The Great Salt Lake Trail

Henry Inman

Informations

• Publié par: fuwyur
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 55
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Salt
Lake Trail, by Colonel Henry Inman
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be
sure to check the copyright laws for your country
before downloading or redistributing this or any
other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when
viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not
remove it. Do not change or edit the header
without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other
information about the eBook and Project
Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and
restrictions in how the file may be used. You can
also find out about how to make a donation to
Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla
Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By
Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands
of Volunteers!*****Title: The Great Salt Lake Trail
Author: Colonel Henry Inman
Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5718] [Yes, we
are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This
file was first posted on August 14, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK, THE GREAT SALT LAKE TRAIL ***
This eBook was produced by Michael Overton.
THE GREAT SALT
LAKE TRAILBy COLONEL HENRY INMAN
Late Assistant Quartermaster, United States Army
Author of The Old Santa Fé Trail, Etc.
And COLONEL WILLIAM F. CODY, “Buffalo Bill”
Late Chief of Scouts
Etext Edition edited by MICHAEL S. OVERTON
1898 (original edition), 2002 (Etext edition)
See PUBLICATION INFORMATION at the end of
this Etext for a more complete bibliographic listing
of the original source.
PREFACE.
There are seven historic trails crossing the greatplains of the interior of the continent, all of which
for a portion of their distance traverse the
geographical limits of what is now the prosperous
commonwealth of Kansas.
None of these primitive highways, however, with
the exception of that oldest of all to far-off Santa
Fé, has a more stirring story than that known as
the Salt Lake Trail.
Over this historical highway the Mormons made
their lonely Hegira to the valley of that vast inland
sea. On its shores they established a city,
marvellous in its conception, and a monument to
the ability of man to overcome almost insuperable
obstacles—the product of a faith equal to that
which inspired the crusader to battle to the death
for the possession of the Holy Sepulchre.
Over this route, also, were made those
worldrenowned expeditions by Fremont, Stansbury,
Lander, and others of lesser fame, to the heart of
the Rocky Mountains, and beyond, to the blue
shores of the Pacific Ocean.
Over the same trackless waste the Pony Express
executed those marvellous feats in annihilating
distance, and the once famous Overland Stage
lumbered along through the seemingly interminable
desert of sage-brush and alkali
dust—avantcourières of the telegraph and the railroad.One of the collaborators of this volume, Colonel W.
F. Cody (“Buffalo
Bill”), began his remarkable career, as a boy, on
the Salt Lake Trail,
and laid the foundations of a life which has made
him a conspicuous
American figure at the close of this century.
It is not the intention of the authors of this work to
deal in the slightest manner with Mormonism as a
religion. An immense mass of literature on the
subject is to be found in every public library, both in
its defence and in its condemnation. The latter
preponderates, and often seems to be inspired by
an inexcusable ingenuity in exaggeration.
Of the trials of the Mormons during their toilsome
march and their difficulties with the government
during the Civil War, this work will treat in a limited
way, but its scope is to present the story of the
Trail in the days long before the building of a
railroad was believed to be possible. It will deal with
the era of the trapper, the scout, the savage, and
the passage of emigrants to the gold fields of
California—when the only route was by the
overland trail—and with the adventures which
marked the long and weary march.CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS.
Proposed Exploring Expedition across
the Northern Part of the Continent in
1774—Sir Alexander Mackenzie's
Expedition—The Expedition of Lewis and
Clarke—Hunt's Tour in 1810—March of
Robert Stuart eastwardly.
CHAPTER II. THE OLD TRAPPERS. Captain
Ezekiel Williams' Expedition to the Platte Valley
in 1807—Character of the Old Trapper—The
Outfit of his Men—Crosses the River—
Immense Herds of Buffalo—Death of their
Favourite Hound—A Lost Trapper—A Prairie
Burial—A Wolf-chase after a Buffalo—An
Indian Lochinvar—The Crow Indians—Their
Country —Rose, the Scapegoat Refugee—The
Lost Trappers—A Battle with the Savages.
CHAPTER III. JIM BECKWOURTH. General W.
H. Ashley's Trapping Expedition—Jim
Beckwourth's Story—Two Axe—Kill Fourteen
Hundred Buffaloes—The Surround—Expeditionis divided—Boats are built— Green River Suck
—Indians murder Le Brache—Beckwourth
meets Castenga.
CHAPTER IV. CAPTAIN SUBLETTE'S
EXPEDITION. Captain William Sublette's
Expedition in 1832—They meet Nathaniel J.
Wyeth's Party— Arrive at Green River Valley—
Attacked by Indians—Antoine Godin shoots a
Blackfoot Chief—Fight between Whites,
Flatheads, and Blackfeet—An Indian Heroine—
Major Stephen H. Long's Scientific Expedition
in 1820—Captain Bonneville's Expedition in
1832— Lieutenant John C. Fremont's
Expedition in 1842 to the Wind River
Mountains.
CHAPTER V. TRADING-POSTS AND THEIR
STORIES. Trading-posts of the Great Fur
Companies—Fort Vasquez—Fort Laramie—Fort
Platte—Fort Bridger—Incidents at Fort Platte—
A Drunken Spree—Death and Burial of
SusuCeicha—Insult to Big Eagle—Bull Tail's Effort
to sell his Daughter for a Barrel of Whiskey—A
Rare Instance of a Trader's Honour.
CHAPTER VI. THE MORMONS. The Most
Desolate of Deserts made to blossom as the
Rose—The Mormon Hegira—Pilgrim's Outfit—Curious Guide-posts—The Hand-cart
Expedition—Sufferings and Hardships during
the Exodus—An Impending War—General
Harney's Expedition—Mormon Tactics—
Destroy the Supplies—Privations of the United
States army —President backs down—Salt
Lake City—Brigham Young's Vision— The
Temple.
CHAPTER VII. MOUNTAIN MEADOWS
MASSACRE. Mountain Meadows Massacre—
Indians attack the Wagons—Lee offers
Protection—Ambushed by Lee— Lee flies to
the Mountains—Mormon Church acquitted—
Execution of John D. Lee—Temporary
Tollbridges—Indian Raids on Cattle Ranches—
Stuttering Brown—Graves along the Trail.
CHAPTER VIII. THE PONY EXPRESS. The
Problem of the Mails between Atlantic and
Pacific—The World-famed Pony Express—
Necessity for it —Its Originator—The Firm of
Majors, Russell, & Waddell—The Route—
Organization—Its Paraphernalia—Daring Riders
—J. G. Kelley's Story— Colonel Cody's Story—
Incidents and Stories—Old Whipsaw and Little
Cayuse, the Pawnee—Slade, the Desperado—
The Lynching of Slade— Establishment of the
Telegraph.CHAPTER IX. THE STAGE ROUTE TO THE
PACIFIC. Discovery of Gold near Pike's Peak—
Exodus from Missouri—The Creation of the
Overland Stage Route to the Pacific Coast—
Messrs. Russell and Jones' Failure— Russell,
Majors, & Waddell's Successful Establishment
of a New Line— Hockaday and Liggett's
“Onehorse” Affair—Advent of the First Stage-coach
into Denver—Financial Embarrassment—Ben
Holliday— Description of the Outfit of the
Route—Incidents and Adventures.
CHAPTER X. SCENERY ON THE TRAIL. Scenery
and Historical Localities on the Route of the
Old Trail—Loup Fork—De Smet's Account of a
Waterspout—Wood River—Brady's Island—Ash
Hollow—Johnson's Creek— Scott's Bluff—
Independence Rock and its Legend—Chimney
Rock— Crazy Woman's Creek—Laramie Plains
—Legends and Traditions about the Great Salt
Lake—Early Surveys.
CHAPTER XI. INDIAN TRIBES ON THE TRAIL.
The Indian Tribes of the Salt Lake Trail—The
Otoes—I-e-tan—Blue-Eyes shot by I-e-tan—
The Pawnees—Their Tribal Mark—Legends and
Traditions—Human Sacrifices—Folk-lore.
CHAPTER XII. SIOUX AND THEIR TRADITIONS.