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Journal of a Trapper: In the Rocky Mountains Between 1834 and 1843 PDF

251 Pages·2004·6.418 MB·English
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Preview Journal of a Trapper: In the Rocky Mountains Between 1834 and 1843

J T OURNAL OF A RAPPER IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS BETWEEN 1834 AND 1843 COMPRISING A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, CLIMATE, RIVERS, LAKES, MOUNTAINS, ETC THE NATURE AND HABITS OF ANIMALS, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF INDIANS AND A COMPLETE VIEW OF THE LIFE LED BY A HUNTER IN THOSE REGIONS. By Osborne Russell Edited by Aubrey L. Haines The Narrative Press TrueFirstPersonAccountsofHighAdventure I envy no man that knows more than myself and pity them that know less . . . Sir. T. Brown The Narrative Press P.O. Box 2487, Santa Barbara, California 93120 U.S.A. Telephone: (805) 884-0160 Web: www.narrativepress.com ©Copyright 2001 by The Narrative Press All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN 1-58976-052-2 (Paperback) ISBN 1-58976-053-0 (eBook) Produced in the United States of America EDITOR’S PREFACE The Journal of a Trapper is perhaps the best account of the life of a fur trapper in the Rocky Mountains when the trade there was at its peak. It is a factual, unembellished narrative written by one who was not only a trapper but also a keen observer and an able writer. Both of the pub- lished editions1 have been out of print for some time and unavailable except in a few library reference rooms, so that this valuable source book is neither as well known nor as much used as it should be. The objective in preparing this edition has been not only to make the journal available to students and readers but also to give it better editorial treatment. The biographi- cal material has been expanded considerably through research into the later life of Osborne Russell, and maps have been added to show his travels while a trapper. The journal and its appendix are presented here just as written by Russell; his arrangement, punctuation, spelling and cap- italization have been followed as closely as the difficult chirography allowed. Footnotes and an index have been added to increase the reference value of the work. Actually, my interest in the Journal of a Trapper stems from the need for a footnote. While reading casually in it I came upon a pencilled note, concerning “Twenty-five Yard River,” which I found on the margin of a page. Someone 1. L. A. York, editor. The 1914 and 1921 editions appeared under the title ofJ our- nal of a trapper, or, Nine years in the Rocky Mountains: 1834-1848. 2 — OSBORNE RUSSELL had written “Shield’s River?” To me it was so apparent that they were the same that I was surprised by the former reader’s uncertainty, and, to be sure in my own mind, I took a map and plotted Russell’s track over the Yellowstone Pla- teau, by the courses, distances and landmarks given in his journal. In that area where I had traveled much by car, on horseback and afoot, I found his description checked remarkably well with the country as I knew it. Several years later, while taking a course in Pacific Northwest History under Dr. Paul C. Phillips at Montana State University, I mentioned the map I had made of a por- tion of Osborne Russell’s wanderings while a trapper. He suggested that I make a map for the entire period covered by the journal. In that manner the ten maps which appear in this book as “Osborne Russell’s Travels” had their begin- ning. But Dr. Phillips did not let the matter rest there; he also urged me to edit a new edition of the Journal of a Trapper, a work which was begun with the proper misgiv- ings. Of course the editing could not be done adequately without the original manuscript and attempts to locate it were, for a time, unsuccessful. Inquiry was first made of L. A. York, who edited and published the journal previously, but he claimed to have sold the manuscript to Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach, of Philadelphia, soon after publishing the sec- ond edition in 1921. Correspondence with the Rosenbach Company failed to reveal the transaction or any clues to the disposition of the manuscript. At that point I fortunately told Mr. David C. Duniway, Archivist of the Oregon State Library, of my failure. He reasoned that a resale was made by Dr. Rosenbach to one of the two men then diligently collecting such manuscripts, and a check of the William JOURNAL OF A TRAPPER — 3 Robertson Coe Collection of Western Americana in the Yale University Library established the fact that the origi- nal manuscript of Journal of a Trapper was there. A micro- film of the original manuscript and related papers, made available by the Yale University Library Committee with their kind permission to publish from it, is the basis of this work. It is my hope that this presentation of Osborne Russell’s excellent journal will prove interesting to the casual reader and yet be adequate for the needs of the scholar. Aubrey L. Haines Longmire, Washington. November 23, 1953. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The work of editing the Journal of a Trapper was often difficult, but I am sure it would have been infinitely more so, or even impossible, without the generous help of many persons. Dr. Phillips made the suggestion which led me to undertake it in the first place, and his help and encourage- ment has been vital in bringing it to a conclusion. To Mr. Duniway I owe a debt of gratitude for locating the original manuscript, and also for his assistance in searching the records of the Provisional Government of Oregon. I am also indebted to the Library Committee of Yale University Library for permission to publish from the original manu- script. The facilities of a number of libraries were used, among which special mention must be made of the Montana State University Library at Missoula; the University of Washing- ton Library at Seattle; the Oregon Historical Society Library at Portland; the Oregon State Library at Salem; the Pacific University Library at Forest Grove, Oregon; and the public libraries of Missoula, Montana; Tacoma, Wash- ington; and Portland, Oregon. In addition, correspondence with the Library of Congress, the Free Library of Philadel- phia, and the California State Library at Sacramento, was of material assistance. I must also mention the helpfulness of Superintendent David L. Hieb, of Fort Laramie National Monument, who, by giving me access to unpublished JOURNAL OF A TRAPPER — 5 material and through conversations and correspondence, did much to clarify obscure points. Lastly, among those whose help I acknowledge, is that of my wife Wilma. She has been typist, proof-reader, and consultant, working patiently with micro-films, rough drafts and revisions; and, throughout, her enthusiasm and faith has been that of an author. INTRODUCTION The author of Journal of a Trapper is not nearly so well known as his priceless book. He was more than a trapper or a mere journalist, for out of the adventurous years he so faithfully records emerged a mature man of high character and good works who should not be forgotten. Osborne Russell was born June 19, 1814,2 at the little village of Bowdoinham, Maine, on the estuary of the Ken- nebec River. He was one of nine children in the family of George G. and Eleanor (Power) Russell; a family which had New Hampshire roots. Osborne’s boyhood was proba- bly typical of the Maine farmboy of that day, and there is no doubt the environment was a wholesome one, for, despite the limited schooling which Russell mentions, he developed into an able young man of good morals and sound judgment. According to his great-nephew, L. A. York, Russell ran away to sea at the age of 16 but soon gave up that career by deserting his ship at New York, after which he spent three years in the service of what was called the Northwest Fur Trapping and Trading Company, operat- ing in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Nothing else is known of him until he joined Wyeth’s expedition to the Rocky Mountains and the mouth of the Columbia River in 1834. Nathaniel J. Wyeth had become interested in colonizing the Oregon country, and in the business possibilities there, 2. “Hallowell, Maine, Vital Records,” Vol. I (Births), p. 255. JOURNAL OF A TRAPPER — 7 through the influence of Hall J. Kelley, a one-time Boston school teacher. After years of effort, Kelley succeeded in 1831 in organizing the Oregon Colonization Society, to which Wyeth agreed to attach himself with a company which he would raise. Kelley’s plans for an overland expe- dition to Oregon failed, but Wyeth went ahead and led his party across the country in 1882 along the route which later became the Oregon Trail. The first expedition was pushed with the resourceful- ness characteristic of Wyeth, but inexperience, desertion, sickness and the loss of his supply ship, the Sultana, on a South American reef, completely defeated his efforts. Wyeth returned home empty-handed, but with new plans and a contract to deliver $3,000 worth of supplies to Milton Sublette and Thomas Fitzpatrick, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, at the rendezvous of 1834. He hoped in that manner to partially finance a second expedition to the Ore- gon country, where he intended to establish a salmon-fish- ing and fur-trading enterprise. Wyeth was joined in the venture by three Boston merchants and the Columbia River Fishing and Trading Company was formed. Again a vessel laden with trade goods and supplies was dispatched to the mouth of the Columbia River, to meet an overland expedition which would, enroute, transport the supplies contracted for by the Rocky Mountain Fur Com- pany. The men of this “second expedition” were recruited on the frontier at St. Louis and Independence, Missouri. Among those who joined at the latter place, was Osborne Russell who agreed to serve the Columbia River Fishing and Trading Company eighteen months for a wage of $250.3 Thus, he entered the Rocky Mountain fur trade as an inexperienced hand, but he entered it with an enthusi- 8 — OSBORNE RUSSELL asm which illuminates the opening page of the journal he so fortunately began to keep. When the overland party arrived at the rendezvous on Ham’s Fork of Green River, Wyeth found the Rocky Mountain Fur Company dissolved and a new company formed. As a consequence, the agreement to bring out sup- plies was not fully honored, so that Wyeth was left with much of the freight on his hands. The decision of the part- ners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company to escape their financial obligations through reorganization was the result of a period of fierce competition with the American Fur Company. The brigades of that company were determined interlopers and they hung on the tracks of the Rocky Mountain men with the intention of learning where lay the best trapping grounds, but the latter were as determined to lead the newcomers a fruitless chase. Neither company profited from the struggle and the Rocky Mountain men were brought to the verge of ruin so that they came to the rendezvous without the fur to pay the wages of their men. The easiest way out of financial embarrassment was to default on the contract with Wyeth, who had to alter his plans to rescue his own enterprise. Accordingly, Wyeth proposed to build a fort on the plains of Snake River and enter into the fur trade with the goods which the Rocky Mountain men did not take. The fort was soon built and named for Henry Hall, one of the partners of the Company, and was left in the care of a garri- son of twelve men, among whom was Osborne Russell. The late summer passed with nothing to ease the monotony of completing the rude post except occasional 3. Account-books of Fort Hall, 1884-1837, Ledger No. 1, “John Russell in acct Cur- rent with the C.R.F. & Trading Co.”, pp. 13-14. Although Russell says he joined on April 4, 1834, his wage was computed as beginning on April 19.

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