We spent about half an hour in going around among the various lodges, and then returned to our camp, being followed by the whole encampment. During the time we were engaged in inspecting their camp, they became aware of the profession of Dr. Suckley, and there was scarcely a lodge that did not contain some patient for his medical attention. The doctor vaccinated some eight or nine, and through Le Frambois explained its object. It was near dusk when the party arrived at our camp and were arranged to receive their presents. They were seated around in the form of three sides of a square, the open side being opposite the places occupied by our party, the chief, and higher order of the Indians. At each of the four corners was posted a brave or chief. These men never receive a gift, considering it a degradation to receive anything but what their own prowess acquires for them. Their hearts are so good and strong that they scorn to take anything, and self-denial and the power to resist temptation to luxury, or easily acquired property, is a boast with them. On these men in time of peace, when difficulties occur among themselves, the tribe relies, and in time of war they are their leaders to the scene of action. To two old men of the tribe was assigned the duty of making the distribution, and the presents were placed in the centre of the area. During the whole distribution the Indians sat in perfect silence. All seemed satisfied with the articles they received, and not a grumble escaped one of them. After this was over they returned to their camp, the chiefs and braves remaining. At half past eight we had a collation of coffee and bread in our mess tent, and remained till a late hour, smoking and conversing. Soon after this our friends left, myself and the interpreters escorting them outside the sentinels. I was much pleased with these Indians, and they seemed to be very favorably inclined towards the whites, and sincere in their professions of friendship. Nothing to-day of the slightest value has been missed, as far as I can learn.
July 28. It was very late this morning before we started, being occupied in fitting out a party, consisting of Mr. Lander, Dr. Suckley, Mr. Burr, and Corporal Rummell, with instructions to strike the Pierced Rock on Mouse River, and make a careful examination for coal and iron. They were to explore the White Earth River, examine the Coteau du Missouri, and, reaching the 49th parallel, make a detour to the northwest, and arrive at the Yellowstone in some three or four days.
Four days later, on August 1, after a march of eighty miles along the Mouse River and the River of the Lakes, they reached Fort Union. As the broad Missouri and its beautiful bluff banks dotted with timber came into view, the whole party gave three cheers. Lieutenants Donelson and Grover, who had already arrived at the fort, and Mr. Denig, the trader in charge, came out to meet them. The governor mounted his horse, for the first time since the false alarm about the Sioux, and received them with a salute of a volley of small-arms, which was answered by thirteen guns from the fort. News was brought of the death of sapper White, of Donelson’s party, by the accidental discharge of a gun in his own hands. Camp was soon pitched, and the whole party assembled at the governor’s tent.
“I congratulated them on the zealous performance of their duty, gave them a cordial invitation to go on, and whatever their determination, even should they leave us here, promised them an honorable discharge. All seemed desirous of going on, and not one availed himself of the opportunity to leave the expedition.
“By the great vigilance exercised on the march, the animals had been constantly improving, gaining flesh and becoming cured of sores, so that, though we started from the Mississippi with forty disabled animals, all but one were serviceable on our arrival at Fort Union.
“The whole distance from St. Paul to Fort Union is by odometer measurement 715.5 miles, and we had accomplished it in 55 days, and, excluding halts from time to time, in 48 traveling days. The rate of traveling was therefore about 15 miles a day, most of the way over a country almost unknown, without roads, and with such an imperfect knowledge of the distances to be made between camps as to cramp our movements much more than if the route had been measured and itineraries constructed for our use.”
CHAPTER XVIII
FORT UNION TO FORT BENTON
“Fort Union is situated on the eastern bank of the Missouri, about two miles and three quarters above the mouth of the Yellowstone. It was built by the American Fur Company in 1830, and has from that time been the principal depot of that company. It is framed of pickets of hewn timber, about sixteen feet high, and has two bastions, one at the northwest and one at the southeast corner. The main or front entrance is on the side opposite the river. The fort is 250 feet square. The main buildings, comprising the residence of the superintendent and the store, are on the front or eastern side. They are two stories high, and built of wood. The shops and dwellings of the blacksmith, the gunsmith, the carpenter, the shoemaker, the tailor, and others are of adobe or of wood, and occupy the other sides. These mechanics are mostly French half-breeds, and have half-breed or Indian wives and many children. There is a grassy plain around the fort, extending to the base of the rising ground, which is a full mile distant on the eastern side. The Assiniboines, the Gros Ventres, the Crows, and other migratory bands of Indians trade at this fort, exchanging the skins of the buffalo, deer, and other animals for such commodities as they require. Mr. Culbertson, who has occupied the position of chief agent of the company during the past twenty years, has under his supervision not only Fort Union, but Forts Pierre and Benton also. He is a man of great energy, intelligence, and fidelity, and possesses the entire confidence of the Indians. His wife, a full-blooded Indian of the Blood band of the Blackfoot tribe, is also deservedly held in high estimation. Though she appears to have made little or no progress in our language, she has acquired the manners and adapted herself to the usages of the white race with singular facility. Their children have been sent to the States to be educated in our best schools.”
Fort Union was long since abandoned.