Several young bucks had been staking their ropes for the catch, each
hoping he would be the fortunate one in securing her for a partner. Some
of them had offered as high as nine ponies. But Wah-ne-a-tah, which
means in English, “it is hurting him,” came forward with a dozen ponies
and secured the prize. A beef from the Agency had been secured and
roasted, as well as other things good to the palate of a hungry Indian.
At about 4 o’clock the bride was taken to a tepee set apart from the
others, where some twenty squaw attendants dressed her out in a “rig”
that for decoration resembled a general or an admiral’s uniform.
Not wishing to get married at this time, she kept her attendants in
tears by her lamentations. Some one in Lander had sold her father an old
hearse as being just the thing for a family carriage. The top had been
taken off, but the plumes remained, and into it she was loaded. The
horses were gaily decorated and an Indian walked at the head of each
horse. As she took her seat in the carriage, I obtained the first good
view of the bride. A description of her dress is impossible, but it was
a curious mixture of every color imaginable. She had proceeded but a
little way down the valley, when at breakneck speed came a buck and
three squaws who were running to the bride. The first squaw to reach the
bride was to receive her raiment, the second a pony and the third a
blanket. The bride was escorted to a tepee belonging to a relative of
the groom. Here she was placed on a blanket and wrapped up until no part
of her was visible and then carried to the tepee set apart for the happy
couple. Arriving there she was unwrapped in the presence of the guests
and her clothing immediately claimed by the squaw who came out best in
the race. The bride was re-dressed, the groom summoned and seated on the
blanket beside her. They were now married in the eyes of the Indians.
Then came a feast, participated in only by the happy couple and the
guests departed to the general feast.
Three weeks had passed when one day an officer of the Indian police came
to our camp and through him I learned of Cole’s former camp on a
tributary of Wind River, and he said the gulches and sands of the stream
were plentifully besprinkled with nuggets, that the reason white men
were not there in multitudes was they were kept away by the Indian
police.
He said that Cole was permitted to stay because he furnished the Indians
with whisky. This Cole doubtless made from drugs.
At the end of another week my party returned without Cole. They came
hastily and seemed in a hurry to get away. I asked if they found gold.
They replied, “Yes, plenty of it, but Cole’s treachery has defeated
every plan.” Beyond this they would say nothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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