The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-08-15

foot force. So soon as he got the posi-
ton of the Indians Carson planned his
battle. With fOrty-five men he at
tackled the camp on one side, while the
remaining force made a, detQur to strike
the Indians in the rear.
The Indians fought heroically. At tie
approach of CarsOn's force each Indian
sprang behind a tree and so soon as
a rifle was discharged the Indian would
shoot an arrow and dodge to get un-
der cover of a tree near the white man
who was assailing him. Nearer and
nearer the Indians got to Carson. The
Indians great preponderanCe i'm num-
bers was almost offset by the deadly
accuracy of the trappers' fire. For three
hours the battle continued. The am
mUntiOn of the Carson force was al
most exhausted. and the Indians, ap
preciating the situation, were preparing
to charge, when suddenly the reserve
body arrived and opened fire on the
Indians from the rear
The Indians retreated and took up
position on a hillside where great boul-
ders offered fine protection. The trap
pers, eager for complete victory, pressed
forward Not infrequently a trapper
occupied one side Of a big boulder and
an Indian the other, each watching for
the life of his adversary. One or the
other must die. Gradually the rifle pre-
vailed and at last the Indians, panic
stricken, sought safety in flight.
While the trappers' loss was serious,
it was small i'm comparison with that
Of the Blackfeet And while the bat
tie ragged the women and children of
the warriors watched the conflict from
an eminence. After the battle the
trappers burned the wigwams of the
tribe. and destroyed everything in the
camp.
1t is estimated that in the period
between 1880 and 1910 about 500 trap
pers were engaged in the far west. Once
each year they held a great fair, usual
~ in one of the magnificent natural
parks in the Rockies. To these fairs all
the trappers fIocked, and to these rem
devious also came the men who bought
the beaver skins and the other treas
Ures Of the trappers. At these fairs
mighty hunters held tournaments. There
were tests of riding, of wrestling, of
shooting, of running and of various
forms Of skill worthy of the Olympian
contests of old. These gatherings were
picturesque in the extreme, and the
men who took part in the games prob
ably were as fine a body physically as
the North American continent has con-
tanned.
Duel at a Wilderness Fair.
At one of these fairs Carson fought
duel with. d renowned desperate named
Shunan, a man of phenomenal strength.
Shunan was French, and had made a re-
mark that Carson resented. In accord
ance with the code of the fair they rode
out over the plain and then approached
each other, each watching for the first
Of
would be the signal for firing. Neither
man made a motion until their horses
were almost abreast. Then the French
man moved suddenly, but before he
could shoot CarsOn's bullet had gone
through his wrist and up his arm. The
strong man was a terror no longer. He
was crippled for life.
One year when the hunters gathered
for their fair they had nothing TO make
merry over. Silk had replaced beaver
skin in the making of hats. and their
most remunerative crop" brought lit
tie. Carson, who had been provident,
took advantage of this condition to
make a trip east. He had married an
Indian girl some years before, and the
wife had died a few weeks after giving
birth to a daughter. Carson wanted to
place his daughter in a good home. and
he also wished to see the home Of his
boyhOOd. He started east in 1872 but
the home of his boyhood was in ruins
and all his family had died.
After providing in St Louis for the
care and education of his child he
/ lOnged again for the wilderness. He took
passage I'D the Missouri river on a
steamboat, the first vessel of that char
acter he ever had seen, and on the boat
he met Lieutenant John G. Fremont,
who was on his way with an engineer
ing party to make surveys and map
the country between the Missouri and
the Rockies. Fremont engaged Carson
as his guide Through the territory now
embraced by Kansas, Nebraska and
Colorado, Carson pilOted the expedition.
and when its work was supposed to be
done he left it and went to his home
at Taos, n. NJ, where he married Sen
ora Josepha Jamirilla, a Mexican wom-
an Of beauty and refinement.
But FremOnts expedition to Colorado
was only a blind. The authorities in
Washington, anticipating trouble with
Mexico over the Texas situation. want
ed to survey the lands Mexico controlled
on the Pacific shore, for il was certain
that in event of war the United States
would seize California. Fremont, there
fore, was ordered to proceed TO the Pa
cific,s and Carson was again engaged
as his guide
From the Rockies in Colorado. Carson
piloted the party over the route that
now is the line Of the Union Pacific
railroad, and one day they came into
sight of the Pacific ocean. It was Ere
monts purpose to go to Monterey for
supplies and to recuperate, but when