River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-01-08
The L a st Of
the TOnkawaS
BY JOHN II. RAFTERY.

ITO BEGIN at TIE beginning, must
say that / had a very poor opinion
Of Sylvester Baffin until ] met him. In
deed, heard Of him quite accidentally
at Chickasaw, where Tom Pepper, one
of the old-time "drummers" - he's
dead these six years-told me what ne
knew, or rather, what he didn't know,
about Baffin. 1t was in the old days
before the government was half ready
to open up the Kiowa and Comanchc
country, and the few travelling men
who got into the traders had to drive
in by wagon. The Rock Island was sur
veying, ] think, but there wasn't mile
of road west of the Chickasaw line.
The case that Pepper made out
against Baffin came pretty near being
the prize hard luck story, with Baf-
fin as the victim. Baffin was a trader
in those days, and might have pros
pered if he were not everlastlngly
burning out" What struck me as
singular was that, in spite of the nu-
nIcrous fires which followed his wan
behring's, Baffin never carried any in
surance, never whined over his losses,
and never computed his debts. But
fire was not the only cause of his mis-
fortunes. Whenever he bought a few
cattle they would get string-halt or
manned on somebody's barb wire
fence. If he put out a crop a herd
of ponies was sure to invade and de-
strOy it. Ill luck, according to Pep
per, seemed to follow Baffin, till every
white man in the reservation except
himself believed that the young trader
had enemies among the Indians.
However, as / was looking for
trade, and had a mind to prospect bit
in the Wichita hills, / put down Baf-
fms address, and set out on horseback
for ClOudchief, near which Baffin was
then running a small post. His place
was about four miles up the dry fork
of the Washita river, and there found
him one March evening about an hour
before shutdown. In spite of the de-
scriptions I'd had of him, was a little
surprised to find him such a splendid
looking fellow. He was sitting on
key in front of his log house, smoking
his pipe and gazing at me steadily as
/ came slowly out of the bare timber.
When ! got into the clearing he stood
up, the shadow of a smile lowering
across his swarthy face, and said:
How do, sir. Won't you come imp
lie was very tall, more than six feet,
his hair and eyes were very black and
brilliant; he wore a thick, dark mus
tachc, and though the evening was
cool, he was in his shirt sleeves. A
am go 80 l..
though he was hospitality itself and
seemed glad to hear me talk. I'm
quite sure that | took great fancy to
him from the start, and l think he
liked me, because he finally lapsed into
an almost talkative mood and told me
a few Indian legends of extinct tribes
which / cannot remember having
heard anywhere else.
/ was going to bed before he asked
me the rather singular question, Did
you stop in any Comanche villages on
your way up?" and when said no. (
thought he seemed rather relieved.
We slept in the store that night, l on
bale of coarse duck that made a very
good bed, and he on the counter with
his head on a bundle of brown yrarl-
ping paper. The only other occupant
of the house was an old Indian squaIv,
very withered and very silent, who
seemed TO carry on the simple house
keeping pretty much as it suited her.
l went away in the early morning.
after a coarse but wholesome break
fast, and a rather cordial handshaIle
from Batfin. After three profitIess
floyrS Of I
find that the log house in which |
had so lately been a guest had been
burned in my absence. Nothing but
a few mounds of yet smolderipg
ashes marked the place. Baffin was
gone, nor was there any trace of life
at hand. In Cloudchief | asked about
him. but nobody knew more than tina!
he had been burned out during the
night, and that he had bought cart
from some Wichita Indians and start
ed for the Canadian river country. |
met him twice after that at Taloca
and once at Watronga, but though
we got along famously together, lie
always evaded any questions about
his misfortunes. He had given up
any idea of trading for the future,
and at that time showed extraordi-
nary interest in mining. l told him
all 1 knew, warning him of the pre-
carious chance of finding any consid-
cradle mines in the Wichita, where
/ had so often failed, but advising him
10 turn his attention to coal or oil. or
even to asphalt, indications of which
Ancient Mills in Alaska.