Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/306



266 JOURNAL OF E. WILLARD SMITH

October 6th. We had a snow storm today. It fell about six inches deep. I had intended to go to Fort Hall, a fort belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, situated at the head waters of the Columbia, but the party disappointed me.

10th. I have been at the fort since my first arrival, nothing of importance has occurred. The weather is still very pleasant. Today we started for a buffalo hunt, to make dried meat. There were about thirty in the party, about half of them being squaws, wives of the white trappers. We had sixty horses with us. We were ten days in reaching the buffalo herds, although we met a few scattered animals the second day. We made our first camp for drying meat on Snake River, at the mouth of a creek called Muddy. We had stormy weather for several days, and after remaining at this encampment for three days, we moved farther down the river where we remained several days. Dur- ing the whole time we were out we killed one hundred buffalo and dried their meat. Some of the party had also killed six grizzly bears quite near the camp. The hunters gave me one of the skins of a beautiful grizzly brown color, and some of the meat very much like pork.

November 1st. We arrived at the fort the first of Novem- ber, and remained there until the eighth. On the evening of the first there were one hundred and fifty head of horses stolen from the vicinity of the fort by a party of Sioux, as we after- wards learned. This was very unexpected as the trappers and Snake Indians had been in the habit of letting their horses run loose in this vicinity, unattended by a guard, as the place was unknown to any of the hostile Indians. This event caused considerable commotion at the fort, and they determined to fit out a war party to go in search of the stolen horses, but next morning this project was abandoned. A party of twelve men went over to Fort Hall, belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, and stole several horses from that company, not- withstanding they had been very well treated by the man who had charge of the fort. On their return they stopped at a small encampment of Snake Indians, consisting of three lodges. One of them belonged to a very old man who invited them to