The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1908-09-24

next winter scnt cut 4 party Of SIS
men under Wilson p. Hunt. who
crossed the Rockies In September and
camped under the shadows OF the.
Three Tetons. They found Fort Hem
~ abandoned. AT that point half .
dozen Of the hunters deserted the
party and descended to the Bear river
country where they spent the winter
hunting and trapping, but we're all
finally murdered by the Indians ex-t
cepting only one man.
Hunt proceeded down the Snake
river. The trip was most perilous
one and the sufferings and privations
endured by the party were 80 terrible
that 1t seems almosa a miracle that
any of them lived to tell the tale. The
weather was intensely cold. The coun-
try through which they passed was q
desert. Their supplies were exhaust
ed and there was neither game nor
other means of subsistence. ale fam
inc lowered over the daring adven-
turers. No white man had ever pene-
trated the wilderness before them
and while an occasional village of
miserable Shoshones was found the
inhabitants were half starved and
destitute. Y
Hunt was finally compelled to di-
vide his men into small parties that
they might the better forage for food,
Separating early in November,
tie bands managed to susist upon an
occasional horse or dog purchased
from the Indians and chance wolf
or beaver that they killed. Sometimes
they were reduced to chewing beaver
skins and the soles of their mecca
sins. 1t was cruelty cold and the
snow was knee deep. but in spite Of
all these hardships the trip was made
with the loss of only two men, one
of whom was drowned by the upset.
ting OF boat in some of the rapids
Of the river, and the other, crazed by
hunger, jumped from boat while
crossing to where food was in sight
and was drowned. In January the
party crossed the Blue mountains in
to milder climate and a country
where there was abundance OF game.
Many and thrilling are the tales of
adventures by trappers and hunters
in the twenty years that followed
Hunts trip down the Snake, but 1t
was not until 1892 that any enter
prise was undertaken In which can be
traced direct bearing upon the origin
of Idaho. In that year Nathaniel j.
Wyeth of Massachusetts, seeing VI
sions Of wealth on the Pacific coast,
organized an expedition and started
for Oregon. He reached jackson g
Hole and camped there on July 4th
and spent some months on the upper
waters of the Snake, fighting the In
dams in company with Milton Sub
lette, one Of the most daring leaders
OF the trappers who then roamed
these regions He moved on to Ore
gon only to meet with failure. but the
knowledge gained by the overland
journey brought forth greater works
that became powerful factors In the
upbuilding Of Idaho.
Meanwhile Captain Bonneville, an
army officer on leave Of absence, or
ganized hunting and trapping ex-
petition in the hope of uniting pleas
ure with profit. He arrived In Idaho
in the fall Of 1892 and spent three
winters on the Portneuf near old Fort
Hall, hunting over wide extent OF
territory. He was exceedingly lucky
in finding 50 eloquent and amiable a
biographer as Washington Irving, and
although in the main monotonous and
sl Y the record throws consid-
cradle light on life in the wilderness
at that early day Bancroft In his
Pacific coast histories finds little Of
the hero in the bold captain. and de-
scribes him as sin his coarse way q
bon vivant and voluptuary. who pre-
ferred lording it in the forest with q
troop of white and red savages at his
heels, and with every fortnight new
unmarried wife Haunting her brave
finery," to submitting to the re-
straints of civilization and polite so
ciety. ITO shoot buffalo was rare
sport, but men were the nobler game
whom to search out in their retreat
and slaughter and scalp was glori.
ous.H
During Bonneville's free and easy
tlife on the Portneuf, Wyoth had re-
turned to the east End organized an
other commercial enterprise known
as the Columbia. River Fishing and
Trading company, and in 1894 he led