colter

Louis.- Conjugal Discipline of a Half-Breed.- Annual Swelling of the Rivers.-Daniel Boone, the Patriarch of Kentucky.-John Colter.-His Adventures Among the Indians.-Rumors of Danger Ahead.-Fort Osage.-An Indian War-Feast.-Troubles in the Dorion Family.- Buffaloes and Turkey-Buzzards.

The next morning early, as the party were yet encamped at the mouth of a small stream, they were visited by another of these heroes of the wilderness, one John Colter, who had accompanied Lewis and Clarke in their memorable expedition.

Colter, with the hardihood of a regular trapper, had cast himself loose from the party of Lewis and Clarke in the very heart of the wilderness, and had remained to trap beaver alone on the head waters of the Missouri.

Colter immediately gave the alarm of "Indians!" and was for instant retreat.

The vengeance of the savages now turned upon Colter. He was stripped naked, and, having some knowledge of the Blackfoot language, overheard a consultation as to the mode of despatching him, so as to derive the greatest amusement from his death.

Inspired with new hope, Colter redoubled his exertions, but strained himself to such a degree, that the blood gushed from his mouth and nostrils, and streamed down his breast.

Such is a sample of the rugged experience which Colter had to relate of savage life; yet, with all these perils and terrors fresh in his recollection, he could not see the present band on their way to those regions of danger and adventure, without feeling a vehement impulse to join them.

Nothing seems to have kept Colter from continuing with the party to the shores of the Pacific but the circumstances of his having recently married.

Departure from Green River valley Popo Agie Its course The rivers into which it runs Scenery of the Bluffs the great Tar Spring Volcanic tracts in the Crow country Burning Mountain of Powder River Sulphur springs Hidden fires Colter's Hell Wind River Campbell's party Fitzpatrick and his trappers Captain Stewart, an amateur traveller Nathaniel Wyeth Anecdotes of his expedition to the Far West Disaster of Campbell's party A union of bands The Bad Pass The rapids Departure of Fitzpatrick Embarkation of peltries Wyeth and his bull boat Adventures of Captain Bonneville in the Bighorn Mountains Adventures in the plain Traces of Indians Travelling precautions Dangers of making a smoke The rendezvous

This last mentioned place was first discovered by Colter, a hunter belonging to Lewis and Clarke's exploring party, who came upon it in the course of his lonely wanderings, and gave such an account of its gloomy terrors, its hidden fires, smoking pits, noxious streams, and the all-pervading "smell of brimstone," that it received, and has ever since retained among trappers, the name of "Colter's Hell!"