Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-18

braveSt in battle ard
wisest in council; purest OF
heart and mind, most just and
slowest to anger, but quickest
with trigger and surest of aim
such a combination of super
latives could be applied only to
one man of all that host whom
the trails of the old western
frontiers knew. His name, Kit
Carson, is blazoned on the
pages of history as the paragon
of frontiersmen and the great
est Indian fighter the west ever
knew.
There is something in the
character of Carson that sug-
gests that gallant figure of
English history, Sir Phillip Sid
ney, who, dying on the battle
field, gave his last drink of wa
ter to a wounded soldier lying
near. Of natural nobility of
soul, he was a man in all of
those attributes that constitute
the best in manhood-of noble
impulse, a true knight-errant
ever ready to defend the weak
against the strong.
His life was so filled with
thrilling incidents that a recital
of them becomes almost mo-
notonous. From the Blackfeet
country of the north to Old
Mexico, and from the Mississ-
ippi to the Pacific, his name
was known and his deeds of
daring were told about camp
fires by men whose daily lives
were filled with adventure and
peril.
People meeting him for the first
time, who had read of stirring scenes,
thrilling deeds and narrow escapes in
which Carson had played the leading
role were always amazed at the ap-
pearance of the quiet. modest, but Dig
nified. little man. Carson was only
five feet six inches in height. He had
gray eyes and light brown hair. His
head was large and his forehead high
and broad. He was slender, but of
good breadth of chest and wiry and
compact of form. He was wonderful
ly quick and active. and what he lack
ed in strength he made up in agility.
Born in Kentucky
Carson. christened Christopher was
born in Madison county. Kentucky, De-
cember "a. 1909. his father being a
hunter and trapper. In 1910 the
family moved to Missouri, then known
as Upper Louisiana. At 10 the boy
was apprenticed to a saddler. He was
then renowned as g rifle and pistol
shot, and, although small and slen-
der, was of so determined a nature
and displayed SO strong & character
that in spite of his youth he was uni
v~ersally respected.
Work at the saddler's bench he
found extremely irksome, however,
and the trappers stories he heard
from the far west made him long for
adventures in the fur country. When
a party of traders. bound for Santa Fe,
offered him a place, he gladly accept
, ed, and so set out upon a career IN
which he was to become famous.
Although the trail led through a
hostile Indian country. with the excep-
ton of one incident. The careless
handling of a gun caused an accident,
the arm of a trader being shattered
and the bone shivered to splinters. In
lection set in and amputation clearly
was the only way of preventing death.
The unfortunate victim selected the
boy, Carson, as the one to perform the
operation. Equipped With a razor,
n handsaw and an iron bar. he per-
formed this formidable act of surgery,
bound a l~igature around the arm to
arrest the flow of blood. severed the
bone. cauterized the wound and saved
the mans life. His apparent GOODNESS
and efficiency in this emergency won
the regard of every man in the party.
A Winter With Kin Cade
Arrived at Santa Fe, Carson deter
mined to remain in that region. and
alone pushed Oil to another Spanish
settlement in the mountains. Here he
met with a mountaineer, Kin Cade, a
Spapiard. who invited him to spend the
winter with him. Finding him a CON
genial spirit. Carson accepted. They
trapped and hunted by day, and in the
long evenings the boy learned Spanish,
which he soon spoke with great flu
ency, being a natural l~inguist.
Within a year he had become a re-
cognized authority on southwestern
travel routes and was employed as
guide, earning q reputation, also, as
an Indian fighter. In the spring of
1923 he made his first journey to
California, acting as guide and assist
ant to the leader of the expedition.
On this trip Carson met Peter Ogden,
in command of a Hudson's Bay com
pany party of trapers, and, although
only 10 years of age, the young man
greatly impressed the veteran fur
trader. Before the return trip to the
Rocky mountains was completed sew
, eral battles with Indians had been
fought, and Carson was acknowledged
to be the ablest man of the expedition.
So profitable was the trade engaged
IN for furs taken that Carson's share
amounted to several thousands of dol
lars.
Held lnvincibIe by Comrades
=. Like his famous contemporary. Jim
Bridger, Carson had a remarkably re-