The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-08-15
H|sA The Greatest of
EAAB A&CA1 SODR1 FrORtierSmen
BY RICHARD sPILLANE.

stay i'm Kentucky. It was getting too
crowded for him. A settler had come IN
and built a cabin mile from the Car
son log cabin. There was another set
tier six miles away Carson wanted
elbow room and expected to have il be
yond the Mississippi
1t was the intention to make "A har-
nessmaker out of Kit, and when the
boy had grown up a bit he had to assist
the father. Most of the work that came
to the shop was from men who had
Travelled over the old Santa Fe trail.
These men told wonderful stories of the
wild west. A trip from st. Louis to
Santa Fe in those days was one OF great
peril. Once or twice a year big wagon
trains, guarded by nearly a hundred
armed men. came through without mo-
lestation, but bands Of Indians swept
down upon the smaller caravans occa-
sionally. capturing, torturing and muir
dering men, women and children and
making off with such rich plumber as
fell into their hands. Tt was a rare
thing for a caravan to get through with
out some loss, and the tactics employed
by the Indians kept the travellers in
terror day and night.
While the boy sat working with his
father he listened to the stories of the
men with rapt attention, and dreamed
of the day when he would be big enough
to go out and play a part in the great
drama of the west. He had no desire
to go to a city. If he had any desire
for education it is not known. At any
rate he did not get any out of books
But he did study woOdcraft and he
studied the heavens. Before he was Il
years old he was an excellent hunter
When he was 16 he Joined a party of a
dozen traders who were bound for Santa
Fe, and then his career in the west be-
gan. Another party which he had in
tended joining had plenty of action be-
fore the caravan was far on its way.
One day band Of several hundred In
dams came sweeping over the treeless
prairie and surrounded the party. The
Indians had only bows and arrows and
spears, but they were CALAMITY mount
ed. The traders prepared for defense
by using their horses and mules as bar
ricades.
For tthiTty-six hours the Indians kept
up some sort of an attack, sending in
occasional showers of arrows and creep
ing through the grass as close up as
they could with safety to get at the i'm
prisOned men. They had a wholesome
respect for the rifles of the traders and
did not care to risk a charge They
were content to wait. Hunger. thirst
and despair would bring victory. And
then would come torture for the cap
tured and finally the scalping. On the
second night Of the attack the position
of the traders was desperate indeed. All
the horses and mules had been killed.
One of the traders had been killed and
another wounded. But they held their
position that night and all the next
Of he a.-T,&
they sought to escape in the only way
possible. That was by creeping over
the prairie and through the ranks Of the
Indians. Luck was with them and they
were not discovered, but only ten re-
NAMED of the party, and one of the ten
was wounded.
They were afobt, and the Indians
might have captured them. but the saw
ages, after the long siege, were content
with the plumber they obtained in the
traders stocks. Over the painless prai-
RE the white men fed night and day,
ever fearful Of encountering Indians.
The wounded man had to be abandoned.
Then the remaining members DISAGREED
as TO the route TO traverse, and they
split into two bands. one OF four men
and one of five. The five fell into the
hands o. Z. band of Creeks. OF the other
four only two survived. Had Kit Car
son Joined this unfortunate band of
traders instead of the one he did, the
west probably never would have known
him. but the caravan in which he trav-
eled was not attacked.
Kit Carson never failed to point out
to the Indian the inequality of the
struggle and the hopelessness of oppo-
sition. He made no apology for the
laWness deeds of the whites. but he
made it plain to the redmen that bv
seeking reprisals they only would make
their lot the harder. II was a case Of
the survival of the fttest. From first
TO last Carson was consistent EaIly
IN his career i'm the west he made some
Indian friendships that never were
broken. At the same time he was ruth
less i'm his vengeance on all Indians who
interfered with him.
On Carson's first trip TO Santa Fe he
met a mountaineer named Kin Cade
with whom he lived for year. and who
taught him Spanish and French Caie
was a man of education. He took
deep interest in the boy and had a good
influence over him for years.
One of his experiences on this trip.
however, gives a fair illustration of
methods employed in those days. A