Vigilante Days and Ways: The pioneers of the Rockies; the makers and making of Montana and IdahoLangford, Nathaniel Pitt
History
Vigilante Days and Ways: The pioneers of the Rockies; the makers and making of Montana and Idaho
Langford, Nathaniel Pitt
Frontier and pioneer life -- Northwestern States; Northwestern States -- History; Vigilance committees; West (U.S.) -- History
In the absence of other narratives of this remarkable adventure, I
record his own, as detailed to John W. Powell in April of the following
year. Mr. Powell says:
“N. P. LANGFORD,
“DEAR SIR: On the tenth of April, 1859, I was on my way from Fort
Owen, Bitter Root Valley, to Salt Lake City. My party consisted of
one American named James Misinger, a Frenchman called ‘Grand
Maison,’ a French half-breed named Antoine, and three Indians.
“I had crossed the Snake River just above Fort Hall, pitched my
lodge, and was entering to indulge in a brief sleep, when I heard
some one outside ask in a loud tone of voice, ‘Who owns this
shebang?’ Stepping to the door and looking out, I saw a tall,
cadaverous, sunken-eyed man standing over me, dressed in a dirty,
dilapidated coat and shirt and drawers, and moccasins so worn that
they could scarcely be tied to his feet. Having invited him in and
inquired his business, he told me substantially the following:
“His name was Boone Helm. In company with five others he had left
Dalles City, Oregon, in October, 1858, intending to go to Camp
Floyd, Utah Territory. Having reached the Raft River, they were
attacked by a party of Digger Indians, with whom they maintained a
running fight for several miles, but none of the party was killed or
severely wounded. Late in the evening they reached the Bannack
River, where they camped, picketed their horses near by, and
stationed two sentinels. During the night one of the sentinels was
killed, the savage who committed the deed escaping on a horse
belonging to the party.
“Upon consultation, it was decided that they had better leave that
place as soon as possible. The sky at the time was overcast with
storm-clouds, and soon after they got into their saddles the weather
culminated in a snowstorm, which increased in violence until it
became terrific. Finally, being unable to see anything but sheets of
snow, they became bewildered, and knew not in what direction they
were proceeding. Morning brought no relief. In the midst of an ocean
of snow, they were as oblivious of locality in daylight as if total
darkness had encompassed them. They knew they were somewhere between
Ross’s Fork and the Bear River, and this was their most definite
knowledge.
“At last they reached Soda Springs on Bear River, where familiar
landmarks came in view. They then travelled up that river until they
reached Thomas’s Fork, where they were forced to stop, from the lean
and exhausted condition of their horses and the depth of the snow.
Here they found a very comfortable cabin, and perforce went into
winter quarters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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