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—Expedition is 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 Susu-Ceicha—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 Toll-bridges—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 “One-horse” 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. The Sioux Nation—Cause of their Hatred for the Whites—A Chief of the Brûlé Sioux tells a Story—The Scarred-Arms—Story of the Six Sioux and the Mysterious Woman—The Place of the Death Song—Wa-shu-pa and Ogallalla—Indian Fight at Ash Hollow—Indian Tradition of a Flood.
CHAPTER XIII. THE CROWS. The Crows—Council at Fort Philip Kearny in July, 1866—A-ra-poo-ash—Jim Beckwourth in a Fight between Crows and Blackfeet—Beckwourth and the Great Medicine Kettle—The Missionary and the Crows—The Legend of the Blind Men—The Pis-kun.
CHAPTER XIV. FOLK-LORE OF BLACKFEET. Folk-lore of Blackfeet—The Lost Children—The Wolf-Man—The Utes—Massacre of Major Thornburgh's Command on the White River—The Great Chief Ouray—Piutes—Their Theories of the Heavens—The Big Medicine Springs—Closed Hand—Man afraid of his Horses—No Knife—Sitting Bull—Spotted Tail.
CHAPTER XV. SIOUX WAR OF 1863. Sioux War of 1863—Spotted Tail—George P. Belden's Account—Sergeants Hiles and Rolla—Belden and Nelson have an Adventure—Belden maps the Country—Guarding Ben Holliday's Coaches—An Involuntary Highwayman—Capturing Sioux at Gilman's Ranch—Morrow's Ranch—Bentz and Wise—Attack on the Ambulance—Peace Commission—Massacre of Colonel Fetterman's Command at Fort Phil Kearny.
CHAPTER XVI. BUFFALO BILL'S ADVENTURES. Buffalo Bill's Adventures on the Salt Lake Trail—In Charge of a Herd of Beef Cattle—Kills an Indian—With Lew Simpson—Held up—Attacked at Cedar Bluffs—A Brush with Sioux—The Print of a Woman's Shoe—Capture a Village—Buffalo Bill shoots Tall Bull.
CHAPTER XVII. MASSACRE OF CUSTER'S COMMAND. Buffalo Bill's Adventures continued—Hunting at Fort McPherson—Indians steal his Favourite Pony—The Chase—Scouting under General Duncan—Pawnee Sentries—A Deserted Squaw—A Joke on McCarthy—Scouting for Captain Meinhold—Texas Jack—Buckskin Joe—Sitting Bull and the Indian War of 1876—Massacre of Custer and his Command—Buffalo Bill takes the First Scalp for Custer—Yellow Hand, Son of Cut Nose—Carries Despatches for Terry—Good-by to the General.
CHAPTER XVIII. IN A TRAPPER'S BIVOUAC. Around the Camp-fire in a Trapper's Bivouac—Telling Stories of the Old Trail—Old Hatcher's Trip to the Infernal Regions—Colonel Cody's Story of California Joe—A Practical Joke.
CHAPTER XIX. KIT CARSON ON THE YELLOWSTONE. More Stories of the Trail—Frazier and the Bear—An Indian Elopement—The Ogallallas and the Brûlés—Chaf-fa-ly-a—Kit Carson on the Yellowstone—Battle with the Blackfeet—Carson, Bridger, and Baker on the Platte—Jim Cockrell—Peg Leg Smith.
CHAPTER XX. BUILDING THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD. The Story of the Building of the Union Pacific Railroad—Extract from General Sherman's Memoirs—General Dodge's Description of the Country when he first saw it—Explorations for a Route—Conference with President Lincoln—Location of the Military Post of D. A. Russell and the Town of Cheyenne—Driving the Last Spike.
FOOTNOTES.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION.
CHAPTER I. EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS.
As early as a hundred and thirty-five years ago, shortly after England had acquired the Canadas, Captain Jonathan Carver, who had been an officer in the British provincial army, conceived the idea of fitting out an expedition to cross the continent between the forty-third and forty-sixth degrees of north latitude. His intention was to measure the breadth of North America at its widest part, and to find some place on the Pacific coast where his government might establish a military post to facilitate the discovery of a “northwest passage,” or a line of communication between Hudson's Bay and the Pacific Ocean.
In 1774 he was joined in his proposed scheme by Mr. Richard Whitworth, a member of the British Parliament, and a man of great wealth. Their plan was to form a company of fifty or sixty men, and with them to travel up one of the forks of the Missouri River, explore the mountains, and find the source of the Oregon. They intended to sail down that stream to its mouth, erect a fort, and build vessels
