Trails of the Pathfinders

PREFACE Conditions and Terms of Use The chapters in this book appeared first as part of a Copyright © Heritage History 2010 series of articles under the same title contributed to Forest and Some rights reserved Stream several years ago. At the time they aroused much This text was produced and distributed by Heritage History, an interest and there was a demand that they should be put into organization dedicated to the preservation of classical juvenile history book form. books, and to the promotion of the works of traditional history authors. The books from which these accounts have been drawn The books which Heritage History republishes are in the public domain and are no longer protected by the original copyright. They may are good reading for all Americans. They are at once history therefore be reproduced within the United States without paying a royalty and adventure. They deal with a time when half the continent to the author. was unknown; when the West—distant and full of romance— The text and pictures used to produce this version of the work, held for the young, the brave and the hardy, possibilities that however, are the property of Heritage History and are subject to certain were limitless. restrictions. These restrictions are imposed for the purpose of protecting the integrity of the work, for preventing plagiarism, and for helping to assure The legend of the kingdom of El Dorado did not pass that compromised versions of the work are not widely disseminated. with the passing of the Spaniards. All through the eighteenth and a part of the nineteenth century it was recalled in another In order to preserve information regarding the origin of this text, a copyright by the author, and a Heritage History distribution date are sense by the fur trader, and with the discovery of gold in included at the foot of every page of text. We require all electronic and California it was heard again by a great multitude—and almost printed versions of this text include these markings and that users adhere to with its old meaning. the following restrictions. Besides these old books on the West, there are many 1. You may reproduce this text for personal or educational purposes as others which every American should read. They treat of that long as the copyright and Heritage History version are included. same romantic period, and describe the adventures of explorers, Indian fighters, fur hunters and fur traders. They are 2. You may not alter this text or try to pass off all or any part of it as your a part of the history of the continent. own work. New York, April, 1911. 3. You may not distribute copies of this text for commercial purposes. 4. This text is intended to be a faithful and complete copy of the original document. However, typos, omissions, and other errors may have occurred during preparation, and Heritage History does not guarantee a perfectly reliable reproduction. Permission to use Heritage History documents or images for commercial purposes, or more information about our collection of traditional history resources can be obtained by contacting us at [email protected]. Original Copyright 1911 by George Bird Grinnell. 2 Distributed by Heritage History 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS FREMONT—I .............................................................. 150 FREMONT—II ............................................................. 154 INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 4 FREMONT—III ........................................................... 158 ALEXANDER HENRY—I ................................................. 8 FREMONT—IV ........................................................... 163 ALEXANDER HENRY—II .............................................. 17 FREMONT—V ............................................................. 165 JONATHAN CARVER ..................................................... 25 ALEXANDER MACKENZIE—I ....................................... 35 ALEXANDER MACKENZIE—II ..................................... 41 ALEXANDER MACKENZIE—III ................................... 48 LEWIS AND CLARK—I ................................................. 55 LEWIS AND CLARK—II ................................................ 60 LEWIS AND CLARK—III .............................................. 66 LEWIS AND CLARK—IV .............................................. 70 LEWIS AND CLARK—V ................................................ 73 ZEBULON M. PIKE—I .................................................. 80 ZEBULON M. PIKE—II ................................................ 86 ZEBULON M. PIKE—III ............................................... 91 ALEXANDER HENRY THE YOUNGER—I ...................... 97 ALEXANDER HENRY THE YOUNGER—II ................... 103 ALEXANDER HENRY THE YOUNGER—III ................. 109 ROUTES OF SOME OF THE PATHFINDERS ROSS COX—I ............................................................. 115 ROSS COX—II ............................................................ 121 THE COMMERCE OF THE PRAIRIES—I ..................... 126 THE COMMERCE OF THE PRAIRIES—II .................... 130 SAMUEL PARKER ........................................................ 135 THOMAS J. FARNHAM—I .......................................... 142 THOMAS J. FARNHAM—II ......................................... 145 Original Copyright 1911 by George Bird Grinnell. 3 Distributed by Heritage History 2010 CHAPTER I until, at length, the British owned all the settlements in eastern temperate America. The white men still clung chiefly to the seacoast, and it was in western Pennsylvania that the French INTRODUCTION and Indians defeated Braddock in 1755, George Washington being an officer under his command. Three centuries ago half a dozen tiny hamlets, peopled by white men, were scattered along the western shores of the A little later came the war of the Revolution, and a new North Atlantic Ocean. These little settlements owed allegiance people sprang into being in a land a little more than two to different nations of Europe, each of which had thrust out a hundred and fifty years known. This people, teeming with hand to grasp some share of the wealth which might lie in the energy, kept reaching out in all directions for new things. As unknown wilderness which stretched away from the seashore they increased in numbers they spread chiefly in the direction toward the west. of least resistance. The native tribes were easier to displace than the French, who held forts to the north, and the Spanish, The "Indies" had been discovered more than a hundred who possessed territory to the south; and the temperate climate years before, but though ships had sailed north and ships had toward the west attracted them more than the cold of the north sailed south, little was known of the land, through which men or the heat of the south. So the Americans pushed on always to were seeking a passage to share the trade which the the setting sun, and their early movements gave truth to Portuguese, long before, had opened up with the mysterious Bishop Berkeley's famous line, written long before and in an East. That passage had not been found. To the north lay ice altogether different connection, "Westward the course of and snow, to the south—vaguely known—lay the South Sea. empire takes its way." The Mississippi was reached, and little What that South Sea was, what its limits, what its relations to villages, occupied by Frenchmen and their half-breed children, lands already visited, were still secrets. began to change, to be transformed into American towns. Yet St. Augustine had been founded in 1565; and forty in 1790, ninety-five percent of the population of the United years later the French made their first settlement at Port Royal States was on the Atlantic sea-board. in what is now Nova Scotia. In 1607 Jamestown was settled; Now came the Louisiana Purchase, and immediately and a year later the French established Quebec. The Pilgrims after that the expedition across the continent by Meriwether landed in Massachusetts in 1620 and the first settlement of the Lewis and William Clark. The trip took two years' time, and Dutch on the island of Manhattan was in 1623. All these the reports brought back by the intrepid explorers, telling the settlers establishing themselves in a new country found wonderful story of what lay in the unknown beyond, greatly enough to do in the struggle to procure subsistence, to protect stimulated the imagination of the western people. Long before themselves from the elements and from the attacks of enemies, this it had become known that the western ocean—the South without attempting to discover what lay inland—beyond the Sea of an earlier day—extended north along the continent, and sound of the salt waves which beat upon the coast. Not until that there was no connection here with India. It was known, later was any effort made to learn what lay in the vast interior. too, that the Spaniards occupied the west coast. In 1790, Time went on. The settlements increased. Gradually Umfreville said: "That there are European traders settled men pushed farther and farther inland. There were wars; and among the Indians from the other side of the continent is one nation after another was crowded from its possessions, without doubt. I, myself, have seen horses with Roman Original Copyright 1911 by George Bird Grinnell. 4 Distributed by Heritage History 2010 capitals burnt in their flanks with a hot iron. I likewise once what they were doing; to imagine what it was that should saw a hanger with Spanish words engraved

Load more