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was sent back to tell of their find. All agreed to go have a look see. The entire party camped on the edge of this canyon. They stayed for two days just to marvel at such a sight.
They turned away from the canyon and headed northeast across a vast open country. Another tribe of Indians scouted, watched and followed the trappers. Never moved to stop or interfere with their travel. Tom said these Indians were Navajos.
The party after days of travel found them in the high rocky mountains. Streams were teeming with beaver. The trappers stayed the summer and into the fall. When the snow came, they moved to a valley location and prepared for the winter. They built log cabins and smoked all the meat they could. The snow stayed on the ground until late spring.
The Bent brothers talked all winter of starting a trading post. They took their leave and went east to find a proper location.
Charles and William had asked Sam, “Come with us, we like your company. You’re free to do your own mind.”
Sam thanked them and said, “I owe my life to you, I’ll always be in your debt, I would like to stay and trap in these mountains.”
Sam and the others heard later the brothers had settled on the Santa Fe Trail along the Arkansas River and married Indian women.
A new trapper joined the party, a man most of the older men knew. All the men seemed to be happy to have the new comer with them. John introduced him to Sam. “Jim Bridger, most call him Old Gabe. You’ll soon know why he’s called that.”
Sam soon found Old Gabe was a tall tale teller and a run away talker. Sam found the man to be friendly and a desirable companion. Fact is Sam and Old Gabe became fast friends. Old Gabe had just come from St Lu. Jake Hawkin had sent Sam a new rifle as the word had drifted back of his ordeal, this rifle was the new type cap lock. All the men had to look her over. Some didn’t like it, until Old Gabe showed how it worked. Didn’t need a primer pan or flint? With the caps the gun was always ready to fire. “Just hammer her back and let her go.” Everyone said it was just a great idea.
Old Gabe had been in these mountains for some time before and knew the Indian tribes well, he had lived with some. “We can get along with all except the Blackfeet. They’re the ornery, meanest, doggone fightenest bunch he ever ran into. They fight all the other tribes. I don’t think they like themselves. Be on guard for them all the time.” He told Sam and the others.
John Colter bids the men goodbye and decides to go farming in the Missouri country. He dies before Sam can see him again. People and things change rapidly even in the mountains.
The American fur company is established and Mexico gets its independence from Spain and opens its streams and rivers to American trappers.
General Ashley sets up the first rendezvous on the Green river for all the trappers. Sam and his party attend and it’s fun and games. Business is conducted and the General buys all the furs the trappers have. The General sets up the next rendezvous for the following year. Sam had made more than five hundred dollars for his share for the entire year.
All the next years, the party Sam is with having the best trapping there ever could be, it’s the high mark of the fur trade. Most of the Indian tribes trade with the trappers, many trappers take Indian Squaws for wife’s. By now Sam is feeling he should return home to see his Ma and Pa and at the rendezvous he tells Old Gabe his plans to go home.
“How long you’s was gone from home?”
Sam tells him, “Best part of ten years.”
Gabe tries to tell him, “Nutt-n gon-a be the same. Some times it’s best not to get your hopes up, it ain’t gonn-a be like it was when you’s left.”
“I hope it will be better,” Sam said with hope in his voice. Sam’s mind is made up to go home.
Chapter 2
The Farmer
Sam sold his extra ponies. Kept the two best, one to ride, the other to pack. Sold his traps and rigging’s he wouldn’t need any longer. After selling his pelts and skins, he pocketed one thousand dollars in gold Coin.
Sam said goodbye to Old Gabe. “I’m gonna miss you Gabe. You have been a good friend. I’ll always remember you, the rest of my life.” Old Gabe tried to hide the tear in his eye. He brushed it away with his left hand.
Sam had never seen him with a tear before. They gave a big hug to each other. Gabe slapped him on the back. “Get the hell on the trail, you’s a loosen daylight.”
Sam mounted and with the pack horse in tow, turned his face east. It was a long ride out of the mountains. Out on the plains he could make better time. Small villages, houses, and farms began to appear where there hadn’t been anything before. “Looks like farmers are taken over the whole prairie,” he said to himself. At one farm he stopped to talk. He was told emigrants were coming by the thousands from Europe to take the land the government was making available for homesteading.
Most of the homes were made from the prairie sod. Cut into square blocks and stacked like brick. The roofs were covered with prairie grass. Some had dug into the ground like a prairie dog. He saw men digging water wells and some were putting up wind mills. It all looked strange to Sam. The whole country had changed.
When he rode into St Louis, the town had grown to be a city. It truly had become the gate way to the west. He never thought it would look this way. The whole town had changed.
He rode thru the town and to the rear of the Hawkin gun shop. Knocking on the back door, it was answered by Jake Hawkin who recognized him right away. Anyone would have thought Sam was his son, the way he carried on. All the men in the shop came to welcome him. Jake had become one of Sam’s best friends. He thanked Jake for sending a new rifle by Old Gabe. He told him it saved his life too many times to count. “I’ll keep the rifle until my dying days.”
Jake asked all about the mountains and trapping. “I’ve seen places I never thought existed.” He told of the New Mexico country, the Apache Indians and his capture by them, How he was saved. “The rifle you gave me saved my life. The Apache chief liked it so much he let me live. He said I must be a great warrior to have such a fine piece.” Jake smiled and told Sam, “I hoped it would do good by you’s.”
Then Sam told him of the Gila wilderness. “It’s a great place. Hot as hades in the summer but nice and warm all winter.” He had to tell of the big canyon he had seen. “It’s miles across and it’s so deep, if you throw a rock in it you will never hear it hit. A river runs in the bottom. The colors in that canyon, I ain’t never seen before. Jake I tell ya, it’s worth the trip just to look at it.”
He then talked about his time in the Rocky Mountains. “There’s forest that it takes days to ride thru. Valleys with clear cold streams are every where. It is a wonderful place to be.”
He told of the men he had worked and lived with for so long . “I’ll never have such fine men around me again. They’re true friends. I’ll always remember them.”
Sam told Jake he was going home to see his folks. Jake tried to tell him, his home won’t be the same. “Time waits for no man. Nothing will be the same.”
Sam stayed in town a few more days while he sold his horses, tack and camp gear. He would never part with his Hawkin rifle. With his war bag in hand, he paid for a ticket on a paddle wheeler going south down the Mississippi and got off at Memphis. Then he walked and hitched rides all the way back to the Tennessee Valley. Along the way he stayed in several towns at night. Cross roads that became towns while he was away. It was great to get a hot bath, a hair cut and shave.
Arriving home he found his Pa and Ma had passed on to their reward several years ago. His older brother David had married and had sole possession of the farm. Not being welcomed with open arms, Sam was hesitant to stay, but his brother talked him into spending the winter.
His brother’s wife didn’t cotton to