November, 1922 
515 
Far one may read an account of 
the author’s experience while leading a 
beaver trapping expedition during the 
winter of 1823-24. This expedition 
hunted in Idaho on the Pacific side of 
the continental divide. The many in- 
cidents of adventure faithfully and sim- 
ply recorded in this book make it one 
that every sportsman should read. In 
this article I can give only a summary 
of the hunt and an outline of the per- 
sonnel of the expedition. 
Ross was a representative of Hudson’s 
Bay Company. He set forth in Novem- 
ber with a motle}'- band of fifty-five men; 
only twenty of whom could be considered 
trappers. There were two Americans, 
seventeen Canadians, some half-breds, 
and the remainder Indians from various 
tribes. The outfit of each member was 
fixed by his ability to trap, or by the 
work he was to perform. The Indians 
were only useful in caring for the horses. 
From five to ten of the white men were 
always on duty to guard against surprise 
from hostile Indians. Of course the 
married men brought their families 
along, so that in addition to the men 
there were twenty-five women and sixty- 
four children. The equipment consisted 
of seventy-five guns, two hundred and 
twelve beaver traps, three hundred and 
ninety-two horses, ammunition, clothing 
and trading goods. 
The hardships endured by this band 
while crossing the mountains were 
severe and the danger of attack by hos- 
tile Indians was almost a constant 
menace. It was not until April that they 
arrived upon the hunting grounds. 
In the pass where Lewis and Clark 
had crossed to the Columbia, the Ross 
expedition took ninety-five beaver during 
the morning and twenty more during the 
remainder of the day. Upon one oc- 
casion they made a cache of one thou- 
sand beaver skins. Upon arriving at the 
extremity of the journey, Ross found 
that he had accumulated 3,880 beaver. 
The party had traveled in daily journeys 
1,320 miles, upon trapping excursions 
1,110 miles, scouting for enemies 490 
miles, searching for passes and new trap- 
ping grounds 530 miles or in all 3,450 
miles. The men continued to trap and 
Ross states that at the close of the 
season his twenty trappers averaged 250 
beaver each and procured in all 5,000 
skins. This he seemed to consider a 
reasonable result. I am not sufficiently 
well informed to speak accurately, but I 
think that any trapper w'ho is at present 
able to capture fifty beaver during an 
entire open season has done very well. 
The details given by Ross are interest- 
ing. Trapping down Reid’s River, the 
party took from seventy to eighty beaver 
each morning. Upon that expedition 
they obtained 1,855 beaver. In three 
days six men caught one hundred and 
fifteen beaver. During several succes- 
sive nights the average catch was fifty- 
five. Some skins were acquired in 
barter. The Indians had no appreciation 
of the value of beaver skins and would 
sell one worth twenty-five shillings in 
London for a brass ring not worth a 
farthing. It was some time before the 
Indians woke to the realization of the 
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