The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-07-22

only from a historic point of view,
There was another field of great
Importance in these early times,
though quite unlike that connected
with the trappers. This was the
overland commerce with Santa Fe.
That remote and benighted village on
the confines of Spanish civilization.
was some 1900 miles distant from
Vera Cruz, the nearest seaport
whence fabrics from the outside
world could be procured. 1t was a
matter of enormous difficulty and
expense to secure in the far west
even those common necessities of life
which could be produced by the peo-
pie themselves. The enterprising
American, discovering this and know
ing enough about the geography of
the west to show him that the Mis-
souri, river was not half as far from
Santa Fe as was Vera Cruz concluded
that here was a promising business
opening.
"He tried the experiment; and al
though it was not at first successful
he saw that this was due to the jeal-
Gus suspicious of the Spanish authori-
ties rather than to any fault in the
business itself. When Spanish au-
thority in Mexico was overthrow,
the trade at once sprang into a flour
ishing business, which was not only
profitable to the American but was
an unqualified blessing to the iso-
lated community of Santa Fe. The
merchandise was carried southwest
mostly in wagons, and it was in this
trade that the word caravan found
its true application, for the traders
banded together in a compact organi-
zation for safety and protection i'll
the long journey of 700 miles to the
Missouri. The only great drawback
to the business was the customs regu-
lations of the Mexican government;
and these the shreWd trader and cor
rupt official generally managed to
get over to their mutual satisfaction.
The most approved method was to
give cne-third of the duty to the gov
eminent, one-third to the official,
while the trader retained the other
third himself. This commerce of the
prairies continued down to the out
break of the war with Mexico and
was of inestimable service in that
conflict for the reason that it had
practically won the inhabitants of
northern Mexico to the American
cause, or at least had made them
not unwilling beneficiaries of the
change produced by the war.
Spaniard and Briton
Gin those days international ques-
lions were of serious Importance in
this western country, where now we
have scarcely ever any occasion to
realize that there is a foreign coun-
try both north and south of us. The
trader had to contend with the jeal-
ousy and intrigue of the Spaniard on
the west and of the Briton on the
north. Three years after the Louis
lana purchase an armed expedition
Santa Fe penetrated to within
$50 miles of where Sioux City now
and sought an alliance with
the powerful tribe of the Pawnees in
the valley of the Platte. To the north
the intrigue of the British traders and
their seditious influence upon the IN
dams were a more formidable men
ace than even the armed forces of
Spain. 1t was the trader who effect
lively drove both beyond the border
by his persistent and resolute deter
to enjoy the rights to which
he was entitled upon his W soil.
this portion of the northern
boundary the government experience
ed none of those embarrassments
gave it so much trouble for
many years along the great lakes.
''In the history of the fur trade
there were some events of great ma
significance. Ninety years ago
next May (probably in 1879 a re-
markable flotilla passed what is now
Sioux City on its slow and toilsome
way up the Missouri. There were
several boats and some 60 men in the
expedition. At the rate of IL to Is
miles a day it worked it's weary
curse along, en- route for the mouth
the Columbia river on the north
Pacific coast. This was the ever-to-
aforementioned Historian expedition
under Wilson Price Hunt. 1t succeed
in planting the American flag in
peaceful occupation of the Columbia
while that entire region was
yet an undisturbed Wilderness 1t
furnished to the government a golden
opportunity, which unfortunately our
statesmen were not far-sighted
enough to improve; for had they sus-
,ained this infant enterprise in its
hour of distress, as they had tacitly
encouraged it at the beginning, the
entire northwest coast line of the
American continent would in all
probability now belong to the United
States. ]
Early Indian War
Gin 1928 occurred the first cam
)aign that was ever fought against
of the trans-Mississippi Indian I
RIDES, if we except some desultory {
operations along the upper MISSISSIPPI !
ii during the war of 1872. In the {
midsummer of that year. the Sixth |
'egiment, under Colonel Henry Leav- J
,nworth, with a fleet of several keel j
,oats, made its way past the place
where Sioux City now stands. 1t was
pound for the Aricara villages, a
Joint not far south of the capital of
North Dakota, for the purpose of t
,hastizing those Indians for attacking i
! party of traders and killing and I
younding a large number of them. {
The campaign was a notable one, t
hough now we'll nigh forgotten, and 7
S Of especial interest as the COM i
nencement of the military conquest c
If the west, which was completed