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
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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
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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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
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