168 THE STORY OF THE TRAPPER 



fame, might cast off civilization and become Indian 

 chiefs; but, after all, these men were not guilty of half 

 so hideous crimes as the great fur companies of boasted 

 respectability. Wyeth of Boston, and Captain Bonne- 

 ville of the army, whose underlings caused such mur 

 derous slaughter among the Eoot Diggers, were not 

 free trappers in the true sense of the term. Wyeth 

 was an enthusiast who caught the fever of the wilds; 

 and Captain Bonneville, a gay adventurer, whose men 

 shot down more Indians in one trip than all the free 

 trappers of America shot in a century. As for the des 

 perado Harvey, whom Larpenteur reports shooting In 

 dians like dogs, his crimes were committed under the 

 walls of the American Fur Company s fort. MacLel- 

 lan and Crooks and John Day before they joined the 

 Astorians and Boone and Carson and Colter, are 

 names that stand for the true type of free trapper. 



The free trapper went among the Indians with no 

 defence but good behaviour and the keenness of his wit. 

 Whatever crimes the free trapper might be guilty of 

 towards white men, he was guilty of few towards the 

 Indians. Consequently, free trappers were all through 

 Minnesota and the region westward of the Mississippi 

 forty years before the fur companies dared to venture 

 among the Sioux. Fisher and Fraser and Woods knew 

 the Upper Missouri before 180G ; and Brugiere had been 

 on the Columbia many years before the Astorians came 

 in 1811. 



One crime the free trappers may be charged with 

 a reckless waste of precious furs. The great companies 

 always encouraged the Indians not to hunt more game 

 than they needed for the season s support. And no In 

 dian hunter, uncorrupted by white men, would molest 



