Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-11-21
lraPper Used Iaudanum to Ease Toothache, Put
Dangerous Indians to Sleep to Saue His Own Life
BY ELMO

BY ELMO
chill. sharp autumn wind swept
along the Missouri river. Bobbfn.
along on the rippled surface of the
stream was little bull boat. the only
moving thing inside the rim Of thu
horizon. Had a casual observer been
watching. he would have concluded
the craft was a derelict.
But misery rode the river. The
willow gunwales of the boat were
weighted with packs of beaver pelts
the jerk! meat for food and the pos
sibles' sack Of a trapper. Crouched
low IN the tub was young, buckskin-
clad man. His clothes were wet and
soggy, refusing to dry in the cold
air, and he was nursing swollen
jaw.
Crouching low to avoid the cold
sweep Of the wind. he cared not that
1t was l 500 miles to the nearest doc
tor. Rugged men used rugged rene
dies-when they were handy. He didn't
know this country, except that he was
on the great Missouri river, that
flowed down to st. Louis. He knew
too, that somewhere on the river would
be trading post. And that here he
could get some pain killer.
What he did not know was that
he was riding headon into adventure
his first hand-to-hand combat with
the dreaded Blackfeet, with the ma
licious connivance of white man.
Young John Smith had a canny
Scotch streak in him. He had ideas
about money and prosperity and he
couldn't see any future in working for
wages. Long ago he had made up
his mind that there was more profit
in paying wages than in receiving
them.
So young Smith had run away from
his employer back in the states. He
had been learning the tailor's trade.
Scouting around the waterfront in St.
Louis he had picked up lot of in
formation from the mountain men
who frequented the city. He bought
his trapper's outfit at st. Louis-at
st. Louis prices-and joined a COM
pany headed for the Rockies.
Skilled with Needle
His training with the needle made
him popular in the mountain camps.
His skill served equally well with an
awl and sinew in making and repair
ing buckskin clothing. 1t brought him
certain small favors and bit of profit
while he learned the trapper's art.
While John worked away with his
awl and sinew between trapping ex-
petitions he did some shrewd calcu-
lating. There were less than a thou
sand white men In the whole noun
tain country A man died-usually
violently-three or four times a month.
John figured little percentage and
decided he was on the short end Of
the chances.
And trapping was tough life. TAX
ing beaver meant wading icy streams
to set traps. Buckskin clothing
stretched to balloon proportions when
it was wet, and it was cold and
clammy and uncomfortable. Then,
when it dried it shrank up to the
pinching point. And there were plenty
of other disagreeable hardships.
Smith saw, too, that the average
trapper was nothing ahead at the end
of the season, The company trapper,
on his meager stipend, was always IN
debt. The free trapper was his own
boss, but he paid thousand percent
above ST. Louis prices for his need
ms" at the spring rendezvous. Then,
if he had anything at all left, temp
tation was inviting. For there was
riotous living when mountain men
came together.
Smith wanted above all to prosper.
His first rendezvous cured him OF the
idea of merely trapping furs. He would
be a trader and take the big profits
for himself.
In the spring of 1888 he cached a
part of his beaver pelts on the head
waters of the Missouri river. With the
remainder he joined the rendezvous
on Green river With the proceeds OF
the sale he bought meager supply
of goods, and then joined the party.
Beaver Due to Slump
He had hoped to find a partner but
there was no one who would brave
the dangers of the Blackfeet country
between the Three Forks of the Mis-
souri, and the lower country. John
Smith had decided to take the re-
mainder of his furs to st. Louis, buy
trade goods, and return to the noun
tains next year as full-fledged FUR
trader. He had heard that silk was
replacing beaver fur as the style for
hats in London, and that beaver was
due to hit the price toboggan. But, he
figured, one or two reasonably good
seasons would give him young for
tune, and then let the prices slump
He trailed back to the upper MIS-