|
In
1812 a Captain Becknell, who had been on a trading expedition to the
country of the Comanches in the summer of 1811, and had done remarkably
well, determined the next season to change his objective point to
Santa Fe,
and instead of the tedious process of bartering with the
Indians,
to sell out his stock to the
New Mexicans.
Successful in this, his first venture, he returned to the
Missouri
River with a well-filled purse, and intensely enthusiastic over the result
of his excursion to the newly found market.
Excited listeners to his tales of enormous profits were not lacking, who,
inspired by the inducement he held out to them, cheerfully invested five
thousand dollars in merchandise suited to the demands of the trade, and
were eager to attempt with him, the passage of the great plains. In
this expedition there were thirty men, and the amount of money in the
undertaking was the largest that had yet been ventured.
|
Wagon Wheel.
This image available for photographic prints
HERE!
|
| The progress of the
little caravan was without extraordinary incident, until it arrived at
"The Caches" on the Upper
Arkansas. There Becknell, who was in reality a man of the then "Frontier," bold,
plucky, and endowed with excellent sense, conceived the ridiculous
idea of striking directly across the country for
Santa Fe
through a region absolutely unexplored; his excuse for this rash
movement being that he desired to avoid the rough and circuitous
mountain route he had traveled on his first trip to Taos.
 His
temerity in abandoning the known for the unknown was severely
punished, and his brave men suffered untold misery, barely escaping
with their lives from the terrible straits to which they were reduced.
Not having the remotest conception of the region through which their
new trail was to lead them, and naturally supposing that water would
be found in streams or springs, when they left the
Arkansas
they neglected to supply themselves with more than enough of the
precious fluid to last a couple of days. At the end of that time
they learned, too late, that they were in the midst of a desert, with
all the tortures of thirst threatening them.
Without a tree or a path to guide them,
they took an irregular course by observations of the North Star, and
the unreliable needle of an azimuth pocket-compass. There was a
total absence of water, and when what they had brought with them in
their canteens from the river was exhausted, thirst began its horrible
office. In a short time both men and animals were in a mental
condition bordering on distraction. To alleviate their acute torment,
the dogs of the train were killed, and their blood, hot and sickening,
eagerly swallowed; then the ears of the mules were cut off for the
same purpose, but such a substitute for water only added to their
sufferings.
They would have perished had not a superannuated
buffalo bull that had just come from the
Cimarron River, where he had
gone to quench his thirst, suddenly appeared, to be immediately killed
and the contents of his stomach swallowed with avidity. It is
recorded that one of those who partook of the nauseous liquid said
afterward, "nothing had ever passed his lips which gave him such
exquisite delight as his first draught of that filthy beverage."
|
|
|
|
Although they were
near the
Cimarron, where there was plenty
of water, which but for the affair of the buffalo they never would have
suspected, they decided to retrace their steps to the
Arkansas.
Before they started on
their retreat, however, some of the strongest of the party followed the
trail of the animal that had saved their lives to the river, where,
filling all the canteens with pure water, they returned to their comrades,
who were, after drinking, able to march slowly toward the
Arkansas.
Following that stream,
they at last arrived at Taos, having experienced no further trouble, but
missed the trail to
Santa Fe,
and had their journey greatly prolonged by the foolish endeavor of the
leader to make a short cut thither.
As early as 1815, Auguste
P. Chouteau and his partner, with a large number of trappers and hunters,
went out to the valley of the Upper
Arkansas
for the purpose of trading with
Indians,
and trapping on the numerous streams of the contiguous region.
The island on which
Chouteau established his trading-post, and which bears his name even to
this day, is in the
Arkansas
River on the boundary line of the United States and Mexico. It was a
beautiful spot, with a rich carpet of grass and delightful groves, and on
the American side was a heavily timbered bottom.
While occupying the
island, Chouteau and his old hunters and trappers were attacked by about
three hundred Pawnees, whom they repulsed with the loss of thirty killed
and wounded. These
Indians
afterward declared that it was the most fatal affair in which they were
ever engaged. It was their first acquaintance with American guns.
The general character of
the early trade with
New Mexico
was founded on the system of the caravan. She depended upon the
remote ports of old Mexico, whence was transported, on the backs of the
patient burro and mule, all that was required by the primitive tastes of
the primitive people; a very tedious and slow process, as may be inferred,
and the limited traffic westwardly across the great plains was confined to
this fashion. At the date of the legitimate and substantial commerce
with
New Mexico,
in 1824, wheeled vehicles were introduced, and traffic assumed an
importance it could never have otherwise attained, and which now, under
the vast system of railroads, has increased to dimensions little dreamed
of by its originators nearly three-quarters of a century ago.
It was eight years after
Pursley's pilgrimage before the trade with
New Mexico
attracted the attention of speculators and adventurers. Messrs. McKnight,
Beard, and Chambers, with about a dozen comrades, started with a supply of
goods across the unknown plains, and by good luck arrived safely at
Santa Fe. Once under the jurisdiction of the Mexicans, however, their trouble began. All the in the party were arrested as spies, their wares confiscated, and
themselves incarcerated at Chihuahua, where the majority of them were kept
for almost a decade. Beard and Chambers, having by some means
escaped, returned to
St. Louis in
1822, and, notwithstanding their dreadful experience, told of the
prospects of the trade with the Mexicans in such glowing colors that they
induced some individuals of small capital to fit out another expedition,
with which they again set out for
Santa Fe.
It was really too late in the season;
they succeeded, however, in reaching the crossing of the
Arkansas
without any difficulty, but there a violent snowstorm overtook them and
they were compelled to halt, as it was impossible to proceed in the face
of the blinding blizzard. On an island not far from where the town
of
Cimarron, on the
Santa Fe
Railroad, is now situated, they were obliged to remain for more than three
months, during which time most of their animals died for want of food and
from the severe cold. When the weather had moderated sufficiently to
allow them to proceed on their journey, they had no transportation for
their goods and were compelled to hide them in pits dug in the earth,
after the manner of the old French voyageurs in the early settlement of
the continent. This method of secreting furs and valuables of every
character is called caching, from the French word "to hide."
Continued Next Page |
Please report
broken links, missing pictures, or other problems online by clicking
