to the annoyance of Fitzpatrick and Bridger, they followed on and kept with them for several days. Vanderburgh and Dripps were strangers in that part of the country, and it may have been this fact that induced them to keep near Fitzpatrick and Bridger. The latter did not appreciate their company and resolved to get rid of them, so they turned abruptly west into the country of the Blackfeet and not many days afterwards Vanderburgh and Dripps divided their force and started out to trap regardless of their adversaries. With about fifty men each they went in different directions. Some time later Vanderburgh's party was at tacked by Blackfeet and the leader was killed; but it was not an easy victory for the Indians, as the trappers fought with great bravery and succeeded in killing a number of the savage foe. The death of Henry Vanderburgh was deeply regretted by the American Fur Company, as he was one of their bravest leaders. The Blackfeet now turned their attention to the party under Fitzpatrick and Bridger, and after following them many days the white men and Indians met face to face on an open plain but near some rocks and cliffs. The Blackfeet made friendly signs while yet some distance away and the white men replied in the same manner, but both kept at a distance; finally the chief of the Blackfeet came forward, bearing the pipe of peace, and the whites went to meet him. The pipe was smoked and all the ceremonies of such an occasion duly observed. While this was going on Bridger left the main body of the trappers and rode toward the place where the conference was being held. As this renowned leader came up the Indian chief, seeing him, stepped forward to shake hands. From some cause, which Bridger could never afterwards explain, he felt a feeling of distrust and cocked his rifle. The quick ear of the chief caught the click of the lock and in an instant he grasped the barrel and forced the muzzle downward just as the gun went off. His next move was to wrench the rifle from Bridger's hands and fell him with it to the earth. Already Bridger had received two arrows in his back. The chief now vaulted into the saddle of the fallen leader and

galloped off to his band; then there was a rush by both parties to gain positions behind rocks and trees, and soon a fusillade was opened on both sides and kept up until night closed in, when the contestants withdrew from the field. This affair greatly humiliated Bridger, but it undoubtedly served to make him the careful leader which he afterwards became. At that time he had been ten years in the service and had been uniformly successful in his fights with the Indians. The wounds he received in his back were not danger. ous, but the arrow points remained in the flesh and were cut out by Dr. Whitman at Green River in 1835.

In spite of the Indian troubles, the fur trappers of the year 1832 were richly rewarded, and the shipment of furs amounted in round numbers to something like $175,000. This was the product gathered by the Sublette trappers, which included the bands of Fitzpatrick, Campbell, Bridger, Harris, Clements, Milton Sublette and a dozen or more partisans of less prominence. During this same year Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, at the head of 110 men, entered Wyoming, but of this rather distinguished character I will tell in a separate chapter.

CHAPTER XIII.

CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE IN WYOMING.

LEAVES FORT OSAGE WITH TWENTY WAGONS AND ONE HUNDRED AND TEN MEN-REACHES THE PLATTE RIVER BELOW GRAND ISLANDSCOTT'S BLUFF AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME-FOLLOWS THE NORTH FORK OF THE PLATTE-CROSSES OVER TO THE SWEETWATER-ExPERIENCE OF TOM CAIN-REJOICINGS AFTER CROSSING THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE-FONTENELLE OVERTAKES THE BONNEVILLE PARTYARRIVAL AT GREEN RIVER-FORTIFIES HIS CAMP-FREE TRAPPERS VISITED BY BLACKFEET.

Among the most noted fur traders and trappers ever in Wyoming was Captain B. L. E. Bonneville of the Seventh United States Infantry, who secured leave of absence in 1831 and on the 1st of May, 1832, started west from Fort Osage on the Missouri River with 110 men and a train of twenty wagons drawn by four mules, four horses or four oxen each. These wagons were loaded with ammunition, provisions and merchandise. The expedition was well organized and conducted with military precision. Captain Bonneville selected two subordinate officers to assist him in the command; the first being J. R. Walker, who was a native of Tennessee but who had lived for many years on the Missouri frontier and had led a life of adventure, being one of the first to penetrate the southwest as far as Santa Fe. On this expedition he trapped for beaver and was finally taken prisoner by the Spaniards. After being liberated, he remained in that country for a time, engaged with the Spaniards in a war against the Pawnee Indians. On his return to Missouri he was elected sheriff of his county, in which position he won distinction as a brave and faithful civil officer. After leaving the sheriff's office he engaged in fur trapping and trading and it was while thus employed that he met Captain Bonneville and enlisted in his service. The second assistant was M. S. Cerre, whose experience and adventures

were not unlike those of Walker. He is spoken of as an experienced Indian trader. These two men were in every way worthy to serve under their great leader, Captain Bonneville. This expedition had been carefully planned and the wagons were introduced for the reason that this practical military commander wished to avoid packing every morning and unpacking every night. The labor thus saved, Captain Bonneville argued, would more than make up for transporting the wagons over deep rivers and across the gulches which might lie in his way. The latter would also require fewer horses than the packing service, and from a military point of view vehicles would serve as a sort of fortification in ease of an attack by hostile Indians. The expedition started out with the wagons in two columns, close order in the center of the party, which marched with an advance and rear guard.

Captain Bonneville had been careful to inform himself as to the plans of the American Fur Company, and also of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company for that year. He had learned that the rendezvous of the two companies for the season would be in Pierre's Hole at no great distance apart, and the Captain resolved to make for the same destination. He took a westerly course from Fort Osage across what is now the state of Kansas, and on the 12th of May reached the Kansas River at a point near the Agency of the Kansas tribe of Indians. This agency was at the time in charge of General Clark, a brother of Captain Clark who accompanied Captain Lewis on his expedition down the Columbia in 1804. Captain Bonneville found General Clark living like a patriarch and surrounded by all the comforts then possible to secure in the far west. Without loss of time Bonneville pushed forward and on June 2nd reached the Platte River, twenty-five miles below Grand Island. On the 11th they reached the forks of the Platte, and taking the north tributary of that stream, they on the 21st reached Scott's Bluffs.*

*Captain Bonneville makes this explanation as to the origin of the name "Scott's Bluffs": "A number of years since a party were descending the upper part of the river in canoes, when their frail barks were overturned and all their powder spoiled. Their rifles being thus rendered useless, they were unable to procure food by hunting and had to depend upon roots and wild fruits for subsistence. After suffering extremely from hunger, they arrived at Laramie's Fork, a

On these bluffs Captain Bonneville saw for the first time the mountain or big-horn sheep. He describes them as "bounding like goats from crag to crag, often trooping along the lofty shelves of the mountains, under the guidance of some venerable patriarch, with horns twisted lower than his muzzle, and sometimes peering over the edge of a precipice, so high that they appear scarcely bigger than crows; indeed, it seems a pleasure to them to seek the most rugged and frightful situations, doubtless from a feeling of security."

On the 24th, while the caravan was moving up the North Platte, the party encountered a band of Crow warriors and the gallant Captain on the first alarm ordered his men to prepare for action. Each man sprang to the position assigned him and the little army remained drawn up ready to do battle. Soon the Crows, to the number of some sixty warriors, came dashing up in a body as if to make a furious charge, then suddenly opened to the right and left, riding in a circle around the travelers, yelling in the meantime in sav. age style, after which the chief approached Captain Bonneville, extending the hand of friendship. The pipe of peace was smoked and good fellowship prevailed. The Crow warriors exhibited great friendship for Captain Bonneville and his men and that night the warriors camped beside the white men. The evening was spent in eating and smoking and the Captain was enabled to get acquainted with the representatives of a tribe with which he in the next three years was to have much to do. His first impressions of this tribe were evidently correct. He admired their horsemanship and ap

small tributary of the north branch of the Nebraska, about sixty miles above the cliffs just mentioned. Here one of the party, by the name of Scott, was taken ill, and his companions came to a halt, until he should recover health and strength sufficient to proceed. While they were searching round in quest of edible roots they discovered a fresh trail of white men, who had evidently but recently preceded them. What was to be done? By a forced march they might be able to overtake this party and thus be able to reach the settlements in safety. Should they linger they might all perish of famine and exhaustion. Scott, however, was incapable of moving; they were too feeble to aid him forward, and dreaded that such a clog would prevent their coming up with the advance party. They determined, therefore, to abandon him to his fate. Accordingly, under pretense of seeking food and such simples as might be efficacious in his malady, they deserted him and hastened forward upon the trail. They succeeded in overtaking the party of which they were in quest, but concealed their faithless desertion of Scott, alleging that he had died of disease. On the ensuing summer these very individuals, visiting in these parts in company with others, came suddenly upon the bleached bones and grinning skull of a human skeleton which by certain signs they recognized as the remains of Scott. This was sixty long miles from the place where they had abandoned him; and it appeared that the wretched man had crawled that immense distance before death had put an end to his miseries. The wild and picturesque bluffs in the neighborhood of his lonely grave have ever since borne his name."