Mountain Men

My recent blog about Isaac Cooper motivated me to learn more about his surroundings and the events of his time, and that led to the blogs about the Santa Fe Trail and then, Tombstone, AZ.  To learn more about Isaac Cooper’s time, I was led to a book by Frank Hall written in 1889.  The title of the book is “A History of the State of Colorado” and is primarily devoted to the discovery of gold and the subsequent influx of settlers to Denver and the surrounding area.  To set the scene for his tale, the author explores the history of the mountain men and fur trappers who were the first white men to enter the area after it came under United States jurisdiction following the Louisiana Purchase.

As a young boy, I read about Kit Carson, Daniel Boone, Jedediah Smith and Davy Crocket and except for a few movies over the years, those books were the extent of my knowledge of those people and their contribution to the settling of this country.  Even after reading about those early pioneers, I don’t think I fully comprehended what it meant to enter an uncharted wilderness with potentially unfriendly natives lurking at every turn.  The terrain itself was foreboding enough, with Grizzly bears, cougars, and other large carnivores ready to take advantage of an unwary traveler.  Even a well beaten path like the Santa Fe Trail claimed its fair share from Rattlesnake bites and the rampages of renegade Indians, not to mention the occasional drowning in swollen streams and accidents with overturned wagons.

Mr. Hall’s book was researched and written when many of the mountain men were still alive, and includes many personal interviews and first hand accounts of the life and times of those folks.  In the early years, most of them worked either directly or indirectly for one or another of the great fur trading companies whose names many of us will recognize.  The oldest and largest of those companies was the Hudson Bay Company (HBC).  Formed by charter on May 2, 1670, the HBC became the largest landowner in North America and is still in existence today, operating retail chains across Canada.  A competitor of HBC was the American Fur Company, founded in 1808 and wholly owned by John Jacob Astor.  With the ouster of the British after the Revolution, the American Fur Company monopolized the fur trade in the United States by 1830.  Encouraged by the new Republic in an effort to forestall the encroachment of British, Russian, and French incursions to the northwest territory, a third company, the Pacific Fur Company, was established in 1810 in Astoria, Oregon.  This company was 50% owned by John Jacob Astor and 50% by the working partners.

A later arrival and smaller company, established in 1823 came to be known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company (RMFC).  This company contracted with Jedediah Smith, Jim Beckwourth, David Edward Jackson, Thomas Fitzpatrick and the five Sublette brothers including Milton and William to ascend the Missouri River to its source and spend two or three years trapping for furs.  They also hired such notable figures as Jim Bridger, Joseph Meek, Robert Newell, George W. Ebbert, and Kit Carson.

Jedediah Smith

Jedediah Smith (1799 – 1831) was one of the earliest mountain men. With Jim Beckwourth, Jim Bridger and others, Smith was one of the men to answer the 1822 call of William Henry Ashley for “Enterprising Young Men” to join a trapping expedition near the headwaters of the Missouri River.  Later that year, the Arikaras Indians, who were becoming increasingly hostile, attacked the party and massacred 13 of the men; Jedediah survived.  In 1824, along the Cheyenne River, Jedediah was stalked by a large Grizzly bear.  In front of witnesses, the bear jumped Jedediah and pinned him to the ground.  With one swing of its giant paw, the bear ripped open Jedediah’s side, breaking several of his ribs in the process; again, Jedediah survived.

In 1825, after four profitable years trapping the upper Missouri, Ashley sold his company to Jedediah Smith, David E. Jackson and William L. Sublette.  By 1830, the new partners had made sizeable fortunes in the fur trade and sold their company to Tom Fitzpatrick, Milton Sublette (William’s brother), Jim Bridger, Henry Fraeb, and John Baptiste Gervais. These five men formed what would become known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In 1830, Smith retired from the fur trading business and on October 11, returned to St. Louis with over 17,000 dollars, almost half a million in today’s dollars.

In 1827, traveling with eighteen men and two women, Jedediah crossed the Mojave Desert on his way to the California coast.  At the Colorado River, the party was attacked by the Mojave Indians who killed ten of the men and took the two women; once again, Jedediah survived.

 In 1831 Jedediah was leading a supply train along the Santa Fe Trail when he left the group to scout for water; he never returned.  Later, when some of his possessions were discovered being peddled by a Mexican street vendor in Santa Fe, it was learned that he had been attacked by band of Comanche hunters and killed; he was 32 years old.

James Beckwourth

James Pierson Beckwourth (April 6, 1798 – October 29, 1866) was an African American who was born into slavery and lived with the Crow Indians for many years and eventually became a war chief.  He is credited with the discovery of Beckwourth Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Although Beckwourth was hired by the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, he sold his furs to the competing company of John Jacob Astor and as a result, his contract with the RMFC was not renewed.  As a Crow war chief Beckwourth fought against other tribes and some white settlements.  Later, as a guide for military excursions he fought against some of his own tribe.  It seems that his allegiance was available to the highest bidder and he died a lonely man.  On the trail as a guide, he suddenly developed severe headaches followed by an unstoppable nose bleed.  He bled to death near Denver, CO, in 1866.

Jim Bridger

Jim Bridger (1804 – 1881) was another early mountain man.  He was included in that first group of the RMFC and is described as being tall and lank with a countenance that was “frank and kind, albeit uncouth, uneducated and without a trace of modern refinement.”  He was known to be bold and fearless and explored most of the land between the Missouri River and the west coast.  In his later years, he established a trading post on Block’s Fork of the Green River and, unlike many of his peers, managed to amass substantial holdings for himself.  His trading post became one of the famous “Rendezvous” where most of the mountain men met each year to carouse and gamble away all their earnings.  If you have seen one of the many movies that have been made about wealthy Europeans and their large entourages of servants arriving in the West and hiring guides to lead them on “hunts,” that guide was Jim Bridger.

Andrew Whitley Sublette (1900- 1854) helped established a trading post in 1835 near Platteville, CO.  After selling the trading post in 1840, Andrew left the mountains and was seen in El Pueblo (Pueblo, CO) around 1844 and 1845 traveling along the Arkansas River, following herds of buffalo.  He was killed in an encounter with a grizzly bear in Southern California in 1854. Sources variously place the site of his death as Santa Monica Canyon or nearby Malibu Canyon.

Jim Baker

Jim Baker (1818-1898) was a late arrival to mountaineering, and started his career working for John Jacob Astor and the American Fur Company where he met Jim Bridger.  He was considered the best hunter of his time and is described as “scarred from scalp to moccasin by the battles he has fought and won over bears and Indians.”  He was reputed to have lost nine thousand dollars worth of pelts playing “Spanish Monte” during one of the yearly rendezvous’. 

In 1841, on a journey with Captain Frapp along the “Little Snake River” the party of 35 was ambushed by a large band of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians at Bitter Creek.  Frapp was killed early in the fighting and Baker assumed command.  It was a desperate fight, but the small group was successful in beating off the attack.  Jim was married no less than six times, each to an Indian squaw.  He lived with the tribes and adopted their ways and customs

After the Civil War, a friend presented Jim with a new “Henry” rifle and while practicing with it, the magazine exploded and tore one side of his face away.  Doctors sewed the mangled mess back together but the scarring was severe.  When Hall asked him, during an interview, about the scars, Jim said “Well, you see, I got one of them new repeatin’ rifles and the first shot I fired the damned thing bust and split my jaw.”

John "Liver-Eating" Johnson

John “Liver-Eating” Johnson (1824-1900) was a latecomer to the fur trapping trade and came to the mountains when the fur trade was in rapid decline.  His real name was John Garrison and he is reported to have been 6 feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds.  Some say, in 1846, he found himself in the United States Navy when the government commandeered the ship on which he was working.  Soon after, he struck an officer and deserted to the mountains, changing his name to Johnson.

Johnson was a loner who operated independently of the fur companies and is the man who was portrayed in the movie “Jeremiah Johnson.”  “Jeremiah” carried on a twelve year vendetta against the Crow Indians, blaming them for the death of his Indian wife. John “Jeremiah” Johnson lived out his life in Wyoming and Montana and is buried in Cody, Wyoming.

John Colter Monument

John Colter (1774-1812) was also one of the first mountain men and was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  In 1809, he teamed up with John Potts, another member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and traveled to the Three Forks region of Montana.  While canoeing up the Jefferson River the two men were accosted by several hundred Blackfeet Indians who demanded that they come ashore.  Colter complied, but Potts remained in the canoe and was fired upon and mortally wounded by the Indians.

As depicted in the movie “A Man Called Horse,” Colter was stripped naked by his captors and given the chance to run for his life.  After a few miles, Colter had left most of the braves in the distance, but one had kept up the pace.  Luckily, Colter was able to overpower and kill the brave, gaining a blanket for his effort.  After hiding in a beaver lodge during the day, he emerged at night and walked eleven days to a trading post on the Little Big Horn; this event came to be known as “Colter’s Run.”  The next year, two of John’s partners were killed by the Blackfeet Indians and that convinced him to retire.  John Colter returned to St. Louis where he died from unknown causes two years later.

George W. Ebbert

George Wood  Ebbert (1810–1890) worked for the Hudson Bay Fur Company and along with his friend Joseph Meek, was instrumental in opening up the Oregon Trail.  George joined William Sublette when they purchased Henry Ashley’s fur company and ended up being a part owner.  In August 1830, he was bought out as a partner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company by a group including Jedediah Smith.  Later as a contract fur trapper, he worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company between 1833 and 1836, arriving in the Oregon Country in 1833.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

 David Edward Jackson (1788-1837) was an American pioneer, explorer, trader, and fur trapper.  He was one of those who opened the Oregon Trail having explored many connecting valleys in his life as a trapper. By 1826 Jackson bought a majority position in the three year old Rocky Mountain Fur Company.  Jackson Hole in Wyoming is named after him.

Joe Meek

Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek (1810–1875) was a trapper, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country.  Meek married “Virginia,” the daughter of Nez Perce chief Kowesota.  He and Virginia had several children including a ten year old daughter who was killed in the Whitman Massacre of 1847.  Meek later became the chief law enforcement officer of the Oregon Territory and presided over the conviction and hanging of the five Cayuse and Umatilla Indians responsible for his daughter’s death.

These are just a small sample of the many mountain men who traipsed across this country between 1810 and 1840.  Many of those who came with them never made it and died alone, either killed by Indians, mauled by bears or frozen on a mountain top and it is a sure thing that their bones are scattered across the rugged terrain where they plied their trade.  They all belonged to the same fraternity of trappers, Indian fighters and explorers, and they all knew each other on some level.  Many were close friends and all had lost close friends battling the native Indians and the elements.  Several had close encounters with Grizzly bears, some coming out victorious and others, not.  With few exceptions, they were loners who could not tolerate towns or any civilization for long periods of time.  On the whole, they were big men, many over six feet tall, a definite asset in the wilderness where the likelihood of hand to hand combat was an ever present possibility.  They were rough, tough, and brave, mostly uneducated, and drank & cussed their way through life.  Most of them gambled away their earnings during the yearly rendezvous’ and when the fur market collapsed in 1840, many established trading posts or became trail guides for the influx of settlers heading west.  There’s was a unique time in the history of America.

Tombstone and "The Gunfight"

A couple of years ago I was invited by Bennie to attend “Helldorado Days” in Tombstone, Arizona.  Bennie has family in Tombstone and had been to the Helldorado Days celebration many times.

OK Corral after an 1882 fire

The event is a celebration and re-enactment of the infamous “Gunfight at the OK Corral” that goes on for several days.  Since everyone, and I mean everyone, is attired in period costumes it was necessary for me to purchase a complete outfit for the occasion, including boots, Stetson, western belt buckle, shirt, and Wrangler blue jeans; Levi’s just wouldn’t do.  Also, all the men were sporting six shooters!

Tombstone, 1908

A couple weeks before the event, Bennie loaned me a leather bound book about the October 1881 gunfight and the events surrounding the Earps.  It was a book I couldn’t put down and in spite of it being a large volume, I completed reading it before I left for Tombstone.  The book told a completely different story than any that I had heard or seen before.  It told a story about how the “cowboys,” the Clantons and McClaureys etc. preyed on some of the local miners and how they forayed into Mexico to steal cattle and prey on the villagers there.  They had even gotten so bold that they intercepted military supply trains.

Morgan Earp

Wyatt Earp

Virgil Earp

According to the book, the Earps and Doc Holliday did not end up in Tombstone by chance.  After one of the “Cowboy’s” incursions into Mexico, the Mexican government filed a formal complaint with the U.S. government, and in a clandestine arrangement the U.S. authorities contracted with the Earps to confront the “Cowboys” and put a stop to their border rampaging and citizen intimidation.  A lot of questions are answered by this scenario.  Why did the Earps seem impervious to prosecution and why, when they were prosecuted, were they inevitably pardoned?  Even after the “Earp Vendetta Ride” following Morgan Earp’s assassination Wyatt and Doc Holliday walked free.

Doc Holliday

In August of 1881, the “Cowboys” ambushed and killed 15 Mexicans in Skeleton Canyon and robbed them of all their gold, and the following month the Mexicans dispatched troops to the border and killed 5 “Cowboys.”  Things were getting out of hand and the Earps had to move sooner than they planned.  Just a month later, they purposely goaded Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Claiborne, into the confrontation that made them all famous.

Frank McLaury

Tom McLaury

In a side note, Johnny Ringo was found dead in a remote location just six months after the famous gunfight with a single bullet hole in his right temple.  His death was ruled suicide.  According to the book, Ringo was “taken care of” after things in Tombstone had calmed down a bit.

Johnny Ringo

The Santa Fe Trail

History can be broken up into distinct epochs and American history lends itself rather handily to epochs of centuries and half centuries.  The period from 1600 to 1650 saw the establishment of many of the first settlements along the eastern seaboard and the years between 1650 and 1700 was the time when most of the original 13 colonies were established.  1700 to 1750 was characterized by the growth of the new colonies and the impact it had on the indigenous populations while the span of time from 1750 to 1800 saw the development of the political growth that resulted in the American Revolution.  This brings us to the period of time between 1800 and 1850, the time of exploration and, I feel, the beginning of the westward movement. 

Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Thomas Jefferson launched two expeditions to explore the new territory and its resources.  The “Corps of discovery Expedition” led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1804 is well known by most, but a similar expedition led by Zebulon Pike in 1806, less than two years later, was just as important, albeit a little less spectacular in its results.  Both of these expeditions opened pathways to further exploration and the published reports of both inspired many adventurers to move west.  My recent story about Isaac Cooper and his Colorado escapades inspired me to take a closer look at this “second” expedition led by Zebulon Pike and the pathway, soon to be named the “Santa Fe Trail,” it opened leading to Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico.

Unlike the “civilian” expedition of Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike was a military man and his direction came from his commander, General James Wilkinson.  Thus, the “Pike Expedition” was considered a military one.  Pike’s initial task was to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi River, which he completed in 1805.  In 1806 he was assigned the additional task of exploring the southwestern reaches of the Louisiana Purchase to locate the headwaters of the Red River and the Arkansas River.  This is the task that took him into what would later become Colorado and the discovery of Pike’s Peak.

Like the Santa Fe Trail, the Pike expedition left the area of St. Louis and headed west, following the Missouri River as far as Kansas City at which point the trail diverged from the river and headed out across the prairie until it met up with the Arkansas River at Great Bend, Kansas.  The trail, and Pike, followed the Arkansas River to Dodge City, Kansas where it separated into two distinct paths.  The upper or mountain route was considered longer but safer and continued to follow the Arkansas River until the river turned northwest at Bent’s Fort and the trail turned south.  The lower and shorter route almost bypassed Colorado completely, just clipping the very southeastern corner of the state and then crossing the Cimarron Strip in the western panhandle of Oklahoma and reuniting with the mountain route near Las Vegas, New Mexico.  From that point, it became one trail again all the way to Santa Fe.

Zebulon Pike followed what would become the upper mountain route of the Santa Fe Trail but when it turned south toward its convergence with the shorter southern route, he continued to follow the Arkansas River into Colorado and the peak that is named in his honor.

Unbeknownst to Pike and kept secret for over 100 years, his commander, General Wilkinson, was a double agent for Spain and orchestrated Pike’s capture by the Spanish before his mission could be completed.  Despite this setback and even though William Becknell is credited with pioneering the entire Santa Fe Trail, it’s fair to say that Zebulon Pike was the first white man to traverse a good portion of it 15 years before Becknell.  In 1821, Becknell was the first to organize a mule train (the trail was not passable to wagons until several years later) to transport eastern goods the entire 900 mile distance from Franklin, Missouri to the Spanish settlement of Santa Fe.

Initially, an upper or northern route did not exist and Becknell made all his trips on the lower route, but the Indians soon learned that they could gain substantially by intercepting the cargos before they reached their intended destinations.  To thwart this danger, Becknell pioneered the longer northern route but it was only a temporary cure.  The Indians soon caught on and began to plunder that route also.  In desperation, Becknell appealed to the government for protection and soon, the army was providing escort service all the way to Santa Fe.

Before long, the Santa Fe Trail was carrying more than trade goods as more and more adventurers and trappers moved into the Colorado mountains looking for opportunities.  Through the 1830’s and 1840’s, tantalizing hints of gold discoveries made their way to the eastern cities and by the 1850’s, several well organized teams of prospectors made their way over the Santa Fe Trail thence up the Arkansas River to the rugged Rocky Mountains.

With the development of the Erie Canal, major railroad expansion, the advent of steam powered sailing ships, and trails like the Santa Fe, it was an era of great improvement in transportation for the United States.  Soon, the Santa Fe Trail would be supplanted by the Atchison/Topeka/Santa Fe railroad and an epoch would end, but a new one, the age of Civil War, telegraph, cattle drives, and the transcontinental railroad, was waiting in the wings to take us all the way to the 20^th century.

Colorado and Isaac Cooper

Of all the children of Peter Cooper and Ann King, Isaac is the one who left the biggest mark on history.  Isaac was born in Joliet, Illinois in 1839, the fourth child of Peter and Ann.  He was only 10 years old when the family settled at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and was among the very first arrivals to that frontier settlement.  These were the days of much excitement and change on the frontier and Isaac came of age at the right time in the right place.  He was 18 years old when gold was discovered in Colorado and it wasn’t long thereafter that Isaac made his first foray to what would later be named “Denver” in the Colorado Mountains.

Isaac Cooper

There were two main routes followed by the early prospectors on their way to Colorado.  One route, beginning in Leavenworth Kansas followed the old Santa Fe Trail then up the Arkansas River to the gold country, and the other began in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the home of Isaac Cooper and followed the Platte River across the plains of Nebraska.  Isaac’s location in Council Bluffs could not have been more advantageous to encounter the adventurous individuals who were on their way to find riches in the gold mines of Colorado.

The first group into the Denver area settled at Dry Creek on September 9, 1858 and named their town “Montana” (the feminine for Mountain).  A few days later, on September 24^th, part of this group split off and started another settlement 5 miles to the south on the east bank of Cherry Creek.  This second community was originally called “Golden City” but the founders finally settled on the name of “St. Charles.”  A third group, also from the town of “Montana” settled the nearby town of Auraria on November 1st, 1858 on the west bank of Cherry Creek, adjacent to the previously settled St. Charles.”

Following the discovery of gold, the governor of the Kansas Territory, James W. Denver, sent his emissaries to Colorado with the intention of establishing the new county of Arapaho.  These emissaries landed in the town of Auraria, across the creek from St. Charles and By hook or by crook, managed to secure the constitution and by-laws of the “St. Charles” company, formed a new town on November 17^th, 1858, and called it “Denver.”  On April 3^rd, 1860, Auraria and Denver were consolidated under the name of Denver.

One of Isaac’s neighbors in Council Bluffs was Major D. C. Oakes whose documented arrival in the Denver area was October 10^th, 1858.  It is fair to assume that, since Isaac is missing from the 1860 census records that include the rest of his family and that family oral history tells of his early exploits in the gold fields of Colorado, he accompanied Major Oakes on his travels to the Colorado Mountains at this time.

With the onset of the Civil War, Isaac’s Colorado venture was cut short, while he served the Union Army with Co. ‘F’ of the 15th Iowa Infantry.  Isaac was wounded in the right shoulder late in the war and spent many years recuperating in his hometown of Glenwood, Iowa.  It was during these recuperative years that Isaac met and married Sarah Field Hall, and started his family.  By 1878, Isaac and Sarah had three children, Charlotte, Alice, and Harry, but Isaac longed to be back in Colorado.

By 1879, Isaac was back in Colorado where he met Mr. B. Clark Wheeler in Denver.  Mr. Wheeler was a representative of eastern capitalists who had just purchased the rights to several mining claims and a ranch in the area that would come to be named Aspen.  The capitalists had bought the parcels without having seen them and sent Wheeler to investigate their purchase.  “Captain Isaac Cooper” accompanied Wheeler when they crossed the mountains on snowshoes in February of 1880 on their way to Aspen.

It was on this trip that Isaac first saw the hot springs near the site of “Fort Defiance.”  The fort was a rudely constructed affair erected by the local miners as a defense against the perils of marauding Ute Indians.  This was shortly after the White River Massacre that had most of the areas miners on high alert and was the probable impetus for the original claimants to sell their Aspen holdings to Wheeler.

Isaac realized the potential of the hot springs as a resort for weary miners and travelers, and when he returned to Denver, started making plans for their development.  Isaac returned to the springs in early 1882 with partners John Blake, William Gelder and Frank Ensensperger and with the help of H. P. Bennett they formed the Defiance Town and Land Company.  In 1883, the name of the town was changed from Defiance to “Glenwood Springs” after Isaac’s hometown of Glenwood, Iowa.  Soon thereafter, on August 21^st, 1883, the county seat was moved from Leadville to Glenwood Springs and Isaac’s brother, Cornelius S. Cooper was elected county assessor.

Isaac moved his family to Glenwood Springs in 1883 and built the Hotel Glenwood in 1884.  In December of 1886 Isaac started work laying pipes for the Glenwood water-works system but he died the following year and the work was discontinued.  Isaac never fully recovered from his war wounds and died in his prime at the young age of 48.  His children, 14 year old Charlotte, 12 year old Alice, and 9 year old Harry were left without a father.

Having left a sizeable estate, Isaac’s family was not left destitute.  His wife Sarah never remarried and his daughter Charlotte married well in Denver and lived out her life there.  Daughter Alice attended eastern schools and became a renowned sculptress who was commissioned to do the bronze statue of Sacagawea for the Lewis and Clark Centennial exposition.  Her work still stands in Washington Park, Portland, Oregon.

Alice Cooper's sculpture of Sacagawea

The fate of Isaac’s son Harry is a sad one.  In the 1910 census he is picking fruit on the farm of Clarence and Cora Jarbeau in Grand Valley, Colorado, and by the 1920 census he is incarcerated in the city jail of Seattle, Washington, and is listed as a “café cook.”  Harold’s mother, Sarah, never learned of her son’s fate and always hoped he would return to Colorado one day.  He never did.

In the Riverside Cemetery at Denver, in the shadow of two great elm trees and facing the Rocky Mountains to the West, six uniform granite memorials bear the following epitaphs, headed by a marble U. S. Army headstone, inscribed: "Lieut. Isaac Cooper, Co. F, 15th Iowa Infantry."  Then on the monuments:

Cooper, Isaac, 1839 - 1887

Cooper, Sarah Field, 1847 – 1929                   Isaac’s wife

Hall, Lucy Field, 1821 – 1903                          Sarah’s mother

Wilson, Charlotte Cooper 1873 – 1938            Isaac's daughter

Hubbard, Alice Cooper 1875 – 1937               Isaac's daughter

Hubbard, Nathaniel Mead, Jr., 1860 – 1939    Alice’s husband