Chapter 19

19.

Precautions in dangerous defiles Trappers' mode of defence on a

prairie A mysterious visitor Arrival in Green River Valley

Adventures of the detachments The forlorn partisan His tale

of disasters.

AS the route of Captain Bonneville lay through what was

considered the most perilous part of this region of dangers, he

took all his measures with military skill, and observed the

strictest circumspection. When on the march, a small scouting

party was thrown in the advance to reconnoitre the country

through which they were to pass. The encampments were selected

with great care, and a watch was kept up night and day. The

horses were brought in and picketed at night, and at daybreak a

party was sent out to scour the neighborhood for half a mile

round, beating up every grove and thicket that could give shelter

to a lurking foe. When all was reported safe, the horses were

cast loose and turned out to graze. Were such precautions

generally observed by traders and hunters, we should not so often

hear of parties being surprised by the Indians.

Having stated the military arrangements of the captain, we may

here mention a mode of defence on the open prairie, which we have

heard from a veteran in the Indian trade. When a party of

trappers is on a journey with a convoy of goods or peltries,

every man has three pack-horses under his care; each horse laden

with three packs. Every man is provided with a picket with an

iron head, a mallet, and hobbles, or leathern fetters for the

horses. The trappers proceed across the prairie in a long line;

or sometimes three parallel lines, sufficiently distant from each

other to prevent the packs from interfering. At an alarm, when

there is no covert at hand, the line wheels so as to bring the

front to the rear and form a circle. All then dismount, drive

their pickets into the ground in the centre, fasten the horses to

them, and hobble their forelegs, so that, in case of alarm, they

cannot break away. Then they unload them, and dispose of their

packs as breastworks on the periphery of the circle; each man

having nine packs behind which to shelter himself. In this

promptly-formed fortress, they await the assault of the enemy,

and are enabled to set large bands of Indians at defiance.

The first night of his march, Captain Bonneville encamped upon

Henry's Fork; an upper branch of Snake River, called after the

first American trader that erected a fort beyond the mountains.

About an hour after all hands had come to a halt the clatter of

hoofs was heard, and a solitary female,