Ever wonder how everyone made it west? They used trails
beaten out by such men as Osborne Russell. He wrote this book partially to
refute The Personal Narrative of James O. Pattie (one of our favorite
books) which he claimed contained many inaccuracies. Russell included only
information he considered "proved true by experience."
Written in an intensely personal style that lacks
punctuation at times, The Journal of a Trapper abounds in details
about hunting and trapping in the Rockies, including descriptions of the
particulars of the animals he encountered. He traveled along the
Yellowstone, Snake, and Sweetwater rivers (among others), through the
Rockies and Tetons. His book is so accurate that recent readers have
retraced his steps using it.
Russell encountered numerous Indian tribes, and takes care
to portray them accurately: the Snake or "Sho-sho-nie" Indians are
"kind and hospitable to whites thankful for favors indignant at
injuries" while "if a Crow husband wishes to speak to his
mother-in-law, he speaks to the wife who conveys it to the mother...a custom
peculiar to the Crows."
Of course, not all his encounters are friendly, and while
camping along the Yellowstone river in Blackfoot country, Russell is keeping
watch:
I arose and kindled a fire filled my tobacco pipe and
sat down to smoke My comrade whose name was White was still sleeping.
Presently I cast my eyes towards the horses which were feeding in the
Valley and discovered the heads of some Indians who were gliding round
under the bench within 80 steps of me I jumped to my rifle and aroused
White and looking towards my powder horn and bullet pouch it was already
in the hands of an Indian and we were completely surrounded We cocked our
rifles and started thro. their ranks into the woods which seemed to be
completely filled with Blackfeet who rent the air with their horrid yells,
on presenting our rifles they opened a space about 20 ft. wide thro. which
we plunged about the fourth jump an arrow struck White on the right hip
joint I hastily told him to pull it out and I spoke another arrow struck
me in the same place but they did not retard our progress At length
another arrow striking thro. my right leg above the knee benumbed the
flesh so that I fell with my breast accross a log. The Indian who shot me
was within 8 ft and made a Spring towards me with his uplifted battle axe:
I made a leap and avoided the blow and kept hopping from log to log thro.
a shower of arrows which flew around us like hail, lodging in the pines
and logs...
(Out of breath yet?) Russell's journal reflects the complex
character of many of the independent men of that era; adventurous, tough,
and resourceful. He was a politician in Oregon when he decided to write
about his earlier life as a trapper in the Rocky Mountains, and he retained
the authentic "voice of the west." Read it for its exact yet
colorful descriptions, and for a rollicking good time.
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