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

Permit, If He Was To Go Very Far North.  Arriving On The Spot He Has

Selected for His Permanent Camp, The First Thing To Be Done, After

He Had Settled himself, Was To Follow The Windings Of The Creeks And

Rivers, Keeping a Sharp Lookout For "Signs."  If He Saw A Prostrate

Cottonwood Tree, He Carefully Examined it To Learn Whether It Was

The Work Of Beaver, And If So Whether Thrown For The Purpose Of Food,

Or To Dam The Stream.  The Track Of The Animal On The Mud Or Sand

Under The Banks Was Also Examined; If The Sign Was Fresh, He Set His

Trap In the Run Of The Animal, Hiding It Under Water, And Attaching

It By A Stout Chain To A Picket Driven In the Bank, Or To A Bush Or

Tree.  A Float-Stick Was Made Fast To The Trap By A Cord A Few Feet

Long, Which, If The Animal Carried away The Trap, Would Float On

The Water And Point Out Its Position.  The Trap Was Baited with

"Medicine," An Oily Substance Obtained from The Beaver.  A Stick Was

Dipped in this And Planted over The Trap, And The Beaver, Attracted

By The Smell, Put His Leg Into The Trap And Was Caught.

When A Beaver Lodge Was Discovered, The Trap Was Set At The Edge Of

The Dam, At A Point Where The Animal Passed from Deep To Shoal Water,

And Always Under The Surface.  Early In the Morning, The Hunter

Mounted his Mule And Examined all His Traps.

The Beaver Is Exceedingly Wily, And If By Scent Or Sound Or Sight He

Had Any Intimation Of The Presence Of A Trapper, He Put At Defiance

All Efforts To Capture Him, Consequently It Was Necessary To Practise

Great Caution When In the Neighbourhood Of One Of Their Lodges.

The Trapper Then Avoided riding For Fear The Sound Of His Horse'S

Feet Might Strike Dismay Among The Furry Inhabitants Under The Water,

And, Instead Of Walking On The Ground, He Waded in the Stream, Lest

He Should Leave A Scent Behind By Which He Might Be Discovered.

In The Days Of The Great Fur Companies, Trappers Were Of Two Kinds--

The Hired hand And The Free Trapper.  The Former Was Hired by The

Company, Which Supplied him With Everything Necessary, And Paid Him

A Certain Price For His Furs And Peltries.  The Other Hunted on His

Own Hook, Owned his Animals And Traps, Went Where He Pleased, And

Sold To Whom He Chose.

During The Hunting Season, Regardless Of The Indians, The Fearless

Trapper Wandered far And Near In search Of Signs.  His Nerves Were

In A State Of Tension, His Mind Always Clear, And His Head Cool.

His Trained eye Scrutinized every Part Of The Country, And In an

Instant He Could Detect Anything That Was Strange.  A Turned leaf,

A Blade Of Grass Pressed down, The Uneasiness Of Wild Animals,

The Actions Of The Birds, Were All To Him Paragraphs Written In

Nature'S Legible Hand.

All The Wits Of The Wily Savage Were Called into Play To Gain An

Advantage Over The Plucky White Man; But With The Resources Natural

To A Civilized mind, The Hunter Seldom Failed, Under Equal Chance,

To Circumvent The Cunning Of The Red man.  Sometimes, Following His

Trail For Weeks, The Indian Watched him Set His Traps On Some Timbered

Stream, And Crawling Up The Bed of It, So That He Left No Tracks,

He Lay In the Bushes Until His Victim Came To Examine His Traps.

Then, When He Approached within A Few Feet Of The Ambush, Whiz! Flew

The Home-Drawn Arrow, Which Never Failed at Such Close Quarters To

Bring The Unsuspecting Hunter To The Ground.  But For One White Scalp

That Dangled in the Smoke Of An Indian'S Lodge, A Dozen Black Ones,

At The End Of The Season, Ornamented the Camp-Fires Of The Rendezvous

Where The Furs Were Sold.

In The Camp, If He Was A Very Successful Hunter, All The Appliances

For Preparing The Skins For Market Were At Hand; If He Had A Squaw

For A Wife, She Did All The Hard Work, As Usual.  Close To The

Entrance Of Their Skin Lodge Was The "Graining-Block," A Log Of Wood

With The Bark Stripped off And Perfectly Smooth, Set Obliquely In

The Ground, On Which The Hair Was Removed from The Deerskins Which

Furnished moccasins And Dresses For Both Herself And Her Husband.

Then There Were Stretching Frames On Which The Skins Were Placed to

Undergo The Process Of "Dubbing"; That Is, The Removal Of All Flesh

And Fatty Particles Adhering To The Skin.  The "Dubber" Was Made Of

The Stock Of An Elk'S Horn, With A Piece Of Iron Or Steel Inserted

In The End, Forming a Sharp Knife.  The Last Process The Deerskin

Underwent Before It Was Soft And Pliable Enough For Making Into

Garments, Was The "Smoking."  This Was Effected by Digging a Round

Hole In the Ground, And Lighting In it An Armful Of Rotten Wood Or

Punk; Then Sticks Were Planted around The Hole, And Their Tops Brought

Together And Tied.  The Skins Were Placed on This Frame, And All

Openings By Which The Smoke Might Escape Being Carefully Stopped,

In Ten Or Twelve Hours They Were Thoroughly Cured and Ready For

Immediate Use.

The Beaver Was The Main Object Of The Hunter'S Quest; Its Skins Were

Once Worth From Six To Eight Dollars A Pound; Then They Fell To Only

One Dollar, Which Hardly Paid The Expenses Of Traps, Animals, And

Equipment For The Hunt, And Was Certainly No Adequate Remuneration

For The Hardships, Toil, And Danger Undergone By The Trappers.

The Beaver Was Once Found In every Part Of North America, From Canada

To The Gulf Of Mexico, But Has So Retired from The Encroachments Of

Civilized man, That It Is Only To Be Met With Occasionally On Some

Tributary To The Remote Mountain Streams.

The Old Trappers Always Aimed to Set Their Traps So That The Beaver

Would Drown When Taken.  This Was Accomplished by Sinking The Trap

Several Inches Under Water, And Driving a Stake Through A Ring On The

End Of The Chain Into The Bottom Of The Creek.  When The Beaver Finds

Himself Caught, He Pitches And Plunges About Until His Strength Is

Exhausted, When He Sinks Down And Is Drowned, But If He Succeeds In

Getting To The Shore, He Always Extricates Himself By Gnawing Off

The Leg That Is In the Jaws Of The Trap.

The Captured animals Were Skinned, And The Tails, Which Are A Great

Dainty, Carefully Packed into Camp.  The Skin Was Then Stretched over

A Hoop Or Framework Of Willow Twigs And Allowed to Dry, The Flesh And

Fatty Substance Adhering Being First Carefully Scraped off.  When Dry,

It Was Folded into A Square Sheet, The Fur Turned inwards, And The

Bundle, Containing Twenty Skins, Tightly Pressed and Tied, Was Ready

For Transportation.  The Beaver After The Hide Is Taken Off Weighs

About Twelve Pounds, And Its Flesh, Although A Little Musky, Is Very

Fine.  Its Tail Which Is Flat And Oval In shape, Is Covered with

Scales About The Size Of Those Of A Salmon.  It Was A Great Delicacy

In The Estimation Of The Old Trapper; He Separated it From The Body,

Thrust A Stick In one End Of It, And Held It Before The Fire With The

Scales On.  In a Few Moments Large Blisters Rose On The Surface,

Which Were Very Easily Removed.  The Tail Was Then Perfectly White,

And Delicious.  Next To The Tail The Liver Was Another Favourite Of

The Trapper, And When Properly Cooked it Constituted a Delightful Repast.

After The Season Was Over, Or The Hunter Had Loaded all His Pack-Animals,

He Proceeded to The "Rendezvous," Where The Buyers Were To Congregate

For The Purchase Of The Fur, The Locality Of Which Had Been Agreed

Upon When The Hunters Started out On Their Expedition.  One Of These

Was At Bent'S Old Fort And One At Pueblo; Another At "Brown'S Hole"

On Green River, And There Were Many More On The Great Streams And In

The Mountains.  There The Agents Of The Fur Companies And Traders

Waited for The Arrival Of The Trappers, With Such An Assortment Of

Goods As The Hardy Men Required, Including, Of Course, An Immense

Supply Of Whiskey.  The Trappers Dropped in day After Day, In small

Bands, Packing Their Loads Of Beaver-Skins, Not Infrequently To The

Value Of A Thousand Dollars Each, The Result Of One Hunt.

The Rendezvous Was Frequently A Continuous Scene Of Gambling, Brawling,

And Fighting, So Long As The Improvident Trapper'S Money Lasted.

Seated around The Large Camp-Fires, Cross-Legged in indian Fashion,

With A Blanket Or Buffalo-Robe Spread Before Them, Groups Were Playing

Cards--Euchre, Seven-Up, And Poker, The Regular Mountain Games.

The Usual Stakes Were Beaver-Skins, Which Were Current As Coin.

When Their Fur Was All Gone, Their Horses, Mules, Rifles, Shirts,

Hunting Packs, And Trousers Were Staked.  Daring Professional Gamblers

Made The Rounds Of The Camps, Challenging Each Other To Play For The

Trapper'S Highest Stakes--His Horse, Or His Squaw, If He Had One--And

It Is Told Of One Great Time That Two Old Trappers Played for One

Another'S Scalps!  "There Goes Hoss And Beaver," Was A Common Mountain

Expression When Any Severe Loss Was Sustained, And Shortly "Hoss And

Beaver" Found Their Way Into The Pockets Of The Unconscionable Gamblers.

Frequently A Trapper Would Squander The Entire Product Of His Hunt,

Amounting To Hundreds Of Dollars, In a Couple Of Hours.  Then,

Supplied with Another Outfit, He Left The Rendezvous For Another

Expedition, Which Had The Same Result Time After Time, Although One

Good Hunt Would Have Enabled him To Return To The Settlements And

Live A Life Of Comparative Ease.

It Is Told Of One Old Canadian Trapper, Who Had Received as Much As

Fifteen Thousand Dollars For Beaver During His Life In the Mountains,

Extending Over Twenty Years, That Each Season He Had Resolved in his

Mind To Go Back To Canada, And With This Object In view Always

Converted his Furs Into Cash; But A Fortnight At The Rendezvous

Always "Cleaned him Out," And At The End Of The Twenty Years He Had

Not Even Enough Credit To Get A Plug Of Tobacco.

Trading With The Indians In the Primitive Days Of The Border Was Just

What The Word Signifies In its Radical Interpretation--A System Of

Barter Exclusively.  No Money Was Used in the Transaction, As It Was

Long Afterward Before The Savages Began To Learn Something Of The

Value Of Currency From Their Connection With The Sutler'S And Agency

Stores Established on Reservations And At Military Posts On The Plains

And In the Mountains.  In the Early Days, If An Indian By Any Chance

Happened to Get Possession Of A Piece Of Money (Only Gold Or Silver

Was Recognized as A Medium Of Exchange In the Remote West), He Would

Immediately Fashion It Into Some Kind Of An Ornament With Which To

Adorn His Person.  Some Tribes, However, Did Indulge In a Sort Of

Currency, Worthless Except Among Themselves.  This Consisted of Rare

Shells, Such As The Oligachuck, So Called, Of The Pacific Coast

Nations, Used by Them Within My Own Recollection, As Late As 1858.

The Poor Indian, As Might Have Been Expected, Was Generally

Outrageously Swindled; In fact, I Am Inclined to Believe, Always.

I Never Was Present On An Occasion When He Was Not.

The Savage'S Idea Of Values Was Very Crude Until The Government,

In Attempting To Civilize And Make A Gentleman Of Him, Has Transformed

Him Into A Bewildered child.  Very Soon After His Connection With

The White Trader, He Learned that A Gun Was More Valuable Than A Knife;

But Of Their Relative Cost To Manufacture He Had No Idea.  For These

Reasons, Obviously, He Was Always At The Mercy Of The Unscrupulous

Trader Who Came To His Village, Or Met Him At The Rendezvous To Barter

For His Furs.  I Know That The Price Of Every Article He Desired was

Fixed by The Trader, And Never By The Indian, Consequently He Rarely

Got The Best Of The Bargain.

Uncle John Smith, Kit Carson, L. B. Maxwell, Uncle Dick Wooton, And

A Host Of Other Well-Known Indian Traders, Long Since Dead, Have

Often Told Me That The First Thing They Did On Entering a Village

With A Pack-Load Of Trinkets To Barter, In the Earlier Days Before

The Whites Had Encroached to Any Great Extent, Was To Arrange A

Schedule Of Prices.  They Would Gather A Large Number Of Sticks,

Each One Representing an Article They Had Brought.  With These Crude

Symbols The Indian Made Himself Familiar In a Little While, And When

This Preliminary Arrangement Had Been Completed, The Trading Began.

The Indian, For Instance, Would Place A Buffalo-Robe On The Ground;

Then The Trader Commenced to Lay Down A Number Of The Sticks,

Representing What He Was Willing To Give For The Robe.  The Indian

Revolved the Transaction In his Mind Until He Thought He Was Getting

A Fair