Mountain Men

The Mountain Man's life was one of skill. Not only was he a trapper and woodsman without equal, he was also a trader, blacksmith, horsewrangler, teamster, doctor, gunsmith, tailor, explorer, packer and guide.

There was little room for softness in the life of the Mountain Man. He had to be as hard as the elements he lived in. Although today's "historians" often attempt to picture him as a careless ne'er-do- well, there was really no room for carelessness or timidity in his life. He had to be constantly alert for signs of danger and ready for immediate action. As long periods of time might, and often did, pass without his seeing another man, it was necessary that he be self-sufficient, able to live from what nature provided. The Mountain Man had to possess that spirit of adventure that makes a man wonder just what is up the river and over the mountain, then go and find out, regardless of time or danger.

Perhaps most important of all, the Mountain Men had the complete loyalty toward one another that can be found only in a brotherhood of rugged men of like spirit. To quote Kit Carson, "There is alway a brotherly affection existing among trappers and the side of danger is alway their choice." The Mountain Men were strict individualists. They seldom asked for help when danger threatened or a Brother was in need. Asking was just not necessary.

October 5, 1877

The surrender of Chief Joseph

With 2,000 U.S. soldiers in pursuit, Joseph and other Nez Perce chiefs led 800 Nez Perce toward their friends the Crows, but when the Crows betrayed them and joined the United States army for money, the Nez Perce went towards freedom at the Canadian border. For over three months, the Nez Perce outmaneuvered and battled their pursuers traveling 1,600 miles (2,570 km) across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. General Howard, leading the opposing cavalry, was impressed with the skill with which the Nez Perce fought, using advance and rear guards, skirmish lines, and field fortifications. Finally, after a devastating five-day battle during freezing weather conditions with no food or blankets, Chief Joseph formally surrendered to General Nelson Appleton Miles on October 5, 1877 in theBear Paw Mountains of the Montana Territory, less than 40 miles (60 km) south of Canada in a place close to the present-day Chinook in Blaine County. The battle is remembered in popular history by the words attributed to Chief Joseph at the formal surrender:

"Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."^[6]

^{From Wikipedia}

A Word From Uberti About the 1873 Colt

Uberti has re-created some of the special-order single action cattleman six-shooters that would have been right at home on the dangerous streets of Dodge City, Kansas.

The Uberti 1873 Cattleman series replicates many popular variations of the Colt 1873 Single Action Army, arguably the best-selling pistol ever produced.

You’ll find Cattleman models with ivory grips and nickel finish-favorite special orders from the Old West. These revolvers are also available in blue, case-hardened, stainless steel, and Old West finishes. In addition to ivory grips, choose from grips in walnut, black, bison-style or pearl-style synthetic.

Not long ago, an employee at Colt was looking through old invoice files and found a special order for a Colt .45 Peacemaker with a 4" barrel, nickel finish, and ivory grips. The request, penned on stationery from the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, was from lawman Bat Masterson.

Soldiers, lawmen, and outlaws alike had a fondness for these single actions. Now you can claim your own piece of six-shooter history by ordering one of these classic Uberti revolvers for yourself.

Narcissa Whitman

(1808-1847)

Among the first American settlers in the West, the Whitmans played an important role in opening the Oregon Trail and left a tragic legacy that would continue to haunt relations between whites and Indians for decades after their deaths.

Marcus and Narcissa Whitman were both from upstate New York. Narcissa Prentiss was born in 1808 in Prattsburgh, New York, into a devout Presbyterian family. She was fervently religious as a child, at age sixteen pledging her life to missionary work. After she completed her own education, she taught primary school in Prattsburgh. In 1834, still awaiting the opportunity to fulfill her pledge, she moved with her family to Belmont, New York.

Marcus Whitman was born in 1802 at Rushville, New York. After studying under a local doctor, he received his degree from the medical college at Fairfield, New York, in 1832. He practiced medicine for four years in Canada, then returned to New York, where he became an elder of the Presbyterian church. In 1835 he journeyed to Oregon to make a reconnaissance of potential mission sites.

Shortly before Marcus' trip westward, Narcissa had also volunteered her services to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the umbrella group for Protestant missions to Indian peoples. The Board, however, was unwilling to send unmarried women as missionaries. After Marcus visited the Prentiss family for a weekend, the couple -- who may have had a passing acquaintance beforehand -- agreed to be married, and the Board in turn offered them positions as missionaries.

In 1836 the Whitmans headed West with another missionary couple, Henry Harmon Spalding (who had been jilted by Narcissa) and his wife Eliza, and with a prospective missionary named William H. Gray. St. Louis was their departure point and Oregon their ultimate destination. The group travelled with fur traders for most of the journey, and took wagons farther West than had any American expedition before them. Along the way, Narcissa and Eliza became the first white women to cross the Rocky Mountains. The Whitmans reached the Walla Walla river on September 1, 1836, and decided to found a mission to the Cayuse Indians at Waiilatpu in the Walla Walla Valley. The Spaldings travelled on to present-day Idaho where they founded a mission to the Nez Percé at Lapwai.

The Whitmans labored mightily to make their mission a success. Marcus held church services, practiced medicine and constructed numerous buildings; Narcissa ran their household, assisted in the religious ceremonies, and taught in the mission school. At first the couple was optimistic and seemed almost thrilled by the challenges their new life posed; Narcissa wrote home, "We never had greater encouragement about the Indians than at the present time." This optimism soon faded, however. The Whitman's two-year-old daughter drowned in 1839, Narcissa's eyesight gradually failed almost to the point of blindness, and their isolation dragged on year after year. Above all, the Cayuse continued to be unreceptive to their preaching of the gospel.

To the Cayuse, whose souls the Whitmans felt they were destined to save, the mission was at first a strange sight, and soon a threatening one. The Whitmans made little effort to offer their religious message in terms familiar to the Cayuse, or to accommodate themselves even partially to Cayuse religious practices. Gift-giving was essential to Cayuse social and political life, yet the Whitmans saw the practice as a form of extortion. For the Cayuse, religion and domestic life were closely entwined, yet Narcissa reacted with scorn when they suggested a worship service within the Whitman household.

Because the Whitman's missionary efforts bore so little fruit, the American Missionary Board decided to close the mission in 1842 and transfer the Whitmans elsewhere. Marcus headed East, undaunted by the coming winter, in an ultimately successful effort to convince the board to reverse its decision. On his return journey in 1843, he helped lead the first "Great Migration" to the West, guiding a wagon train of one thousand pioneers up the Oregon Trail. Soon, the Whitmans were spending more time assisting American settlers than they were in ministering to the Cayuse. Childless since their daughter had drowned, they took in eleven children of deceased immigrants, including the seven Sagerchildren whom they adopted in 1844. Their mission also served as a kind of boarding school for early Oregon settlers like Joe Meek, whose daughter lived there for a time.

These close connections between the Whitmans' mission and white colonization further alienated the Cayuse. The swelling number of whites coming into Oregon brought with them numerous diseases which ravaged the Cayuse, and the Whitmans' aid to the wagon trains made the Cayuse especially suspicious of them. Even Narcissa observed this, noting in July 1847 that "the poor Indians are amazed at the overwhelming numbers of Americans coming into the country... They seem not to know what to make of it."

The Indians' suspicions gave way to rage in late 1847, when an epidemic of measles struck nearby whites and Cayuse alike. Although the Whitmans ministered to both, most of the white children lived while about half of the Cayuse, including nearly all their children, died. On November 29, 1847, several Cayuse, under the leadership of the chief Tiloukaikt, took revenge for what they perceived as treachery. They killed fourteen whites, including the Whitmans, and burnt down the mission buildings.

Marcus Whitman

Marcus Whitman: 1802-1847 Marcus Whitman was born September 4, 1802 to Beza and Alice Whitman, in Federal Hollow (later Rushville) New York. He was the seventh generation of "descendents of John Whitman who arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony sometime prior to December 1638. It is believed that John Whitman came from Norfolk, England, where the family name was originally spelled Whiteman." (Drury, 1986; 61) In life and then in his death Marcus Whitman became one of the most known figures of the 19th century and was an inspiration to many. Rushville was located in western New York, and at the time was considered quite primitive. Growing up in these surroundings, tending a carding machine (preparing wool for spinning), Marcus likely acquired the knowledge and skills early on that he later needed in Oregon. Beza died when Marcus was seven years old; Marcus was sent to live with an uncle in Massachusetts where he received education and a moral upbringing for five years. His teenage years were spent in Plainfield, Massachusetts at a school taught by the Congregational pastor Reverend Moses Hallock. William Cullen Bryant and John Brown (Harper's Ferry raid) were among other students taught by Reverend Hallock. Greatly influencing Marcus at age 17 were religious revivals throughout New England, now known as the Second Great Awakening. Several Protestant churches were active in revivals including Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists. Marcus had a conversion experience, but did not join a specific church at that time, though he did decide that he wanted to become a minister. Upon returning to Rushville in 1820 (age 18), he told his family of his wishes to become a minister. They were not supportive of this goal as it took seven years at that time to become a minister - four years of college, followed by three years in a theological seminary. Instead, for the next three years he worked in his stepfather's tannery and shoe business. At age 21, he began studying to be a doctor, apprenticing himself to Rushville's doctor for possibly up to two years and perhaps alternating this with teaching. In 1825, he enrolled in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York - Fairfield; after sixteen weeks, he was qualified for a license to practice medicine. He went to Canada to practice medicine, spending about 2 ½ years in the Niagara District before returning to Rushville, New York. His thoughts again turned to ministry and he entered preparatory study to become a minister. His studies for the ministry were cut short by illness and never completed. However, in October 1831 he again entered College of Physicians and Surgeons, Fairfield, and achieved his Medical Doctor (M.D.) degree. He was considered to be a very capable and qualified doctor of medicine with his two degrees and experience in being a physician. After receiving his M.D., Marcus settled in Wheeler, New York, where he lived until 1835, when he left to scout for mission stations in Oregon. Whitman was an active member of the community and was elected to be a trustee of the Wheeler Presbyterian Church in 1832 and 1833. He was ordained as an elder of the church in 1834. It was also in 1834 that Marcus Whitman was brought to the attention of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in Boston, Massachusetts. The ABCFM was an organization that sponsored Presbyterian and Congregational missions throughout the world, including America. Reverend H.P. Strong of Rushville wrote the ABCFM on April 25, 1834: "I write at this time to make known to you the request of Doct. Marcus Whitman. He is a young man of about 30 or 35 years of age, of solid, judicious mind, of, as I hope and believe, more than ordinary piety and perseverance, a regular bred Physician, has practiced several years with good success and credit. He is, in my opinion well qualified to act as a Missionary Physician. Although I know not that he thinks of it, yet I think he might, if thought expedient after a time, be ordained to advantage. He has formerly been in poor health, but is now better, and thinks a station with some of our western Indians would be useful to him. He has thought of being a Missionary for some time past, and I think him better qualified to do good in that capacity than most young men with whom I am acquainted. He would be glad to hear from you soon, as, should he go, he would have some worldly concerns to arrange. Yours Respectfully, Henry P. Strong The ABCFM replied to this letter to Reverend Strong, who then communicated with Dr. Whitman, resulting in Whitman writing the American Board in June, 1834: "I regard the Missionary cause as based upon the Atonement, and the commands and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ to his Ambassadors and Church; and that it involve the holiness and happiness of all that may be reclaimed from Sin. I regard the Heathen as not having retained the knowledge of the true God and as perishing as described by St. Paul. I esteem it the duty of every Christian to seek the advancement of the cause of Christ more truly than they are wont to their own favorit [sic] objects. I pray that I may have only such feelings in desiring to be received as a helper in the Missionary Cause. I am ready to go to any field of usefulness at the direction of the A. Board. I will cooperate as Physician, Teacher or Agriculturalist so far as I may be able, if required. I am not married and I have no present arrangement upon that Subject. Yet I think I should wish to take a wife, if the service of the Board would admit. I am in my thirty second year. My mind has long been turned to the missionary subject. For the last Six months I have been more intent upon it than before. I wish soon to have definite course. Yours in Christian fellowship, Marcus Whitman Due to the ill health that had prevented Marcus from completing his ministerial studies, the ABCFM was hesitant to accept him as a missionary and did not appoint him as such at that time despite letters assuring them that his health had improved. Later in 1834, Marcus again had letters written on his behalf to the ABCFM to become a medical missionary. On January 6, 1835 the Board met and appointed Dr. Whitman as a missionary doctor. His appointment began with orders to accompany Samuel Parker to the Rocky Mountains that summer and scout out mission lands. Marcus settled affairs in Wheeler and set out to acquire the last thing missing in his life - a wife. Marcus may have previously been acquainted with Narcissa Prentiss prior to his February 1835 visit to her family's home that ended with his marriage proposal. At that time, some missionary couples were introduced by mutual acquaintances for what seems to us today to be a marriage of convenience, the individuals hardly knowing one another, but having common morals and goals. Narcissa Prentiss was from Amity, New York. She had also applied to the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, but was told that unwed females were not accepted. Her prayers were answered when Marcus Whitman entered her life as were his. Narcissa accepted Marcus' proposal. Both had a year to anticipate their marriage while Marcus made his journey west for the first time with Samuel Parker. With the upcoming wedding, the last barrier to Marcus Whitman's dream of having a life in the field of Christian service was broken down. The journey west with Parker was not a pleasant one. Mr. Parker was very difficult and considered Whitman to be more of a servant than an associate. They traveled with a caravan heading to the annual Rendezvous of mountain men and trappers that was held on the Green River. As Christian missionaries and supporters of temperance (no alcohol), Whitman and Parker were not well accepted by the others in the caravan until Whitman treated the cholera sweeping through the caravan. At the Rendezvous in 1835 he also operated on mountain man Jim Bridger, removing a three-inch iron arrow point from his back that was from a battle with the Blackfeet three years prior. After the success of the operation on Jim Bridger, others at the Rendezvous came forward for operations also, Whitman was well accepted as a medicine man even before he established the mission station among the Cayuse in 1836. Parker and Whitman parted ways after meeting with Nez Perce and Flathead chiefs. Samuel Parker was to continue the exploration to Walla Walla with the Indians, while Marcus returned east to marry Narcissa and make preparations for the next journey, including finding more missionaries to join them. On his return trip east, he was accompanied by two Nez Perce boys whom he renamed Richard and John. He also wrote a report to the ABCFM stating his belief that women could make the cross-country journey (before this, no woman of European descent had crossed the Rocky Mountains). Marcus still hoped to find another couple to join them in their Oregon venture. He heard of Henry and Eliza Spalding who were to be missionaries among the Osage people; they had already started for their destination, but Marcus caught up to them and convinced them to join the Oregon missions. After the Spaldings agreed, Marcus returned to New York where he married Narcissa Prentiss on February 18, 1836. The beginning of their married life was also the beginning of their journey west to a new life as missionaries among the Cayuse people, with whom they spent the rest of their lives. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman died on November 29, 1847 after spending 11 years among the Cayuse people. Between 1836 and 1847 life changed greatly for both the Whitmans and the Cayuse. The Cayuse were a semi-nomadic people who were on a seasonal cycle of hunting, gathering and fishing. Dr. Whitman introduced agriculture in order to keep the Cayuse at the mission and introduce Christianity. By the mid-1840's the mission was also a way-stop on the Oregon Trail. Emigrants travelling to the Willamette Valley knew they could stop at Whitman's Mission if they needed food, medicine, or a place to stay during the winter. The Cayuse were suspicious of the many people flooding into the area. Tension rose between the Cayuse and the missionaries. The situation came to a breaking point in 1847 with a measles epidemic that within a matter of months killed half the Cayuse tribe. Marcus was considered to be a te-wat, or medicine man, to the Cayuse people. His medicines did not work when trying to cure Cayuse infected with measles. It was Cayuse tradition that if the patient died after being treated by the medicine man, the family of the patient had the right to kill the medicine man. On November 29, 1847, eleven Cayuse took part in what is now called the "Whitman Killings". The majority of the tribe was not involved in the deaths of the Whitmans and the eleven emigrants, however, the whole tribe was held responsible until 1850. In that year, five Cayuse were turned over to the authorities in Oregon City and hanged for the crime of killing the Whitmans. The legacy of Dr. Whitman lived on. Stories of his 1842 ride east to stop the ABCFM from closing some of the Oregon missions became a legend that "Whitman saved Oregon for the Americans", making it seem that Whitman promoted a manifest destiny for America. Cushing Eells, an associate of Whitman, built Whitman Seminary on the grounds of the old mission; it later moved to Walla Walla and became Whitman College. A statue of Dr. Whitman was erected in Statuary Hall in Washington D.C. And finally, the mission at Waiilatpu where he lived and died, is part of the National Park Service, preserved by the people of the United States since 1936. A Physical Description of Marcus Whitman Rev. Joel Wakeman in an 1898 issue of the Prattsburg, NY News describes Marcus Whitman as: "His stature was medium, compactly built, well-proportioned, muscular, but not fleshy, a finely formed head…a bright, penetrating eye that seldom failed to read human character correctly, an aqualine nose, a benignant, expressive countenance." (Woodbridge, 1970: 6). In 1834 Whitman described himself to the ABCFM as having iron-gray hair and deep blue eyes. William Gray, Whitman's associate said that Marcus had a large mouth. "Other descriptions indicate that Marcus was about six feet tall, weighed about 175 pounds, and was 'a rawboned man, muscular and sinewy, with broad shoulders, neck bent slightly forward, and firm-set limbs.'" (Woodbridge, 1970: 6). William Mowry, in his book Marcus Whitman and the Early Days of Oregon describes the character of Dr. Whitman as: "Dr. Whitman was a strong man, earnest, decided aggressive. He was sincere and kind, generous to a fault, and from the time he took up the missionary work to the Indians, he devoted every energy of his mind and body to the welfare of the Indian and the objects of the mission. He was fearless of danger strong in purpose, resolute and unflinching in the face of difficulties. At times he became animated and earnest in argument or conversation, but in general he would be called a man of reticence." (Mowry, 1901: 63). The Sager girls, who had been orphaned on the Oregon Trail in 1844 and then formally adopted by the Whitmans, remembered him to be kind and loving, but firm.

Camp Pictures

I'll be posting the pics of the camping trip on my personal blog at mvawser.blogspot.com

The First Trappers

View of the Sawtooths from Galena Summit

Although the Louisana Purchase was made in 1803, and fur companies established in the Great Northwest even before Lewis and Clark made their trek in 1805-06 no white man had ever set eyes on the Stanley-Sawtooth country before 1824. He came in the person of Alexander Ross, a Scot school teacher transplanted from Canada, and who, at the age of twenty-eight, relinquished his profession to fall in with John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company in 1811.

From the start, Ross was curious to know what lay southwest of Pierre’s Hole and Henry’s Fork. Even so, it was thirteen years later before he was able to organize a party to make the expedition. In the spring of 1824, with a mixed party of Canadians and Indians, numbering fifty-five, he penetrated from what we know as Montana over Lost Trail Pass to the mouth of the Lemhi where the town of Salmon is now located. He named this junction of the rivers “Canoe Point”. Here, he cached over 1,000 beaver pelts to lighten their load, and went on to explore much of the Lost River drainage, working his way to the Boise and Weiser areas, and eventually to Big Wood River. Near its headwaters, he was drawn by the splendor of the Sawtooth and Boulder mountains.

“What lies beyond?” he wrote in his journal, “On the Morrow we shall see.” And see they did, from Galena Summit (elevation 8,701 ft.), which he called “Simpson Mountain” in honor of the governor of Mantitoba, Canada… Date: September 18, 1824. While he stood there with with those of his party, enthralled by the wild, scenic beauty of the valley spread below, Ross calculated that by following the river (Salmon) downstream, they could surely connect back at Canoe Point by mid-October. This was important with winter near, coupled by the fact he had agreed to meet back with old Pierre when the party had split on the Lost River that spring. Therefore, he knew he could not tarry long in the Valley and Basin, but felt he must explore this enchanting region at any cost.

The party found wild game plentiful on the Valley and Basin floors. Deer and elk herds were feeding everywhere. However, Ross was most impressed by the number of grizzly and black bears. He made note in his journal of observing dozens on a four acre plot where “they were rooting like a bunch of pigs.” Note: When he spoke of the bears rooting, he was referring to the camas lilly bulbs that grow abundantly in parts of the Stanley Basin, and which were relished as food by the animals and Indians.

October arrived turning the region into a riot of color. A decided chill filled the air. Many beaver had been added to the party’s count, and it was time to go. Reluctantly, turning downstream, as they progressed through the steep-walled canyons (where Highway 93 now bends along side the Salmon River towards Clayton) travel became slow and precarious. At one point, Ross even considered back tracking their route, but time was short and they went on. After the loss of several horses packed with beaver pelts down the shaley mountain side, they finally emerged where Salmon bends northward (two miles south of where the town of Challis was located in 1878), weary in bone and body. Here they rested a day, then went on to meet Old Pierre, and back to winter quarters at Astoria Oregon.

There Ross told of their exploration of the beautiful, wild river and the region where it gathers its headwaters. Ross was soon followed by other trappers, namely; Jed Smith, John Work, Peter Skene Ogden, Nathaniel Wyeth, Captain Bonneville, and Milton Sublette.

From: Stanley-Sawtooth Country by, Esther Yarber