Thrilling Events of Early Days
ADVENTURES OF JOHN COLTER
from
"History of Natrona County, Wyoming, 1888-1922 : true portrayal of the yesterdays of a new county and a typical frontier town of the Middle West, fortunes and misfortunes, tragedies and comedies, struggles and triumphs of the pioneers : map and illustrations"
Chicago: R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 1923, 523
(transcribed by Kim Torp)
THE first American to enter what is now Wyoming was John Colter, a trapper and adventurer from Saint Louis. He discovered Yellowstone Park in 1807, but he has received but little credit for it, probably because his fellow-trappers considered his accounts as merely the yarns of one of their own kind and it is doubtful whether they believed them.
When he told his story to historians and explorers back in Saint Louis, he was not taken seriously. This may have been because his tales had to compete with those of other trappers and adventurers in the thrill of stirring Indian fights and the surpassing grandeur of places visited.
Even the scientist, John Bradbury, who knew Colter and wrote of his exploits, failed to investigate Colter's wonderland, Yellowstone Park. H. M. Brackenridge, who had talked with Colter about his travels, spoke in his writings of the low pass across the mountains that Colter had discovered, but ignored entirely the discoveries made at the head of the Yellowstone.
Colter was a private soldier in the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804-6. When the party reached Mandan, about fifty miles above where Bismarck, North Dakota, now stands, on their return from the far northwest, Colter asked for his discharge, saying that he wished to join some trappers who were going back north and west.
He received the discharge and, after being outfitted, returned to the wilderness. The party worked together from August, 1806, until the following spring. Again Colter was on his way back to civilization and again he turned back. This time it was in the employ of Manuel Lisa, a Mexican, whom he met at the mouth of the Platte. Lisa hired a large number of trappers, took them to the north and then spread them over the country. The party journeyed to the mouth of the Big Horn. From this point, Lisa sent Colter out to inform the other bands of Indians that he was in their country and wished to trade with them.
With only a pack of thirty pounds, a gun, and some ammunition, Colter set out on his perilous mission. It is probable that he had Indian guides, Jmt he traveled directly from the Wind river to Pierre's Hole, crossing the Wind river and Teton mountains by the Union or Two-gwo-tee passes.
After traveling 500 miles, he found the Crows. While he was with them, they were attacked by a party of Blackfeet and in the fight it was necessary for Colter to ally himself with the Crows. The Blackfeet were defeated, but not before they had discerned the presence of a white man among their opponents. Colter received a wound in the leg in this fight, but it did not hinder his travels and he went back to Lisa's fort, a trip of several hundred miles, without any assistance whatever. He was alone, having parted from his friends, the Crows, who did not wish to remain in the country long enough to suffer retaliations at the hands of the Blackfeet.
Colter afterwards described this trip to General Clark, who traced it on his map and named it "Colter's Route in 1807." His course was as directly northeast as the country would permit. He cut through the dense pine forests that cover the northern Tetons and trailed diagonally across what is now Yellowstone Park.
Chittenden says, "This very remarkable achievement - remarkable in its unexpected results in geographical discovery - deserves to be classed among the most celebrated performances in the history of American exploration.
Colter was the first explorer of the valley of the Big Horn river; the first to cross the passes at the head of Wind river and see the headwaters of the Colorado of the West; the first to see the Teton mountains, Jackson Hole, Pierre's Hole, and the sources of the Snake (Green) river; and most important of all, the first to pass through that singular region which has since become known throughout the world as the Yellowstone Wonderland. He also saw the immense tar spring at the forks of the Stinkingwater river, a spot which came to bear the name of 'Colter's Hell."
It would seem that by this time, Colter had had enough adventure for one man's life time, but a still more thrilling episode was waiting for him. The next spring (1808), he went to the Three Forks of the Missouri to trap accompanied by a man named Potts, who had been with him on the Lewis and Clark expedition.
One day while Colter and Potts were working with their traps, a band of Indians came upon them. At first the Indians were not inclined to be hostile, but in a few minutes they became involved in an altercation which resulted in a fight in which Potts was killed and Colter taken prisoner. Bradbury relates that he saw Colter in May, 1810, and received a first-hand account of this wild adventure:
"This man came to Saint Louis in May, 1810, in a small canoe, from the headwaters of the Missouri, a distance of three thousand miles, which he traversed in thirty days.
I saw him on his arrival, and received from him an account of his adventures after he had separated from Lewis and Clark's party; one of these, from its singularity, I shall relate. On the arrival of the party at the headwaters of the Missouri, Colter, observing an appearance of abundance of beaver there, got permission to remain and hunt for some time, which he did in company with a man by the name of Dixon, who had traversed the immense tract of country from Saint Louis to the headwaters of the Missouri alone.
"Soon after he separated from Dixon, and trapped in company with a hunter named Potts; and aware of the hostility of the Black-feet Indians, one of whom had been killed by Lewis, they set their traps at night, and took them up early in the morning, remaining concealed during the day. They were examining their traps early one morning, in a creek about six miles from that branch of the Missouri called Jefferson's Fork, and were ascending in a canoe, when they suddenly heard a great noise, resembling the trampling of animals; but they could not ascertain the fact, as the high, perpendicular banks on each side of the river impeded their view.
Colter immediately pronounced it to be occasioned by Indians, and advised an instant retreat; but was accused of cowardice by Potts, who insisted that the noise was caused by buffaloes, and they proceeded on. In a few minutes afterwards their doubts were removed by a party of Indians making their appearance on both sides of the creek, to the number of five or six hundred, who beckoned them to come ashore. As retreat was now impossible, Colter turned the head of the canoe to the shore; and at the moment of its touching, an Indian seized the rifle belonging to Potts; but Colter, who was a remarkably strong man, immediately retook it, and handed it to Potts, who remained in the canoe, and on receiving it pushed ofFinto the river. He had scarcely quitted the shore when an arrow was shot at him, and he cried out, 'Colter, I am wounded.'
Colter remonstrated with him on the folly of attempting to escape, and urged him to come ashore. Instead of complying, he instantly leveled his rifle at an Indian, and shot him dead on the spot. This conduct, situated as he was, may appear to have been an act of madness; but it was doubtless the effect of sudden and sound reasoning; for if taken alive, he must have expected to be tortured to death, according to their custom. He was instantly pierced with arrows so numerous that, to use the language of Colter, 'he was made a riddle of
"They now seized Colter, stripped him entirely naked, and began to consult on the manner in which he should be put to death. They were first inclined to set him up as a mark to shoot at; but the chief interfered, and seizing him by the shoulder, asked him if he could run fast. Colter, who had been some time amongst the Kee-kat-sa, or Crow Indians, had in a considerable degree acquired the Blackfoot language, and was also well acquainted with Indian customs. He knew that he had now to run for his life, with the dreadful odds of five or six hundred against him, and those armed Indians; therefore he cunningly replied that he was a very bad runner, although he was considered by the hunters as remarkably swift.
The chief now commanded the party to remain stationary, and released him, bidding him to save himself if he could. At that instant the horrid war whoop sounded in the ears of poor Colter, who, urged with the hope of preserving life, ran with a speed at which he was himself surprised. He proceeded toward the Jefferson Fork, having to traverse a plain six miles in breadth, abounding with prickly pear, on which he was every instant treading with his naked feet. He ran nearly half way across the plain before he ventured to look over his shoulder, when he perceived that the Indians were very much scattered, and that he had gained ground to a considerable distance from the main body; but one Indian, who carried a spear, was much before all the rest, and not more than a hundred yards from him.
A faint gleam of hope now cheered the heart of Colter; he derived confidence from the belief that escape was within the bounds of possibility; but that confidence was nearly fatal to him, for he exerted himself to such a degree that the blood gushed from his nostrils, and soon almost covered the fore part of his body.
"He had now arrived within a mile of the river, when he distinctly heard the appalling sound of footsteps behind him, and every instant expected to feel the spear of his pursuer. Again he turned his head, and saw the savage not twenty yards from him. Determined if possible to avoid the expected blow, he suddenly stopped, turned round, and spread out his arms.
The Indian, surprised by the suddenness of the action, and perhaps of the bloody appearance of Colter, also attempted to stop; but exhausted with running, he fell whilst endeavoring to throw his spear, which stuck in the ground and broke in his hand. Colter instantly snatched up the pointed part, with which he pinned him to the earth, and then continued his flight. The foremost of the Indians, on arriving at the place, stopped till others came up to join them, when they set up a hideous yell.
Every moment of this time was improved by Colter, who, although fainting and exhausted, succeeded in gaining the skirting of the cottonwood trees, on the borders of the fork, through which he ran and plunged into the river. Fortunately for him, a little below this place there was an island, against the upper point of which a raft of drift timber had lodged. He dived under the raft, and after several efforts, got his head above water amongst the trunks of trees, covered over with smaller wood to the depth of several feet. Scarcely had he secured himself when the Indians arrived on the river, screeching and yelling, as Colter expressed it, 'like so many devils' They were frequently on the raft during the day, and were seen through the chinks by Colter, who was congratulating himself on his escape, until the idea arose that they might set the raft on fire.
"In horrible suspense he remained until night, when hearing no more of the Indians, he dived from under the raft, and swam silently down the river to a considerable distance, when he landed, and traveled all night. Although happy in having escaped from the Indians, his situation was still dreadful; he was completely naked, under a burning sun; the soles of his feet were entirely filled with the thorns of the prickly pear; he was hungry, and had no means of killing game, although he saw abundance around him, and was at least seven days' journey from Lisa's fort, on the Big Horn branch of the Roche Jaune river. These were circumstances under which almost any man but an American hunter would have despaired. He arrived at the fort in seven days, having subsisted on a root much esteemed by the Indians of the Missouri, now known by naturalists as psoralea esculenta"
Colter remained in this part of the country for another year trapping and trading with the Indians. He returned to Saint Louis in May, 1810, and in 1811 was married and gave up his wandering habits. Historians have not traced his life further and it is supposed his latqr life was spent quietly in the Missouri valley.
It is to be deplored that this resourceful and courageous man was not sent out with the proper scientific equipment to give authenticity to his discoveries. Had he been given the proper backing, he would now rank with Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, and John C. Fremont. It is to be hoped that sometime a monument will be erected to his memory in Yellowstone Park.
"The History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West."
"Travels in North America."
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