Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far West — John Shaqi
Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far WestDrannan, William F.
History
Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far West
Drannan, William F.
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Indians of North America -- Wars
It might be of interest to our readers to know how this stream
acquired its name. There was a Frenchman by the name of Virees
Roubidoux camped on the stream spoken of, with a little squad of
men; they were attacked by a band of Indians, and the first word
uttered by Roubidoux was "Cache-la-poudre," which means in
English, "hide the powder," and from that time on the stream has
been so called.
We arrived at our proposed trapping field, and after looking over
the country we found plenty of beaver sign along the streams and
game in abundance, and Uncle Kit decided that there was room
enough for four camps.
We returned by the way of Bent's Fort, as Uncle Kit wished to
employ the best men he could get to trap for him the coming
winter. On our way to the fort, which was four hundred miles from
the proposed trapping ground, Uncle Kit told me that he would have
to leave me in charge the coming winter, as he was going to the
City of Mexico on business, but said that he would come out and
get the camps established and return to Taos with the horses
before going there.
We found plenty of men at Bent's Fort, and, as usual, they were
all broke, having squandered the money earned the winter before
for whiskey and card playing. Uncle Kit experienced no trouble in
getting all the men he wanted, but had to furnish them with traps
and provisions--which took considerable money--he to have half of
the furs caught by each of them. Everything being understood we
returned to Taos, the men agreeing to meet us there two weeks
later. They were all on hand at the appointed time, but there
being a large party to outfit it took some weeks to make
preparations for the trip, there being eleven in the crowd. It was
about the last of October when we arrived at the trapping-ground
ready to begin work.
There was a man in the crowd named Charlie Jones, who was an old
friend of Johnnie West, and they and I lived in the same cabin
that winter. One morning after we had got fixed up comfortably in
our winter quarters and Uncle Kit had returned to Taos with the
horses, Charlie Jones waked us up very early, saying that there
was a light snow and he thought we would be able to get a bear if
we got out early. We rolled out, got breakfast and were off as
soon as it was light enough to see.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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