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diff --git a/37110-h/37110-h.htm b/37110-h/37110-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8d4685 --- /dev/null +++ b/37110-h/37110-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1197 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Frontier Folk, by George Booth. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.pagenum { /* comment the next line for visible page numbers */ + visibility: hidden; + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + + +.blockquote { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.big {font-size: 150%;} + +.b {font-size: 125%;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Frontier Folk, by George Booth + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Frontier Folk + +Author: George Booth + +Release Date: August 17, 2011 [EBook #37110] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRONTIER FOLK *** + + + + +Produced by Anna Hall and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + +<h1><span class="smcap">Frontier Folk.</span></h1> + +<p class="center">BY</p> +<p class="center big">GEORGE BOOTH.</p> +<div><br /></div> +<p class="center">REPRINTED FROM THE<br /> +<span class="smcap">International Review for July, 1880.</span></p> +<div><br /></div> +<p class="center b">NEW YORK:<br /> +A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> +<div><br /></div> + + +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1880,</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By A. S. Barnes and Company</span>.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + + + +<h2>FRONTIER FOLK.</h2> + + +<p>What do we mean by the frontier? And +what, by frontier folk? The terms came into +vogue when tolerably well-defined lines marked +the onset of civilization at the far West, and all +beyond was wilderness. Yet to-day, with settlements +scattered over all the Territories, the phrase +loses none of its significance. It still has a geographical +import, and another, deeper than the +geographical, suggesting a peculiar civilization and +a certain characteristic mode of life. It does not +bring to mind those prosperous colonies whose +lands, surveyed, secured by good legal titles, and +freed from danger of savage inroads, have a permanent +population busily engaged in founding homes. +It takes us rather to the boundaries of the Indian +reservations, along which scattered camps and settlements +of white men are fringed; to lands which, +though legally open for settlement, are constantly +menaced by Indians; to those strange, shifting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +communities which sometimes, like Jonah's gourd, +spring up in a night only to wither away in a day.</p> + +<p>It is the purpose of this paper to present a sketch +of the life and people of this frontier region as the +writer has become familiar with them, depicting the +types and manners of mankind, and leaving for more +profound narrators the matters of statistical detail.</p> + +<p>Social estimation and intercourse on the frontier +are based upon a very short acquaintance. A large +and catholic charity presumes every man to be that +which he desires to appear. To pry into the secret +history of his former life, to pass hostile criticisms +on it even when known to be discreditable, is not +considered a public-spirited act; for those turbulent +energies or uncontrolled passions which drove him +out of eastern communities may prove of great service +to that new country to which he has come. +The first element of success in a frontier settlement +is that a sufficient number of nomads should +be willing to sustain each other in the belief that +"this spot is to be a city and a centre." The news +that a considerable group is already gathered on +any such foreordained and favored spot brings +others; nor do the arrivals cease until a day +comes when it is bruited abroad that some of +the "first citizens" have revised their views of its +glorious destiny, and have left it for a new Eden. +The sojourner in such regions—he cannot be +called an inhabitant—lives in expectation of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +coming settler who will pay him cash for his +"claim"; or else perhaps he devotes himself to +discovering a lode or a placer, which, if disposed +of, may put him in funds for a year's spree; or +again he may be a trapper, perpetually shifting his +place as the peltry grows scarce. These indicate +the respectable callings or expectancies of the solid +men in frontier life; but they are surrounded by a +larger throng of men, who hang about settlements +with the possible hope of an honest El Dorado, but +who in the meantime, and until this shall come, +take to the surreptitious borrowing of horses without +leave, or to the industries of the faro-table, or +to the "road agency," by which phrase is signified +the unlawful collection of a highway toll amounting +usually to whatever of value the traveller may have +about him. There are no superfluous refinements +and gradations in frontier society. The citizen +is either "an elegant gentleman" or a liar and a +horse-thief. Yet even people of the latter description +are rarely molested unless taken in the actual +practice of their profession, which they ply, to say +the truth, with such discrimination as to make interference +with them difficult; but if caught in the +very act and overpowered, their fate is sudden—they +are "got rid of."</p> + +<p>In fact, homicide on the frontier, as compared +with horse-stealing, is a peccadillo. The horse has +a positive value; the thief, a negative one. Justice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +does not pursue the man who slays his fellow in +a quarrel; but if it grasps the stealer of a purse on +the prairie or of a horse from the herd, his last day +has come. Yet he always has the chance of escaping +capture, and of playing in other frontier cities +the <i>rôle</i> of "elegant gentleman" on his earnings, +reimbursing himself in a professional way; and he +may continue in this career even if suspected, provided +he does not ply his vocation in those communities +which he honors with his presence when not +engaged in prosecuting his business. Personal violence +is, however, mostly confined to instances +where it is for the profit of the aggressor. The +traditional free-fight, or killing a man at sight, is +rare, probably much rarer than in the Southwest. +Benton, the head of navigation on the Missouri, was +the place where, according to the story, the early +morning visitor at the bar-room, before it had been +swept out, expressed his surprise, although he knew +the soil to be good for vegetables, at the excellence +of its fruit, judging from the large size of the +grapes he saw on the floor, when he was informed, +"Stranger, them's eyes!"—the results of the preceding +evening's amusement. Yet in two visits to +Benton the writer saw not the least sign of violence +even in amusement, although he would be sorry to +have some Bentonians around his camp at night if +the horses were not well guarded, or to meet them +on the prairie without sufficient protection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<p>If a settlement becomes permanent and prosperous, +whether through commerce, mining, or agriculture, +the first settlers sell out as soon as they can +get cash in hand, and seek new domains. There +are men who have passed their manhood in taking +out claims, building ranches, and "realizing" for +better or for worse, on a journey from Texas to +Montana, sometimes taking in California by the +way. Very often the wife, children, and stock of +the pilgrim accompany him. Often a cabin is put +up and inhabited by a family, with a retinue of +cattle, horses, pigs, and poultry in the barn, only +to be deserted the next year on the mere report of +some better claim to be found further on. There +never seems to be any real misery among these +shiftless people. Their children grow up sturdy +and ignorant, their stock and chickens multiply as +they journey on. It may be a new stage-route +which gives them a year's sustenance, such as it is, +by their squatting on good enough grass-land to be +able to fill a hay contract. Or they may go to a +point near which some new military post is about +to be built, where they can raise some vegetables +to sell to the troops before the company gardens +become productive. Or they may take out a +claim on some really good spot, where permanent +settlers speedily follow them. But as soon as they +can see flour, bacon, and tobacco, and find a little +in the pocket for whiskey and clothes, sufficient to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +last for a year ahead, off they go again,—not so +much like gypsies, who will often revisit the same +spot, as like the Wandering Jew, pursued by an +avenging angel, driving them from contact with +steady and methodical people. Their household +stuff is packed in their "prairie schooners," as their +wagons are called, and on they move by easy stages, +seldom taking the trouble to pitch a tent at night, +the women sleeping in the wagons and the men on +the ground beneath them. There is plenty of grass +for the stock, and the weather is pleasant. There +is no especial hurry or worry: it is only necessary +to reach somewhere, in time to put up a log hut +and a shed for the stock, for the winter's shelter. +The little army of the United States, spread over a +country as large as the Roman Empire, does its +duty so well that there is only occasional danger +from Indians roaming away from their reservations, +and the military telegraphs are now so far extended +that timely warning is usually given if war parties +are out. So on they go, day after day, while at +night comes an encampment which perhaps may be +best described in these humorous words of Captain +Derby, in "Phœnixiana," during a criticism upon a +supposititious performance of an opera called "The +Plains":—</p> + +<blockquote><p>The train now encamps. The unpacking of the kettles +and mess-pans, the unyoking of the oxen, the gathering about +of various camp-fires, the frizzling of the pork, are so clearly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>expressed by the music that the most untutored savage could +readily comprehend it. Indeed, so vivid and lifelike was the +representation that a lady sitting near us involuntarily exclaimed +aloud at a certain passage, "Thar, that pork's burning!" +and it was truly interesting to watch the gratified +expression of her face when, by a few notes of the guitar, +the pan was removed from the fire, and the blazing pork extinguished. +This is followed by the beautiful <i>aria</i>, "O marm, +I want a pancake," followed by that touching recitative, +"Shet up, or I will spank you!" To which succeeds a grand +<i>crescendo</i> movement, representing the flight of the child with +the pancake, the pursuit of the mother, and the final arrest +and summary punishment of the former, represented by the +rapid and successive strokes of the castanet. The turning-in +for the night follows; and the deep and stertorous breathing +of the encampment is well given by the bassoon, while the +sufferings and trials of an unhappy father with an unpleasant +infant are touchingly set forth by the <i>cornet à piston</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Nomadic habits, slight contact with anything +human that is permanent, and freedom from the +restraint which would be caused by the propinquity +of neighbors, have fortified these people in self-conceit. +Although they will in a few months +desert all their acres for something more distant, +yet the traveller who stops at their cabin and pays +for bad food is required to "allow" that he has +never seen a finer "claim" or tasted better victuals. +In truth, never was good food so spoiled. The +best venison of the country is sliced thin, put on +cold grease in a frying-pan (they never think of +first boiling the grease), and fried until it is as +tough as a chip and as full of grease as an Englishman's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +crumpet. Once in Colorado a request to +have an egg boiled was encountered by the statement +that "the lady knew how to cook eggs—she +fried 'em." And fried they were, being put in cold +lard in proportions of three of lard to one of egg. +Another "lady", at the hint that a gridiron might +be used instead of the frying-pan for the venison, +seeing an army officer present, remarked, "If you +can't eat what we eat, you can go without. Don't +see the use of troops anyhow. We pay for you. +Understand Sitting Bull is going to Canada to fight +Fenians. He will find somebody to fight there—never +did here!" As the woman was paid five times +the worth of her victuals, and as she, her "par" +and her "mar" could not have remained twelve +hours in their cabin had the military post near by +been withdrawn, her sarcasms were a little ill-considered. +These much-isolated people look upon +themselves as Nature's aristocracy. Perhaps if +Robinson Crusoe were a king, they might be feudal +barons. Their social standing is sustained only by +lack of neighbors. But on their own dunghill they +have none to overcrow them.</p> + +<p>The occasional traveller who may have been told +that there were ranches on his trail, and that he +need not take tents or camp equipage for cooking, +will, if he be new to these people, or have regard +for his digestion, find to his disgust that during his +stay he is a vassal at the castle of Giant Despair.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +He is alluded to by his host as a "tender-foot,"—a +word which is supposed to sum up everything +that is contemptible. He may have scaled Alps or +marched with armies, but a "tender-foot" he will +be in the estimation of his host, until he may be +forced by circumstances to live a hundred miles +further out than any one else, or unless he learns +to carry food to his mouth with his knife. On the +other hand, the only term of opprobrium which can +be felt by these people is that of "Missourian." +Why this should be so construed it is difficult to +say; but the name seems to imply all that is worthless +and disagreeable. Settlers from Virginia and +from Georgia are sure on first acquaintance to inform +you of their place of nativity with a pride +which assumes that to have been born there furnishes +them with blue blood; but the Missourian +only mentions the last place he tarried at on his +journey to "the setting sun" as the spot he hails +from. Some of these good people, particularly +those who left Missouri during the war, seem to +forget that fifteen years have passed since that conflict +ended. Their isolation has given them plenty +of time and opportunity to brood over the wrongs +of the South, with none to assuage their wrath; and +they are still as bitter against "abolitionists" and +"Lincoln's hirelings" as in the days when such +things were.</p> + +<p>The miners and prospectors are a much more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +agreeable class. Their summer is passed amid +wild scenery and in a country abounding in game, +in pursuit of a fortune which may possibly be attained +by one among a hundred. These men find +a fascination in their way of life, and, though in the +main unsuccessful, continue it as long as health +and age permit. They pass their winter in some +town where they earn enough to purchase an outfit, +namely, gunpowder, coffee, flour, sugar, and bacon +sufficient for the summer's campaign, and a jack, +as the donkey is called, to carry the pack. Selecting +a spot for their centre of operations, a small +shanty is soon built, and the summer passes with +much climbing, and much breaking of rock that +suggests wealth, while they keep a keen eye for +game and preserve a romantic belief in the speedy +finding of a fortune. Such men cordially welcome +the tourist, and gladly share whatever they have +with him, excepting blankets, which every man is +expected to carry for himself. They beguile his +evening by relating quaint experiences, and hint +solemnly of a spot where wealth beyond description +can be found. They usually work in couples, each +calling the other "pard"; and very faithful each +pard is to his fellow, becoming only more attached +in case of sickness or disaster. They are, as a rule, +an honest and manly race, leading a life which +brings out many good qualities, especially hospitality, +and, in injury or illness, even of a stranger, care,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +kindness, and tenderness. There is no monotony +in their career. Each day brings its incidents, +greater or less, and is cheered by the belief that +the <i>bonanza</i> is near at hand. Geographical distances +are nothing to them. Fear they have none. +It is a common sight to see a couple of "pards" on +foot, driving the two jacks which carry all their +worldly possessions, trudging through an Indian +country, and informing you, perhaps, in answer to +your inquiry, that they have come from the San +Juan country in Southern Colorado, and are bound +for the Bear Paw Mountains in Northern Montana, +as they have heard that gold can be panned there. +Many of them have paced the line of the Rocky +Mountains as far as they lie within the limits of the +United States.</p> + +<p>In gold-washings, towns spring up as rapidly as +Leadville has done, but the washings being simply +on the surface and soon exhausted, the population +migrates to other points. The once populous +town of Georgia, in the Middle Park in Colorado, +which was built by gold-washers, is still standing, +with its Town Hall, two theatres, and streets of +log-houses, and is now without a solitary inhabitant. +Of course its Town Hall and theatres were +of very simple wooden construction, but they were +once really used for the purposes their names +imply.</p> + +<p>In a new town which is brevetted a "city" as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +soon as there is more than one house, the rumseller +follows hard on the footsteps of the settler; then +comes the lawyer, who immediately runs as candidate +for county offices, foments grievances, and +shows each man how he can get the better of his +neighbor. If there be a military post near by, the +officers are good game for him, they being pecuniarily +responsible, and obliged to obey the laws, +which seem to be so construed as to enable a sheriff +to arrest a whole column of troops even if setting +out on a campaign. The lawyer's process of getting +money out of the military officers is easy and very +simple. A practitioner secures a witness who will +depose to anything, perjury being looked on more +as a joke than as a crime, and so never punished. +The action or suit may be for pretty much anything; +it was, in one case, for the alleged illegal +detention of an animal which the learned judge +described as a "Rhone ox," further stating that +such detention was a "poenel" offence. But the +unfortunate officer who obeys the summons, however +ridiculous may be the cause of action, must +employ one of the horde of lawyers to defend him, +so that, whichever way the suit may be decided, he +at least is compelled to contribute something to the +support of the frontier <i>bar</i>. In the Territories +justice is enforced when the United States judge +of the district comes on his circuit, but there is no +redress or compensation for the worry and expense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +of litigation. If damages could be given against +the concocter of the conspiracy, it would be difficult +to find any property to satisfy the claim, and a hint +of punishment would only cause him to remove to +some other place. The army officer on the frontier +has a soldier's dread of legal complications, and +may be made thoroughly unhappy by suits which +in the East would only be laughed at. A general +idea of law is taught at West Point, but not more +than one third of the commissions are held by graduates +of the Military Academy, and these graduates +find their general knowledge of law speedily growing +rusty, while it never included the minute details +of the kind of suits to which they are subjected +by frontier pettifoggers. With fewer opportunities +than the business man at the East of knowing the +nature of court practice, they fall victims to any +attorney who brazenly begins a prosecution founded +on his own familiarity with legal tricks and the +assumed wrongs of his client. Nothing, for example, +is more common than for ranches to be +damaged and hay or grain burned through the carelessness +of emigrants, hunters, or other people who +have camped near by, and on breaking camp have +left the camp-fire to take care of itself: a wind +springing up fans the embers into sparks, and these +set fire to the dry grass. Now, although troops on +the march are by strict orders compelled, on breaking +camp, to extinguish their fires with water or by covering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +them with earth, the ranchman who can show +a burned fence or scorched barn (knowing that during +the term of his natural life he might sue anybody +else but an army officer any number of times +without ever actually recovering damages) immediately +finds out what military command has been +within some miles of his ranch during some days or +weeks before the fire, and straightway goes to a +lawyer and swears that the fire was set by the troops. +He brings eager witnesses to show that the fire travelled +just the requisite number of miles in the +requisite number of days, and that the barn or house, +if burnt up, was magnificent in all its appointments +and of palatial proportions. Suit is begun before +the nearest judge for real, imaginary, or consequential +damages against the officer in command of +the accused troops. This officer may know the +charge to be trumped up, but he is liable to be arrested +and to have his property attached; and thus +he is subjected to such worry as will usually induce +him to submit to the most unjust drafts on his +slender purse. If the writer has dwelt at length +on this feature of frontier life, it is because the +abuse is keenly felt by army officers, and yet is +hardly suspected at the East.</p> + +<p>It is a common mistake to suppose that an army +officer on the frontier leads an idle life. Rarely is +more than one of the three officers of a company +present with it, and this one must accordingly attend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +every day to all the company duties. The +other two officers may be detailed on special service, +such as commissary or quartermaster's duties +(and the latter in a new post will be no sinecure) or +attendance on court-martial, or searching where +lime can be found; or they may be on the sick list, +or guarding the wagon-train which brings supplies +to the post, or absent on the leaves which are +granted after continuous service. It is not infrequent +for cavalry to be six or eight months on a +campaign without seeing a permanent camp, much +less a post where any of the comforts of civilization +can be found. With small bodies of troops, where +there are but few officers to form society for one +another, the life becomes fearfully monotonous +and dreary.</p> + +<p>Old posts are deserted and new ones built so +frequently that there is little danger of officers or +men stagnating through idleness, even were Indian +hostilities less abundant. An appropriation by +Congress for a new post does not represent more +than a third of the real expenditure. The other +two thirds are supplied "in kind," that is to say, +by soldiers' labor. The money appropriation is +only expended for such things as the soldiers cannot +produce themselves. They cut the timber, run +saw-mills, dig drains, make bricks and mortar, carry +hods, and plaster the inside of houses. The cavalry-man +is fortunate if he can leave off digging long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +enough to groom his own horse. Frequently one +man is detailed to groom, feed, and take to water +the horses of several of his comrades. The American +soldier on the frontier is certainly a wonderful +being. He is at most times a day-laborer, slouchy +in his bearing and slovenly in his dress. His one +good suit must be saved for guard-mounting, when +his turn comes, or for inspection; and the nature +of his unmilitary vocations uses up his uniforms +faster than his clothing allowance can furnish them. +He has little or no real drill, and has been known +to go into action without previously having pulled +the trigger of his rifle. He has not the mien or +bearing of a soldier,—in military parlance, is not +well set up. He performs the same manual labor +for which the civilian who works beside him earns +three times his wages. The writer has seen cavalry +recruits, whose company was ordered to march, recalled +from the woods, where they were employed +at a saw-mill which supplied planks for some new +buildings at the post, and where they had passed +all their time since their arrival. On joining their +command they were put on their horses for the +first time, and started off, armed with carbines they +had never fired, on a march of over eight hundred +miles. If the recruit gives his horse a sore back, +he will have to foot it; if he encounters Indians, he +must fight as best he can.</p> + +<p>Yet in spite of this treatment,—which is virtually<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +a breach of contract by the Government, since +the recruit is led to suppose on his enlistment that +he is to be a soldier and not a hod-carrier,—in +spite of his rarely being taught his profession, or +shown how to become skilled in arms or horsemanship, +the American soldier is subordinate, quick to +obey, ready in expedients, uncomplaining, capable +of sustaining great fatigue, brave and trustworthy +in action. The previous lack of drill causes much +difficulty for company officers when in battle, as the +recruit must then be taught on the spur of the moment +what ought to have been drilled into him in +camp, where in fact his time has been spent in +wielding a trowel. But history, even up to to-day, +shows that the knight of the hod faces any odds of +position or numbers at the command of his officer. +If he dies firing a carbine in the use of which he is +uninstructed (and even if he were skilled in it, it +would still be a weapon inferior to that of his savage +foe), he will be lucky if he has a pile of stones +heaped up to mark his grave. If he lives through +the fight, he will have become somewhat more +accustomed to the use of his carbine, and in the +next engagement will do better work with it. The +country feeds him very well, clothes him tolerably +well,—if he can do his duty so as to satisfy his +officer, and if he does not catch inflammatory +rheumatism from sleeping on the ground, he must +be content.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<p>Generally by the time a cavalry officer has +reached middle age, his exposed life begins to tell +upon him. The cavalry, being mounted, are called +upon to do most of the frontier scouting. Some of +the infantry are also mounted, especially the Fifth +Infantry. Infantry in such cases may simply be +classed as cavalry, though armed with a better +weapon,—the long Springfield rifle. Marches in +the middle of winter occur only too often. In +many instances the troops must march with cooked +rations and abstain from lighting fires, lest the +smoke may give warning to the Indians whom they +are pursuing,—and this with the thermometer +many degrees below zero. As the Indian is as +loath as a bear to leave his winter quarters, and +little expects the approach of his foe, such expeditions +are often successful, if a "blizzard" does not +happen to blow. This blizzard, as it is termed in +Montana and Wyoming, or the norther, as it is +known in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, is a +strong, piercing wind from the North, which blows +for some three days, and smites everything that is +not under cover. If the troops are spared this +blizzard, they may strike their wily foe, who has +evaded them all summer, and punish him, with no +other casualties than those incurred from frozen +feet and fingers, and in the fortune of battle. The +quartermaster's department furnishes excellent buffalo +overcoats and fur caps, and men <i>can</i> march and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +<i>can</i> live on cold food in the middle of a bitter +winter: but when the blizzard comes, the troops +must seek the nearest shelter, and use every means +to keep themselves alive. In many instances their +wagons are broken up for fuel, as there are vast +areas on the plains where no timber grows. In the +sudden changes of station which the Government +is forced to make with troops, by reason of the +smallness of our army, much suffering is incurred,—as +in case of regiments sent, without halt for acclimation, +from Georgia or Louisiana to the British +line. But after the troops have become acclimatized, +and have learned to be always prepared for the +coldest weather, they like the northwestern climate, +which is certainly very invigorating.</p> + +<p>On occasion of any military expedition, scouts +are hired to discover the position and circumstances +of the "hostiles," as Indians are called, for attacking +whom orders have been issued. Their +rewards are usually regulated by the importance +of the information they bring and the risks they +have run. Many of these men will do excellent +service, and sometimes in a modest way. Many +more, on the other hand, will lie <i>perdu</i> until +their rations are consumed, and then come back +with some startling but highly untrue information. +They have proved themselves to be not +too good to burn the grass, to efface the trail of the +enormous body of Indians they pretended to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +seen. These men usually don a costume like that +of the hero of a dime novel. They wear long hair, +occasionally neatly bound up into a queue with a +snake-skin. Sometimes they cut out the roof of +their sombrero, to permit their flowing topknots to +wave forth like feathers. They use much of the +Indian's ornament, often adorning themselves by +sewing elk-teeth on their garments; they also imitate +some of the least excusable customs of the +savage. All of them endeavor to adopt some +prefix to their name. A Mr. Johnson, who was +drowned in the Yellowstone, acquired the <i>soubriquet</i> +of Liver-eating Johnson, by eating and pretending +to prefer his portion of liver in an uncooked +condition; and he was as well satisfied +with this name and the notoriety it implied as are +Indians with their zoölogical titles.</p> + +<p>"Squaw-man" is the name given to a white man +who has married one or more Indian wives, and +been regularly adopted by their tribe with whom +he lives. With the exception of being of occasional +use as an interpreter, he is an utterly worthless person. +He has completely left his own race and +taken to the ways of the savage, and is equally +despised by the whites and by his adopted brethren. +Many of the woodcutters who supply fuel to +steamboats on the upper Missouri marry, or rather +buy, Indian wives; but they do not form part of +the tribal family, as does the "squaw-man." Often<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +it is policy for them to take wives from tribes +which are dangerous to their safety. A wife insures +protection from the depredations of her tribe; +and when her lord and master is tired of her, or +wishes to form other business relations, he simply +tells her and her progeny to go home. These men +have the reputation of being most active agents in +supplying ammunition to the Indians.</p> + +<p>At the border of the British possessions, sometimes +on our side and sometimes to the north, are +several thousands of half-breeds who seem descended +from French and Scotch fathers. They +speak Cree and some of the other Indian tongues, +but customarily use a French <i>patois</i> which is easily +understood. Their government seems to be founded +on the old patriarchal system. They are strict +Catholics, and are duly married by a priest, who +makes occasional visits to them, and insists upon +legally uniting in wedlock such couples as he +thinks have proved this ceremony to be necessary. +They lead a nomadic life, trading between the +whites and the Indians, supplying the latter with +ammunition, subsisting mostly on game and buffalo. +The latter they make up into pemmican,—a +large bundle of finely chopped fat and lean, seasoned +with wild herbs, and tightly wrapped up in +buffalo-hide. This they sell, or keep for winter +use. They travel in curious one-horse carts, in the +manufacture of which little or no iron is used, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +pinning being done with wood, and the wheels +bound together with thongs of green buffalo-hide, +which shrink as they dry. As these carts will +float in water, an unfordable stream can be crossed +by swimming the horses attached to the shafts. +These people always camp with their carts in a +circle, the shafts towards the centre, and the carts +prove an effective barricade against any enemy +without cannon. Their stock is corralled every +night inside the circle. These half-breeds must be +classed more as Indians than as whites, as their +actions, habits, and beliefs are inherited more from +their mothers than from their fathers.</p> + +<p>A great and always remunerative pursuit on the +frontier is that of cattle-raising. A well-selected +range, near streams which do not dry up in summer, +and with timber, or such undulations of the +ground as would afford shelter for the beasts from +the worst winter's winds, together with a small +capital and reasonable care and exertion, will in a +few years produce a fortune,—and not only a fortune, +but robust health for the herder. The season +when he is away from his cabin, herding up his +cattle, is mild enough to allow sleeping on the +ground. He is not compelled, like the soldier, at +times to endure the blizzard or to sleep in the +snow. Many young men engaged in cattle-raising +are of excellent education and social position, and +very much attached to the life they lead; and well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +they may be, as it gives them all the pleasure the +frontier can afford with no more hardship than is +good for them. Choosing congenial companions, +they build a comfortable ranch, stock it well with +books, and employ men to assist in the rougher +duties, either by hiring them with fixed wages or +giving them an interest in the herd. The day is +passed in the saddle, the evening before a crackling +wood-fire. The only time when great exertion +is necessary is during the "roundings up"; then +their whole property in cattle must be brought +together, the young calves branded, and the brands +of their parents retouched if effaced. There is no +animal near by powerful enough to destroy cattle, +and there is nothing to prevent their yearly increase. +The Indians may kill one now and then +for food, but cannot drive them off, as their movement +is too slow. Cattle-stealing is not so easy as +horse-stealing.</p> + +<p>All these frontier folk eat, drink, and live, and +after their manner enjoy life. We can perceive +that they have occasional hardships, but they have +pleasures which may not be so easily understood +by people who live in comfortable houses, and drive +in well-hung and well-cushioned carriages, or walk +paved streets. A life in the open air, freedom from +restraint, and a vigorous appetite, generally finding +a hearty meal to satisfy it, make difficult a return +to the humdrum of steady work and comparative<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +respectability. They have their place in the drama +of our national life, for better or for worse, and +their pursuits and character must be recognized +and studied by any one who would comprehend our +great Western country.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Frontier Folk, by George Booth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRONTIER FOLK *** + +***** This file should be named 37110-h.htm or 37110-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/1/1/37110/ + +Produced by Anna Hall and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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