The Bannacks, On The
Contrary, Were Encamped Among Fine Springs Of Water, Where There
Was Grass In Abundance.
Some of these springs gush out of the
earth in sufficient quantity to turn a mill; and furnish
beautiful streams, clear as crystal, and full of trout of a large
size, which may be seen darting about the transparent water.
Winter now set in regularly. The snow had fallen frequently, and
in large quantities, and covered the ground to a depth of a foot;
and the continued coldness of the weather prevented any thaw.
By degrees, a distrust which at first subsisted between the
Indians and the trappers, subsided, and gave way to mutual
confidence and good will. A few presents convinced the chiefs
that the white men were their friends; nor were the white men
wanting in proofs of the honesty and good faith of their savage
neighbors. Occasionally, the deep snow and the want of fodder
obliged them to turn their weakest horses out to roam in quest of
sustenance. If they at any time strayed to the camp of the
Bannacks, they were immediately brought back. It must be
confessed, however, that if the stray horse happened, by any
chance, to be in vigorous plight and good condition, though he
was equally sure to be returned by the honest Bannacks, yet it
was always after the lapse of several days, and in a very gaunt
and jaded state; and always with the remark that they had found
him a long way off. The uncharitable were apt to surmise that he
had, in the interim, been well used up in a buffalo hunt; but
those accustomed to Indian morality in the matter of horseflesh,
considered it a singular evidence of honesty that he should be
brought back at all.
Being convinced, therefore, from these, and other circumstances,
that his people were encamped in the neighborhood of a tribe as
honest as they were valiant, and satisfied that they would pass
their winter unmolested, Captain Bonneville prepared for a
reconnoitring expedition of great extent and peril. This was, to
penetrate to the Hudson's Bay establishments on the banks of the
Columbia, and to make himself acquainted with the country and the
Indian tribes; it being one part of his scheme to establish a
trading post somewhere on the lower part of the river, so as to
participate in the trade lost to the United States by the capture
of Astoria. This expedition would, of course, take him through
the Snake River country, and across the Blue Mountains, the
scenes of so much hardship and disaster to Hunt and Crooks, and
their Astorian bands, who first explored it, and he would have to
pass through it in the same frightful season, the depth of
winter.
The idea of risk and hardship, however, only served to stimulate
the adventurous spirit of the captain. He chose three companions
for his journey, put up a small stock of necessaries in the most
portable form, and selected five horses and mules for themselves
and their baggage.
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