A recently published diary sheds new light on romantic nanti story of fur trade in the rocky mountains a century ago i 14 www alf 1 n 6 I 1 1 1 I 1 L I 1 A th e grand parade of the assembled indians at the fur traders rendezvous in the rocky mountains in 1837 from the painting by alfred J miller of baltimore who accompanied sir william drummond stuart or stewart of murthey castle scotland to the far west in 1837 this picture hung in murthey castle until about 1926 when it and other paintings by miller were sold and sent to new york it was purchased there by E W marland then governor of oklahoma and presented to the oklahoma historical society in 1936 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by western weste rn newspaper union THE HE romantic era of the rocky mountain fur trade of a cen tsuch tury ago came to life again the other day and once more such frontier notables as old jim bridger kit carson nathaniel J wyeth jim beckworth captain bonneville lucien fontenelle and the robidoux brothers strode across the stage of history they appeared in a new book life in the rocky mountains A diary of wanderings on the sources of the rivers missouri columbia and colorado from february 1830 to november 1835 by W A ferris ferns then in the employ of the american fur company edited by paul C phillips and published by fred A ho the old west publishing company of denver colo life in the rocky moun bains is referred to in the foregoing as a new book perhaps rediscovered narrative would be a more accurate description for after ferris ferns wanderings on the sources of the rivers etc were over the diary which he had carefully kept was rewritten as a continuous narrative and published serially in an early american magazine the western literary messenger of buffalo N Y in 1843 44 in this form it was known to a few scholars of the fur trade era but there were many gaps in in the narrative because the messenger ceased publication early in its career and many numbers had apparently been lost then mr who had been collecting copies of this magazine traced down the missing numbers and made them available to mr phillips who had already started work on a biography of fer ferris ris later research unearthed other important material family papers articles written by ferris in his later years for the dallas texas herald and most important of all a map of the northwest fur country drawn by ferris about 1836 all of this material has gone into the making of this 1 new book which is rated by historians as constituting one of the great finds in recent research in the history of the west ferris was born in glens falls N Y december 26 1810 and grew up in buffalo to which his family had moved when he was very young he was trained to be a surveyor but at the age of 18 he ran away from home because his mother disapproved of his smoking a pipe and scolded him severely for doing it on the street one day feeling the urge to go west he finally arrived in st louis in june 1829 and entered the employ of pierre chouteau jr head of the western department part ment of john jacob actors american fur company at that time three great companies were competing for the control of the fur business in th the e west into this struggle the youn young g new yorker was plunged when h he e left st louis with an A F C company in february 1830 and w went ent up the platte river through south pass into the green river country that fall they trapped the western tributaries tributa ries of the green an and d later moved over to the neighborhood of great salt lake in 1831 ferris was with a trapping party on the upper snake river and there had difficulty with wit h a band of rival hudsons Hud sons bay trappers that summer he crossed the continental divide into the valley of the jefferson then continued north into the val ley of clarks fork of the columbia the next spring ferris returned to the snake river country was made a clerk and sent among the flathead indians with orders to bring them to the annual trappers rendezvous at pierres hole he returned with the flatheads Flat heads in time to take part in the famous battle of pierres hole in july 1832 that fall he was in another famous frontier fight in which his leader william H lost his life ferris tells a dramatic story of this incident how the party of seven trappers came upon traces of an indian hunting party and how they cautiously approached a little grove of trees watching each wavering twig and rustling bough to catch a glimpse of some skulking savage then suddenly the lightning and thunder ol of at t least twenty fusile burst upon our astonished senses irom from the gully and awoke us to a startling consciousness of imminent danger magnified beyond conception cep tion by the almost magical appear and at the time he perished under thirty years of 0 age bold daring and fearless bearle s s yet cautious deliberate and prudent pruden t uniting the apparent opposite qualities of courage and coolness a soldier and a scholar he died universally beloved and regretted by all who knew him ferris ferns had many other narrow escapes from death during the remainder of his service with the american fur company concerning his career in the phillips writes the five and a half years which warren ferris ferns passed in the mountains had done much to broaden his experience and develop his powers he had served under such great masters of the fur trade as andrew drips lucien fontenelle joseph robidoux and william henry and his acquaintance with them in the small trading and trapping parties must have been intimate he also met jim bridger thomas fitzpatrick robert campbell henry draeb william and milton sublette and other leaders of the opposition and learned of their ways and abilities he knew bonneville nathaniel P wyeth captain john ghant and other independent traders another man whom he met and evidently greatly admired but does not nien mention tion in in his narrative was sir william willia m drummond stuart the fam famous 0 us english explorer and hunter 9 T R T 7 77 1 Z k I 1 p 1 1 I y 40 1 l W wk THE DEATH OF from the painting by irvin now in the montana state university library A reproduction of this picture forms the frontispiece in life in the rocky mountains ance of 0 more than one hundred warriors erect in uncompromising enmity both before and on either side of us at the terrifying distance since measured ol of thirty steps imagination can not paint the horrid sublimity of 0 the scene A thousand brilli ances reflected from rom their guns as they were quickly thrown into various positions either to load or fire succeeded the first volley which was followed toll owed by a rapid succession of shots hots s and the leaden messengers ol of death whistled in our ears as they passed in unwelcome proximity at that instant I 1 saw three of our comrades flying like arrows from the place ol of murder the horse of 0 our partisan was shot dead under him but with unexampled firmness he stepped calmly from rom the lifeless animal presented his gun at the advancing foe and exclaimed boys dont run at the same moment the wounded horse hors ot of a frenchman threw his rider and broko away towards camp the ells ol of these internal infernal rends fiends filled the air and death appeared inevitable when I 1 was w as aroused to energy by observing about twenty indians advancing to close the already narrow passage between the two lines ol of warriors dashing Dash irig my spurs towel rowel deep into the H flank ot 0 my noble steed at a single bound he be leared cleared c the ditch but before he be reached the ground I 1 was was struck in the left shoulder by a ball which nearly threw me off by a desperate effort however I 1 regained my upright position and fled bed A friend mr R C nelson crossed the gully with me but a moment alter after he was called to return without considering the utter impossibility of 0 rendering assistance to our devoted partisan he wheeled but at the same instant his horse was severely wounded by two balls through the neck which compelled him to fly yet he kept his hi eye eya for or some moments on our friend who seeing himself surrounded without the possibility ot of escape leveled his gun and shot down the foremost of his toes foes the indians immediately fired a volley upon him he ell they uttered a loud and thrill shrill yeu yell of 0 exultation and th the e noble spirit ot of a good and a brave man had passed away forever lo rever thus fell win henry a gentleman born in andl indiana educated at west point in the military mw anlys academy seated with such men by the campfire or traveling the trail with them must have given the young man a larger view of the world as well as a better knowledge of the problems of how to deal with indians the care with which he made his observations a and the honest and vividness with which he portrayed them make his narrative one of absorbing interest it is the only source of information regarding many important events in the savage struggle for control of the fur trade but aside from ferris ferns importance as a firsthand first hand chronicler of this important era in american history he has other claims to fame he left the mountains in the winter of 1835 and returned to his home in buffalo to straighten out a family tangle one of his brothers had gone to texas and the next year warren ferris joined him there he became a surveyor in the service of the new republic of texas and it was he who made the surveys for the town which became the great city of dallas next he settled down as a farmer but took no part in the civil war both because he was over age for service and because of his crippled shoulder received in the fight with the indians in which was killed his later years were devoted to literary work and he died on february 8 1873