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"But who are we in God's Name? When we are proud, we call ourselves Americans: and in peaceable times we have always entertained the notion that previously to the surrender of any one of our rights, we should choose to have a little fighting-a few interchanges of blows at least." (Editorial Missouri Gazette, April 30, 1813) Hunt's brigade of Overland Astorians spent some time in the Arikara Villages in the summer of 1810. During this time many of Hunt's voyageurs and hunters gave in entirely to their sexual urges. Many drew in advance their entire salaries. The lustiness aroused the wonder of the Arikaras. One chief is reported to have asked: Did the white people have no women of their own? (Journal of a Voyage up the River Missouri, H.M.Brackenridge) . “There is here a great majority of Scoundrels.” Nathaniel Wyeth in a letter to Francis Ermatinger in 1833 regarding the character of the men at rendezvous in that year. "it is like keeping a bag of fleas together to keep the men in this whiskey country.” Nathaniel Wyeth regarding keeping his employees together and in readiness while waiting to set off for the 1834 Rendezvous from Independence. "My friend Denig had been for the past few days in such a state that it was impossible for him to freeze — he was too full of alcohol." by Charles Larpenteur in 40 Years a Fur Trader, prior to setting out on a January trading mission amongst the Indians under bitter cold conditions. "Look at me, see if I am poor, or my people either. The whites may get me at last, as you say, but I will have good times till then. You are fools to make yourselves slaves to a piece of fat bacon, some hard-tack, and a little sugar and coffee." attributed by Charles Larpenteur to Sitting Bull, in 40 Years a Fur Trader. "Come on to the Popoasie. Plenty of whiskey and white women." Note left by Moses Black Harris on the door of a rundown log structure on the Green River advertising the location of the 1838 Rendezvous on the Wind River. Harris strategically did not mention that the "white women" were all missionaries, married and appalled by the "sin" that they were witnessing. "We lived altogether upon the present, and heeded not the future" August 10, 1834, written by John Townsend while in the broader vicinity of Fort Hall. Townsend was a naturalist who accompanied Nathaniel Wyeth's expedition to the mountains. . "In other words, that he was not fit to inherit the brains of a dying idiot." William Anderson (journal entry 1834) in referring to educated, knowledgeable men who refused to believe the reports of the enormous herds of buffalo which covered the western plains. "The sight of danger is less hideous than the thought of it." An observation by Osborne Russell in his journal as he considers the immense risks he took in climbing shear precipices in order to hunt mountain sheep merely for the sport. “It
is better to count ribs than tracks.”
According to Osborne Russell in his journal
(1837) this is a saying amongst the “Mountaineers” meaning it is
better to keep the horses secured and thin from lack of graze than to turn
them loose to fatten and have them stolen by Indians.
“For
ourselves we had plenty to eat, and were growing fat and uneasy”
An observation made by Zenas Leonard (reference)
on “We
left the place heaping curses on the head of the Blackfoot nation which
neither injured them or alleviated our distress” Recorded
by Osborne Russell, August 1839 (Reference),
while visiting their despoiled camp after being routed by a party of
Blackfoot Indians in which the trappers lost nearly everything of value,
but managed to escape with their scalps intact. (See also Attack
on the Yellowstone). "Darn the white diggins, while thar's buffler in the mountains." by John L Hatcher when asked about moving back to the settlements. Recorded by Lewis Garrard in 1847? "there
was no law in the mountains, only license."
Joe "Pistols for two-coffee for one" Lewis Gerrard describing his desire to have a duel with an Indian because of circumstances unfavorable to Gerrard was able to force a terrible horse trade on Gerrard. (Wah-to-yah and the Taos Trail) The Indians are good at a bargain. They are not easily overreached. Upon one occasion a lady remarked [to fur trader Joseph Rolette] "Oh, Monsieur Rolette, I would not be engaged in the Indian trade; it seems to me a system of cheating the poor Indians." "Let me tell you, madame," replied he, "it is not so easy a thing to cheat the Indians as you imagine. I have tried it these twenty years, and have never succeeded!" Juliette Kinzie in Wau-Bun; An Early Day in the North-West "A great waste, a wilderness unpeopled with any beings except wolves and wandering Indians. We are to give money of which we have too little, for land which we already have too much" The Boston Columbian Centinel editorializing on the Louisiana Purchase in Duncan, Lewis & Clark page 15. "I have just given to England a rival that will sooner or later humble her pride." Napoleon, predicting the impact of the sale of the Louisiana territory to the United States. in Duncan, Lewis & Clark page 16. "Their culinary vessels are seldom washed or cleaned. The dog's tongue is the only dish-cloth known." Alexander Ross in 1810 describing practices amongst the Chinook Indians. (Reference)
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