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

Chapter XXIV (Footnotes)

[29] Colonel A. G. Boone, A Grandson Of The Immortal Daniel, Was One

Of The Grandest Old Mountaineers I Ever Knew.  He Was As Loyal As

Anybody, But Honest In his Dealings With The Indians, And That Was

Often A Fault In the Eyes Of Those At Washington Who Controlled

These Agents.  Kit Carson Was Of The Same Honest Class As Boone,

And He, Too, Was Removed for The Same Cause.

 

 

 

[30] A Narrow Defile On The Trail, About Ninety Miles East Of

Fort Union.  It Is Called the "Canyon Of The Canadian, Or Red, River,"

And Is Situated between High Walls Of Earth And Rock.  It Was Once

A Very Dangerous Spot On Account Of The Ease And Rapidity With Which

The Savages Could Ambush Themselves.

 

 

 

[31] Carson, Wooton, And All Other Expert Mountaineers, When Following

A Trail, Could Always Tell Just What Time Had Elapsed since It Was

Made.  This May Seem Strange To The Uninitiated, But It Was Part

Of Their Necessary Education.  They Could Tell What Kind Of A Track

It Was, Which Way The Person Or Animal Had Walked, And Even The Tribe

To Which The Savage Belonged, Either By The Shape Of The Moccasin

Or The Arrows Which Were Occasionally Dropped.

 

 

 

[32] Lieutenant Bell Belonged to The Second Dragoons.  He Was

Conspicuous In extraordinary Marches And In action, And Also An

Accomplished horseman And Shot, Once Running and Killing Five Buffalo

In A Quarter Of A Mile.  He Died early In 1861, And His Death Was

A Great Loss To The Service.

 

 

 

[33] Known To This Day As "The Cheyenne Bottoms."

 

 

 

[34] Lone Wolf Was Really The Head Chief Of The Kiowas.

 

 

 

[35] The Battle Lasted three Days.

 

 

 

[36] Kicking Bird Was Ever Afterward So Regarded by The Authorities

Of The Indian Department.

 

 

 

[37] Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General Of The United states Army.

 

Chapter XXIV (Footnotes)

[38] Kendall'S _Santa Fe Expedition_ May Be Found In all The Large

Libraries.

 

 

 

[39] A Summer-House, Bower, Or Arbour.

 

 

 

[40] Frank Hall, Chicago, 1885.

 

 

 

[41] The Greater Portion Of This Chapter I Originally Wrote For

_Harper'S Weekly_.  By The Kind Permission Of The Publishers, I Am

Permitted to Use It Here.

 

 

 

[42] These Statistics I Have Carefully Gathered from The Freight

Departments Of The Railroads, Which Kept A Record Of All The Bones

That Were Shipped, And From The Purchasers Of The Carbon Works,

Who Paid Out The Money At Various Points.  Some Of The Bones, However,

May Have Been On The Ground For A Longer Time, As Decay Is Very Slow

In The Dry Air Of The Plains.

 

 

 

[43] La Jeunesse Was One Of The Bravest Of The Old French Canadian

Trappers.  He Was A Warm Friend Of Kit Carson And Was Killed by The

Indians In the Following Manner.  They Were Camping One Night In the

Mountains; Kit, La Jeunesse, And Others Had Wrapped themselves Up

In Their Blankets Near The Fire, And Were Sleeping Soundly; Fremont

Sat Up Until After Midnight Reading Letters He Had Received from

The United states, After Finishing Which, He, Too, Turned in and

Fell Asleep.  Everything Was Quiet For A While, When Kit Was Awakened

By A Noise That Sounded like The Stroke Of An Axe.  Rising Cautiously,

He Discovered indians In the Camp; He Gave The Alarm At Once,

But Two Of His Companions Were Dead.  One Of Them Was La Jeunesse,

And The Noise He Had Heard Was The Tomahawk As It Buried itself

In The Brave Fellow'S Head.

 

 

 

[44] This Black Is Made From A Species Of Plumbago Found On The Hills

Of The Region.

 

 

 

[45] The Pawnees And Cheyennes Were Hereditary Enemies, And They

Frequently Met In sanguinary Conflict.

 

Chapter XXIV (Footnotes)

[46] A French Term Anglicised, As Were Many Other Foreign Words By

The Trappers In the Mountains.  Its Literal Meaning Is, Arrow Fender,

For From It The Plains Indians Construct Their Shields; It Is

Buffalo-Hide Prepared in a Certain Manner.

 

 

 

[47] Boiling Spring River.

 

 

 

[48] For Some Reason The Senate Refused to Confirm The Appointment,

And He Had Consequently No Connection With The Regular Army.

 

 

 

[49] Point Of Rocks Is Six Hundred and Forty Seven Miles From

Independence, And Was Always A Favourite Place Of Resort For The

Indians Of The Great Plains; Consequently It Was One Of The Most

Dangerous Camping-Spots For The Freight Caravans On The Trail.

It Comprises A Series Of Continuous Hills, Which Project Far Out On

The Prairie In bold Relief.  They End Abruptly In a Mass Of Rocks,

Out Of Which Gushes A Cold, Refreshing Spring, Which Is, Of Course,

The Main Attraction Of The Place.  The Trail Winds About Near This

Point, And Many Encounters With The Various Tribes Have Occurred there.

 

 

 

[50] "Little Mountain."

 

 

 

[51] General Gatlin Was A North Carolinian, And Seceded with His

State At The Breaking Out Of The Rebellion, But Refused to Leave

His Native Heath To Fight, So Indelibly Was He Impressed with The

Theory Of State Rights.  He Was Willing To Defend The Soil Of

North Carolina, But Declined to Step Across Its Boundary To Repel

Invasion In other States.

 

 

 

[52] The Name Of "Crow," As Applied to The Once Powerful Nation

Of Mountain Indians, Is A Misnomer, The Fault Of Some Early

Interpreter.  The Proper Appellation Is "Sparrowhawks," But They

Are Officially Recognized as "Crows."

 

 

 

[53] Kit Carson, Ten Years Before, When On His First Journey, Met

With The Same Adventure While On Post At Pawnee Rock.

 

 

Chapter XXIV (Footnotes)

[54] The Fusee Was A Fire-Lock Musket With An Immense Bore, From

Which Either Slugs Or Balls Could Be Shot, Although Not With Any

Great Degree Of Accuracy.

 

 

 

[55] The Indians Always Knew When The Caravans Were To Pass Certain

Points On The Trail, By Their Runners Or Spies Probably.

 

 

 

[56] It Was One Of The Rigid Laws Of Indian Hospitality Always To

Respect The Person Of Any One Who Voluntarily Entered their Camps

Or Temporary Halting-Places.  As Long As The Stranger, Red or White,

Remained with Them, He Enjoyed perfect Immunity From Harm; But After

He Had Left, Although He Had Progressed but Half A Mile, It Was Just

As Honourable To Follow And Kill Him.

 

 

 

[57] In their Own Fights With Their Enemies One Or Two Of The

Defeated party Are Always Spared, And Sent Back To Their Tribe To

Carry The News Of The Slaughter.

 

 

 

[58] The Story Of The Way In which This Name Became Corrupted into

"Picketwire," By Which It Is Generally Known In new Mexico, Is This:

When Spain Owned all Mexico And Florida, As The Vast Region Of The

Mississippi Valley Was Called, Long Before The United states Had

An Existence As A Separate Government, The Commanding Officer At

Santa Fe Received an Order To Open Communication With The Country

Of Florida.  For This Purpose An Infantry Regiment Was Selected.

It Left Santa Fe Rather Late In the Season, And Wintered at A Point

On The Old Trail Now Known As Trinidad.  In the Spring, The Colonel,

Leaving all Camp-Followers Behind Him, Both Men And Women, Marched

Down The Stream, Which Flows For Many Miles Through A Magnificent

Canyon.  Not One Of The Regiment Returned or Was Ever Heard Of.

When All Hope Had Departed from The Wives, Children, And Friends

Left Behind At Trinidad, Information Was Sent To Santa Fe, And A Wail

Went Up Through The Land.  The Priests And People Then Called this

Stream "El Rio De Las Animas Perditas" ("The River Of Lost Souls").

Years After, When The Spanish Power Was Weakened, And French Trappers

Came Into The Country Under The Auspices Of The Great Fur Companies,

They Adopted a More Concise Name; They Called the River "Le Purgatoire."

Then Came The Great American Bull-Whacker.  Utterly Unable To Twist

His Tongue Into Any Such Frenchified expression, He Called the Stream

With Its Sad Story "Picketwire," And By That Name It Is Known To All

Frontiersmen, Trappers, And The Settlers Along Its Banks.

Chapter XXIV (Footnotes)

[59] The Ranch Is Now In charge Of Mr. Harry Whigham, An English

Gentleman, Who Keeps Up The Old Hospitality Of The Famous Place.

 

 

 

[60] "River Of Souls."  The Stream Is Also Called le Purgatoire,

Corrupted by The Americans Into Picketwire.

 

 

 

[61] Pawnee Rock Is No Longer Conspicuous.  Its Material Has Been

Torn Away By Both The Railroad And The Settlers In the Vicinity,

To Build Foundations For Water-Tanks, In the One Instance, And For

The Construction Of Their Houses, Barns, And Sheds, In the Other.

Nothing Remains Of The Once Famous Landmark; Its Site Is Occupied

As A Cattle Corral By The Owner Of The Claim In which It Is Included.

 

 

 

[62] The Crossing Of The Old Santa Fe Trail At Pawnee Fork Is Now

Within The Corporate Limits Of The Pretty Little Town Of Larned,

The County-Seat Of Pawnee County.  The Tourist From His Car-Window

May Look Right Down Upon One Of The Worst Places For Indians That

There Was In those Days Of The Commerce Of The Prairies, As The Road

Crosses The Stream At The Exact Spot Where The Trail Crossed it.

 

 

 

[63] This Was A Favourite Expression Of His Whenever He Referred

To Any Trouble With The Indians.

 

 

 

[64] Indians Will Risk The Lives Of A Dozen Of Their Best Warriors

To Prevent The Body Of Any One Of Their Number From Falling Into

The White Man'S Possession.  The Reason For This Is The Belief,

Which Prevails Among All Tribes, That If A Warrior Loses His Scalp

He Forfeits His Hope Of Ever Reaching The Happy Hunting-Ground.

 

 

 

[65] It Was In this Fight That The Infamous Charles Bent Received

His Death-Wound.

 

 

 

[66]