Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-09


Indians knew him as Broken Hand" and some
times as White Hair" Trapper, explorer,
Indian fighter, head of the Rocky Mountain
Fur Co, guide to the emigrants to Fremont,
to Kearny and to Albert and Governemnt agent
for the wild tribes OF the plains, his career
covered the whole period from the effective
discovery of South Pass to the opening of
Kansas and Nebraska for settlement.
Yet by some unexplainable caprice of history
he gradually forgotten. He had BIZ
Ographer to set down his exploits, and while
others, such Carson and Bridger achieved
lasting renown, Fitzpatrick in time became
merely name. Though the Indians whom he
served venerated his memory and still foster
a tradition of his friendship and truthfulness,
they kept no records and could thus add moth
ing to the printed page. When in later times,
students and historical writers were attracted
to his personality and career by the frag
mentary references in the early annals, they
could find nothing additional by which to
round out his story. His comngS and goingS,"
wrote Hiram M. Chittenden, the scholarly his
torian of the fur trade, in 1902 ARE lost be-
hind the scenes, and all that is known of him
is from transient glimpses while he is passing
across the stage before u.s." AS late three
years ago no one could say from any current
print, where and when Fitzpatrick was born
or where. when and how he died. Researches
by the present writer, in collaboration with
Prof. Leroy r. Hafen of Denver have brought
to light the main facts in his personal history.
lie was in at the beginning of the active
trapper period, and the 80 years of his
life in the wilderness and on the frontier were
checkered with many perilous adventures. The
two battles with the Arikaras in the Summer of
1928 gave him his FIRST discipline as an Indian
fighter, and he learned quickly q science that
was often to be employed in the days that
followed. He was second in command Of the
party Of Ashleys men that in the Fall of that
year set out from the middle Missouri to pene-
trate the savage wilderness we now know as
wyoming, Utah and Idaho. Though q small
party-only 16 in number-it was q historic
one, for it made the effective discovery Of South
Pass, that famous gateway of the Rockies
through which, beginning II years later was
Pacific.
Here, in the heart of the wilderness, he and
his companions, later joined by other trappers
from the Missouri, searched for beaver and
with their ready rifles kept the savages at bay
No hour was wholly free from danger Ban
nockS, Utes, ArapahoS, sometimes Crows and
Shoshones, disputed their path, and bands Of
the implacable Blackfeet and Gros Ventres
from the north swept through the region in
tent upon pillage and massacre In the many
conflicts with these Ishmaelites Fitzpatrick was
from the first leader. The bursting of q
rifle as 1t was discharged crippled his left hand
and as Broken Hand" he became known to
red man and white alike throughout the
West.
1t is seeming miracle that he never was
wounded in battle. 1t is something even closer
to the miraculous that he once escaped from
close Gordon of Blackfeet, the most dreaded
saVageS OF the wilderness. The Summer rem
devious of the trappers in 1882 was held in the
beautiful Pierre'S Hole (now called Teton
BaSln), Idaho. Fitzpatrick then head of the
Rocky Mountain Fur Co, eager to learn the
whereabouts of his supply train coming from
IOi1ic cat
Hole toward the great bend of the North
Platte, IN the present Wyoming At point
on the Sweetwater River 300 miles away he
found the train, and at once started on the re-
turn to inform the clamorous trappers at the
rendezvous. With two swift horses. SO that
from time to time he could change mounts he
hurried on, up the Sweetwater and across
South Pass Descending its western slope he
ran suddenly into band of Blackfeet. To be
captured, he knew, meant frightful torture and
lingering death. Loosing of his horses,
ne spurred his mount forward in the attempt
TO scale nearby ridge strewn with great
powders. The Blackfeet pursued him afoot
and Fitzpatrick seeing that his horse was
breaking under the strain leaped to the ground
and ran farther up among the rocks
As he ran, the opening of a little cavern
caught his eye Hastily he crawled in, and
with few boughS and leaves closed the en-
trance In few moments he heard the shouts
anu the Scurrylng footsteps Of his pursuerS
hlOeI WnaC seemed an age silence came; night
had fallen, and his pursuers had given up the
chase Later he crept out and sought to make
his way to the north, only to find that he had
almost entered the Blackfeet camp Stealthily
he crept back and then returned to his cavern
With the coming of daylight he heard his
pursuers again among the rocks in search of
him. All day he lay hidden, and at night
again ventured forth This time he succeeded
in avoiding the camp, and fixing his route by
the stars set out for Pierres Hole. Weak from
lack of food he travelled slowly on. Though
there was some game about he dared mt FIRE