During The Preceding Year, Their Principal Establishment
At The Forks Of The Missouri Had Been So Much Harassed By The
Blackfeet Indians, that its commander, Mr. Henry, one of the
partners, had been compelled to abandon the post and cross
The
Rocky Mountains, with the intention of fixing himself upon one of
the upper branches of the Columbia. What had become of him and
his party was unknown. The most intense anxiety was felt
concerning them, and apprehensions that they might have been cut
off by the savages. At the time of Mr. Hunt's arrival at St.
Louis, the Missouri Company were fitting out an expedition to go
in quest of Mr. Henry. It was to be conducted by Mr. Manuel Lisa,
the partner already mentioned.
There being thus two expeditions on foot at the same moment, an
unusual demand was occasioned for hunters and voyageurs, who
accordingly profited by the circumstance, and stipulated for high
terms. Mr. Hunt found a keen and subtle competitor in Lisa, and
was obliged to secure his recruits by liberal advances of pay,
and by other pecuniary indulgences.
The greatest difficulty was to procure the Sioux interpreter.
There was but one man to be met with at St. Louis who was fitted
for the purpose, but to secure him would require much management.
The individual in question was a half-breed, named Pierre Dorion;
and, as he figures hereafter in this narrative, and is, withal, a
striking specimen of the hybrid race on the frontier, we shall
give a few particulars concerning him. Pierre was the son of
Dorion, the French interpreter, who accompanied Messrs. Lewis and
Clark in their famous exploring expedition across the Rocky
Mountains. Old Dorion was one of those French creoles,
descendants of the ancient Canadian stock, who abound on the
western frontier, and amalgamate or cohabit with the savages. He
had sojourned among various tribes, and perhaps left progeny
among them all; but his regular, or habitual wife, was a Sioux
squaw. By her he had a hopeful brood of half-breed sons, of whom
Pierre was one. The domestic affairs of old Dorion were conducted
on the true Indian plan. Father and sons would occasionally get
drunk together, and then the cabin was a scene of ruffian brawl
and fighting, in the course of which the old Frenchman was apt to
get soundly belabored by his mongrel offspring. In a furious
scuffle of the kind, one of the sons got the old man upon the
ground, and was upon the point of scalping him. "Hold! my son,"
cried the old fellow, in imploring accents, "you are too brave,
too honorable to scalp your father!" This last appeal touched the
French side of the half-breed's heart, so he suffered the old man
to wear his scalp unharmed.
Of this hopeful stock was Pierre Dorion, the man whom it was now
the desire of Mr. Hunt to engage as an interpreter. He had been
employed in that capacity by the Missouri Fur Company during the
preceding year, and conducted their traders in safety through the
different tribes of the Sioux. He had proved himself faithful and
serviceable while sober; but the love of liquor, in which he had
been nurtured and brought up, would occasionally break out, and
with it the savage side of his character.
It was his love of liquor which had embroiled him with the
Missouri Company. While in their service at Fort Mandan, on the
frontier, he had been seized with a whiskey mania; and, as the
beverage was only to be procured at the company's store, it had
been charged in his account at the rate of ten dollars a quart.
This item had ever remained unsettled, and a matter of furious
dispute, the mere mention of which was sufficient to put him in a
passion.
The moment it was discovered by Mr. Lisa that Pierre Dorion was
in treaty with the new and rival association, he endeavored, by
threats as well as promises, to prevent his engaging in their
service. His promises might, perhaps, have prevailed; but his
threats, which related to the whiskey debt, only served to drive
Pierre into the opposite ranks. Still he took advantage of this
competition for his services to stand out with Mr. Hunt on the
most advantageous terms, and, after a negotiation of nearly two
weeks, capitulated to serve in the expedition, as hunter and
interpreter, at the rate of three hundred dollars a year, two
hundred of which were to be paid in advance.
When Mr. Hunt had got everything ready for leaving St. Louis, new
difficulties arose. Five of the American hunters from the
encampment at Nodowa, suddenly made their appearance. They
alleged that they had been ill treated by the partners at the
encampment, and had come off clandestinely, in consequence of a
dispute. It was useless at the present moment, and under present
circumstances, to attempt any compulsory measures with these
deserters. Two of them Mr. Hunt prevailed upon, by mild means, to
return with him. The rest refused; nay, what was worse, they
spread such reports of the hardships and dangers to be
apprehended in the course of the expedition, that they struck a
panic into those hunters who had recently engaged at St. Louis,
and, when the hour of departure arrived, all but one refused to
embark. It was in vain to plead or remonstrate; they shouldered
their rifles and turned their backs upon the expedition, and Mr.
Hunt was fain to put off from shore with the single hunter and a
number of voyageurs whom he had engaged. Even Pierre Dorion, at
the last moment, refused to enter the boat until Mr. Hunt
consented to take his squaw and two children on board also. But
the tissue of perplexities, on account of this worthy individual,
did not end here.
Among the various persons who were about to proceed up the
Missouri with Mr. Hunt, were two scientific gentlemen; one Mr.
John Bradbury, a man of mature age, but great enterprise and
personal activity, who had been sent out by Linnaean Society of
Liverpool to make a collection of American plants; the other, a
Mr. Nuttall, likewise an Englishman, younger in years, who has
since made himself known as the author of Travels in Arkansas,
and a work on the Genera of American Plants.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 41 of 163
Words from 40880 to 41943
of 165649
