Death Valley in \'49 by William Lewis Manly

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The second, third, fourth, and fifth days came and went, and we were
trudging on, up the Uinta, through a mostly very barren country, with
some little rich and fertile land. We saw signs of Indians often, but no
Indians. There was much cottonwood, but little other timber. We saw some
fish in the river which we coveted, but could not get. The main course
of this river is from north-west to south-east. We traveled most of the
way to the fort on Indian trails, some of which were much worn, but
mostly at some much earlier period. Of course we had plenty of good
water, and food, such as it was. Field did not walk two miles during
those five days, but seemed to be fattening fast. I sometimes thought he
might be just a little lazy, but I never told him so, for I realized
that he had recently had a severe tussle with death.

Early in the morning of the sixth day we arrived at the abandoned old
fort. There were only three log buildings, and they were in the shape of
three sides of a hollow square, with port-holes on the outer faces of
the buildings, and doors entering each of them from the hollow square or
court. Facing the vacant side of the court, the port-hole from which I
shot the wolf on the night after we had killed the mule, would be on
right hand side. We were unable to determine whether this fort had been
constructed and occupied by Americans or Mexicans, but, from its
apparent age, we were inclined to the opinion that it was Mexicans. It
had not been occupied for, probably, three or four years. Some little
farming had been done immediately around the fort. Surrounding the fort
is a large body of fine, fertile land which I have no doubt has long
since been occupied by mormons, or other enterprising people.

Having no means of subsistence here we soon decided to push on towards
Fort Bridger, and, after resting a few hours set out following the
larger fork of the river which comes almost directly from the north. We
now believed that we were almost, if not exactly, due south of Fort
Bridger. The river is small, and very crooked; we crossed it many times
within three days, and, at the end of that time, found ourselves in the
mouth of a rocky canon, and after struggling for one whole day, we came
to where the steep, high, stone walls closed the little river in on both
sides, rendering it impossible for us to proceed any further.

We were now nearly out of food; the jerk was almost gone. A council was
held, and it was decided that we should return to the fort and take
chances of being rescued, or scalped by some roving band of reds, or
starving to death. We at once set out on our return, full of
disappointment and melancholy forebodings.

The next day found us without food: and now came into use the long,
narrow strip of raw-hide which first bound together the old, rotting
logs of which the raft was made, then to secure the mule of nights. It
was now almost as hard as bone, and nearly round, having been dragged
through the hot sand while it was yet green and wet, closed up like a
hollow tube with sand inside. Two or three yards of it at a time, was
cut into pieces about five inches long, the hair singed off, the sand
scratched out, and these pieces were dropped into our camp kettle and
cooked until the whole formed one mass of jelly or gluten which was, to
us, quite palatable. When the lasso had all been thus prepared and
eaten, the broad girth which had served so well in holding the
pack-saddle on the mule's back, was cleaned, cooked, and eaten. These
substitutes for jerk sustained us very well till we again arrived at the
fort.

Another consultation was now held, and the question was--what shall we
do now? We were again, apparently, at the starting point of another
long, enforced fast. Our path seemed hedged in. The prospect was,
indeed, very gloomy. Our only reasonable hope for even the temporary
prolongation of our lives was centered in our ever faithful, and always
reliable old mule. We revolted at the idea of killing and eating him,
but the last bit of the girth was gone. After canvassing the whole
situation over and over, again and again, we finally, but most
reluctantly decided to kill the mule, and preserve all the soft parts,
even the skin with all of its old scars, and then gather in whatever
else we could find, and stay here until spring, or until good fortune
might afford us some means escape; till some Moses might come and lead
us out of this wilderness, notwithstanding the fact that we had not
borrowed any jewelry which we had failed to return.

There were signs of wolves in that vicinity, and it was decided that the
mule be slain about ten paces distant and directly in front of one of
the port-holes of the fort, with the idea that wolves might smell the
blood and come there and subject themselves to being shot, and thereby
afford us a chance to increase our stock of winter supplies in the form
of wolf steak, or jerk. Accordingly the victim was lead to the spot
indicated, and there slain in the same manner, and with quite as much
reluctance on the part of the slayer, as on the occasion of the
sacrifice of the little horse, more than three weeks before. The body
was skinned, cut up, and all taken within the building, nothing being
left except the blood which had been spilled on the ground, and which
was intended to attract wolves or, possibly, bears or other animals.

My now only living associate ridiculed the idea of killing wolves, and
insisted that the flesh could not be eaten, stating the fact that even
hogs would not eat the dead body of a dog, and insisted that a dog was
only a tamed wolf. I reminded him of a cat which had been eaten. He
finally agreed that, if I killed a wolf, he would get up and dress it,
but said most emphatically that he would not sit up and watch for it; so
he went to bed, that is, rolled himself up in a blanket on the ground in
front of a good fire inside of the fort, and went to sleep, while I sat
with my rather untrustworthy double barreled shot-gun protruding through
the port-hole in full view of the spot before indicated. The night was
clear, and the moon was shining in full splendor. It was probably eleven
o'clock; Field had been snoring for a long time, when I heard something
in the tall, dry grass, and soon a large, brownish-gray wolf came into
full view, with head up, apparently sniffing, or smelling, and
cautiously approaching the fatal spot. When he reached it, and began to
lick up the blood which was still on the surface of the ground, standing
with his left side toward the fort, and in full view, I took deliberate
aim, and fired, and he fell upon the ground without making any
considerable noise.

The tired, sleeping man was aroused by the report of the gun, and rushed
into the room where I was in great excitement, thinking, perhaps, that
some enemy had appeared, and had just then commenced to bombard the
fort; but when I explained to him that I had simply killed a wolf, he
ran out towards it, and, arriving close to it, the wounded creature rose
up on its hind feet and growled quite vigorously, which seemed to
frighten Field as much as did the noise of the gun. He dashed back to
the fort, and, after having time to recover from his speechless
condition, abused me most fearfully for having told him that I had
killed a wolf. I then went out and put a load of shot into the wolf's
head, and found that my first charge had passed through and broke both
of its fore legs near the body. Field was so thoroughly frightened that
I could not induce him to approach the dead animal for some time, and I
do believe that that wolf haunted him as long as I knew him, for he
seemed never to forget it. After dressing it by the light of the moon
assisted by a torch, we retired. On viewing the plump body next morning
Field exclaimed, "That's another God-send!" and notwithstanding his
opinion that wolf could not be eaten, he found that wolf to be the best
food we had eaten since we had assisted Walker and his tribe in eating
the mountain sheep.

The French may eat their horses, but I do not want more horse flesh. The
old mule made fair but quite coarse beef. While out on this little
pleasure excursion we ate horse, mule, wolf, wild-cat, mountain
sheep, rose seed buds, raw-hide, a squirrel, fatty matter from the
sockets of the mule's eyes and the marrow from his bones; but that ham
of wild-cat was certainly the most detestable thing that I ever
undertook to eat. The marrow from the mule's bones was a real luxury.

We now had a pretty good stock of food, such as it was, but not enough
to carry us through the winter on full rations; therefore we determined
to try to add to it by hunting. One was to go out and hunt while the
other would remain at home: we now had undisputed possession of the fort
and it was our home. Field took the first day's outing while I occupied
my time in drying and smoking meat. Late in the evening he returned,
tired and worn out, having seen nothing worth shooting.

Next day came my turn to hunt. I took a lunch, as he had done,
consisting of jerked mule. I did not tell him so, but I had determined
to make an excursion up the river to a point where we had seen some
fresh trails and deer tracks some days before. When I was putting up my
lunch my friend intimated that I was taking a very large amount for one
lunch, but I told him that I might stay out late and that I did not
intend to starve. I went, stayed all day, all night, and part of the
next day, and returned as he had done, tired and discouraged, not having
seen anything worth bringing in. In the evening of the first day out I
found a trail which appeared to have been used daily by deer going to
and from the river.

It occurred to me that they might go out early in the morning, so I
secreted myself within gun shot of the trail behind an old, moss-covered
log where I slept comfortably; and when it was light enough in the
morning to see a deer, I leveled my gun across the log in a position
commanding the trail and waited and watched until nine o'clock, but
nothing came upon that pathway that morning. After getting tired of
watching and waiting I went down to the trail where, to my astonishment,
I found the fresh tracks of a large bear which must have passed by that
way while I was sleeping. As a rule I do not like to be treated
discourteously, but in this instance I felt glad that this stranger had
passed me by.

On arriving at the fort late in the evening I found my friend in a
terrible state of mental excitement. He said that he had not slept a
minute during the whole of the night before. He had filled the door of
his room with rails, and sharpened one end of a long stick, which he
intended to use if necessary as a weapon of defence. When I arrived he
was again filling the door with rails. I had the gun, pistol and big
knife with me so this was his only means of defence. He said he would
not stay alone another night for all the gold in California.

I was much discouraged by our failures in hunting, and after a lengthy
discussion we decided to make another attempt to cross the mountains and
escape from what then seemed to us certain starvation. This was Thursday
night and we set Monday as the time for starting. By Saturday night
everything was in readiness for the start and Sunday we devoted to Bible
reading, for we each still had a pocket Bible. As much of the flesh of
the wolf and the lamented mule as we thought we could carry had been
thoroughly jerked, and finding that we would not be overburdened by it,
we economized by roasting and eating little scraps of flesh, the marrow
from the bones, and even the head of the mule was roasted, the fragments
of flesh scraped off and eaten, and Field found a rich fatty substance
in behind the eyes, which he ate.

We had a canteen in which our powder was carried, but the powder was
nearly all gone so we emptied it and used the canteen to carry water in.
Early Monday morning we loaded ourselves, mostly with jerked mule and
wolf, leaving many useful things behind, bid adieu to Fort Uinta and
took up our line of march rather reluctantly.

My companion was not strong and we soon found it expedient for me to
take on part of his burden. We rested often and yet long before night he
became so tired that we had to go into camp. Most of the day we had
traveled on an old deserted trail. The nights being cold we were under
the necessity of keeping up a fire as we had left our blankets at the
fort. The next morning we made an early start and rested often. At about
noon we found good shade and water, and the sun being quite hot we
stopped and rested in the shade for more than three hours, then trudged
on till nearly night when we found water, and plenty of old dry timber
for fuel and camped. Field expressed a wish that he had his old mule
again, and I reminded him that he had a portion of it left in his
knapsack, and that turn about was fair play: as the mule had carried him
for a long time when he was unable to walk he should not object to
carrying a portion of the mule now; whereupon he again plainly intimated
that he thought I was a d--- d fool. I kept up the fire and he slept
until morning.

Another day was passed without any unusual occurrence; we traveled and
ate at the same time as usual. Another day of pretty hard travel over
sandy plains and rocky hills brought us to the foot of the mountain
where we had plenty of good water and an abundance of fuel. A little
sprinkle of rain early in the evening was the first we had seen since
the memorable night after Field had eaten the little red berries.

Early Saturday morning we filled our canteen with water and started up
the mountain. I had been carrying most of the jerk, but the stock was
running down quite rapidly. My companions bag now being almost empty,
and as he had little else to carry while I had the gun and some other
things, including his heavy overcoat, I divided the jerk, putting about
half of it into his sack. All day long we were climbing the mountain.
Late in the afternoon I was several rods ahead of Field when he called
to me to stop: I did so and when he came up he appeared to be a little
cross and insisted that we were not traveling in the direction formerly
agreed upon. I requested him to let me see the little compass which he
had in his pocket, and on examining it he found that he was mistaken;
whereupon he muttered something which I thought was "swear words," and
then we went marching on. In a little while we were within the old snow
limits where we found large bodies of old icy looking snow in places
shaded by trees and rocks, and a little before dark went into camp. We
gathered some old dry timber and made a large fire, then some green fir
limbs for a bed. When I began to prepare our bed on one side of the
flaming logs, to my surprise Field began to prepare one on the other
side of the fire. Neither had spoken since the occurrence of the little
unpleasantness in the afternoon about the course of travel. Mutely each
took his side of the fire.

We had always slept together except when he was sick and the night I had
left him alone at the fort. Some time in the night I became thirsty and
got up and procured some snow, put it in our only tin cup and set it on
some live coals to melt and went to sleep. The snow melted, the water
evaporated, the solder melted and left the tin. While I slept, my dumb
friend woke up thirsty, took the tin cup, filled it with snow and put it
on coals. The snow melted and the water run out on the coals; his tongue
let loose and he then denounced me as a knave, an ass, a fool, an
unregenerate heathen, and what else I don't want to remember. I woke up
alarmed and did not at first fully understand what had created the
storm, but after having the bottomless cup dashed at my head I realized
the situation, and began to try to apologize and explain the unavoidable
and unfortunate circumstance; but no explanation would satisfy his now
thoroughly "Johnny Bull" temper. After this little nocturnal disturbance
had subsided, I, on my bed of fir branches with my feet towards the
fire, soon fell into a sound sleep and knew nothing more of the world
until the sun was shining. Whether or not my friend had cooled off I did
not inquire; but I do know that there was an unusual coldness between
us, for neither spoke to the other until about twelve o'clock and then,
as will appear, our conversation was very short.

As we did not rise until late no delay was made, but when each had his
bag on his back and a nugget of jerk in his hand we started up the side
of the mountain as quiet as two deaf mutes. There was no water to be
had; our camp kettle had been left at the fort, and through my stupidity
the cup had become useless, therefore we were obliged to eat the icy
snow or endure the thirst. No new snow had yet fallen in this high
altitude although it was now nearing the end of October. These mountains
were then heavily covered with pine and fir but the timber was not
large. In some places where the snow had melted away, short green grass
was found quite close to great banks of snow.

At about twelve o'clock we reached the summit of the great Uinta range,
and I, being a little in advance of my still mute companion, halted to
take a survey of the field before me. The top of the range here is bare
of timber and there was no snow. When Field came up I broke the silence
which had lasted since the little unpleasantness of the night before, by
suggesting that we attempt to cross the snow-covered range of mountains
which now appeared north of us and probably fifty miles away, through
what appeared to be a gap or low place in the great range of mountains.
He replied, "You may go that way if you want to, but I am going this
way," pointing in another direction and quickly started off at an angle
of about 45 degrees to the right, or directly north-east. I also started
immediately, and when we were a few rods apart I said, "Good-by; we may
not meet again very soon." He replied "Good-by," and within a few
minutes we were out of sight, and in a very short time beyond hailing
distance.

This was the last I saw or heard of him until after each of us had
undergone many more hardships, so I will now drop my friend but will
hereafter devote a chapter to him, and give you an account of his
experience as he afterwards gave it to me, detailing an account of many
most interesting incidents. Fortunately we had divided the jerk, for
nothing was said at this sudden and unexpected parting about anything
which either had in his possession. I had an idea when I bade him
good-by that he would soon turn about and follow me.

After the unceremonious parting I immediately began to descend the north
side of the mountain which was very rough, rocky and steep; but down,
down, down I went into a deep, dark canon where I slept on the leaves
under a fir tree, after having taken some landmarks. When it was light
enough to see the objects I had noted to guide me, I set out and spent
the day in crossing over hills and through deep canons. In the evening I
arrived at the foot of the range of mountains which I had seen from the
point of our parting. The sun disappeared, dark clouds began to float
over the mountains and it was evident that a storm was approaching.

While it was yet light enough I took some landmarks or guiding points;
and it was well I did so, for on the following morning when I woke I
found it snowing quietly but heavily, and before it was light enough for
me to see my guiding objects there must have been six or more inches of
new snow on the ground beyond my snug retreat under a sheltering pine.
When it was light enough I rose from my comfortable bed, took my
bearings as best I could without a compass and started up the mountain
through the rapidly accumulating bed of snow. The snow continued to fall
nearly all day, and before night it was more than a foot deep.

All day long I struggled through a dense forest. Some time in the
forenoon I crossed the fresh trail of a large herd of elk which forcibly
reminded me that my sack was almost empty, and I vainly wished that one
of these wild creatures might come in my way, but I did not dare to
follow the herd with the uncertainty of killing one, and the certainty
of losing my way this dark, snowy day. In order to maintain my course
during such dark days I was under the necessity of looking ahead and
observing trees or other objects in my line of travel.

That night I, as usual, slept under a pine tree where there was no snow.
I saw no sign of fire in either of these ranges of mountains, nor did I
see any signs of Indians on my trip over these two ranges. The next day
as I approached the top of the mountain I found the timber much smaller,
and mostly pine. There is much fertile land in some of the valleys
between the two great ranges of mountains.

Early on the following morning I arrived at the bald, snow-covered
summit. On my right and on my left were high, untimbered, snow-covered
peaks. From this point I could overlook a vast territory extending over
many hills, valleys, and smaller mountains where there was no snow; in
fact, the snow only extended a few miles down the steep sides of the
great range. As a rule there is more timber on the north than on the
south side of mountains west of the Rockies; but it was the reverse
here, for there was little timber on the north side of this range.

One more day's tramping brought me down into a large barren plain where
I gathered some dry weeds for a bed, and slept, without food or water;
the last bit of the mule or wolf, I know not which, I had eaten during
the afternoon. I had had very little jerk for the last two or three
days, and began to wish that I had another horse, mule, or even a wolf.
For many days I had seen no living thing except when I looked into a
small glass which I carried in my pocket, and then only saw a familiar
shadow.

I spent another day without food, but had plenty of water; another night
on a bed of green brush beside a good fire. The next day was bright and
sunny, quite a contrast to the gloomy days I had spent in the mountains.
For want of food I was becoming quite weak and was not able to travel as
fast as usual. During the early part of the day I saw some tracks of an
unshod horse, which renewed my courage and hope of redemption; and at
about two o'clock in the afternoon I saw some dark spots on the plain a
long distance away, but almost in the direction I was going. Hoping that
these objects might be living creatures, I hurried on for a time, then
sat down and after having watched them for a time I found that they
changed positions and that satisfied me to a moral certainty that they
were living creatures, but what I could not tell. They might be horses,
cattle, elk, deer, antelope or buffalo; but no matter what, I must hurry
on and try to reach them before night.

Late in the evening I determined that they were horses but could not yet
tell whether they belonged to whites or Indians, or were wild. As I
approached them they stopped grazing and started toward me, but soon
disappeared in a deep gulch between us which I had not noticed before.
On arriving at the edge of the gulch or narrow valley I saw the horses
in the vicinity of about fifteen or twenty wigwams which were all in a
row on the bank of a little creek that ran through the gulch. Many
Indians were sitting outside of their lodges, the weather being warm.

On first sight of the village, being not more than 200 yards away, my
heart fluttered just a little, not knowing whether the savages would
scalp me or not; but, notwithstanding my natural cowardice, I at once
determined to "beard the lion in his den," and walked as boldly as I
could up to the lower end of the row of wigwams. Within a few feet of
the nearest one three young bucks met me and seemed to be anxious to
know whence I came and whither I was going; whether right down from
Heaven, and if so what was my mission. They seemed as much surprised at
my sudden appearance as I was on coming so suddenly upon them. My first
and most important business was to determine whether they would give me
something to eat, or eat me.

As the men, women, and children began to gather around me I heard some
one half way up the line of lodges call out saying something which I did
not understand, but on looking that way saw a man beckoning to me, as I
thought, when the young men motioned for me to move on up the line. On
arriving at the place indicated I found myself in the presence of one
whom I then suspected, and afterwards found to be the chief, who
extended to his royal right hand and greeted me in a most courteous and
polite manner, and then with a graceful wave of his hand and a slight
bow indicated that I should precede him at the low open door into his
Royal Palace where he very politely introduced me to his wife who proved
to be a sensible, clever, courteous woman. She soon prepared some thing
for me to eat, and after I had finished my supper an Indian brought in
two pistols and wanted me to take the cap tube from one and put it into
the other, which I soon accomplished. He was much pleased, went out, and
soon returned with ten or more pounds of elk meat which he tendered to
me as compensation for my work, but the chief objected, and insisted, as
I understood him, that he had plenty and that I was his guest, but
finally consented for me to accept part of the meat. I gave him to
understand that I wanted to go to Fort Bridger.

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