CHAPTER XXXII
MARCH TO FORT BENTON.—MARSHALING THE TRIBES
Before the close of the council, agents Tappan and Craig arrived with the proposed delegation of Nez Perces under Looking Glass, Spotted Eagle, Eagle-from-the-Light, and other chiefs. It was agreed that they and the Flatheads and Pend Oreilles, under their chiefs Victor and Alexander, and accompanied by agent Thomas Adams and interpreter Ben Kiser, should cross the mountains to the buffalo country, and hunt on the plains south of the Missouri, until the time came for holding the great peace council at Fort Benton, of which they would be notified. Their agents were instructed to keep the governor informed of their whereabouts by frequent expresses, and to guard against collisions with the Blackfoot war-parties, and also to communicate with the Crow Indians and induce them to attend the council. Dr. Lansdale, agent for the Flathead nation, remained, and during the summer made extensive examinations of the reservation on the Flathead River and the surrounding country.
These arrangements completed, on Wednesday, July 18, the second day after the close of the council, the governor dispatched Pearson, who had just returned to the party after his rapid trip to Olympia from the Walla Walla council, with full reports of the council just held, and letters to the Indian and territorial officers in Olympia, and resumed the march to Fort Benton, crossing for six miles the broad level valley here known as the Hell Gate Ronde, and passing the deep, dark portal of that name,[9] and, six miles beyond it, encamped on the Hell Gate River. During the next five days and one hundred miles the party traversed the broad plateau of the great mountain chain over a beautiful rolling country of wide grassy valleys and gently rolling prairies, interspersed with low wooded hills and spurs, and well watered by clear, cold, rapid mountain streams. It was hard to realize that this beautiful and diversified prairie country was the top of the Rocky Mountains, the backbone of the continent. At the second day’s camp the Indian hunter and guide, a Pend Oreille furnished by Alexander, brought in a fine string of mountain trout, and, not content with this, started out again, and soon returned with an elk, and after this the messes were rarely out of game,—elk, deer, antelope, and mountain trout. The trail followed up the Hell Gate and its chief tributary, the Big Blackfoot, the route of 1853, and crossed the divide by Lewis and Clark’s Pass. From the summit the governor obtained a magnificent and beautiful view of the country about an hour before sunset, the main chain stretching far to the north, and the broad plains, broken by many streams and coulees, extending eastward as far as the eye could reach, like an illimitable sea.
He spent the whole day, with Doty and Sohon, examining the approaches to the summit pass, and those to Cadotte’s Pass, ten miles farther south, and determining altitudes and grades, and reached camp long after dark, well fatigued with the day’s work. Throughout the expedition the governor was constantly examining the topographical features of the country. He would frequently ride ahead of the train, and, sitting on a log or on the ground, would write up his notes or journal until it came up. He was accustomed to start the train rather late in the morning, about eight o’clock, move at a steady, brisk walk, without stopping for noon rest or meal, and make camp early in the afternoon, and by this management plenty of time was afforded the animals to feed mornings and evenings. Twenty miles was the average day’s journey, but thirty or forty miles were made with ease whenever expedient, as often happened. No better equipped or manned train ever traversed the plains and mountains.
It always moved in fine order, without delays, confusion, or friction. A worn-down or sore-backed mule or horse was a rarity. At the first symptom of need of rest, a fresh animal from the loose herd relieved the distressed one. The packers worked in couples, each two packing and caring for ten pack-mules. The riding animals were picked Indian horses. The mules were of large American stock, mostly those of the exploration of 1853. Thorough discipline and the best feeling prevailed among the party. There was scarcely a quarrel during the whole nine months the expedition lasted. This judicious care of the animals was characteristic of the governor, and it is noticeable that on his arduous expeditions, though hard-worked and only grass-fed, they actually improved in condition,—-a unique experience on the plains.
Leaving behind the prairies, groves, and sparkling, rippling streams of the mountain plateau, the party entered upon the vast rolling plains, gray and arid, and, traveling over them one hundred and thirty miles, camping one night on the Dearborn River, one on the Sun, and three on the Teton, reached the vicinity of Fort Benton on the fifth day, and went into camp on the last-named river four miles from the fort. The governor, riding ahead, reached it a day sooner, on the 26th, and was disappointed in not finding or hearing from his co-commissioner, Superintendent Alfred Cumming. During this march the party were rarely out of sight of game. Large herds of graceful, fleet antelopes would come scouring across the plains, and circle around the slowly moving train, now abruptly halting to gaze with erect heads and distended eyes at the strange procession, and now dashing on again in full career, and presently, their curiosity satisfied, turning away and scampering out of sight. Deer and elk were constantly seen by the river banks and under the cottonwood groves. Buffalo trails crossed the country in every direction, and their skulls and bones were frequent. Thus far the party followed well-marked trails, but on entering the plains the guide directed his course by some distant butte or landmark, or by the sun, for there was no trail leading in a given course, and the buffalo trails lacing the plains in every direction were very misleading. The plains were covered with the short, fine, curly buffalo grass, very different from the luxuriant, waving bunch grass of the Columbia, but equally nutritious.
Learning of Mr. Cumming’s approach, the governor, accompanied by Doty and Sohon and a small party, made a three days’ trip to Milk River, August 11–13, a distance of eighty miles, where the commissioners met and formally organized the commission, appointing Mr. Doty secretary, and Mr. H. Kennedy, who came with Mr. Cumming, assistant secretary, and returned together to Fort Benton. The governor was seriously concerned to learn that the treaty goods and supplies were greatly delayed. Commissioner Cumming had been specially charged with the duty of transporting them to Fort Benton; but under his dilatory management the steamboat, which carried them with himself up the Missouri, did not reach Fort Union until late in the season, and, instead of continuing up the river as far as possible, discharged her cargo and returned to St. Louis. The goods were then loaded into boats, which were now slowly proceeding up the river by cordeling, or towing by a force of men walking along the bank and pulling on a long tow-rope. This unexpected and inexcusable delay seriously imperiled the holding of the council. Governor Stevens had brought with him only sufficient supplies to carry his small party to Fort Benton, expecting to find there ample stores sent up by the government under charge of Cumming. The western Indians, who at his invitation had come so far to attend the council, could not find subsistence for a long wait; and it was necessary for them, as well as for the governor and party, to start home before winter set in and blocked the return journey. The great numbers of the Blackfeet made it difficult to keep them in hand and assemble them late in the season, for they were accustomed, and indeed were obliged, to spread over a wide territory in order to hunt buffalo, and lay in their winter robes, lodge-skins, and food.
While in Washington the preceding summer Governor Stevens had urged upon the Indian Department the importance of the early arrival of the goods at Fort Benton, and on reaching Olympia in December, repeated his recommendations in writing. Moreover, he wrote a personal letter to the President urging the necessity of having a steamer start with them at the earliest moment in the spring, and push up the Missouri above Fort Union as far as possible, and especially recommended that a boat be chartered expressly for the trip. He added a prophetic caution, or warning, against relying upon the American Fur Company to transport the goods, as they could not be depended upon to make the necessary early start and vigorous push up the river, which would entail some extra expense and risk, but would surely pursue their usual methods, and in the end sacrifice the public interests to their own. Notwithstanding these wise and urgent recommendations, the whole matter was left to Cumming, who late in the spring wrote the commissioner, proposing that the council be postponed to another year. Being thereupon informed that Governor Stevens was probably already on his way with the western Indians too far to be recalled, and instructed to proceed, he contracted with the fur company to transport the goods, with the predicted result. In this and other ways he manifested a perfect willingness to play into the hands of the fur company, a willingness which, whatever the motive, affords the only rational explanation of this transaction, of his entire indifference to the success of the council, and of his opposition to making adequate provision in the way of farms and annuities for civilizing the Indians. Of course, the American Fur Company, like the Hudson Bay Company, was averse to having its trade impaired and eventually destroyed by the government’s giving goods to, and civilizing, the Indians.
At the governor’s instance, messengers were immediately dispatched to the boats to ascertain how long before they would probably arrive, and to the different bands of Indians to advise them that they must wait longer than was expected, and to ascertain and regulate their movements, so that they might readily reach the council ground when notified, and meantime find sufficient buffalo and other game to support them.
Provisions for his own party, now nearly out, were sought at the fort, but the traders were also destitute, not having yet received their annual supply from below, and could furnish nothing but a few hundred pounds of old jerked buffalo meat, exactly like worn-out boot-leather in appearance,—so black, dry, tough, and dirty was it. It seems that all the jerked meat, when first obtained, was piled up loose in one of the store-rooms, and free access to it given the cooks and Indian wives of the employees. They naturally picked out the best first, so that, after the winter’s use, only the dryest and toughest pieces and scraps remained. However, two parfleches of pemmican of one hundred pounds each were found among the goods left by the exploring party two years before. This pemmican was put up by the Red River half-breeds, and consisted of jerked buffalo meat pounded fine and mixed with buffalo fat and dried berries, and then packed in large bags of rawhide called parfleches. It had become so hardened by age that it had to be chopped out of the parfleches with an axe, but it was perfectly sweet and good, and afforded a very palatable and nourishing hash.