by Terry Grosz
“Don’t rightly know,” slowly replied Griz as he looked skyward once again, “but whatever it is, the good Lord has everythin’ all riled up, that is fer sure.”
“Catch anythin’ in your traps this day?” asked Big-Eye. Then before Josh could respond to Big-Eye’s question, he continued, “We found all our traps empty with nary a critter in sight, and those we spotted were all on the move like the devil were on their tails.”
“Nary a critter,” said Josh as he took one more look skyward and then entered the cabin as if whatever was going on, their cabin would protect them. That evening the men ate their supper in silence and then went to bed early as if that might help with what was going on all crazy-like around them... But they all kept their shooting irons handy.. .just in case.
Way before dawn on December the 16th, Gabe awoke to the nervous shuffling of horse and mule feet out in the corral. Sensing Indians might be making off with their livestock once again, he grabbed his rifle and peeped out a shooting port facing the corral. The horses and mules were really agitated in the false light of dawn, but nothing else was moving around that aroused his suspicions. Awake now, he set the coffee pot over the previous evening’s fire coals and restarted the fire. Soon the cabin’s occupants awoke to the smell of boiling coffee, frying moose steak, and the light, delicate aroma of baking biscuits in the Dutch ovens.
After breakfast, the men moved outside to saddle up their mounts and make ready for the day. As he stepped outside, Gabe said, “What is that terrible smell?”
All the men began smelling the morning air under a still yellow-looking sky when Griz said with a look of wonderment on his face over the strong smell of sulphur in the air, “That is the smell of brimstone. I think we have the devil in our own backyard this mornin’, Boys.” Looking all a little nervous over what they didn’t understand, the men hastily saddled their horses, packed their pack mules, mounted up and with a wave of the hands headed off into the morning that left all of them still a little baffled as to what was happening.
However, several hundred miles to the south in New Madrid, Missouri, to many people’s way of thinking, the world as they knew it was coming to an end. Around two in the morning on December the 16th, they awoke to their world shaking itself to pieces in one of the worst earthquakes on record in the history of the United States. The event was so severe that old lakes dried up; new lakes were formed; ships on the rivers were hurled up onto dry land; houses were destroyed; the Mississippi ran upstream for a spell; great cracks opened up in the earth spewing forth great clouds of sulphurous smells; animals went nuts and stampeded off never to be seen again; people disappeared into the shaking ground never to be seen again; and great oaks and other trees were rent from the earth and tossed skyward! Then later on the 16th, other great shocks were felt and the earth was turned topside once again along with all of mankind. In fact, these events and lesser ones carried on into February of 1812!
Back on the Musselshell, Gabe and Josh found two large beaver ponds in which they had traps set were now completely dry! Closer examination showed that those waters had been swallowed up entirely by a great crack in the earth! Others ponds were now over their banks and spilling water onto the adjacent low areas. Animals were still showing signs of nervousness like the day before and to the brothers’ amazement, they did not see one elk, deer or moose that day.
Not understanding the earthquake-related events taking place to the south and how it impacted their area on the periphery to the north, they ignorantly continued trying to trap beaver and river otter. Scenting all their traps once again but finding their traps still empty, they rode further north along the Musselshell looking for the morrow’s trap sites. As they did, they all the while kept a wary eye skyward and remained very alert on their still-very nervous horses.
Rounding a brushy turn in the river, they ran smack dab into thirteen Blackfoot warriors from a hunting party coming their way! With a whoop of joy at discovering two badly outnumbered trappers so close at hand, the Indians exploded riding hard as they looked for an easy kill and horse captures.
“Head for that knoll!” yelled Gabe, spurring his horse hard as several quickly loosed arrows whizzed by his head and body. Then the pack mule let out a groan as an arrow drove itself deeply into his lungs behind its shoulder. The mule managed to run another twenty or so yards before the mortality of that arrow was felt, and he dropped to the ground in an explosion of flying debris and dust! Making the knoll, Gabe stepped off his still- moving horse, ran behind a large boulder, turned, and with his rifle dropped the nearest Blackfoot. As it turned out, just in time because the Indian was knocking an arrow meant for Josh’s back who was still fleeing for cover.
Jerking one of his pistols from his sash, Gabe steadied his aim using the boulder as a rest and cleared a second Indian from his saddle with a gut shot from less than six yards.
The small horde of Indians then reined up after seeing two of their kind killed so quickly. That hesitation was just enough giving Gabe another clear, close-at-hand shot with his second pistol. Fowl went that pistol and a third Indian from the still bunched-up trying-to-flee group of warriors was spun from his saddle with a lucky head shot. Just then, boom went Josh’s rifle and a solid whack was heard as a fourth Indian flew from his saddle landing under the feet of his buddies’ horses.
By now, utter confusion reined among the Blackfeet over the straight-shooting trappers. Pow went Josh’s first pistol shot and as Gabe was hurriedly reloading his rifle, he heard his brother’s just-fired ball smack into the side of another Indian. That Indian slumped in the saddle but did not fall. By then, the diminishing group of Blackfeet had regained their survival skills and were racing back down the knoll with one Blackfoot leading the injured warrior’s horse. Dropping into the tree line, the Blackfeet rapidly dismounted, regrouped and four of their kind started up the sides of the knoll. As they came, they began shooting on the run with their rifles at the now almost-surrounded trappers.
Holding steady on a large, pot-bellied Indian, Gabe touched off his rifle and heard a satisfying whack. That sound was made even more satisfactory when he observing the fat one stumble and fall. The rest of the Blackfeet then scattered even further and began sneaking separately up the knoll. As they did, they used all available cover in order to root out and kill the straight-shooting trappers.
“Are you alright?” yelled Gabe as he sensed a break in the action to his front.
“Fine as frog hair,” yelled Josh with a wave of his arm from behind his shoulder-high, old buffalo rubbing rock—a rock worn smooth by many hundreds of buffalo using it as a rubbing rock to remove unwanted winter coats over many hundreds of years.
“We best get together so we can watch each other’s back,” yelled Gabe as he observed the remaining seven Blackfeet fanning out more and beginning their stalk on the now completely surrounded trappers.
“How about that clump of rocks and aspens up yonder?” yelled Josh.
“Let’s go,” said Gabe as he quickly looked and realized they represented their best chance for protection and survival.
Both men made a dash for the clump of aspens as several rifle balls whizzed closely by their ways. Both men arrived at the aspen clump the same time, then quickly lay down behind several smaller boulders, each looking a different way in order to protect themselves from any angle.
“This is a fine kettle of fish we have gotten ourselves into,” said Josh with a grin.
“You just keep an eye peeled on that large Indian working his way up by that fir tree,” said Gabe as he took aim at some movement he had just seen to his front. That was followed by a boom from Gabe’s rifle. A soft-sounding thump resulted as Gabe saw his Indian leap up into the air in a spew of red from a head shot. Then the Indian fell over backwards and began rolling down the hill.
After Gabe’s head shot, other than the wind rustling through the aspen leaves, all was quiet on the knoll. Then all of a sudden, the aspen grove of trees they were hiding in bega
n to rattle their leaves violently as did other trees on the knoll. It was then Gabe and Josh realized the ground was rolling slightly all around them and a faint rumbling was heard coming from the earth. Neither realized another huge quake was being felt in the New Madrid area far to their south and the aftershocks were now being felt clear up to where they were hiding many hundreds of miles distant. With that, both men observed the remaining six Blackfeet rise up in total fear as the ground heaved around them yelling in terror. Boom-boom went Gabe and Josh’s rifles simultaneously at the new targets and two more Indians dropped but were not killed because both trappers’ aims were off slightly due to the shaking ground. With that display of nature, the remaining Indians fled in terror leaving their rifles as they ran off the knoll with thoughts of killing the outnumbered trappers now far from their minds. Running full-out, the Indians ran right by their horses who were bucking in fright and kept going at full speed until they were out of sight. When the rolling stopped, Josh went for their two nervous horses while Gabe went over to the two badly injured Indians and killed them with a blow to their heads with
his tomahawk. Leading their horses downhill, they discovered another dead Indian in the trees with the remaining Blackfoot horses. The same Indian Josh had hit earlier in the side with a pistol shot was the one now lying dead by the horses. Realizing they still had four Indians on the loose, Gabe and Josh hurriedly gathered up all the horses and headed for the Musselshell River but not before they had quickly removed their valuable packsaddle and reserve rifle from their dead mule.
Into the river the two trappers and string of horses went and, with a combination of swimming and walking the animals, they traveled a full two miles in the water hiding their tracks. Then they exited the Musselshell at the mouth of a small creek leading south and continued walking their horses another mile to throw off any trailing Blackfeet. It was only then that the trappers exited the creek and headed for home with their valuable string of horseflesh and a tall tale to tell.
When they arrived back at their cabin, Big-Eye and Griz had similar tales to tell of the rolling ground and absence of any beaver. In fact, both Gabe and Josh swore Big-Eye’s good eye was now two times larger than it had been before they had separated that morning...
For the next couple of days, the trappers ceased all trapping because the beaver were still not acting naturally. That also allowed the men to remain on alert back at their cabin in case any Blackfeet attempted to locate those trappers who had killed their warriors on the day “when the ground moved” because of “bad medicine.”
A week later when things had quieted down, the men removed their traps due to a series of rolling winter storms and with that, the trapping season was done for the winter of 1811. With the advent of heavy snows and the Indians’ penchant for staying close to their villages during the winter, the trappers dropped their caution regarding the possibility of being hunted down by the Blackfeet for the defeat sown amidst their kind on the knoll in December. That, plus the Blackfeet’s fear over what they felt was “trapper’s bad medicine,” coupled with walking and swimming the animals in the river and creek to lose their tracks, helped to avoid any kind of reprisals against the trappers at least for the time being...
Come the spring trapping season of 1812, the trappers stayed together for the increased safety it offered. They now only trapped south on the Musselshell because of the high numbers of Blackfeet drifting further and further down into their area from their ancestral grounds to the north. Then for some reason that year, the Blackfeet became bolder and more troublesome to the trappers. Troublesome in that traps were removed, beaver stolen out from the traps, Blackfeet and Hudson’s Bay Fur Trappers invading the trapping grounds normally worked by Americans from Fort Raymond, and clashes between the Indians and white trappers became more and more frequent and deadly.
Finally, it became all-out war! When Blackfeet were sighted by the Americans or the opposite occurred, “shoot first” became the word of the day with no quarter given. Several times that year, Gabe and Josh met other trappers who had pulled up stakes from their northern trapping grounds and were heading south for the protection the lands of friendlier tribes represented. The tales they told of open warfare between the American white fur trappers, Hudson’s Bay and the Blackfeet were devilish. Soon the men ran into almost a constant stream of American fur trappers heading further south to avoid the inevitable bloodshed associated with the deadly Blackfeet.
When the beaver went out of prime that spring, the men prepared for their annual trip to Fort Raymond and the joys it would bring. Little did they know they were in for a surprise that foretold of more trouble with the Blackfeet, the British and the loss of their supply base because of international events taking place on the high seas and in the eastern seaboard of the United States...
CHAPTER TEN: GRIZ TAKES A WIFE — CAPTURED!
After making ready for their summer trip to Fort Raymond in 1812, the men cached those goods not needed for the trip and then headed south once again. Days later along with a small stream of fellow trappers also returning to the fort for resupply, the group made it under the trading post’s protective gates. Once inside, the trappers were surprised to see a frenzied amount of activity. Traders were scurrying about loading wagons with furs and everything else of value from the fort’s storehouses for what appeared to be an immediate and obvious departure. Once loaded with goods, the wagons headed out the gates and down to the Bighorn River where two large keelboats at anchor were being hurriedly loaded.
Josh grabbed a trader by his shirt as he hurried by carrying an armload of rifles, saying, “What the blue blazes is going on here? Why in damnation is everyone running to and fro like there is no tomorrow and cleaning out the fort’s warehouses of all the furs and supplies?”
The trader turned in his loose-fitting shirt and said, iCWar! We are at war again with the damn British. That and they of the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company have stirred up the Blackfeet and got them fighting against us on the side of the British. That is why all you trappers are having such a bad time recently with those savages out on the trapping grounds. They have joined forces with the British and aim to run us out of the fur trapping country. Hudson’s Bay is furnishing the Blackfeet with rifles, powder and shot, plus ample amounts of firewater for them to fight against us and run us out of the country. That was all it took and them Blackfeet joined right up. There ain’t enough of us here at the fort to fight back so we must tuck our tails and run. Manuel has ordered all of us to empty out the fort before the British come down from Canada and take everything!” With those words, the trader tore loose from Josh’s grasp and trotted out the fort’s gate en route to the river and the waiting keelboats with the armload of precious rifles.
“Ain’t that a fine kettle of fish,” said Gabe. “What do we do now?” he asked his brother.
“We kin git to tradin’ as fast as a weasel kin spit afore these chaps run off with all the supplies we need for next year,” said Josh as he headed his pack string over to the main warehouse in the fort.
“I ain’t letten a few savages and a mess of them damn Britishers run me off from a perfectly good set of trappin’ waters,” grumbled Griz as he slapped the tail-end mule in the pack string in the hind end to make it move faster. “No Sirree Bob,” he continued. “We was here afore the Britishers and I aim to stay. However, it is those damn Blackfeet that concerns me. No matter how one cuts it, they have us outnumbered and being as sneaky as they are, it is just a matter of time afore they lift our hair, careful or not.”
Arriving at the main warehouse, the newly arriving trappers’ contingent that had traveled with Griz and the boys through the gates of the fort began talking and haggling all at once with a much-harried trader. Seeing their lifeblood in the form of their supplies petering out from the fort was all it took to get them plenty riled-up and fearsome and the trader knew it!
“Hold it up, Boys! Hold it up! I can only talk to one of you at a time. So not all at th
e same time, please. Now, who is first?” he asked.
Josh being at the head of the line, stepped forward and said, “I would imagine all the lads want to know is if they can trade their furs now for the goods they need for next year. Additionally, who do we trade with next year if we survive the winter? The British and them damn Blackfeet?” he asked the harried trader in a tone of voice showing his disrespect for the British and their newfound allies.
“Lisa wants us to trade with all of you men for the furs you are a-totin’ and, in turn, let you take the pick of supplies you will need for the cornin’ trappin’ season. That is, if you insist on going back to that nest of hornets to continue trapping beaver. As for our presence next year, I don’t know. We are leavin’ the fort now because of the war between our country and Great Britain. That, plus the Blackfoot Nation has allied with the Brits. Lisa saw this a-comin’ and opened up his trading with the Sioux Nation to forestall the Blackfeet. He hoped that by adding more friendly Indians to the pool it would diminish the effect the Blackfeet had on our trappers. Hell, all that did was stir up them devils even more! And, since we don’t have enough men to hold the fort, we must skedaddle or get whipped and lose all our trade goods in the process. Lisa will be here this evening once the keelboats are loaded and then you boys can ask him your questions at that time. However, I ’spect we best get to tradin’ afore them damn savages come rainin’ down on the fort from the high country causin’ even more trouble,” said the trader.
By then, several more traders had come back from the keelboats and the trading began in earnest with a rush. By the end of the day, most of the fur trappers had traded off their furs and hides and were supplied for the next trapping season. Griz and company had held back from jumping right into the “frog dance” of excited trappers and harried traders, but when things settled down a bit, they moved their loaded animals forward for the grading and trading.