THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL by COLONEL HENRY INMAN (best fiction novels of all time .TXT) 📕

Were Divided into Nearly Fifty Bands Of Families, Each With

Its Separate Chief, But All Acknowledging a Superior Chief To Whom

They Were Subordinate.  They Were At That Time The Happiest And Most

Wealthy Tribe On The Continent, Regarded from An Indian Standpoint;

But Then The Great Plains Were Stocked with Buffalo And Wild Horses,

And That Fact Alone Warrants The Assertion Of Contentment And Riches.

No Finer-Looking Tribe Existed; They Could Then Muster More Than

Ten Thousand Warriors, Every One Of Whom Would Measure Six Feet, And

All Their Movements Were Graceful And Elastic.

 

 

 

According To Their Legends, They Came From The Pacific And Encountered

The Algonquins About The Head Waters Of The Mississippi, Where They

Were Held In check, A Portion Of Them, However, Pushing On Through

Their Enemies And Securing a Foothold On The Shores Of Lake Michigan.

This Bold Band Was Called by The Chippewas Winnebagook (Men-From-The-

Salt-Water).  In their Original Habitat On The Great Northern Plains

Was Located the Celebrated "Red pipe-Stone Quarry," A Relatively

Limited area, Owned by All Tribes, But Occupied permanently By None;

A Purely Neutral Ground--So Designated by The Great Spirit--Where No

War Could Possibly Occur, And Where Mortal Enemies Might Meet To

Procure The Material For Their Pipes, But The Hatchet Was Invariably

Buried during That Time On The Consecrated spot.

 

 

 

The Quarry Has Long Since Passed out Of The Control And Jurisdiction

Of The Indians And Is Not Included in any Of Their Reservations,

Though Near The Sisseton Agency.  It Is Located on The Summit Of

The High Divide Between The Missouri And St. Peter'S Rivers In

Minnesota, At A Point Not Far From Where The Ninety-Seventh Meridian

Of Longitude (From Greenwich) Intersects The Forty-Fifth Parallel

Of Latitude.  The Divide Was Named by The French Coteau Des Prairies,

And The Quarry Is Near Its Southern Extremity.  Not A Tree Or Bush

Could Be Seen From The Majestic Mound When I Last Was There, Some

Twenty Years Ago--Nothing But The Apparently Interminable Plains,

Until They Were Lost In the Deep Blue Of The Horizon.

 

 

 

The Luxury Of Smoking appears To Have Been Known To All The Tribes

On The Continent In their Primitive State, And They Indulge In the

Habit To Excess; Any One Familiar With Their Life Can Assert That

The American Savage Smokes Half Of His Time.  Where So Much Attention

Is Given To A Mere Pleasure, It Naturally Follows That He Would Devote

His Leisure And Ingenuity To The Construction Of His Pipe.  The Bowls

Of These Were, From Time Immemorial, Made Of The Peculiar Red stone

From The Famous Quarry Referred to, Which, Until Only A Little Over

Fifty Years Ago, Was Never Visited by A White Man, Its Sanctity

Forbidding any Such Sacrilege.

 

 

 

That The Spot Should Have Been Visited for Untold Centuries By All

The Indian Nations, Who Hid Their Weapons As They Approached it,

Under Fear Of The Vengeance Of The Great Spirit, Will Not Seem Strange

When The Religion Of The Race Is Understood.  One Of The Principal

Features Of The Quarry Is A Perpendicular Wall Of Granite About

Thirty Feet High, Facing The West, And Nearly Two Miles Long.  At The

Base Of The Wall There Is A Level Prairie, Running Parallel To It,

Half A Mile Wide.  Under This Strip Of Land, After Digging Through

Several Slaty Layers Of Rock, The Red sandstone Is Found.  Old Graves,

Fortifications, And Excavations Abound, All Confirmatory Of The

Traditions Clustering around The Weird Place.

 

 

 

Within A Few Rods Of The Base Of The Wall Is A Group Of Immense Gneiss

Boulders, Five In number, Weighing Probably Many Hundred tons Each,

And Under These Are Two Holes In which Two Imaginary Old Women Reside

--The Guardian Spirits Of The Quarry--Who Were Always Consulted before

Any Pipe-Stone Could Be Dug Up.  The Veneration For This Group Of

Boulders Was Something Wonderful; Not A Spear Of Grass Was Broken Or

Bent By His Feet Within Sixty Or Seventy Paces From Them, Where The

Trembling Indian Halted, And Throwing Gifts To Them In humble

Supplication, Solicited permission To Dig And Take Away The Red stone

For His Pipes.

 

 

 

Near This Spot, Too, On A High Mound, Was The "Thunder'S Nest," Where

A Very Small Bird Sat Upon Her Eggs During Fair Weather.  When The

Skies Were Rent With Thunder At The Approach Of A Storm, She Was

Hatching Her Brood, Which Caused the Terrible Commotion In the Heavens.

The Bird Was Eternal.  The "Medicine Men" Claimed that They Had Often

Seen Her, And She Was About As Large As A Little Finger.  Her Mate

Was A Serpent Whose Fiery Tongue Destroyed the Young Ones As Soon As

They Were Born, And The Awful Noise Accompanying The Act Darted

Through The Clouds.

 

 

 

On The Wall Of Rocks At The Quarry Are Thousands Of Inscriptions And

Paintings, The Totems And Arms Of Various Tribes Who Have Visited

There; But No Idea Can Be Formed of Their Antiquity.

 

 

 

Of The Various Traditions Of The Many Tribes, I Here Present A Few.

The Great Spirit At A Remote Period Called all The Indian Nations

Together At This Place, And, Standing On The Brink Of The Precipice

Of Red-Stone Rock, Broke From Its Walls A Piece And Fashioned a Pipe

By Simply Turning It In his Hands.  He Then Smoked over Them To The

North, The South, The East, And The West, And Told Them The Stone

Was Red, That It Was Their Flesh, That They Must Use It For Their

Pipes Of Peace, That It Belonged to All Alike, And That The War-Club

And Scalping-Knife Must Never Be Raised on Its Ground.  At The Last

Whiff Of His Pipe His Head Went Into A Great Cloud, And The Whole

Surface Of The Ledge For Miles Was Melted and Glazed; Two Great Ovens

Were Opened beneath, And Two Women--The Guardian Spirits Of The Place--

Entered them In a Blaze Of Fire, And They Are Heard There Yet

Answering To The Conjurations Of The Medicine Men, Who Consult Them

When They Visit The Sacred place.

 

 

 

The Legend Of The Knis-Te-Neu'S Tribe (Crees), A Very Small Band In

The British Possessions, In relation To The Quarry Is This: In the

Time Of A Great Freshet That Occurred years Ago And Destroyed all The

Nations Of The Earth, Every Tribe Of Indians Assembled on The Top

Of The Coteau Des Prairies To Get Out Of The Way Of The Rushing and

Seething Waters.  When They Had Arrived there From All Parts Of The

World, The Water Continued to Rise Until It Covered them Completely,

Forming One Solid Mass Of Drowned indians, And Their Flesh Was

Converted by The Great Spirit Into Red pipe-Stone; Therefore, It Was

Always Considered neutral Ground, Belonging To All Tribes Alike, And

All Were To Make Their Pipes Out Of It And Smoke Together.  While They

Were Drowning Together, A Young Woman, Kwaptan, A Virgin, Caught Hold

Of The Foot Of A Very Large Bird That Was Flying Over At The Time,

And Was Carried to The Top Of A Hill That Was Not Far Away And Above

The Water.  There She Had Twins, Their Father Being The War-Eagle

That Had Carried her Off, And Her Children Have Since Peopled the

Earth.  The Pipe-Stone, Which Is The Flesh Of Their Ancestors,

Is Smoked by Them As The Symbol Of Peace, And The Eagle Quills

Decorate The Heads Of Their Warriors.

 

 

 

Severed about Seven Or Eight Feet From The Main Wall Of The Quarry

By Some Convulsion Of Nature Ages Ago, There Is An Immense Column

Just Equal In height To The Wall, Seven Feet In diameter And

Beautifully Polished on Its Top And Sides.  It Is Called the Medicine,

Or Leaping Rock, And Considerable Nerve Is Required to Jump On It From

The Main Ledge And Back Again.  Many An Indian'S Heart, In the Past,

Has Sighed for The Honour Of The Feat Without Daring To Attempt It.

A Few, According To The Records Of The Tribes, Have Tried it With

Success, And Left Their Arrows Standing Up In its Crevice; Others

Have Made The Leap And Reached its Slippery Surface Only To Slide Off,

And Suffer Instant Death On The Craggy Rocks In the Awful Chasm Below.

Every Young Man Of The Many Tribes Was Ambitious To Perform The Feat,

And Those Who Had Successfully Accomplished it Were Permitted to

Boast Of It All Their Lives.

 

Chapter XIV (Trappers)

The Initial Opening Of The Trade With New Mexico From The Missouri

River, As Has Been Related, Was Not Direct To Santa Fe.  The Limited

Number Of Pack-Trains At First Passed to The North Of The Raton Range,

And Travelled to The Spanish Settlements In the Valley Of Taos.

 

 

 

On This Original Trail, Where Now Is Situated the Beautiful City

Of Pueblo, The Second Place Of Importance In colorado, There Was A

Little Indian Trading-Post Called "The Pueblo," From Which The Present

Thriving Place Derives Its Name.  The Atchison, Topeka, And Santa Fe

Railroad Practically Follows The Same Route That The Traders Did To

Reach Pueblo, As It Also Does That Which The Freight Caravans Later

Followed from The Missouri River Direct To Santa Fe.

 

 

 

The Old Pueblo Fort, As Nearly As Can Be Determined now, Was Built

As Early As 1840, Or Not Later Than 1842, And, As One Authority

Asserts, By George Simpson And His Associates, Barclay And Doyle.

Beckwourth Claims To Have Been The Original Projector Of The Fort,

And To Have Given The General Plan And Its Name, In which I Am

Inclined to Believe That He Is Correct; Perhaps Barclay, Doyle, And

Simpson Were Connected with Him, As He States That There Were Other

Trappers, Though He Mentions No Names.  It Was A Square Fort Of Adobe,

With Circular Bastions At The Corners, No Part Of The Walls Being

More Than Eight Feet High.  Around The Inside Of The Plaza, Or Corral,

Were Half A Dozen Small Rooms Inhabited by As Many Indian Traders And

Mountain-Men.

 

 

 

One Of The Earlier Indian Agents, Mr. Fitzpatrick, In writing From

Bent'S Fort In 1847, Thus Describes The Old Pueblo:--

 

 

 

          About Seventy-Five Miles Above This Place, And Immediately

          On The Arkansas River, There Is A Small Settlement, Chiefly

          Composed of Old Trappers And Hunters; The Male Part Of It

          Are Mostly Americans (Missourians), French Canadians, And

          Mexicans.  It Numbers About One Hundred and Fifty, And Of

          This Number About Sixty Men Have Wives, And Some Have Two.

          These Wives Are Of Various Indian Tribes, As Follows; Viz.

          Blackfeet, Assiniboines, Sioux, Arapahoes, Cheyennes,

          Snakes, And Comanches.  The American Women Are Mormons,

          A Party Of Mormons Having Wintered there, And Then Departed

          For California.

 

 

 

The Old Trappers And Hunters Of The Pueblo Fort Lived entirely Upon

Game, And A Greater Part Of The Year Without Bread.  As Soon As Their

Supply Of Meat Was Exhausted, They Started to The Mountains With Two

Or Three Pack-Animals, And Brought Back In two Or Three Days Loads

Of Venison And Buffalo.

 

 

 

The Arkansas At The Pueblo Is A Clear, Rapid River About A Hundred

Yards Wide.  The Bottom, Which Is Enclosed on Each Side By High Bluffs,

Is About A Quarter Of A Mile Across.  In the Early Days Of Which I

Write, The Margin Of The Stream Was Heavily Timbered with Cottonwood,

And The Tourist To-Day May See The Remnant Of The Primitive Great

Woods, In the Huge Isolated trees Scattered around The Bottom In the

Vicinity Of The Atchison, Topeka, And Santa Fe Railroad Station Of

The Charming Mountain City.

 

 

 

On Each Side Vast Rolling Prairies Stretch Away For Hundreds Of Miles,

Gradually Ascending On The Side Towards The Mountains, Where The

Highlands Are Sparsely Covered with Pinyon And Cedar.  The Lofty Banks

Through Which The Arkansas Occasionally Passes Are Of Shale And

Sandstone, Rising Precipitously From The Water.  Ascending The River

The Country Is Wild And Broken, Until It Enters The Mountain Region,

Where The Scenery Is Incomparably Grand And Imposing.  The Surrounding

Prairies Are Naturally Arid And Sterile, Producing But Little

Vegetation, And The Primitive Grass, Though Of Good Quality, Is Thin

And Scarce.  Now, However, Under A Competent System Of Irrigation,

The Whole Aspect Of The Landscape Is Changed from What It Was Thirty

Years Ago, And It