Ohio History Journal

Brief Biography of William Henry Holmes  513

Holmes to the log and skin the bear." The only note

regarding the adventure found in my report of the day's

doing was "my bear skin is a beauty."

 

AN ADVENTURE WITH THE INDIANS

AUGUST 4TH AND 5TH, 1875

BY W. H. HOLMES

August 4th. Moved 14 miles down the San Juan

Valley, in south-western Colorado, within a few miles

of our western line -- 109?? 30'. Passed by the mouth of

the Montezuma, a deep valley with a dry bed but bordered

by many cottonwoods. Met an outfit of Indians consist-

ing of four men and five squaws. The two younger fel-

lows were impudent, devil-may-care fellows. The two

older were quieter and more polite. The oldest was a

tall, slender man of say 50 years, with a sober, composed

countenance and a mouth of un-godly width. He shook

hands and called me "Mi Amigo," said also that they

were Navahoes. They drove some 20 or 30 sheep and

goats and indicated that their "wickiup" would be made

at the junction of Montezuma and the San Juan. One

of the Indians who rode by my side asked to see my

rifle, which, as usual, was slung across the front of my

saddle, but I declined the favor as it might have been

a difficult matter to recover it in case he should be

tricky. My outfit soon came up and I took them to

camp four miles below the mouth of the Montezuma.

Chittenden had crossed at the wagon-trail ford and was

making a station south of San Juan River. The In-

dians advised him to "piqua" (go -- get out) up the

river, but Chittenden didn't "pike." The night follow-

ing was destined to be one of unusual excitement for

Vol. XXXVI--33.

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our party. I was awakened at ten or eleven o'clock by

a confusion of sounds and the excited inquiries by Chit-

tenden and others as to who could be yelling on the

south side of the river. At the same moment my ear

caught the hoarse yells of some one apparently in the

greatest excitement. I was on my feet in an instant

and shouted in reply. It was Tom Cooper, chief packer.

He was yelling, talking and swearing in the most des-

perate manner, and I could only make out that some-

thing very disastrous was happening and that our help

was instantly needed. We seized our rifles and hurried

out to meet him in the dark woods bordering the river,

and soon learned that we had possibly escaped what

might have been a serious disaster. Early in the night

as Tom happened to be lying awake in his tent he noticed

that there seemed to be some rather unusual disturbance

among the mules and presently that the bell began to

tinkle as if the bell-horse were trotting or running. The

herd was evidently moving down the valley along the

river bank. He was up in an instant and after them.

Steadily they moved away and presently he fol-

lowed, but found it very difficult to get closer to them.

He suspected nothing wrong only that they had been

frightened by a coyote or some other wild beast, in which

case they would certainly soon stop. Already he had

chased them two miles over gorges and rocks, through

weeds and brush and it would seem they would never

stop. The perspiration was making him blind and his

wind was nearly gone. Suddenly the tramp ceased and

the bell was silent. He could only keep on toward

where he heard the sound last, and to his amazement he

discovered the herd just ahead of him rounded up in a

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Brief Biography of William Henry Holmes  515

close bunch standing quite still in the darkness. He

passed around them, thus to turn them back toward

camp in case they should frighten. He came within

a few feet of the bunch and coming quite close was

about to place his hand on the head of the old bald-

faced bell-horse, when the horse shook his head and

there was no bell, and it suddenly dawned upon Tom

that these strange movements were not made of their

own will but under the guidance of the band of Indian

desperadoes. The explanation came very suddenly. A

flash of lightning revealed the crouching forms of two

savages, almost within the reach of his foot, engaged

in cutting the hobbles from the two hobbled mules.

They caught sight of him at the same moment and were

so struck with amazement that they thought only of

flight. With a bound they sprang upon their ponies

and were off like a shot. Tom, doubtless somewhat

paralyzed, did not take to flight but jumping upon the

nearest mule started the herd and then led off for

camp uttering the most fearful yells at every jump.

The red-skins, as they flew up the valley and over the

rolling hills, must have felt their blood freeze at the

very sound. Certainly they did not stop until many

miles intervened between them and the scene of their

fright. In half an hour our animals were all safe in

camp. We could hardly cease congratulating ourselves

on having escaped a great disaster -- that of being set

afoot in a desert 200 miles from the nearest habitation.

August 5th. On the following morning we rode out

to the scene of the mutual surprise party and there found

the bell which had been cut from the horse's neck, a pair

of hobbles, the removal of which had caused the delay

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516     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

that had saved us, and the last one entirely freed from

the animal which it bound, and also a pair of fine raw-

hide lariats dropped by the thieves in their sudden re-

treat.

All about were marks and tracks showing what had

gone on. We then followed the trail of their animals

back up the valley toward our camp and discovered that

these two men had walked all the way from their camp,

four miles above, Indian file, and that their ponies had

been brought around to them through a circuitous trail

in the hills. Tom and John rode up the valley and found

their camp soon after, while Chittenden and I went up

on the mesa above to do our day's work. The boys were

determined to raise quite a noise in the wickiup of the

supposed guilty red-men but felt inclined to give up the

idea when they found instead of the four men seen yes-

terday, eight fierce-looking devils crouching over a pipe

and looking forbidding enough in their sullen, stoic mood.

They were neither communicative nor polite, and the two

boys came away impressed with the notion, as Tom put

it, "that they were determined to give us another deal

yet." The audacity of the thieving pirates went ahead

of anything we had ever heard of. Not only did they

stay all night in the camp to which we had tracked them

but at noon rode boldly down to our camp, dismounted,

and set themselves in a half-circle in the middle of our

camp and proceeded to scrutinize every object in the

outfit, and to beg this and pretend to swap for that.

One old scamp had the audacity to nudge me with his

elbow and order me to bring a pail of agua (water),

which I did not do. We treated them as coolly as pos-

sible, kept our rifles within reach, held such manner

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Brief Biography of William Henry Holmes  517

of powwow as we could, traded some matches for some

arrows and gave them bread to eat. It appears that they

were really trying to find their lariats and possibly to

claim them. We watched them so closely that they

failed to steal anything and we saw them depart at last

with feelings of relief. These fellows came more nearly

up to my notion of what bad Indians were than any

mortals I had heretofore seen.

We mounted double guard for the night, determined

to protect ourselves to the utmost. I think I recognized

two of the Indians as the same we met on the 25th of

July between the Mancos camp and La Plata mines.

That party of four had doubtless been following us

since that time and probably lay in wait until we got

out of the Southwest. They were cowardly scamps who

would not have dared harm us, if it had been likely to

endanger themselves. They knew that we slept and

worked by our needle-guns, and doubtless moved with

great caution in consequence.

 

FIRST ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN OF THE HOLY

CROSS

BY W. H. HOLMES, OF THE HAYDEN SURVEY OF THE

TERRITORIES, 1873

Until the middle of June, the great front range of

the Rocky Mountains in Colorado had been crowned

with an unbroken covering of snow, and the higher

peaks were forbidding enough to cool the ardor of the

most ambitious mountaineer. Our party spent a few

months on the plains and pine-covered foot-hills watch-

ing impatiently the faces of the mountains. We marked

how the snow line moved gradually upward, how the

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