Santa Fe weekly gazette. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1864-1869, 1869-08-07

IN unber 8.

eNeu iEuh tHe HHuHts VI tnc hVCk Mouu-
tsins. We confess to respect amounting
to almost veneration for the genuine trap
per Of the old school, and had We time,
would write book on the history, charsc-
teristics and unique virtues Of that race
which htsbeen mado classical by the neveists
OF our day from Cooper to Ned Buntline.
True, there are yet trappers, but for the
most part they are u sad contrast 10 the old
heroes of the trap and trail. They are but
the degenerate sons Of noble sires." The
modern trapper scarcely deserves the name,
any more than the New York sport who
goes over to Jersey Flats to shoot snipe
twice a year, with double, barrelled shot
gun deserves the name Of hunter These
moderns live in civilized communities, land
simply 20 out on trapping excursions. They
have new tangled WAYS Of taking game.
They wear store clothes instead OF buck
skin They drink lager beer and ginger
pop, which your genuine trapper will never
become SO efemlnate as 10 do. They uso
meerschaum imitation. pipes, and smoke
fine cut, instead Of the reliable clay and
plug, They carry modern telescope to
look for distant game, Indians and lost po-
MES, instead of hunting with a keen eye
for signs" and 'traiting it, They will
take wagon road, ifin their course, instead
otthe rugged cut. off trail. They welcome tho
invading march of civilization, and will
even condescend 10 take their pcltries TO
market on railroad. They greet with cor
dial pleasure moving bands of gold pros
pectors, and are garrulous In the camp Of
strangers, They can read newspapers, know
somewhat of the geography Of the States,
Will deign to ask with seeming interest 'tho
news. and even enquire who is the Presi-
dent of the United States. They have beard
of the rebellion and revenue laws and scdn-
dalam ma9aa0l, and when they are in tho
settlements, can be induced to vote at pre-
cinct elections. Think OF Your true ,rapper
exercising the right Of suffrage Imagine
genuine hunter calling himself Demo-
crat or a Republican, Alas and alack for
such corruption. And there arc few of
these too, who have been sometimes inside
a church, and heard it boldly announced
that one kind of religion was Just good, IL
not better than another. And they will
talk, too, Of greenbacks, and bonds and
coupons, perhaps that they are saving and
LAYING up to bay land or 60 back to the
States and start grocery store, and marry
and do business like other folks.
We have been informed on recent good
authority that more than half of these mo-
dern would. be-trappers will often pass an
Indian, even when they have tho dead
wood" on the redskin, without raising his
scalp.
As though the Quakers and Vincent Coy
er., and other consummate humbugs, bad
subsidized even those pioneers of the forest
who all know BY dear experience that "iu.
luns is pizen wherefore found.' The trap
pers and hunter of America are the real
ciyili2ers. They lead the van ia the on
ward march, We all know that before civ
iI!zation can procure foothold Just SO
many thieving savages, together with the
raltosnakes, catamounts and grizzly bears
haoe to be Killed; and just SO many of these
brave pioneers have to bo selfsacrifced to
make pleasant room for the canting Quak-
ers and sentimental Puritans, the descend.
ants of which murderers, to come in after
wards and with mock pity, mourn in grief
over the saintod red men, who, having
sealped through their day and generation,
and butehered tho brave vanguard of civili.
zatlon have beon gathered to their fathers
with their scalp-locks beside them, and left.
bless the Lord their pleasant streams and
green pastures as goodly heritage to
4 us, peace-lovng Quakers and philanthro-
plsis." And so these modern trappers catch
: THIS ernment-protecting, ration Issuing
murder 'pardonng eontagion. Shame on
such degenerate successors of noble but
extinct race.
May the Carr of war, that has lately
taken in the checks off few Of these
Poor Indians" on the sacred soil of Kan.
sas, reeking with rape, arson and butchery,
roll on over the plains, from the Yelows.
tone to Texas, and from tho Big Muddy to
the Sierra Nevada, until the last veslige of
these inhuman reptiles are crushed from tho
track of progress for u better race.
We sigh Tor genuine specimen of those
classic, brave and selr-denying heroes of
tho mountain stream and trail, who, with n
G yirtuous contempt of the corrupt refine.
0 ment of mawkish Puritan life, advanced 10
the game and soil of the Great West and
were so devoid Of all that is sordd and
mean, as to care for naught but to go for
the inlnns, trap beaver, tan buckskins, and
swap their petries for Just what bacon, red.
/, eye and tobacco would do them twelve.
month ohoad, live virtuous, and die happy
on the trail. ~
We have alluded TO the race of genuine
trappers as extinct We think, however
there is ono loft. "The last of the trapners
has been heard from. llo has become de
moraIized, 1t Is turc, sufficiently 10 loarn
C how to write, but he sends the following
characteristic letter to the 81. Louis Reppb
ticdn, written with pencil on the inside Of
long green revenue stamp that was wrap,
ped round his last pack of smoking tobacco
ELK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING TER, Y
l. July 0, 1869 7
q MISTER EDToR:-Inyore paper Of the ilrs
o OF July you say tho man that reported tn,
Powell cxpedishion lost Is a half-starycd
hunter trying to enlist sympathy. Lot me
tell you you're badly mistaken. If hos n
hunter he cant starve this time of yer
Thar's more Elk an more antiope and blak
tale dear and Mountain sheap than ever yo,
saw in any kontry. II he wantii sympith,
he wouldn't go to rale rode men fer It, Thi,
here dam rale rode has ruined the kontry
1t skares the gain and drives of the lrater,
n and balwhackers and pilgrims, an pax
Il grub an ammynishun to tho injuns ant
d brings down all prlses of things. Tia don
/. pay nothn. If u feller wants to gow any
whares they raze bel If he brings his g,I,
into the kears an try to take 1t an pu, il Il
the bagadge kear and mock the sites outer
phase. No ser, thatexpedishion is notdrown
cd you bett. thow the colorado kahyon i
liable to drown anything cgcept a Ash.
z. So you SEQ II he was q hunter he cuddcn
starye, an If he wuzzent natorly born ID
IT dyut he woddcnt tido on rale rode fele
" Ter symplhy The grato nashnul hi wais
!, CRATE kuss to the koi try, bekase It brings Il