Foreword (not included) Index (not included) |
When the rumored discovery in the year 1861 of extensive gold placers onSalmon river was confirmed, the intelligence spread through the stateslike wild fire. Hundreds of men with dependent families, who had beenthrown out of employment by the depressed industrial condition of thecountry and by the Civil War, and still others actuated by a thirst forgain, utilized their available resources in providing means for animmediate migration to the land of promise. Before midsummer they hadstarted on the long and perilous journey. How little did they know ofits exposures! The deserts, destitute of water and grass, the alkalineplains where food and drink were alike affected by the poisonous dust,the roving bands of hostile Indians, the treacherous quicksands of riverfords, the danger and difficulty of the mountain passes, the death oftheir companions, their cattle and their horses, breakage of theirvehicles, angry and often violent personal altercations—all these fledin the light of the summer sun, the vernal beauty of the plains and thedelightfully pure atmosphere which wooed them day by day farther awayfrom the abode of civilization and the protection of law. The mostfortunate of this army of adventurers suffered from some of thesefruitful causes of disaster. So certain were they to occur in some formthat a successful completion of the journey was simply an escape fromdeath. The story of the Indian murders and cruelties alone, which befellhundreds of these hapless emigrants, would fill volumes. Every mile ofthe several routes across the continent was marked by the decayingcarcasses of oxen and horses, which had perished during the period ofthis hegira to the gold mines. Three months with mules and four withoxen were necessary to make the journey—a journey now completed in fivedays from ocean to ocean by the railroad. Some of these expeditions,after entering the unexplored region which afterwards became Montana,were arrested by the information that it would be impossible to crosswith wagon teams the several mountain ranges between them and the mines.
In the summer of 1862 a company of 130 persons left St. Paul for theSalmon river mines. This Northern overland expedition was confided tothe leadership of Captain James L. Fisk, whose previous frontierexperience and unquestionable personal courage admirably fitted him forthe command of an expedition which owed so much of its final success, aswell as its safety during a hazardous journey through a region occupiedby hostile Indians, to the vigilance and discipline of its commandingofficer. E.H. Burritt was first assistant, the writer was secondassistant and commissary, and Samuel R. Bond was secretary. Among thosewho were selected for guard duty were David E. Folsom, Patrick Doherty(Baptiste), Robert C. Knox, Patrick Bray, Cornelius Bray, Ard Godfrey,and many other well known pioneers of Montana. We started with ox teamson this journey on the 16th day of June, traveling by the way of FortAbercrombie, old Fort Union, Milk river and Fort Benton, bridging allthe stream