Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains - An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far West

William F. Drannan

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• Publié par: ictae
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 28
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Thirty-One Years on the Plains and In the Mountains by William F. Drannan
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Title: Thirty-One Years on the Plains and In the Mountains
Author: William F. Drannan
Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5337] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first
posted on July 2, 2002] [Date last updated: July 5, 2006]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THIRTY-ONE YEARS ON THE PLAINS AND IN THE
MOUNTAINS ***
Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
THIRTY-ONE YEARS ON THE PLAINS AND IN THE MOUNTAINS
OR,
THE LAST VOICE FROM THE PLAINS. AN AUTHENTIC RECORD OF A LIFE TIME OF HUNTING, TRAPPING, SCOUTING AND INDIAN FIGHTING IN THE FAR
WEST
BY
CAPT. WILLIAM F. DRANNAN,
WHO WENT ON TO THE PLAINS WHEN FIFTEEN YEARS OLD.
PREFACE.
In writing this preface I do so with the full knowledge that the preface of a book is rarely read, comparatively speaking, but
I shall write this one just the same.
In writing this work the author has made no attempt at romance, or a great literary production, but has narrated in his own
plain, blunt way, the incidents of his life as they actually occurred.There have been so many books put upon the market, purporting to be the lives of noted frontiersmen which are only
fiction, that I am moved to ask the reader to consider well before condemning this book as such.
The author starts out with the most notable events of his boyhood days, among them his troubles with an old negro
virago, wherein he gets his revenge by throwing a nest of lively hornets under her feet. Then come his flight and a trip, to
St. Louis, hundreds of miles on foot, his accidental meeting with that most eminent man of his class, Kit Carson, who
takes the lad into his care and treats him as a kind father would a son. He then proceeds to give a minute description of
his first trip on the plains, where he meets and associates with such noted plainsmen as Gen. John Charles Fremont,
James Beckwith, Jim Bridger and others, and gives incidents of his association with them in scouting, trapping, hunting
big game, Indian fighting, etc.
The author also gives brief sketches of the springing into existence of many of the noted cities of the West, and the
incidents connected therewith that have never been written before. There is also a faithful recital of his many years of
scouting for such famous Indian fighters as Gen. Crook, Gen. Connor, Col. Elliott, Gen. Wheaton and others, all of which
will be of more than passing interest to those who can be entertained by the early history of the western part of our great
republic.
This work also gives an insight into the lives of the hardy pioneers of the far West, and the many trials and hardships they
had to undergo in blazing the trail and hewing the way to one of the grandest and most healthful regions of the United
States. W. F. D.
CHICAGO, August 1st, 1899.CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1. A Boy Escapes a Tyrant and Pays a Debt with a Hornet's Nest—Meets Kit Carson and Becomes the Owner of a Pony and a Gun
CHAPTER 2. Beginning of an Adventurous Life—First Wild Turkey— First Buffalo—First Feast as an Honored Guest of Indians—Dog Meat
CHAPTER 3. Hunting and Trapping in South Park, Where a Boy, Unaided, Kills and Scalps Two Indians—Meeting with Fremont, the "Path-finder"
CHAPTER 4. A Winter in North Park—Running Fight with a Band of Utes for More than a Hundred Miles, Ending Hand to Hand—Victory
CHAPTER 5. On the Cache-la-Poudre—Visit from Gray Eagle, Chief of the Arapahoes.—A Bear-hunter is Hunted by the Bear—Phil, the Cannibal
CHAPTER 6. Two Boys Ride to the City of Mexico—Eleven Hundred Miles of Trial, Danger and Duty—A Gift Horse—The Wind River Mountains
CHAPTER 7. A Three Days' Battle Between the Comanches and the Utes for the Possession of a "Hunter's Paradise"—An Unseasonable Bath.
CHAPTER 8. Kit Carson Kills a Hudson Bay Company's Trapper, Who Was Spoiling for a Fight—Social Good Time with a Train of Emigrants
CHAPTER 9. Marriage of Kit Carson—The Wedding Feast—Providing Buffalo Meat, in the Original Package, for the Boarding-house at Bent's Fort
CHAPTER 10. Robber Gamblers of San Francisco—Engaged by Col. Elliott as Indian Scout—Kills and Scalps Five Indians—Promoted to Chief Scout
CHAPTER 11. A Lively Battle with Pah-Utes—Pinned to Saddle with an Arrow—Some Very Good Indians—Stuttering Captain—Beckwith Opens His
Pass
CHAPTER 12—Col. Elliott Kills His First Deer, and Secures a Fine Pair of Horns as Present for His Father—Beckwith's Tavern— Society
CHAPTER 13—Something Worse than Fighting Indians Dance at Col. Elliott's—Conspicuous Suit of Buckskin I Manage to Get Back to Beckwith's
CHAPTER 14. Drilling the Detailed Scouts—-We Get Among the Utes— Four Scouts Have Not Reported Yet—Another Lively Fight—Beckwith Makes
a Raise
CHAPTER 15. A Hunt on Petaluma Creek—Elk Fever Breaks Out—The Expedition to Klamath Lake—A Lively Brush with Modoc Indians
CHAPTER 16. More Fish than I Had Ever Seen at One Time—We Surprise Some Indians, Who Also Surprise Us—The Camp at Klamath Lake—I Get
Another Wound and a Lot of Horses
CHAPTER 17. Discovery of Indians with Stolen Horses—We Kill the Indians and Return the Property to Its Owners—Meeting of Miners— In Society
Again
CHAPTER 18. Trapping on the Gila—The Pimas Impart a Secret— Rescue of a White Girl—A Young Indian Ages—Visit to Taos—Uncle Kit Fails to
Recognize Me
CHAPTER 19. A Warm Time in a Cold Country—A Band of Bannocks Chase Us Into a Storm that Saves Us—Kit Carson Slightly Wounded— Beckwith
Makes a Century Run
CHAPTER 20. Carson Quits the Trail—Buffalo Robes for Ten Cents— "Pike's Peak or Bust"—The New City of Denver—"Busted"—How the News
Started
CHAPTER 21. A Fight With the Sioux—Hasa, the Mexican Boy, Killed —Mixed Up With Emigrants Some More—Four New Graves—Successful
Trading With the Kiowas
CHAPTER 22. A Trip to Fort Kearney—The General Endorses Us and We Pilot an Emigrant Train to California—Woman Who Thought I Was "no
Gentleman"—A Camp Dance
CHAPTER 23. Bridger and West Give Christmas a High Old Welcome in Sacramento—California Gulch—Meeting with Buffalo Bill—Thirty- three
Scalps with One Knife
CHAPTER 24. Face to Face with a Band of Apaches—The Death of Pinto—The Closest Call I Ever Had—A Night Escape—Back at Fort Douglas
CHAPTER 25. Three Thousand Dead Indians—A Detective from Chicago —He Goes Home with an Old Mormon's Youngest Wife and Gets into
Trouble—The Flight
CHAPTER 26.—Through to Bannock—A Dance of Peace Fright of the Negroes—A Freight Train Snowed in and a Trip on Snow-shoes—Some Very
Tough Road Agents
CHAPTER 27. Organization of a Vigilance Committee—End of the Notorious Slade—One Hundred Dollars for a "Crow-bait" Horse— Flour a Dollar a
Pound.
CHAPTER 28. Twenty-two Thousand Dollars in Gold Dust—A Stage Robbery—Another Trip to California Meeting with Gen. Crook—Chief of Scouts
CHAPTER 29. Find Some Murdered Emigrants—We Bury the Dead and Follow and Scalp the Indians—Gen. Crook Is Pleased with the Outcome—A
Mojave Blanket
CHAPTER 30. A Wicked Little Battle—Capture of One Hundred and Eighty-two Horses—Discovery of Black Canyon—Fort Yuma and the PaymasterCHAPTER 31. To California for Horses—My Beautiful Mare, Black Bess—We Get Sixty-six Scalps and Seventy-eight Horses—A Clean Sweep
CHAPTER 32. Some Men Who Were Anxious for a Fight and Got It—Gen. Crook at Black Canyon—Bad Mistake of a Good Man—The Victims
CHAPTER 33. The Massacre at Choke Cherry Canyon—Mike Maloney Gets Into a Muss—Rescue of White Girls—Mike Gets Even with the Apaches
CHAPTER 34. Massacre of the Davis Family—A Hard Ride and Swift Retribution—A Pitiful Story—Burial of the Dead—I am Sick of the Business
CHAPTER 35. Black Bess Becomes Popular in San Francisco—A Failure as Rancher—Buying Horses in Oregon—The Klamath Marsh—Captain
Jack the Modoc
CHAPTER 36. The Modoc War—Gen. Wheaton Is Held Off by the Indians—Gen. Canby Takes Command and Gets It Worse-Massacre of the Peace
Commission
CHAPTER 37-The Cry of a Babe—Capture of a Bevy of Squaws— Treachery of Gen. Ross' Men in Killing Prisoners—Capture of the Modoc Chief
CHAPTER 38. Story of the Captured Braves—Why Captain Jack Deserted—Loathsome Condition of the Indian Stronghold—End of the War—Some
Comments
CHAPTER 39. An Interested Boy—Execution of the Modoc Leaders— Newspaper Messengers—A Very Sudden Deputy Sheriff—A Bad Man Wound
Up
CHAPTER 40. In Society Some More—A Very Tight Place—Ten Pairs of Yankee Ears—Black Bess Shakes Herself