Like Corporal
Trim In His Campaigns, He Had "Satisfied The Sentiment," And That
Was All.
In fact, he was too much of the frank, freehearted
soldier, and had inherited too much of his father's temperament,
to make a scheming trapper, or a thrifty bargainer.
There was something in the whole appearance of the captain that
prepossessed me in his favor. He was of the middle size, well
made and well set; and a military frock of foreign cut, that had
seen service, gave him a look of compactness. His countenance was
frank, open, and engaging; well browned by the sun, and had
something of a French expression. He had a pleasant black eye, a
high forehead, and, while he kept his hat on, the look of a man
in the jocund prime of his days; but the moment his head was
uncovered, a bald crown gained him credit for a few more years
than he was really entitled to.
Being extremely curious, at the time, about every thing connected
with the Far West, I addressed numerous questions to him. They
drew from him a number of extremely striking details, which were
given with mingled modesty and frankness; and in a gentleness of
manner, and a soft tone of voice, contrasting singularly with the
wild and often startling nature of his themes. It was difficult
to conceive the mild, quiet-looking personage before you, the
actual hero of the stirring scenes related.
In the course of three or four months, happening to be at the
city of Washington, I again came upon the captain, who was
attending the slow adjustment of his affairs with the War
Department. I found him quartered with a worthy brother in arms,
a major in the army. Here he was writing at a table, covered with
maps and papers, in the centre of a large barrack room,
fancifully decorated with Indian arms, and trophies, and war
dresses, and the skins of various wild animals, and hung round
with pictures of Indian games and ceremonies, and scenes of war
and hunting. In a word, the captain was beguiling the tediousness
of attendance at court, by an attempt at authorship; and was
rewriting and extending his travelling notes, and making maps of
the regions he had explored. As he sat at the table, in this
curious apartment, with his high bald head of somewhat foreign
cast, he reminded me of some of those antique pictures of authors
that I have seen in old Spanish volumes.
The result of his labors was a mass of manuscript, which he
subsequently put at my disposal, to fit it for publication and
bring it before the world. I found it full of interesting details
of life among the mountains, and of the singular castes and
races, both white men and red men, among whom he had sojourned.
It bore, too, throughout, the impress of his character, his
bonhommie, his kindliness of spirit, and his susceptibility to
the grand and beautiful.
That manuscript has formed the staple of the following work. I
have occasionally interwoven facts and details, gathered from
various sources, especially from the conversations and journals
of some of the captain's contemporaries, who were actors in the
scenes he describes. I have also given it a tone and coloring
drawn from my own observation, during an excursion into the
Indian country beyond the bounds of civilization; as I before
observed, however, the work is substantially the narrative of the
worthy captain, and many of its most graphic passages are but
little varied from his own language.
I shall conclude this notice by a dedication which he had made of
his manuscript to his hospitable brother in arms, in whose
quarters I found him occupied in his literary labors; it is a
dedication which, I believe, possesses the qualities, not always
found in complimentary documents of the kind, of being sincere,
and being merited.
To JAMES HARVEY HOOK, Major, U. S. A.,
whose jealousy of its honor, whose anxiety for its interests, and
whose sensibility for its wants, have endeared him to the service
as The Soldier's Friend;
and whose general amenity, constant cheerfulness. disinterested
hospitality, and unwearied benevolence, entitle him to the still
loftier title of The Friend of Man,
this work is inscribed, etc.
WASHINGTON IRVING
1.
State of the fur trade of the Rocky Mountains American
enterprises General Ashley and his associates Sublette, a famous
leader Yearly rendezvous among the mountains Stratagems and
dangers of the trade Bands of trappers Indian banditti Crows and
Blackfeet Mountaineers Traders of the Far West Character and
habits of the trapper
IN A RECENT WORK we have given an account of the grand enterprise
of Mr. John Jacob Astor to establish an American emporium for the
fur trade at the mouth of the Columbia, or Oregon River; of the
failure of that enterprise through the capture of Astoria by the
British, in 1814; and of the way in which the control of the
trade of the Columbia and its dependencies fell into the hands of
the Northwest Company. We have stated, likewise, the unfortunate
supineness of the American government in neglecting the
application of Mr. Astor for the protection of the American flag,
and a small military force, to enable him to reinstate himself in
the possession of Astoria at the return of peace; when the post
was formally given up by the British government, though still
occupied by the Northwest Company. By that supineness the
sovereignty in the country has been virtually lost to the United
States; and it will cost both governments much trouble and
difficulty to settle matters on that just and rightful footing on
which they would readily have been placed had the proposition of
Mr. Astor been attended to. We shall now state a few particulars
of subsequent events, so as to lead the reader up to the period
of which we are about to treat, and to prepare him for the
circumstances of our narrative.
In consequence of the apathy and neglect of the American
government, Mr. Astor abandoned all thoughts of regaining
Astoria, and made no further attempt to extend his enterprises
beyond the Rocky Mountains; and the Northwest Company considered
themselves the lords of the country.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 2 of 117
Words from 1012 to 2052
of 118673
