Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XVIII We Move Camp. Crestfallen Trappers. Blackfoot Victims. Fur Company Traders. Hot Springs. Our Company Breaks up. Expedition to the Big Horn Mountains. We Stand off the Blackfeet. An Arrogant Leader and a Coward. The "Tartar Outfit." WE reached what is called Thousand Spring Valley after dark and unpacked, but kept all stock close. We built no fires and put up no lodges. By daylight we had packed and at two o'clock we reached Raft River. A short distance below smoke was discernible, which on investigation proved to be from a camp of seven Hudson Bay men, who were trapping. We soon had a feast prepared and invited these men to join us, for they looked hungry and crestfallen. Duranger, who was acquainted with them, asked the cause, and they replied that the Indians had stolen seven head of horses from them, leaving three, a number insufficient to pack their furs. These big companies treated their men like peons. They were poorly armed, and had but a scant supply of food. They had to depend on their own resources and live on what the country produced, which to them meant beaver meat and berries in season. The story of the Hudson Bay Company's treatment of their employees is too well known to be commented on, although I will say that if I had my choice between being a slave with some masters in Missouri or being a Hudson Bay employee, I would prefer the former. We gave each one of them an Indian pony, giving them a bill of sale, so that they could show their title to the "busware" (bourgeois = boss). We also traded seven more of the Indian ponies for furs, and advised them to leave this section, as the Indians would most likely follow us. And what chance would these men have, armed with a few old Hudson Bay flint-lock guns? They...