Howard R. Driggs
AUTHOR’S FOREWORD
You have no doubt read or heard stories of the great wild West. Perhaps you have even listened to some gray-haired man or woman tell tales of the Indians and the trappers, who roamed over the hills and plains. They may have told you, too, of the daring Pony Express riders who used to go dashing along the wild trails over the prairies and mountains and desert, carrying the mails, and of the Overland men who drove their stages loaded with letters and passengers along the same dangerous roads.
I know something about those stirring early times. More than sixty years of my life have been spent on the Western frontiers, with the pioneers, among the Indians, as a pony rider, a stage driver, a mountaineer, and a ranchman.
I have taken my experiences as they came to me, much as a matter of course, not thinking of them as especially unusual or exciting. Many other men have had similar experiences. They were all bound up in the life we had to live in making the conquest of the West. Others seem, however, to find the stories of my life interesting. My grandchildren and other children, and even grown people, ask me again and again to tell these tales of the earlier days; so I have begun to feel that they may be worth telling and keeping.
That is why I finally decided to write them. It has taken almost more courage to do this than it did actually to live through some of the exciting experiences. I have not had the privilege of attending schools, so it is very hard for me to tell my story with the pen; but perhaps I may be able to give my readers, young and old, some pleasure and help them to get a clearer, truer picture of the real wild West as it was when the pioneers first blazed their way into the land.
“Uncle Nick” Wilson
CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | [v] | |
| By Howard R. Driggs, telling who Uncle Nick was; of his home in Jackson’s Hole, Wyoming, and the story of how the book came to be written | ||
| CHAPTER | ||
| 1. | Pioneer Days | [1] |
| A sketch of the pioneer days in the West—Indian troubles—Account of desert tribes and Shoshones | ||
| 2. | My Little Indian Brother | [8] |
| How Nick learns the Indian language | ||
| 3. | Off with the Indians | [12] |
| Nick joins Washakie’s tribe as adopted son of the chief’s mother—Experience in getting to the tribe | ||
| 4. | The Great Encampment | [20] |
| The gathering of the Shoshone nation in Deer Lodge Valley, Montana | ||
| 5. | Breaking Camp | [28] |
| Story of the Buffalo hunt—Preparing meat for winter | ||
| 6. | Village Life | [33] |
| Winter experiences in the Indian village in Idaho | ||
| 7. | My Indian Mother | [39] |
| An Indian mother’s sorrow—How she came to want a white papoose—Love of the red mother for the white child | ||
| 8. | The Crows | [44] |
| Struggles of the Shoshones with their rival enemy—Scares and war preparation | ||
| 9. | Papoose Troubles | [57] |
| Breaking Indian ponies—A fight with bears | ||
| 10. | A Long Journey | [69] |
| Wanderings of Washakie’s tribe through the Idaho country on their trip to market their skins and robes | ||
| 11. | The Snowy Moons | [79] |
| Another winter with the Indians—Teaching the Indians the ways of the white man—Days of mourning | ||
| 12. | The Fierce Battle | [89] |
| Fight for the buffalo grounds—Description of the battle in which Washakie settled the question of boundary lines | ||
| 13. | Lively Times | [98] |
| An accident—Medicine man doctoring and other Indian practices in healing | ||
| 14. | Old Morogonai | [106] |
| The old Shoshone arrow maker and his stories of early times—Memories of Lewis and Clark | ||
| 15. | The Big Council | [112] |
| Indian chiefs confer as to what shall be done with the white boy | ||
| 16. | Homeward Bound | [119] |
| Nick, equipped with ponies and Indian trappings, returns to tell his own story of how he left home | ||
| 17. | The Year of the Move | [128] |
| The coming of Johnston’s army to Utah and the leaving of their homes by the people—Nick shows his skill at riding wild horses | ||
| 18. | The Pony Express | [139] |
| Nick chosen as a rider—His experiences carrying the mail—Shot by an Indian | ||
| 19. | Johnston Punishes the Indians | [157] |
| Nick as a guide for the United States troops—The battle in the desert | ||
| 20. | The Overland Stage | [167] |
| Experiences of Nick as a driver of the Overland | ||
| 21. | A Terrible Journey | [176] |
| Establishing the mail route from Idaho to Montana—The struggle in the snow | ||
| 22. | My Old Shoshone Friends | [192] |
| After experiences with the Indians—Hunting for the Indian mother’s grave—Washakie | ||
| 23. | Trapping with an Indian | [197] |
| Nick spends a winter as a trapper—Description of the work | ||
| 24. | Working on the Indian Reservation | [202] |
| Nick in government employ—Troubles in getting the tribe to settle down | ||
| 25. | Frontier Troubles | [207] |
| Capturing a band of cattle thieves—A chase after Indian horse-thieves—The Jackson’s Hole Indian trouble—Closing words | ||
| Glossary | [219] | |