Tfaik of the PatWinciefS.-XXVIlI. 
*rhottia4 j. Faroliami 
A CURIOUS little book, the title page of which bears 
the date 1841, is Thomas J. Farnham's, Travels in the 
Great Western Prairies, The Anahuac and Rocky 
Mountains, And in The Oregon Territory. It was 
published in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., by Killey & Lossing, 
printers. It contains nearly two hundred pages, and 
is printed in very fine type, and on thin paper, with 
small margins; so that in fact it looks more like a tract 
than a volume. Yet it contains about a hundred and 
twenty thousand words. 
Its title indicates the character of the book. It is 
the narrative of a journey made in order to obtain "a 
view of the Great Prairie Wilderness, the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and the sweet vales of the Oregon Territory." 
Farnham was one of a party of fourteen men who 
left Peoria, III, on the first day of May, 1839. The 
company was followed by a wagon containmg their 
provisions, ammunition, and other baggage, and each 
man carried "a rifle swung at his back;^a powder horn, 
bullet pouch and long knife at his side." 
Their way westward was marked by no adventure, 
except the usual ones of travel on the prairie; but at 
Quincy the author met Joe Smith, Jr., the father of the 
Mormon prophet, and he interrupts his narrative to 
give a somewhat extended account of Mormonism, and 
tile history of the Latter Day Saints, up to that time. 
From Quincy they passed on to Independence, Mo., 
twenty days out from their starting point. Here the 
travelers beheld a sight novel to them— the breaking 
'of green mules to harness; and after some time devoted 
to loitering about Independence, and making prepara- 
tions for their journey, which was henceforth to be 
far from the settlements, they started westward m a 
.storm. 
Farnham's party followed the track of the Santa Fe 
traders, and, like others who passed over this road, 
they met with the Kauzaus (Kansas) Indians, whom 
they saw and wondered at. Early in the trip, near the 
Osage River, the members of Farnham's company be- 
gan to weary of prairie life, and three of his best men 
determined to return to the "States," and left him. The 
journey continued along the Santa Fe trail, but pro- 
visions began to grow short. Game was seen from 
time to time, but none was killed. Continual storms 
drenched the traders, wet their packs and their ropes, 
and made life more or less of a burden to them. At 
last, however, in the latter half of June, they came to 
the buiTalo range, overtaking there a party of Santa 
Buffalo liow began to be found, and the pacty killed 
their first one, ''a noble bull; a mountain of flesh 
weighing at least three thousand pounds." This re- 
lieved their necessities, but they were anxious, because 
of the prospect of soon meeting Indians— Caws, Paw- 
nees or Comanches, or all three. And now, to make 
things worse, one of the men of the party accidentally 
shot himself with his own rifle. For a day or two he 
was carried in one of the wagons belonging to the 
Santa Fe caravan, but presently Farnham's party turned 
off from this trail, and then the wounded man was 
obliged either to ride a horse or travel m a litter. Ex- 
periment soon showed, however, that the last method 
of traveling was impracticable, and it was necessary 
for the man to ride. His wound became inflamed and 
painful, but the constant care of the author made life 
much easier for the wounded man. "June 23d, the 
buffalo were more numerous than ever. They were ranged 
in long lines from the eastern to the western horizon. 
The bulls were forty or fifty yards in advance of the 
bands of cows, to which they severally intended to 
give protection. And as the moving embankment of 
wagons, led by an advanced guard, and flanked by 
horsemen riding slowly from front to rear, and guarded 
in the rear by my men, made its majestic way_ along, 
these fiery cavaliers would march each to his own 
band of dames and misses, with an air that seemed to 
'^ay, 'we are here'; and then back again to their lines, 
with great apparent satisfaction, that they were able 
to do battle for their sweet ones and their native plains. 
Farnham says that during three days they passed over 
a country so completely covered by buffalo that it ap- 
peared often times dangerous even for the immense 
cavalcade of the Santa Fe traders to attempt to break 
its way through them. He figures that they traveled 
over 1,350 square miles of territory so thickly covered 
Nvith buffalo that, when viewed from a height, if scarcely 
L.fforded a sight of a square league of its surface. Soon 
ter this, disaffection showed itself m the ranks of 
arnham's company, and it was proposed to abandon 
the wounded man; the mutineers declaring that he 
would die in any event, and that it was not worth while 
to delay the whole party to await that event. 
Now, too, a jealousy as to the command ^rose. i here 
as a bully who determined to frighten Farnham mto 
abdicating the leadership of the party m his favor. 
\t last they reached Fort Wilham, or Bents tort, 
oil the Arkansas, and on account of the differences 
which had sorung up within the party,_ it was decided 
to disband here. The property owned m common was 
to be uivided up among the- members of the expedition 
and they were to go their several ways. As it turned 
out, Farnham and a few others went on together. Be- 
fore proceeding to speak of their adventures further, 
let us read the author's quaint description of the plains 
country as he saw it sixty-three years ago; and then 
compare it with the same region as it is seen to-day 
by the overland traveler who passes from any of the 
Mississippi cities of 1905, riding behind the iron horse, 
to the shores of the Pacific Ocean He saysj^ . 
"The tract of country to which I have, thought it 
fitting to apply the name oi the 'Great Praine Wilder- 
ness,^ embraces the territory lyiiig between the States 
of Louisiana. Arkansas and M^ssoiin ^nf,, f^^^PP^^ 
Mississippi on the east, and the Black Hills, and the 
eastern ?ange of the Rocky and the Cordrileras Moun- 
tains on the west. One thousand miles of longitude, 
and two thousand miles of latitude, equal to 2,ooo,cx>o 
square miles, equal to 1,280,000,000 of acres of an ai- 
mest unbroken plain! The portion of this vast region 
PORESf AND STREAM. 
181 
M) fliiles ill width, aiottg thb to&si of TeMS, atid tiie 
frontier of the States bf Louisiana, Arkansas and Mis- 
souri, and that lyiiig within the same distance of the 
upper Mississippi, in the Iowa Territory, possfes a rich, 
deep alluvial soil, capable of producing the most aburi- 
dant crops of the grains, vegetables, etc., that grow iti 
such latitudes 
"Another portion lying west of the irregular western 
line of that just described, 500 miles in width, extending 
from the mouth of St. Peter's River to the Rio del 
Norte, is an almost unbroken plain, destitute of trees, 
save here and there one scattered at intervals of many 
miles along the banks of the streams. The soil, except 
the intervals of some of the Rivers, is composed of 
coarse sand and clay so thin and hard that it is difficult 
for travelers to penetrate it with the stakes they carry 
with them wherewithal to fasten their animals or spread 
their tents. Nevertheless it is covered thickly with an 
extremely nutritious grass peculiar to this region of 
country, the blades of which are wiry and about two 
inches in height. 
"The remainder of this Great Wilderness lying 300 
miles in width along the Eastern Radices of the Black 
Hills and that part of the Rocky Mountains between 
the Platte and the Arkansas, and the Cordilleras range 
east of the Rio del Norte, is the arid waste usually 
called the 'Great American Desert.' Its soil is com- 
posed of coarse dark gravel mixed with sand. Some 
small portions of it, on the banks of the streams, are 
covered with tall prairie and bunch grass; others, with 
the various kinds of prickly pear; others, with wild 
wormwood; but even these kinds of vegetation decrease 
and finally disappear as you approach the mountains. A 
scene of desolation scarcely equaled on the continent is 
this, when viewed in the dearth of midsummer from the 
bases of the hills. Above you rise in sublime confusion, 
mass upon mass, of shattered cliffs through which are 
struggling the dark foliage of the stinted shrub-cedars; 
while below you spreads far and wide the burnt and 
arid desert, whose solemn silence is seldom broken by 
the tread of any other animal than the wolf or the 
starved and thirsty horse that bears the traveler across 
its wastes. The principal streams that intersect the 
great prairie wilderness are the Colorado, the Brasos, 
Trinity, Red, Arkansas, Great Platte and the Missouri. 
The latter is in many respects a noble stream. Not 
so much so indeed for the intercourse it opens be- 
tween the States and the plains, as the theatre of agri- 
culture and the other pursuits of a densely populated 
and distant interior; for these plains are too barren for 
general cultivation. But as a channel for the trans- 
portation of heavy artillery, military stores, troops, 
etc., to posts that must ultimately be establishel along 
our northern frontier, it will be of the highest use. 
In the months of April, May and June it is navigable 
for steamboats to the Great Falls; but the scarcity of 
water during the remainder of the year, as well as the 
scarcity of wood and coal along its banks, its steadily 
rapid current, its tortuous course, its falling banks, 
timber imbedded in the mud of its channel, and its con- 
stantly shifting sand bars, will ever prevent its waters 
from being extensively navigated, how great soever 
may be the demand for it. On that part of it which 
lies above the mouth of the Little Missouri and the 
tributaries flowing into it on either side, are said to 
be many charming and productive valleys, separated 
from each other by secondary rocky ridges sparsely 
covered with evergreen trees; and high over all, _ far 
in the southwest, west and northwest, tower into 
view, the ridges of the Rocky Mountains, whose in- 
exhaustible magazines of ice and snow have from age 
to age supplied these valleys with refreshing springs — 
and the Missouri, the Great Platte, the Columbia, and 
Western Colorado rivers with their tribute to the seas." 
"Fort William," he says, "is owned by three brothers 
by the name of Bent, from St. Louis. Two of them 
were at the post when we arrived there. They seemed 
to be thoroughly initiated into Indian life; dressed 
like chiefs; in moccasins, thoroughly garnished with 
beads and porcupine quills; in trousers of deerskin, 
with long fringes of the same extending along the 
outer seam from the ankle to the hip; in the splendid 
hunting shirt of the same material, with sleeves fringed 
on the elbow-seam from the wrist to the shoulder, and 
ornamented with figures of porcupine quills of various 
colors, and leathern fringe around the lower edge of 
the body. And chiefs they were in the authority ex- 
ercised in their wild and lonely fortress." 
The country in which the fort was situated was then 
the common hunting ground of several buffalo tribes, 
unfriendly alike to one another and the whites. The 
Utaws and Cheyennes, the Pawnees and the Comanches 
gather here in summer to hunt the buffalo; and thus, in 
the neighborhood of the post, there might be from fifteen 
to twenty thousand savages, 'ready and panting for 
plunder and blood.'. If the Indians engaged in fighting had 
their own battles among themselves, the people of 
Bent's Fort felt safe; but if the Indians kept the peace 
among themselves, there was great anxiety at Fort 
William. 
"Instances of the daring intrepidity of the Comanches 
that occurred just before and after my arrival here, 
will serve to show the hazard and dangers of which I 
have spoken. About the middle of June, 1839, a band 
of sixty of them under cover of night crossed the 
river and concealed themselves among the bushes that 
grow thickly on the bank near the place where the 
animals of the establishment feed during the day. No 
sentinel being on duty at the time, their presence was 
unobserved; and when morning came the Mexican 
horse guard mounted his horse, and with the noise 
and shouting usual with that class of servants when so 
employed, rushed his charge out of the fort; and riding 
rapidly from side to side of the rear of the band, urged 
them on and soon had them nibbling the short dry 
grass in the little vale within grape-shot distance of 
the guns of the bastions. It is customary for a guagd 
of animals about these trading posts to take his sta- 
tion beyond his charge; and if thej' stray from each 
other, or attempt to stroll too far, he drives them to- 
gether, and thus keeps them in the best possible situation 
to be driven hastily to the corral, should the Indians, 
or other evil persons, swoop down upon them. And as 
thefe is eoflstaiit dafigef of tlil«, his Wse Is held hf. 
a long rope, and grazes around him, that he riiay be 
mounted quickly at the first alarm for a retreat within 
the walls. The faithful guard at Bent's, on the niorri- 
ing of the disaster I am relating, had disihounted 
after driving but his animals, and sat upon the grouiid 
watching with the greatest fidfelity for every call of 
duty; when these fifty or sixty Indians sprang from 
their hiding places, ran upon the animals, yelling hor- 
ribl}', and attempted to drive them across the river. 
The guard, however, nothing daunted, mounted quickly, 
and drove his horse at full speed, among them. The 
mules and horses hearing his voi.ce amidst the frighten- 
ing yells of the savages, immediately started at a lively 
pace for the fort;- but the Indians were on all sides 
and bewildered them. The guard still pressed them 
onward, and called for help; and on they rushed, 
despite the efforts of the Indians to the contrary. The 
battlements were covered with men. They shouted en- 
couragement to the brave guard — 'OnwardI onwardl' 
and the injunction was obeyed. He spurred his horse 
to his greatest speed from side to side, and whipped 
the hindermost of the band with his leading rope. He 
had saved every animal; he was within twenty yards 
of the open gate; he fell; three arrows from the bows 
of the Comanches had cloven his heart. And relieved 
of him, the lords of the quiver gathered their prey, 
and drove them to the borders of Texas, without in- 
jury to life or limb. I saw this faithful guard's grave. 
He had been buried a few days. The wolves had been 
digging into it. Thus forty or fifty mules and horses 
and their best servant's life, were lost to the Messrs. 
Bent in a single day. I have been informed also that 
those horses and mules, which my company had taken 
great pleasure in recovering for them in the plains, 
were also stolen in a similar manner soon after my de- 
parture from the post; and that gentlemen owners 
were in hourly expectation of an attack upon the fort 
itself." 
It was midsummer when Farnham left Fort William, 
with four companions, for Oregon Territory. He 
stopped at Fort El Puebla, five miles above Bent's 
Fort, and here met a number of trappers. One of these 
greatly impressed him, a man from New Hampshire. 
"He had been educated at Dartmouth College, and was, 
altogether, one of the most remarkable men I ever 
knew. A splendid gentleman, a finished scholar, a 
critic on English and Roman literature, a politician, a 
trapper, an Indian." Dressed in a deerskin frock, leg- 
gings and moccasins; there was not a shred of cloth 
about his person, Stiff, cold and formal at first, he 
thawed as their acquaintance grew, and gave Farnham 
glimpses into his nature which greatly interested the 
traveler. There were other men among these trappers, 
who told the author tale« of adventure which he gladly 
set down, and which are well worth reproducing did 
space permit. Here Farnham traded for additional 
horses, and before long they set out to follow up the 
Arkansas, and to cross the mountains. 
Led by a trapper named Kelly, who was familiar with 
the country through which they were to go, the party 
followed up the Arkansas, and at last entered the 
Rocky Mountains. Before they had gone very far 
their way seemed barred by mountains impracticable 
for packhorses; yet their guides, after considering the 
way, marched straight onward over mountains of which 
some notion may be had from the following description: 
"The upper half, though less steep, proved to be the 
worst part of the ascent. It was a bed of rocks, at one 
place small and rolling, at another large and fixed, . 
with deep openings between them. So that our animals 
were almost constantly falling, and tottering upon the 
brink of the cliffs, as they rose again and made their 
way among them. An hour and a half of this most 
dangerous and tiresome clambering deposited us in a 
grove of yellow pines near the summit. Our animals 
were covered with sweat and dirt, and trembled as if 
at that instant from the race track._ Nor were their 
masters free from every ill of weariness. Our knees 
smote each other with fatigue, as Belshazzar's did with 
fear. Many of the pines on this ridge were two feet 
in diameter, and a hundred feet high, with small clusters 
of limbs around the tops. Others were low, and 
clothed with strong limbs quite near the ground. 
Under a number of these latter we had seated our- ^ 
selves, holding the reins of our riding horses, when a 
storm arose with the rapidity of a whirlwind, and 
poured upon us hail and rain and snow with all ira-^ 
aginable liberality. A most remarkable tempest was 
this. =!= * * One portion of it had gathered its 
electricity and mist around James' Pe^k in the east; 
another among the white heights northwest; and a 
third among the snowy pyramids of the Utaw in the 
southwest; and marshalling their hosts, met over this 
connecting ridge between the eastern and central 
ranges, as if by general battle to settle a vexed ques- 
tion as to the better right to the pass; and it was 
sublimely fought. The opposing storms met nearly at 
the zenith, and fiercely rolled together their angry 
masses. And as if to carry out the simile I have here 
attemptedj at the moment of their junction, the elec- 
tricity of each leaped upon its antagonist transversely 
across the heavens, and in some instances fell in im- 
mense bolts upon the trembling cliffs; and then in- 
stantly came a volley of hail as grape-shot, sufficient 
to whiten all the towers of this horrid war. It lasted 
an hour." 
After the tempest had ceased they clambered to the 
summit — whence a marvelous view was had of the 
Great Main snowy range of the "Rocky," "Stony" or 
"Shining" mountains — then, clambering down on the 
other side, camped not far below, on the headwaters 
of the Platte River. Food was scarce, and nothing 
had been killed since they left Fort William; but when 
they came in sight of the Bayou Salade, Kelly promised 
them that before long they w^ould have meat; and sure 
enough, during the day a buffalo was seen, killed by the 
guide, and greedily devoured. A hearty meal of its 
flesh; tongue, fat ribs, tenderloin, marrow bones, and 
blood pudding were all enjoyed, and the party ate al- 
most the whole night long. 
George Bird Grinnell. 
' ' " [to be continued.] J 
