Part 7 (2/2)
Having now made what observations our means afforded, we proceeded to descend. We had accomplished an object of laudable ambition, and beyond the strict order of our instructions. We had climbed the loftiest peak of the Rocky Mountains, and looked down upon the snow a thousand feet below, and, standing where never human foot had stood before, felt the exultation of first explorers. It was about two o'clock when we left the summit; and when we reached the bottom, the sun had already sunk behind the wall, and the day was drawing to a close. It would have been pleasant to have lingered here and on the summit longer; but we hurried away as rapidly as the ground would permit, for it was an object to regain our party as soon as possible, not knowing what accident the next hour might bring forth.'”
This peak was found, by barometrical observation, to be _thirteen thousand five hundred and seventy_ feet above the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It bears the name of the Great Explorer, being called Fremont's Peak.
The return trip was now commenced, all of the objects of the expedition having been successfully accomplished. The party again reached Fort Laramie in the month of September, 1842. Kit Carson had served in the double capacity as a hunter and guide. It is sufficient to say of the manner in which he performed his duties that he won the friends.h.i.+p of John C. Fremont, and has ever occupied since then a prominent and permanent place in his esteem. At Laramie, Kit Carson's labors were done. There he bid his commander good bye and set out for New Mexico. Fremont returned to the United States in safety. Thus terminated the first of his great explorations.
Kit Carson's Indian wife had long since been dead. In the month of February, 1843, he married a Mexican lady by the name of Senora Josepha Jarimilla. Of this lady it is sufficient to say that for her many virtues and personal beauty she is justly esteemed by a large circle of acquaintance. By this wife Kit Carson has three children, to whom he is devotedly attached.
In the following April Kit Carson was employed as hunter to accompany Bent and St. Vrain's train of wagons, while on their journey to the United States. On arriving at Walnut Creek, which is about two-thirds of the distance across the Plains from Santa Fe, Kit and his companions came upon the encampment of Captain Cook, belonging to the United States Army--who was in command of four companies of United States Dragoons. Captain Cook informed Carson's party that in his rear was traveling a train of wagons belonging to General Armijo, a wealthy Mexican.
For the purpose of insuring protection to this richly-freighted caravan while pa.s.sing through an Indian country, the Mexican wagon-master in charge, had hired one hundred men. There were rumors, currently reported at that time and believed, that a large body of Texians were waiting on the road to plunder and murder this wagon party, and thus retaliate the treatment Armijo had been guilty of in the case of the ”famous Muir Prisoners;” but, in order that this should not happen in Territory belonging to the United States, the War Department had ordered Captain Cook and the dragoons to guard the property as far as the fording of the Arkansas River, which was then the boundary line between the two countries. The Mexicans had become alarmed for fear they might be attacked on parting with the United States soldiers; so, on meeting with Kit Carson, who was well known to them, they offered three hundred dollars if he would carry a letter to Armijo who was then Governor of New Mexico, and lived at Santa Fe.
This letter apprised the General of the danger to which his men and property were exposed and asked for a.s.sistance to be immediately sent to them. Carson accepted the offer, and in company with Owens, another mountaineer, he set out on his express ride. In the course of a few days he reached Bent's Fort, where his companion concluded not to go on with him. At the Fort, Kit Carson was informed that the Utah Indians, then hostile, were scattered along his intended route. He was not, however, turned from his duty by this danger, but he resumed his journey immediately. At this last-named place his friend, Mr. Bent, kindly furnished him with a fleet and magnificent horse, which he led, so that, should he find himself in peril, he might mount this fresh animal and make his escape.
By watching for signs and being continually on the alert, Kit Carson discovered the Indians and their village without exposing his own person to view. He immediately secreted himself in an out-of-the-way place and remained until the coming on of darkness; when, he pa.s.sed safely by the camp of the savages. In the course of a few days he reached Taos and handed his dispatch to the _Alcalde_ of the town to be forwarded to Santa Fe. As had been previously agreed upon, he waited here for an answer with which he was to return. At Taos Carson was informed that Armijo had already sent out one hundred Mexican soldiers to seek his caravan and that the General himself, in command of six hundred more, was soon to follow after. It was afterwards learned that this unfortunate band of one hundred men went as far as the Arkansas River, but could not find any traces of the train of wagons, it not having completed that much of its journey; therefore, they commenced to retrace their steps, but had proceeded only a few miles, when they were suddenly attacked by the Texians, who succeeded in ma.s.sacring all but one man. This survivor had succeeded in catching, in the heat of the battle, a fully equipped Texan horse which was loose. Mounting him, he made off in the direction of Santa Fe; and, at Cold Springs came upon the camp of Armijo, to whom he reported proceedings. The narration of this sad story so dampened the courage of the General and his men as to cause them to make a precipitous retreat. The spot where this slaughter took place has since gone by the name of the ”battle ground” and many are the bleached human bones that are still to be found there.
It was during Carson's stay of four days in Taos, that Armijo and his small army had started out in quest of the enemy; but, before his departure, he had received the letter and directed an answer to be sent, thinking perhaps, that Kit Carson might reach the train even if he himself did not. On the answer coming into Carson's hands, he selected a Mexican boy to accompany him and was quickly on the road again. They had left Taos two days' journey behind them and had reached the River _Trinchera_ (for they were traveling via the _Sangero de Christo_ Pa.s.s and Bent's Fort) when they unexpectedly met four Indian warriors. Eat Carson immediately recognized them as hostile Utahs. As yet the red men were some distance off; and, while Kit and his companion stood meditating what was best to be done, the latter spoke and said to the former: ”I am a boy and perhaps the Indians will spare my life. At any rate yours is much more valuable than mine, therefore mount the horse you are leading, without delay, and make your escape.” Carson at first thought this advice to be good, and was about acting on it, when it struck his equally generous heart, how cowardly such a course would be--to desert a youth who had in the hour of peril so manfully borne himself. Turning to the boy he thanked him and added that ”he could not and would not desert him.” He said ”we must stand our ground together and if we have to die let us take with us each his warrior.” While this colloquy was going on, the foremost of the Indians came up. He approached Carson with the air of a man sure of an easy victory, and, with a bland smile, proffered one hand in friends.h.i.+p, while, with the other, he grasped Kit's rifle.
A powerful blow from the fist of the latter released his hold and instantly laid him sprawling upon the ground. The other Indians, seeing the fate of their companion, hastened to his rescue. When they reached talking distance, Kit, standing with his rifle brought to his shoulder, informed them that, upon the first hostile demonstration they made, he and his companion would fire. The Indians commenced shaking their priming into the pans of their flint lock guns, and, while doing so, talked loud and threatened to perform a great many things. This was a mere ruse to intimidate Kit and his companion and throw them off their guard. It was, however, well understood and operated to make them only the more vigilant. This endeavor to draw off Kit's attention was continued in various ways, but, finally seeing the determined posture of their opponent, they grew weary of the game, and, at last, departed.
The journey was now resumed. After five days of hard traveling, Kit and his companion entered Bent's Fort, without further molestation.
Here Kit Carson learned that the Texians had been caught by Captain Cook and his dragoons in United States Territory, and had been disarmed. This had immediately relieved the conductors of the train from all anxiety. They had, consequently, continued their route, not thinking a stop at Bent's Fort necessary as had been antic.i.p.ated. Gen.
Armijo's letter of instruction was, accordingly, left by Carson with Mr. Bent who promised to forward it to Santa Fe by the first favorable opportunity. To pursue and overtake the wagons would be nothing but labor thrown away. All danger had disappeared.
CHAPTER VIII.
Kit Carson visits Fremont's Camp--Goes on the Second Exploring Expedition--The Necessary Arrangements--Trip to Salt Lake--Explorations there--Carson is dispatched to Fort Hall for Supplies--Their Operations at Salt Lake--The Great Island--The Journey to the Columbia River in Oregon--Incidents on the Route--Tlamath Lake--The Journey to California--The Trials and Privations met with while crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains--Mr. Preuss is lost but finds the Party again--Arrival at Sutter's Fort in a Dest.i.tute Condition--Two of the Party become deranged--The Route on the Return Trip--Mexicans come into their Camp asking Aid and Protection--Indian Depredations--Carson and G.o.dey start on a Daring Adventure--The Pursuit--The Thieves overtaken--These Two White Men attack Thirty Indians--The Victory--Horses retaken--The Return to Camp--One of their Companions killed--The Journey continued--Arrival at Bent's Fort--The ”Fourth of July” Dinner.
A few days before Kit Carson's arrival at Bent's Fort, Col. Fremont had pa.s.sed by and had informed the Traders there that he was bound on another Exploring Expedition. Having finished up his business with the Mexicans, Kit thought he would like to see his old commander once again. Accordingly, he started on his trail: and, after seventy miles of travel, came up with him. The meeting proved to be mutually agreeable. Although Kit Carson had made this visit solely from his desire to see again his old commander and not with a view of joining his second expedition, Col. Fremont insisted so strongly upon having Kit accompany him that he acquiesced in doing so.
For Col. Fremont, Kit Carson has the greatest admiration. He knows, as well as any man living, his bravery, his talents and the many splendid qualities of his mind and heart. The question will naturally arise, does Kit Carson indorse the political creed upon which Col. Fremont accepted the nomination for the Presidency of the United States? The best answer and the one which is true, will be: Kit Carson considers it one of the highest honors and greatest blessings to be a citizen of the United States. He is willing to incur any danger for his country's good, even if the sacrifice of his life is the alternative. He has spent all his life in the wilds of America where news is always as scarce an article as luxuries of the table and fire-side, and, where the political strifes of factions and parties are not known. The inference will therefore be plainly apparent, that his curiosity does not lead him to examine very attentively the minute workings of political machinery. He is not a man to be swayed by friends.h.i.+p from performing any act which the interests of his country seem to require at his hands. His political bias will, therefore, remain a matter of conjecture until such time, if his life is spared to see it, when New Mexico shall be admitted into the Union as a State. So far, he has never lived where he could exercise the right of franchise. The time must come which shall ent.i.tle him to a Presidential vote before he decides what political party shall count him as its supporter.
Soon after Kit Carson was again enrolled under the command of Col.
Fremont, he received orders to return to Bent's Fort and purchase some mules of which the party stood in need. Mules are valuable animals in new and mountainous countries. They are often the only beasts of burden which can be successfully used in crossing the wild mountains.
Being more sure footed and more able to endure great fatigue than the horse, in such expeditions, they become absolutely necessary. While he was absent on this duty, the expedition journeyed first to Soda Springs and thence on to St. Vrain's Fort, which was located on the South Fork of the Platte. At this point, the expedition was joined by Major Fitzpatrick with a command of forty men which he had enrolled, under orders, to a.s.sist in the exploration. When Kit Carson had rejoined the party, the arrangements for the arduous task in view were nearly complete.
Colonel Fremont divided his forces, sending one division, with most of the camp equipage, on the more direct route. This division was placed under the command of Major Fitzpatrick. The other division under the command of Colonel Fremont, consisting of a squad of fifteen men and his guide Kit Carson, struck out up Thompson's Fork. The object of this expedition had in view by the government was, to have Colonel Fremont connect his explorations of the preceding year with the coast surveys of Commander Wilkes on the Pacific. This would give the data for making a correct map of the interior of the wild lands of the continent. From Thompson's Fork Colonel Fremont's division marched to the Cache la Poudre River, and thence to the plains of Laramie until they came to the North Fork of the Platte. This river they crossed below the New Park and bent their way to the sweet water, reaching it at a point about fifteen miles below the Devil's Gate. From this point they traveled almost the same road which is now used by emigrants and which leads to Soda Springs on Beaver River. It had been decided by Fremont to go to the Great Salt Lake and accomplish its exploration.
He therefore started for that direction; but, before doing so, ordered Kit Carson to proceed to Fort Hall and obtain such supplies as were required. After procuring these necessities, Kit Carson, with one companion and his pack animals, set out on the return from Fort Hall and eventually found Fremont on the upper end of Salt Lake. From here the party journeyed around to the east side of the lake, a distance of about twenty miles. At this spot they obtained a good view of the lake and its adjacent scenery. Before him, and in bold relief, stood out everything which the explorer desired to examine, even to one of the several islands which are located in the midst of this wonderful collection of saline waters. To this isolated land Fremont was resolved to go. Among the rest of the forethought, supplies, there was an India-rubber boat. This was ordered to be made ready for a trip to the island early the following day. No doubt our readers will be pleased to enjoy Colonel Fremont's account of this lake, its scenery and characteristics. We insert therefore as much thereof as our s.p.a.ce will admit. It was the twenty-first day of August 1843 that the little party reached Bear River, which, as has already appeared in another, part of this work, was the princ.i.p.al tributary of the Great Salt Lake.
At this point of Colonel Fremont's narrative, he says: ”We were now entering a region which, for us, possessed a strange and extraordinary interest. We were upon the waters of the famous lake which forms a salient point among the remarkable geographical features of the country, and around which the vague and superst.i.tious accounts of the trappers had thrown a delightful obscurity, which we antic.i.p.ated pleasure in dispelling, but which, in the meantime, left a crowded field for the exercise of our imagination.
”In our occasional conversations with the few old hunters who had visited the region, it had been a subject of frequent speculation; and the wonders which they related were not the less agreeable because they were highly exaggerated and impossible.
”Hitherto this lake had been seen only by trappers, who were wandering through the country in search of new beaver streams, caring very little for geography; its islands had never been visited; and none were to be found who had entirely made the circuit of its sh.o.r.es; and no instrumental observations, or geographical survey of any description, had ever been made anywhere in the neighboring region. It was generally supposed that it had no visible outlet; but, among the trappers, including those in my own camp, were many who believed that somewhere on its surface was a terrible whirlpool, through which its waters found their way to the ocean by some subterranean communication. All these things had made a frequent subject of discussion in our desultory conversations around the fires at night; and my own mind had become tolerably well filled with their indefinite pictures, and insensibly colored with their romantic descriptions, which, in the pleasure of excitement, I was well disposed to believe, and half expected to realize.
”'In about six miles' travel from our encampment, we reached one of the points in our journey to which we had always looked forward with great interest--the famous Beer Springs, which, on account of the effervescing gas and acid taste, had received their name from the voyageurs and trappers of the country, who, in the midst of their rude and hard lives, are fond of finding some fancied resemblance to the luxuries they rarely have the good fortune to enjoy.
”'Although somewhat disappointed in the expectations which various descriptions had led me to form of unusual beauty of situation and scenery, I found it altogether a place of very great interest; and a traveler for the first time in a volcanic region remains in a constant excitement, and at every step is arrested by something remarkable and new. There is a confusion of interesting objects gathered together in a small s.p.a.ce. Around the place of encampment the Beer Springs were numerous; but, as far as we could ascertain, were entirely confined to that locality in the bottom. In the bed of the river, in front, for a s.p.a.ce of several hundred yards, they were very abundant; the effervescing gas rising up and agitating the water in countless bubbling columns. In the vicinity round about were numerous springs of an entirely different and equally marked mineral character. In a rather picturesque spot, about 1,300 yards below our encampment, and immediately on the river bank, is the most remarkable spring of the place. In an opening on the rock, a white column of scattered water is thrown up, in form like a _jet-d'eau_, to a variable height of about three feet, and, though it is maintained in a constant supply, its greatest height is attained only at regular intervals, according to the action of the force below. It is accompanied by a subterranean noise, which, together with the motion of the water, makes very much the impression of a steamboat in motion; and, without knowing that it had been already previously so called, we gave to it the name of the Steamboat Spring. The rock through which it is forced is slightly raised in a convex manner, and gathered at the opening into an urn-mouthed form, and is evidently formed by continued deposition from the water, and colored bright red by oxide of iron.
”'It is a hot spring, and the water has a pungent and disagreeable metallic taste, leaving a burning effect on the tongue. Within perhaps two yards of the _jet d'eau_, is a small hole of about an inch in diameter, through which, at regular intervals, escapes a blast of hot air with a light wreath of smoke, accompanied by a regular noise.'
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