The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson, the Nestor of the Rocky Mountains, from Facts Narrated by HimselfPeters, De Witt C. (De Witt Clinton)
History
The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson, the Nestor of the Rocky Mountains, from Facts Narrated by Himself
Peters, De Witt C. (De Witt Clinton)
Carson Kit, 1809-1868; Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.)
away, bravely meeting the fate that has hitherto usually awaited this
band of fearless men.
We again turn to the adventures of Kit Carson. On the fifth day of
May, 1850, accompanied by an old mountaineer named Timothy Goodel,
he started with fifty head of mules and horses for Fort Laramie. This
fort is distant from Rayado, over five hundred miles. The object which
the two men had in view was to trade their animals with the emigrants
who were, at that time, thronging the overland route to California.
The journey was safely accomplished, Kit Carson and Goodel arriving
at the fort, with their animals all in good condition, sometime in the
following June. They remained here about one month disposing of their
animals at good bargains.
A few rather amusing anecdotes have had their rise connected with
this visit which Kit Carson made to Fort Laramie. Among several other
incidents the following is somewhat laughable and seems to us worth
relating. Among the line of emigrants then on the road, the report was
circulated for some distance back that the famous Kit Carson was at
the fort. The result was that every man, woman and child, as fast as
they arrived at the fort, were eager to gratify their curiosity by a
sight of the man whose name and exploits had already been the theme of
many a conversation among them. If ever Yankee, or American, (which
is the more appropriate term, we will not attempt to decide)
inquisitiveness was exhibited, it certainly could be then seen at Fort
Laramie. The large majority of those who were thus anxious to see the
famous guide, were led astray by the descriptions which they had heard
and read, and picked out some powerfully built trader who chanced to
present himself, especially if the man was tastefully dressed in a
hunting shirt, with buck-skin leggins, and whose appearance indicated
ferocity. Of this kind of personages there were quite a number present
at the fort. Usually they would accost the man whom they had thus
selected. Sometimes, if their address was appropriate and the humor
of the person accosted so inclined, they would get put right, but more
frequently they were left to enjoy and cherish their mistake, or were
made the subject of a joke. Among the rest there came along quite a
rough looking individual fresh from the cane-brakes of Arkansas. He,
also, was seeking to place his eyes upon Kit Carson. Accidentally, or
intentionally, it matters not for the story, he was directed to the
place where the _bona fide_ Kit Carson stood. His powerful frame and
determined looks, as he put his inquiries, made those inquired of,
apparently, cautious how they perpetrated a joke upon the Arkansas
man. At last, standing face to face with Kit Carson, he thus
interrogated him. "I say, stranger, are you Kit Carson?" Being
modestly answered in the affirmative, he stood a moment, apparently
quite taken aback at beholding the short, compact and mild-looking
man that stood before him. Evidently his beau ideal of the great
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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