Indian proper names were more appropriate than those given by the settlers. Some of the latter were commonplace, stupid, and, at times, ribald. The aboriginal tribes sensed the magnificence of nature. Therefore, their characterizations were both significant and euphonious. Montana was derived from “Tay-a-be-shock-up,” “country of the mountains” or “land of the everlasting hills.” Wyoming means “land of shining prairies.” Utah means “the home of the high-ups,” and Idaho, “sun descending upon the mountains.”
All in all, the Indian regime of life was a curious blend of love and hate, of work and warfare. Indian life had as many facets as there were periods, places, and tribes involved.
Chapter IV
PORTRAIT OF A TRAPPER BRIGADE
The character of the barbarian elements that encircled the Yellowstone area has been given. Their position was sufficiently menacing to prevent penetration of the continental crown except by a chosen few. The relation of the trapper’s activity to the Park can only be appreciated by an examination of the subject himself.
The Rocky Mountain fur trappers were a distinct group. They were just as singular in dress, interests, skills, and general characteristics as the cowboys and miners who succeeded them. When was their genesis and exodus? It falls entirely within the scope of nineteenth century history. Hence, the record is clear; it has few legendary figures. However, a generalized characterization would seem appropriate. Their predecessors were the earlier explorers of several nations, French, Spanish, English, with a sprinkling of other races. All of these elements pressed ever westward, chained by neither time nor distance. In their migrations from Kentucky to the River of the West (Missouri) excitement had become as necessary as life itself; adventure, as the breath of their nostrils. Until 1810 those woodsmen found hunting and trapping on the plains sufficiently challenging, but after the return of Lewis and Clark they donned buckskin suits and moved into the Rockies. From these shining mountains they were not to emerge until they learned by heart the geography upon the sundown side of the wide Missouri.
The French couriers of the woods were best endowed by nature for this roving life. Their easygoing temperament inclined them toward song and laughter. Their courage and gallantry adorned the barren path of life with the varied hues of their mercurial spirits. They never failed to adjust to the circumstances at hand, and the speculative character of enterprise could not wear them down. The Englishman had the necessary foresight and tenacity to effect such an organization and procedure as best calculated to bring adequate financial returns.
Beaver at Work.
However, the supreme mountain scouts were of American vintage. The best in the west were cool, longheaded, deadly-shooting backwoodsmen from Kentucky and Virginia. They had what it took to deal with Indian treachery, wild beasts, and constant danger in a thousand forms. The fur business demanded men of great force and energy. Hence, the successful trappers were hard-working, hard-fighting men inured to hardship and exposure. Their vanity was in fast riding, straight shooting, prowess in trapping and trailing, and enduring privation without wincing. However, most of them were capable of complete relaxation in the fashion of drinking and gambling. In fact, they were “white Injuns” and proud of the same class of achievements. The tides of trapper fortune were capricious. One year they rolled with promise; the next were empty as a beach. The competition was always keen, and they were ever on the move. “Old Roustabout,” “Perpetual Motion,” “Never Quit,” and “Knock ’Em Stiff Hawkeye” were current nicknames in the Order. Some of them became veritable walking maps possessed of uncanny perception of distance, condition, and landmarks. All this knowledge was susceptible to sudden erasure by one deft blow of a tomahawk. Surely every trapper fully understood the meaning of the old Hudson Bay Company motto, “A skin for a skin.”
The passing of time, together with kindly, indiscriminate sentimentality toward the lore of the Old West, has enveloped all of her buckskin-fringed denizens in an enchanting blanket of romance. Legend endows them with a uniform mantle of heroism and self-sacrifice. No great effort ought to be made to drag frontiersmen from these generous folds of fiction, because such a course might evoke the other extreme of shouting “Ichabod.” However, a correct comprehension of reality should be the intelligent observer’s constant aim.