The Brothers Robidoux and the Opening of the American West
Page 24
By an immersion of the 1st satellite (agreeing well with the results of the occultation observed at the Duchesne fork,) the longitude of the post is 109–56-42, the latitude 40–27-45.
It has a motley garrison of Canadian and Spanish engages and hunters with the usual number of Indian women. We obtained a small supply of sugar and coffee, with some dried meat and a cow, which was very acceptable from the pinoli on which we had subsisted on for some weeks past. I strengthened my party at this place by the addition of Auguste Archambeau, an excellent voyageur and hunter, belonging to the class of Carson and Godey. On the morning of the 5th we left the fort and the Unitah river.26
During the years 1841–1842, a Methodist missionary named Joseph Williams traveled from Indiana to Oregon and back, along much of the route that became the Oregon Trail. Along the way he kept a journal and documented seeing most of the great landmarks of the trail so heavily traveled a decade later. Williams also wrote of a number of noted persons he encountered along the way, ranging from Father Pierre De Smet and Marcus Whitman to Colonel Grant, the factor of the British Hudson's Bay Fur Company at Fort Hall. He also left no doubt in the mind of the reader about his own brand of piety, commenting frequently on the heathen nature of many he encountered. On his return trip in early July 1842, his party reached Fort Bridger and, finding it mostly abandoned, took a detour to the south through the Uinta Mountains entering the domain of Antoine Robidoux. Not a unanimous decision by the members of the party, Williams wrote, “Mr. Shutz stated on Saturday [probably July 11] by himself, to go to Rubedeau's Fort, on Wintey River.” The following day, Williams reported two other men, “Rogers and Ross[,] were anxious to start on to Robedeau's Fort. I gave up to go with them, (not, however, without some scruples of conscience for traveling on the Sabbath,) as I was anxious to know the prospect of company to go with us from thence to the States.”27
After two days of grueling passage, Williams and his companions cleared the mountains and arrived at Robidoux's Fort. Antoine apparently planned to head east, but not as immediately as Williams wanted. “We had to wait there for Mr. Roubedeau about eighteen days, till he and his company and horse drivers were ready to start with us to the United States. This delay was very disagreeable to me, on account of the wickedness of the people, and the drunkenness and swearing, and the debauchery of the men among the Indian women. They would buy and sell them to one another. One morning I heard a terrible fuss, because two of their women had ran away the night before. I tried several times to preach to them, but with little, if any effect.”28
Williams described the situation of the Indians around Robidoux's establishment, principally a band of the Ute, or Snake, also commonly called the Digger Indians.
Here I heard the mountain men tell of the miserable state of the Indian root-diggers. Numbers of them would be found dead from pure starvation: having no guns to kill game with, and poor shelters to live in, and no clothing except some few skins. These creatures have been known, when pressed with hunger, to kill their children and eat them! And to gather up crickets and ants, and dry them in the sun, and pound them into dust and make bread of it to eat! These creatures, when traveling in a hurry, will leave their lame and blind to perish in the wilderness. Here we have a striking example of the depravity of the heathen in their natural state. I was told here, of a Frenchman, who lived with an Indian woman, and when one of his children became burdensome, he dug a grave and buried it alive! At another time he took one of his children and tied it to a tree, and called it a “target” and shot at it, and killed it!29
From the accounts recorded by Williams, it might appear that the mountain men at Robidoux's Fort were having a bit of fun with the pious missionary, and he bought into their tales as fact. Indeed, the poor condition of the Indians may actually have been fairly accurate. Deprivation among the Utes and their neighboring tribes would lead them to violently fall on the outposts of New Mexico just two years after Williams's accounts, in 1844. As a personal observation about Antoine, Williams noted, “Mr. Rubedeau had collected several of the Indian squaws and young Indians, to take to New Mexico, and kept some of them for his own use! The Spaniards would buy them for wives.” This statement is the best confirmation that Antoine did actively participate in the Indian slave trade discussed earlier. “This place is equal to any I ever saw for wickedness and idleness. The French and Spaniards are all Roman Catholics; but are as wicked men, I think, as ever lived. No one who has not, like me, witnessed it, can have any idea of their wickedness. Some of these people at the Fort are fat and dirty, and idle and greasy.”30
On July 27, 1842, the Williams party started off from Fort Robidoux in company with Antoine's party. According to the journal they crossed the Wintey, Green, and White Rivers all in one day, and spent the following night on Sugar Creek, misnamed as Williams wrote, “the water of which was so bitter we could scarcely drink it.” He also commented further on Antoine's personal business, writing, “Here two of Rubedeau's squaws ran away, and he had to wait two days till he could send back to the Fort for another squaw, for company for him.” By August 1, the party reached and crossed the Grand River [the upper Colorado River] and proceeded on to Fort Compogera, below the mouth of the Compogera River [Uncompahgre on the Gunnison River].”31
After two weeks at Fort Uncompahgre, during which Williams “preached to a large company of French, Spaniards, Indians, half breeds, and Americans, from Proverbs xiv, 32,” Antoine, probably on August 15, led the company into what he called New Mexico, though actually still part of present-day Colorado. Passing down the Gunnison and its tributaries for several days, trying to avoid the Apahoc (Arapaho) Indians, they reached the site of “Rubedeau's wagon” about August 20. Williams noted that Antoine had left the wagon there the year before and after hitching a team of oxen to it, took it along. The group heard reports of Indian hostilities near Santa Fe, and Williams stated, “Rubedeau sent on an express to see whether it was so, and found it to be a false report.” The party continued south for several days following the course of the Del Norte River (upper Rio Grande) toward Taos. Once in the vicinity of the town, Williams attempted to get his American companions to quit Robidoux's caravan but discovered Antoine had hired all three of them. After reaching Taos, Williams made no further mention of Robidoux. He eventually proceeded to Bent's Fort and thereafter home to Indiana.32
Antoine's name appears in a letter from Charles Bent to Manuel Alvarez in September 1842, writing on behalf of an American named Thomas Briggs, who sought a passport for California. Alvarez had been appointed the American Consul in Santa Fe late in 1840. Bent, at the time in Taos, planned to visit Alvarez in Santa Fe but had to finish some business with Robidoux first. “I shall visit Santafe so soone as I setle with Robadaux, he goes dawn I expect, to try and get some person to lone him mony payable in St. Louis, he woes a greadeal of mony in the U States I know.” That endorsement on the back of the letter identifies Antoine and places him in Taos in September 1842.33
While in Taos, Antoine encountered Rufus B. Sage, at the time a free trapper who had recently come out from Independence, Missouri. Sage, who wrote and published one of the most literate journals kept from the heyday of the fur-trading period, described his travels with Antoine and the environs of his post on the Uintah. In early October 1842, Sage recounted,
A small party from a trading establishment on the waters of Green river, who had visited Taos for the procurement of a fresh supply of goods, were about to return, and I availed myself of the occasion to make one of their number. On the 7th of October we were under way. Our party consisted of three Frenchmen and five Spaniards, under the direction of a man named Roubideau, formerly from St. Louis, Mo. Some eight pack-mules, laden at the rate of two hundred and fifty pounds each, conveyed a quantity of goods;—these headed by a guide followed in Indian file, and the remainder of the company mounted on horseback brought up the rear.
Crossing the del Norte, we soon after struck into a large trail bearing a westerly co
urse; [the Old Spanish Trail] following which, on the 13th inst. We crossed the main ridge of the Rocky Mountains by a feasible pass at the southern extremity of the Sierra de Anahauc (San Juan) range, and found ourselves upon the waters of the Pacific.
Writers from the period frequently referred to the western slope of the continental divide as being, “the waters of the Pacific,” because the direction of the main streams flowed south and or west, eventually into the Pacific Ocean. “Six days subsequently, we reached Roubideau's Fort, at the forks of the Uintah, having passed several large streams in our course, as well as the two principal branches which unite to form the Colorado. This being the point of destination, our journey here came to a temporary close.”34 Based on Sage's dates, the trip from Taos to the Uintah on horseback took twelve days.
Sages gave us a brief but nicely detailed look at Antoine's business on the Uintah:
The trade of this post is conducted principally with the trapping parties frequenting the Big Bear, Green, Grand, and the Colorado rivers, with their numerous tributaries, in search of fur-bearing game. A small business is also carried on with the Snake and Utah Indians, living in the neighborhood of this establishment. The common articles of dealing are horses, with beaver, otter, deer, sheep, and elk skins, in barter for ammunition, fire-arms, knives, tobacco, beads, awls, &c.
The Utah and Snakes afford some of the largest and best finished sheep and deer skins I ever beheld—a single skin sometimes being amply sufficient for common sized pantaloons. These skins are dressed so neatly as frequently to attain a snowy whiteness, and possess the softness of velvet. They may be purchased for the trifling consideration of eight or ten charges of ammunition each, or two or three awls, or any other thing of proportional value. Skins are very abundant in these parts, as the natives, owing to the scarcity of buffalo, subsist entirely upon small game, which is found in immense quantities. This trade is quite profitable. The articles procured so cheaply, when taken to Santa Fe and the neighboring towns, find a ready cash market at prices ranging from one to two dollars each.35
Sage stayed at Antoine's Uintah post for ten days during which,
The gentleman in charge spared no pains to render my visit agreeable, and, in answer to enquires, cheerfully imparted all the information in his possession relative to the localities, geography, and condition of the surrounding country. A trapping party from the Gila came in soon after our arrival, bring with them a rich quantity of beaver, which they had caught during the preceding winter, spring, and summer upon the affluents of that river and the adjacent mountain streams. They had made a successful hunt, and gave a glowing description of the country visited, and the general friendliness of its inhabitants. The natives, in some parts of their range, had never before seen a white man, and, after the first surprise had subsided, treated them with a great deference and respect. These simple and hospitable people supplied them with corn, beans, and melons, and seemed at all times well disposed.36
Sage's comments would lead one to believe that the Indians of the intermountain corridor from the Snake to the Gila offered no consequence to the business operations of men who traded with Antoine Robidoux. Sage described all the sub-tribes or divisions of the Utah, Snake, and Navajo as generally friendly. Yet what might have been considered “well enough” was not left alone, as Sage continued, “The only difficulty encountered with them took place upon one of the northern tributaries of the Gila. Two or three butcher-knives and other little articles being missing from camp, the trappers at once accused the Indians of stealing, and demanded their prompt restoration. The latter they were either unable or unwilling to do, and thereupon a volley of riflery was discharged among the promiscuous throng, with fatal effect. Several were killed and others wounded, and the whole troop of timorous savages immediately took to their heels, nor dared to return again.”37 If the Gila hunters told Sage the truth, that they shot down Indians over a couple of dollars' worth of knives and trade goods, then there can be little wonder that an undertow of Indian hostility grew with every passing incident, and small outposts of whites like Antoine's were in for a reckoning at some eminent moment.
While at Antoine's fort, Sage encountered,
several old trappers who had passed fifteen or twenty years in the Rocky Mountains and neighboring countries. They were what might, with propriety, be termed ‘hard cases.’ The interval of their stay was occupied in gambling, horse-racing, and other like amusements. Bets were freely made upon everything involving the least doubt—sometimes to the amount of five hundred or a thousand dollars—the stakes consisting of beaver, horses, traps, &c. Not infrequently the proceeds of months of toil, suffering, deprivation, and danger, were dissipated in a few hours, and the unfortunate gamester left without beaver, horse, trap, or even a gun. In such cases they bore their reverses without grumbling, and relinquished all to the winner, as unconcernedly as though these were affairs of every-day occurrence.38
After ten days, Sage bid Antoine good-bye. “Several trappers rendezvoused at the Uintah being about to leave for Fort Hall, on the head waters of the Columbia river, I improved the opportunity of bearing them company. My necessary arrangements were completed simply by exchanging horses; and, on the morning of Oct. 29th I bade farewell to my new acquaintances at the fort, and joined the party en route, which, included myself and compagnons de voyage from Fort Lancaster, numbering eleven in all, well mounted and armed.”39 We do not know if Rufus Sage ever encountered Antoine Robidoux again, though both men still had almost two decades of life left from that point in time.
Other important visitors at the Unitah fort included the noted missionaries Marcus Whitman and Asa Lovejoy. They had left their mission station among the eastern Oregon Indians near Walla Walla and planned to travel east to attend the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Boston. They departed in early October 1842, traveling first to Fort Hall, then turned south to take the route through Santa Fe rather than the road through South Pass, for reasons related to both weather and Indian hostility. The reached Antoine's Unitah post around November 1, and very possibly met Antoine and Rufus Sage. Picking up a new guide, the missionaries moved onto the post on the Gunnison before reaching Taos in December, amidst some very bad weather.40
Antoine had a good year in 1842, according to Joe Sublette, writing from Independence to his brother William in St. Louis. While traveling through to Bents & St. Vrain's fort on the Arkansas River, he heard that “Mr. Robidoux made a very good trade last year—goods were very scarce. When I left there was some talk of him a getting an outfit of Bents & St. Vrain and returning immediately to his post.”41 But while Antoine may have still had business to conclude in the intermountain region, brother Louis had other plans. He came east to Joseph's town for a visit and reportedly told his older brother he had plans to leave Santa Fe for California. Louis returned to Santa Fe and continued his business, took part in some local politics, and participated in various community interactions including a lawsuit between Louis and a Lieutenant Caballero, who sued him for twenty pesos. In February 1843 Louis, still acting as a magistrate, heard a case brought by Charles Bent, who said in a letter to Manuel Alvarez, “My sute will commence tomorrow at the Rancho L. Robadaux.”42 His wife put up some objections, but the business climate in the city and attitudes toward even entrenched foreign-born citizens continued to deteriorate. Louis saw the writing on the wall and took the opportunity to get out while still profitable. During the summer of 1843, Louis went on a reconnaissance trip to California seeking land and a place to move his large family. He knew others from New Mexico moving there and he hoped to find Anglo-Californians who might offer to do business with him.43
Antoine encountered a military patrol moving toward the U.S.-Mexican border, along the Santa Fe Trail in the vicinity of the upper Arkansas River. On September 6, 1843, an officer named Cooke, serving as part of a military escort for trade caravans, wrote from Cottonwood Fork, “I find Mr. Robidoux here, with a dozen light horse carts; he has
a trading house three hundred miles beyond Santa Fe.”44 Like his brother Louis, Antoine's position and prospects in New Mexico dwindled in the face of several issues including the decline in the fur business, the hostility of Armijo, and growing unrest among various Native American tribes.
In May 1844, Solomon Sublette wrote to his brother William L. Sublette from Fort William (Bent's Fort) with news about the fur trade. He made an observation about a Mr. Robidoux, no doubt referring to Antoine. “I have heard that Mr. Robidoux was very unfortunate, last winter was very severe and he lost most all of his animals. If that should be the case he cannot return a gain. I got the news from men just in from his Fort.”45 The time frame of Sublette's comments about the disastrous blizzard leads one to wonder if he referred to the 1841 event or if Antoine had been caught out again, by another in the winter of 1843–1844. At Council Grove in Kansas, 300 to 400 horses and mules perished along with two of Antoine's drovers, frozen to death. Whether the time frame is accurate, the event proved a severe financial blow to Antoine's fortune at a time when the declining fur trade meant little or no profit. According to the family history, Antoine moved his wife and adopted daughter to St. Joseph sometime during 1844, entrusting them to the care of his brother Joseph and the extended family living in the city.46
The relationship between the Ute Nation and the men at Antoine's Uintah post deteriorated going into 1844. More than one governor of New Mexico believed that Antoine supplied guns to the Indians in order to keep his trade going. The latest, Armijo, never actually charged Antoine.47 But there could be no denial that Antoine Robidoux traded guns and ammunition for pelts and had done so since his establishment of permanent bases in Ute territory during the 1830s. While initially friendly toward the Mexican traders, pobladores, operating out of Santa Fe and Taos, the Utes found American traders more likely to give them the arms they wanted. Because of that, and other issues such as the slave trade, the relationship with Mexican traders declined over many years to the benefit of Americans. Antoine did not supply all the arms acquired by the Utes. Other Americans operating in Colorado on the upper Arkansas River gladly gave firearms in exchange for livestock, stolen by the Utes.48