The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-03-26
last OF THE V%OYAGEURS.
-.,ru or PIERRE LE CoUNT AFTER a
De- rr>TrRY ~ THE FOREST.
.,opty.ave Years He Was n Trapper-
10 Gained the Astoria Expedition as " Lad
~. Mighty Rattle with Bears-Hi" visit
,n, Jacob Astoria Woods Tragedy.

rurIN KAY. VS., ahhlN' 80
w Work ,o sell my seasons catch OF furs
ON. Tain Jacob Aston. | found his agent
d'ey..n u,y was shaving down the price. and
Nu"'I W. IN my mind to go straight to tho head
lma'S, ,bo business. Well. whom | got to New
man ' s,or was above his business he wouldn't
i"H..o ne. to say nothing ot making me an
W" -, Tho skins. SO ! brought the pelts
ohe, Fort Dearborn, where Chicago now
gov and sold them there. was So blamed
s",r,od and di-gusted at the way Aston
u'"'' am after trading with his company for
u.n yeors. and me going clear to New York
hi rim n rhaur" to trade. that l never
,,I him another skin,
Tt,s s ,hr way lierre IL" Count described
Il, Grs, ard only visit To New York. The old
n w,s horn with the coming in ot the CEN
n" ., and lived until last week. when pneu-
u', rrny.d fatal TO Il constitution that had
.h..a,d the riCors OF nin"ty-nine winters. all
". ,h, A., twelve or fifteen passed in the log
tstin mr. III, bark covered wigwam OF the In
IT,, Three weeks before he died the old man
o - Tur SIS CORRESPONDENT an outline of the
- of his life. a life made up OF almost daily
.,o,rr,ars with wild beasts aud an uninter-
.,,,od rlrsu.t IT the beaver. tho mink. the
.,,,r and other fur bearing arlimaIs. leCount
sd hunted and trapped for a living from tho
,,,nv DAYS Of the old.ftenrh voyageur and the
xo,,bvos, Cymranv. and for six or eight
ron,hs each year had buried himself in the
d.rse forests. whore for miles he had no neigh
bor hut the bear and the panther. Few men
tu,u N. hariships Of the life-out in tho
hW,,.rd II the winter following a line
=, trans for miles through the forest. or
e., ,ha srrinc tramring through melting SHOWS
.,i forIing swollen streams: days and weeks
- horl work at the paddle in sending the
,i-,hh,rk canoe well toward the headwaters
=, soma swift. running river to the wild spot
rbsre the beaver builds his dam or the otter
Ends , clay bank on which to construct his
,unpa into the stream below. Thu reward.
,,o ia snail: little more than board and n
rsre 10 5 Dep, and a small fund for ammuni-
zion and tobacco. and a few dollars to replace
trans stolen. lost or carried away by some
mink or beaver which prefers liberty gained
ty Cnawing of a .cg 10 meeting the swift
de,th hy ranrod laid across ,he back OF the
head when the trapper returns to his snares.
"Ny first reco,lcrtion.' said Mr.. lie Count.
"is NJ hearing a letter read in Astor'S trading
most a, crccn Bay warming the settlers that
war was kelly to break out between the United
States and England. This was in $50 or 1911.
The letter was written by John Jacob Aston to
n man named Jake Franks. who was Astor's
agent. Aston told FrankSto keep the Indians
ouret. for il war came and the reds were drawn
into (. fur trading would he killed. Astor's
business went to pieces. and he had to reorGan-
lie II when the war was over. That war cost
him mighty big sum
From 1911 till 1887 lie Count lived by trap
ring. and Journeyed in his bark canoe or
clumsy dugout up and down almost every
stream in Minnesota and Wisconsin. and in
1873 paddlad his birch bark up the Rosebud
beyond Sitting Bulls camp, lie Count came
down the Rosebud in August following. and
was, he thinks. one OF thu first white men to
gaze upon the scene OF the Custer fight after
the retreat If Sitting Bulls warriors. He did
not 60 over the battlefield. owing to fears OF
an attack. but evidences Of the struggle were
visible from the river. At that time he sup
posed the Sioux had been attacked and de-
teated By the United States forces. and not for
weeks did he learn that Custer and his COM
nand had died within a few miles OF his route.
John Jacob Aston was the first trader I
ever dealt WITH said Mr.. lie Count in telling
thestoryo Of his life and recalling the incidents
ola hundred years. He began business at
la Baye. AS Green Bay was then called. in
1910, | think. He owned the whole country.
He had dozens Of agents and dozens of trading
r0sts. That al La Baye was the chief. His
man Franks told us La Baye would be a great
city in time. Then there was no C~hicago-no
BIG town In the W~est-only Detroit. a trading
post. and caste OF that Mo'real. My father bought
up hundreds Of acres bland at La Baye. He
was a trader himself. Aston built a steamboat
atBufalo to bring immigrants to La Baye. Peo-
pie interested in Milwaukee bought the boat.
Astor didn't want to sell. hut they told him to
seta price on it. He set 500. O00-four times
what the boat cost him-and they took
him IN. They ran the boat right through
TO Milwaukee. passing La Baye by. and i'm
migration all passed us and went right on to
Milwaukee. And that is how Milwaukee be-
came a big city and La Baye stayed a little
town. Somebody gave La Baye the name
Astoria after Aston: but We were mad at Aston.
aud so We started another town a little way
upthe Fox and called it Shantytown. Astoria
died; Shantytown lived. and that's the way we
got square with Aston"
In 1910 lie Count, then 10 years old, Joined
the Aston execution headed by Ramser Crooks
and W. T, Hunt. who. with a band OF adven-
uTous fellow explorers. started for the Pacific
coast. The parilous overland journey has been
described in lrving's Astoria" lie Count.
small for his age OF 10, left the PARTY on the
SKIN day out. and. boy as he was. made his
way home alone, Il distance OF $50 miles.
through the dense forests and across tho
swollen rivers.
Inc Old trapner retained a distinct r~ecollec-
uon oi almost every incident of importance in
DIS Iolg life. Encounters with fierce beas
were oil 50 common occurrence that it was with
o"ucuitY he could be induced to refer to them
W 10 give details once the incident was