entrance. The Turf Is
Afterward Laid Back, And, Taking Root, In a Short Time
No Signs Remain Of Its Ever Having Been Molested.
However, As Every Locality Does Not Afford A Turfy Site,
The Camp-Fire Is Sometimes Built Upon The Place, Or The
Animals Are Penned over It, Which Effectually Destroys
All Traces.
Father Hennepin[15] Thus Describes, In his Quaint Style, How He Built
A Cache On The Bank Of The Mississippi, In 1680:
We Took Up The Green Sodd, And Laid It By, And Digg'D A Hole
In the Earth Where We Put Our Goods, And Cover'D Them With
Pieces Of Timber And Earth, And Then Put In again The Green
Turf; So That 'Twas Impossible To Suspect That Any Hole Had
Been Digg'D Under It, For We Flung The Earth Into The River.
After Caching Their Goods, Beard And The Party Went On To Taos,
Where They Bought Mules, And Returning To Their Caches Transported
Their Contents To Their Market.
The Word "Cache" Still Lingers Among The "Old-Timers" Of The Mountains
And Plains, And Has Become A Provincialism With Their Descendants;
One Of These Will Tell You That He Cached his Vegetables In the Side
Of The Hill; Or If He Is Out Hunting and Desires To Secrete Himself
From Approaching Game, He Will Say, "I Am Going To Cache Behind
That Rock," Etc.
The Place Where Beard'S Little Expedition Wintered was Called
"The Caches" For Years, And The Name Has Only Fallen Into Disuse
Within The Last Two Decades. I Remember The Great Holes In the
Ground When I First Crossed the Plains, A Third Of A Century Ago.
The Immense Profit Upon Merchandise Transported across The Dangerous
Trail Of The Mid-Continent To The Capital Of New Mexico Soon Excited
The Cupidity Of Other Merchants East Of The Missouri. When The
Commonest Domestic Cloth, Manufactured wholly From Cotton, Brought
From Two To Three Dollars A Yard At Santa Fe, And Other Articles At
The Same Ratio To Cost, No Wonder The Commerce With The Far-Off Market
Appeared to Those Who Desired to Send Goods There A Veritable Golconda.
The Importance Of Internal Trade With New Mexico, And The Possibilities
Of Its Growth, Were First Recognized by The United states In 1824,
The Originator Of The Movement Being Mr. Thomas Hart Benton Of Missouri,
Who Frequently, From His Place In the Senate, Prophesied the Coming
Greatness Of The West. He Introduced a Bill Which Authorized the
President To Appoint A Commission To Survey A Road From The Missouri
River To The Boundary Line Of New Mexico, And From Thence On Mexican
Territory With The Consent Of The Mexican Government. The Signing Of
This Bill Was One Of The Last Acts Of Mr. Monroe'S Official Life,
And It Was Carried into Effect By His Successor, Mr. John Quincy Adams,
But Unfortunately A Mistake Was Made In supposing That The Osage
Indians Alone Controlled the Course Of The Proposed route. It Was
Partially Marked out As Far As The Arkansas, By Raised mounds;
But Travellers Continued to Use The Old Wagon Trail, And As No
Negotiations Had Been Entered into With The Comanches, Cheyennes,
Pawnees, Or Kiowas, These Warlike Tribes Continued to Harass The
Caravans When These Arrived in the Broad Valley Of The Arkansas.
The American Fur Trade Was At Its Height At The Time When The Santa Fe
Trade Was Just Beginning To Assume Proportions Worthy Of Notice;
The Difference Between The Two Enterprises Being Very Marked. The Fur
Trade Was In the Hands Of Immensely Wealthy Companies, While That To
Santa Fe Was Carried on By Individuals With Limited capital, Who,
Purchasing Goods In the Eastern Markets, Had Them Transported to
The Missouri River, Where, Until The Trade To New Mexico Became A
Fixed business, Everything Was Packed on Mules. As Soon, However,
As Leading Merchants Invested their Capital, About 1824, The Trade
Grew Into Vast Proportions, And Wagons Took The Place Of The Patient
Mule. Later, Oxen Were Substituted for Mules, It Having Been
Discovered that They Possessed many Advantages Over The Former,
Particularly In being able To Draw Heavier Loads Than An Equal Number
Of Mules, Especially Through Sandy Or Muddy Places.
For A Long Time, The Traders Were In the Habit Of Purchasing Their
Mules In santa Fe And Driving Them To The Missouri; But As Soon As
That Useful Animal Was Raised in sufficient Numbers In the Southern
States To Supply The Demand, The Importation From New Mexico Ceased,
For The Reason That The American Mule Was In all Respects An Immensely
Superior Animal.
Once Mules Were An Important Object Of The Trade, And Those Who Dealt
In Them And Drove Them Across To The River On The Trail Met With
Many Mishaps; Frequently Whole Droves, Containing From Three To
Five Hundred, Were Stolen By The Savages En Route. The Latter Soon
Learned that It Was A Very Easy Thing
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