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Woman on the American Frontier

W >> William Worthington Fowler >> Woman on the American Frontier




After wintering with their hospitable friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hinman pursued
their journey the following spring, and, after a toilsome march, attended
by no further startling incidents, reached their destination in Oregon.

There in their new home, which Mrs. H------, by her industry and
watchfulness, contributed so largely to make, they found ample scope for
the exercise of those qualities which they had proved themselves to
possess. It is men and women like these whom we must thank for building up
our empire on that far off coast.

The old hunters and gold-seekers in that region are the faithful
depositaries of the mountain legends respecting the adventures of the early
emigrants, and the observers and annotators, as it were, of the passages
made by the pioneers in later times. Around their camp fires at night, when
their repast is made and their pipes lighted, they beguile the lonely hours
with tales of dreadful suffering, or of hairbreadth escapes from danger, or
of heroism displayed by mountain wayfarers. This, as we have elsewhere
remarked, is the hunters' pastime.

While a hunting party were once threading the defiles of the mountain, they
espied below them in the valley certain suspicious signs. Approaching the
spot, they discovered that a train of emigrants had been attacked by the
savages, their wagons robbed, their oxen killed, a number of the party
massacred and scalped, and the rest dispersed.

One of the hunters proceeds with the story from this point.

"Thirsting for a speedy revenge, the men at once divided. With Augur-eye as
guide, I took command of the detachment who had to search the river bank;
the old Sergeant commanded the scouting party told off to cross the ford
and scour the timber on the right side of the river; whilst the third band
was appropriated to the Doctor. The weather was cold, and the sky, thickly
covered with fleecy clouds, foreboded a heavy fall of snow. The wind blew
in fitful gusts, and seemed to chill one's blood with its icy breath, as,
sweeping past, it went whistling and sighing up the glen. The rattle of the
horses' hoofs, as the receding parties galloped over the turf, grew fainter
and fainter, and when our little band halted on a sandy reach, about a mile
up the river, not a sound was audible, save the steady rhythm of the
panting horses and the noisy rattle of the stream, as, tumbling over the
craggy rocks, it rippled on its course. The 'Tracker' was again down; this
time creeping along upon the sand on his hands and knees, and deliberately
and carefully examining the marks left on its impressible surface, which,
to his practiced eye, were in reality letters, nay, even readable words and
sentences. As we watched this tardy progress in impatient silence,
suddenly, as if stung by some poisonous reptile, the Indian sprang upon his
legs, and, making eager signs for us to approach, pointing at the same time
eagerly to something a short distance beyond where he stood. A near
approach revealed a tiny hand and part of an arm pushed through the sand.

"At first we imagined the parent, whether male or female, had thus roughly
buried the child--a consolatory assumption which Augur-eye soon destroyed.
Scraping away the sand partially hiding the dead boy, he placed his finger
on a deep cleft in the skull, which told at once its own miserable tale.
This discovery clearly proved that the old guide was correct in his
readings, that the savages were following up the trail of the survivors. A
man who had escaped and just joined us, appeared so utterly terror-stricken
at this discovery, that it was with difficulty he could be supported on his
horse by the strong troopers who rode beside him. We tarried not for
additional signs, but pushed on with all possible haste. The trail was
rough, stony, and over a ledge of basaltic rocks, rendering progression not
only tedious but difficult and dangerous; a false step of the horse, and
the result might have proved fatal to the rider. The guide spurs on his
Indian mustang, that like a goat scrambles over the craggy track; for a
moment or two he disappears, being hidden by a jutting rock; we hear him
yell a sort of 'war-whoop,' awakening the echoes in the encircling hills;
reckless of falling, we too spur on, dash round the splintered point, and
slide rather than canter down a shelving bank, to reach a second
sand-beach, over which the guide is galloping and shouting. We can see the
fluttering garments of a girl, who is running with all her might towards
the pine trees; she disappears amongst the thick foliage of the underbrush
ere the guide can come up to her, but leaping from off his horse, he
follows her closely, and notes the spot wherein she has hidden herself
amidst a tangle of creeping vines and maple bushes. He awaited our coming,
and, motioning us to surround the place of concealment quickly, remained
still as a statue whilst we arranged our little detachment so as to
preclude any chance of an escape. Then gliding noiselessly as a reptile
through the bushes, he was soon hidden. It appeared a long time, although
not more than a few minutes had elapsed from our losing sight of him, until
a shrill cry told us something was discovered. Dashing into the midst of
the underbrush, a strange scene presented itself. The hardy troopers seemed
spell-bound, neither was I the less astonished.

"Huddled closely together, and partially covered with branches, crouched
two women and the little girl whose flight had led to this unlooked-for
discovery. In a state barely removed from that of nudity, the unhappy trio
strove to hide themselves from the many staring eyes which were fixed upon
them, not for the purpose of gratifying an indecent curiosity, but simply
because no one had for the moment realized the condition in which the
unfortunates were placed. Soon, however, the fact was evident to the
soldiers that the women were nearly unclad, and all honor to their rugged
goodness, they stripped off their thick topcoats, and throwing them to the
trembling females, turned every one away and receded into the bush. It was
enough that the faces of the men were white which had presented themselves
so unexpectedly. The destitute fugitives, assured that the savages had not
again discovered them, hastily wrapped themselves in the coats of the
soldiers, and, rushing out from their lair, knelt down, and clasping their
arms round my knees, poured out thanks to the Almighty for their
deliverance with a fervency and earnestness terrible to witness. I saw, on
looking round me, streaming drops trickling over the sunburnt faces of many
of the men, whose iron natures it was not easy to disturb under ordinary
circumstances.

"It was soon explained to the fugitives that they were safe, and as every
hour's delay was a dangerous waste of time, the rescued women and child
were as carefully clad in the garments of the men as circumstances
permitted, and placed on horses, with a hunter riding on either side to
support them. Thus reinforced, the cavalcade, headed by Augur-eye, moved
slowly back to the place where we had left the pack-train encamped, with
all the necessary supplies. I lingered behind to examine the place wherein
the women had concealed themselves. The boughs of the vine-maple, together
with other slender shrubs constituting the underbrush, had been rudely
woven together, forming, at best, but a very inefficient shelter from the
wind, which swept in freezing currents through the valley. Had it rained,
they must soon have been drenched, or if snow had fallen heavily, the
'wickey' house and its occupants soon would have been buried. How had they
existed? This was a question I was somewhat puzzled to answer.

"On looking round I observed a man's coat, pushed away under some branches,
and on the few smouldering embers by which the women had been sitting when
the child rushed in and told of our coming, was a small tin pot with a
cover on it, the only utensil visible. Whilst occupied in making the
discoveries I was sickened by a noisome stench, which proceeded from the
dead body of a man, carefully hidden by branches, grass, and moss, a short
distance from the little cage of twisted boughs. Gazing on the dead man a
suspicion too revolting to mention suddenly flashed upon me. Turning away
saddened and horror-stricken, I returned to the cage and removed the cover
from the saucepan, the contents of which confirmed my worst fears. Hastily
quitting the fearful scene, the like of which I trust never to witness
again, I mounted my horse and galloped after the party, by this time some
distance ahead.

"Two men and the guide were desired to find the spot where the scouting
parties were to meet each other, and to bring them with all speed to the
mule camp. It was nearly dark when we reached our destination, the sky
looked black and lowering, the wind appeared to be increasing in force, and
small particles of half-frozen rain drove smartly against our faces,
telling in pretty plain language of the coming snowfall. Warm tea, a good
substantial meal, and suitable clothes, which had been sent in case of need
by the officers' wives stationed at the 'Post,' worked wonders in the way
of restoring bodily weakness; but the shock to the mental system time alone
could alleviate. I cannot say I slept much during the night. Anxiety lest
we might be snowed in, and a fate almost as terrible as that from which we
had rescued the poor women, should be the lot of all, sat upon me like a
nightmare. More than this, the secret I had discovered seemed to pall every
sense and sicken me to the heart, and throughout the silent hours of the
dismal darkness I passed in review the ghostly pageant of the fight and all
its horrors, the escape of the unhappy survivors, the finding of the
murdered boy and starving women, and more than all--the secret I had rather
even now draw a veil over, and leave to the imagination."

A fugitive woman in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains is indeed an object of
pity; but when she boldly faces the dangers that surround her in such a
position, and succeeds by her courage, endurance, and ingenuity in holding
her own, and finally extricating herself from the perils by which she is
environed, she may fairly challenge our admiration. Such a woman was Miss
Janette Riker, who proved how strong is the spirit of self-reliance which
animates the daughters of the border under circumstances calculated to
daunt and depress the stoutest heart.

The Riker family, consisting of Mr. Riker, his two sons, and his daughter
Janette, passed through the Dacotah country in 1849, and late in September
had penetrated to the heart of the mountains in the territory now known as
Montana. Before pursuing their journey from this point to their destination
in Oregon, they encamped for three days in a well-grassed valley for the
purpose of resting their cattle, and adding to their stock of provisions a
few buffalo-humps and tongues.

On the second day after their arrival at this spot, the father and his two
sons set out on their buffalo hunt with the expectation of returning before
nightfall. But the sun set and darkness came without bringing them back to
the lonely girl, who in sleepless anxiety awaited their return all night
seated beneath the white top of the Conestoga wagon. At early dawn she
started on their trail, which she followed for several miles to a deep
gorge where she lost all trace of the wanderers, and was after a long and
unavailing search compelled in the utmost grief and distraction of mind, to
return to the camp.

For a week she spent her whole time in seeking to find some trace of her
missing kinsmen, but without success. As the lonely maiden gazed at the
mighty walls which frowned upon her and barred her egress east and west
from her prison-house, hope died away in her heart, and she prayed for
speedy death. This mood was but momentary; the love of life soon asserted
its power, and she cast about her for some means whereby she could either
extricate herself from her perilous situation, or at least prolong her
existence.

To attempt to find her way over the mountains seemed to her impossible. Her
only course was to provide a shelter against the winter, and stay where she
was until discovered by some passing hunters, or by Indians, whom she
feared less than an existence spent in such a solitude and surrounded by so
many dangers.

Axes and spades among the farming implements in the wagon supplied her with
the necessary tools, and by dint of assiduous labor, to which her frame had
long been accustomed, she contrived to build, in a few weeks, a rude hut of
poles and small logs. Stuffing the interstices with dried grass, and
banking up the earth around it, she threw over it the wagon-top, which she
fastened firmly to stakes driven in the ground, and thus provided a shelter
tolerably rain-tight and weather-proof.

Thither she conveyed the stoves and other contents of the wagon. The oxen,
straying through the valley, fattened themselves on the sweet grass until
the snow fell; she then slaughtered and flayed the fattest one, and cutting
up the carcase, packed it away for winter's use. Dry logs and limbs of
trees, brought together and chopped up with infinite labor, sufficed to
keep her in fuel. Although for nearly three months she was almost
completely buried in the snow, she managed to keep alive and reasonably
comfortable by making an orifice for the smoke to escape, and digging out
fuel from the drift which covered her wood-pile. Her situation was truly
forlorn, but still preferable to the risk of being devoured by wolves or
mountain lions, which, attracted by the smell of the slaughtered ox, had
begun to prowl around her shelter before the great snow fall, but were now
unable to reach her beneath the snowy bulwarks. She suffered more, however,
from the effect of the spring thaw which flooded her hut with water and
forced her to shift her quarters to the wagon, which she covered with the
cotton top, after removing thither her blankets and provisions. The valley
was overflowed by the melting of the snows, and for two weeks she was
unable to build a fire, subsisting on uncooked Indian meal and raw beef,
which she had salted early in the winter.

Late in April, she was found in the last stages of exhaustion, by a party
of Indians, who kindly relieved her wants and carried her across the
mountains with her household goods, and left her at the Walla Walla
station. This act on the part of the savages, who were a wild and hostile
tribe, was due to their admiration for the hardihood of the "young white
squaw," who had maintained herself through the rigors of the winter and
early spring in that awful solitude--a feat which, they said, none of their
own squaws would have dared perform. The fate of her father and brothers
was never ascertained, though it was conjectured that they had either lost
their way or had fallen from a precipice.

Miss Riker afterwards married, and, as a pioneer wife, found a sphere of
usefulness for which her high qualities of character admirably fitted her.

Among the most authentic histories of these bands of early pioneers which
undertook to make the passage of this region thirty years since, when it
involved such difficulties and dangers, is the following:

In the year 1846, soon after the commencement of the Mexican War, a party
of emigrants undertook to cross the Continent, with the intention of
settling on the Pacific coast. The party consisted of J. F. Reed, wife, and
four children; Jacob Donner, wife, and seven children; William Pike, wife,
and two children; William Foster, wife, and one child; Lewis Kiesburg;
wife, and one child; Mrs. Murphy, a widow woman, and five children; William
McCutcheon, wife, and one child; W. H. Eddy, wife, and two children;
W. Graves, wife, and eight children; Jay Fosdicks, and his wife; John
Denton, Noah James, Patrick Dolan, Samuel Shoemaker, C. F. Stanton, Milton
Elliot, ------ Smith, Joseph Rianhard, Augustus Spized, John Baptiste,
------ Antoine, ------ Herring, ------ Hallerin, Charles Burger, and Baylie
Williams, making a total of sixty-five souls, of whom ten were women, and
thirty-one were children.

Having supplied themselves with wagons, horses, cattle, provisions, arms,
ammunition, and other articles requisite for their enterprise, they set out
on their journey from the Mississippi, and, after a toilsome march of many
weeks across the prairies, they reached, late in the summer of that year,
the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains. Resting for a few days in a grassy
valley, and, gazing with wistful eyes on the mighty peaks which towered
beyond them, they girded up their loins for the novel toils and perils they
were soon to encounter, and pushed on, expecting to follow the great
military route which would conduct them, before the winter snows, to the
sunny slopes which are fanned by the breezes of the peaceful ocean.

They reached the Sweet-Water River, on the eastern side of the mountains,
late in August. While in camp there, they were induced, by the
representations of one Lansford W. Hastings, to take a new route to the
Pacific coast. Relying on the truth of these statements, and full of hope
that they would thus shorten their journey, they left the beaten track and
started onward through an unknown region. Long before they had reached the
valley of the Great Salt Lake, they began to encounter the greatest
difficulties. At one time they found themselves in a dense forest, and,
seeing no outlet or passage, were forced to cut their way through, making
only forty miles progress in thirty days.

In September, they were passing through the Utah Valley, since occupied by
the Mormons. Here death invaded their ranks, and removed Mr. Hallerin. This
and an accident to one of the wagons, detained them two days.

Pursuing their march, they were next forced to travel across a desert tract
without grass or water, and lost many cattle.

At this point of the journey, the gloomiest forebodings seized the stoutest
heart. They were in a rugged and desolate region, far from all hope of
succor, surrounded by hostile Indians, their cattle dying, and their stock
of provisions lessening rapidly, with the sad conviction hourly forcing
itself upon their minds, that they had been betrayed by one of their own
countrymen.

Some of the families had already been completely ruined by the loss of
their cattle and by being forced to abandon their goods and property. They
were in complete darkness as to the character of the road before them. To
retreat across the desert to Bridger, was impossible. There was no way left
to them but to advance; and this they now regarded as perilous in the
extreme. The cattle that survived were exhausted and broken down; but to
remain there was to die. Some of the men, broken by their toils and
sufferings, lay down and declared they might as well die there as further
on; others cursed the deception of which they had been the victims; others
uttered silent prayers, and then sought to raise the drooping spirits of
their comrades, and encourage them to press forward. Of these last were the
females of the party--wives, who never faltered in these hours of trial,
but sustained their husbands in their dark moods; and mothers, who fought
the dreadful battle, thinking more of their children than of themselves.

Once more the party resumed their journey, but only to meet fresh
disasters.

"Thirty-six head of working cattle were lost, and the oxen that survived
were greatly injured. One of Mr. Reed's wagons was brought to camp; and
two, with all they contained, were buried in the plain. George Donner lost
one wagon. Kiesburg also lost a wagon. The atmosphere was so dry upon the
plain, that the wood-work of all the wagons shrank to a degree that made it
next to impossible to get any of them through.

"Having yoked some loose cows, as a team for Mr. Reed, they broke up their
camp, on the morning of September 16th, and resumed their toilsome journey,
with feelings which can be appreciated by those only who have traveled the
road under somewhat similar circumstances. On this day they traveled six
miles, encountering a very severe snow storm. About three o'clock in the
afternoon, they met Milton Elliot and William Graves, returning from a
fruitless effort to find some cattle that had strayed away. They informed
them that they were in the immediate vicinity of a spring."

This spring they succeeded in reaching, and there they encamped for the
night. At the early dawn, on September 17th, they resumed their journey,
and, at four o'clock A. M. of the 18th, they arrived at water and grass,
some of their cattle having meanwhile perished, and the teams which
survived being in a very enfeebled condition. Here the most of the little
property which Mr. Reed still had was burned, or _cached_, together
with that of others. Mr. Eddy now proposed putting his team on Mr. Reed's
wagon, and letting Mr. Pike have his wagon so that the three families could
be taken on. This was done. They remained in camp during the day of the
18th, to complete these arrangements, and to recruit their exhausted
cattle.

The journey was continued, with scarcely any interruption or accident,
until the first of October, when some Indians stole a yoke of oxen from Mr.
Graves. Other thefts followed, and it became evident that the party would
suffer severely from the hostility of the Indians.

A large number of cattle were stolen or shot by the merciless marauders.
The women were kept in a perpetual state of alarm by the proximity of the
savages. Maternal love and anxiety for those thirty-one innocent children
now exposed to captivity and death at the hands of the prowling redskins,
made the lives of those unfortunate matrons one long, sad vigil. They could
meet death locked in the fastnesses of the mountains, or in the desolate
plain; they could even lay the remains of those dear to them, far from
home, in the darkest cañon of those terrible mountains, but the thought of
seeing their children torn from their embrace and borne into a barbarous
captivity, was too much for their woman's natures. The camp was the scene
of tears and mourning from an apprehension more dreadful even than real
sufferings.

The fear of starvation, also, at this stage in their journey, began to be
felt. An account was taken of their stock of provisions, and it was found
that they would last only a few weeks longer, and that only by putting the
party on allowances.

Here, again, the self-sacrificing spirit that woman always shows in hours
of trial, shone out with surpassing brightness. Often did those devoted
wives and mothers take from their own scanty portion to satisfy the
cravings of their husbands and children.

For some weeks after the 19th of October, 1846, the forlorn band moved
slowly on their course through those terrible mountains. Sometimes climbing
steeps which the foot of white man had never before scaled, sometimes
descending yawning cañons, where a single misstep would have plunged them
into the abyss hundreds of feet below. The winter fairly commenced in
October. The snow was piled up by the winds into drifts in some places
forty feet deep, through which they had to burrow or dig their way. A
sudden rise in the temperature converted the snow into slush, and forced
them to wade waist deep through it, or lie drenched to the skin in their
wretched camp.

One by one their cattle had given out, and their only supply of meat was
from the chance game which crossed their track. At last their entire stock
of provisions was exhausted, and they stood face to face with the grim
specter of starvation. They had now encamped in the mountains, burrowing in
the deep snow, or building rude cabins, which poorly sufficed to ward off
the biting blast, and every day their condition was growing more pitiable.

On the 4th of January, 1847, Mr. Eddy, seeing that all would soon perish
unless food were quickly obtained, resolved to take his gun and press
forward alone. He informed the party of his purpose. They besought him not
to leave them. But some of the women, recognizing the necessity of his
expedition, and excited by the feeble wails of their perishing children,
bade him God-speed. One of them, Mary Graves, who had shown an iron nerve
and endurance all through their awful march, insisted that she would
accompany him or perish. The two accordingly set forward. Mr. Eddy soon
afterwards had the good fortune to shoot a deer, and the couple made a
hearty meal on the entrails of the animal.

The next day several of the party came up with them, and feasted on the
carcass of the deer. Their number during the preceding night had again been
lessened by the death of Jay Fosdicks. The survivors, somewhat refreshed,
returned to their camp on the following day.

The Indians Lewis and Salvadore, being threatened with death by the
famished emigrants, had some days before stolen away. After the deer had
been consumed, and while Mr. Eddy's party were returning to camp, they fell
upon the tracks of these fugitives; Foster, who was at times insane through
his sufferings, followed the trail and overtook and killed them both. He
cut the flesh from their bones and dried it for future use. Mr. Eddy and a
few of the party, in their wanderings, at length reached an Indian village,
where their immediate sufferings were relieved.

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