Christopher Carson | Page 2

Expedition.
Beautiful Prairie Scene.--Fate of the Buffalo Calf.--Vast Buffalo Herds.--The Fourth of July on the Plains.--Journey up the South Fork of the Platte.--Visit to Fort St. Vrain.--Remonstrance of the Chiefs.--Second Marriage of Mr. Carson.--New Engagements.--Perilous Ride to Santa Fe.--The Successful Mission.--The Noble Mexican Boy.--Conflict with the Savages.--Discomfiture of the Indians.--Fremont's Second Expedition.--Carson joins the Party.--Course of the Expedition.--Arrival at the Great Salt Lake.
CHAPTER XII.
Marches and Battles.
Entering the Lake.--Dangerous Navigation.--The Return to Camp.--Feast upon Horse Flesh.--Meeting the Indians.--Joyful Meeting.--Return to Fort Hall.--Feasting at the Fort.--The Party Diminished.--The Journey down Snake River.--Crossing the Sierra Nevada.--Carson Rescues Fremont.--Fort Sutter.--Heroic Achievement of Carson.--Disbanding the Party.--The third Expedition.--Crossing the Desert.--Threatened by the Mexicans.--Fight with the Indians.--The Surprise.--Chastisement of the Indians.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Dispatch Bearer.
Colonel Fremont.--Hazardous Undertaking of Kit Carson.--Carson's Courage and Prudence.--Threatened Danger.--Interview with General Kearney, and Results.--Severe Skirmish.--Wonderful Escape of Carson.--Daring Adventure.--Fearful Suffering.--Lieutenant Beale.--Carson's Journey to Washington.--Adventures on his Return.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Chivalry of the Wilderness.
Injustice of the Government.--Heroic Resolve of Mr. Carson.--Indian Outrages.--The valley of Razado.--Barbaric Murders by Apaches.--An Exciting Chase.--An Attractive Picture.--Plot of Fox Overthrown.--Gift of Messrs. Brevoort and Weatherhead.--Adventure with the Cheyennes.
CHAPTER XV.
Recollections of Mountain Life.
Character of the Native Indian.--The Caravan.--Interesting Incident.--Effects of Cholera.--Commission of Joe Smith.--Snow on the Mountains.--Government Appointment.--Adventure with three Bears.--Journey to Los Angelos.--Mt. St. Bernardino.--The Spring.--Character of Men.--Insubordination Quelled.--Suffering for Water and Relief.--A Talk with Indians.
CHAPTER XVI.
Recollections of Mountain Life.
Position of The Spring.--The Cachè.--Kit Carson's Character and Appearance.--Cool Bravery of a Mountain Trapper.--Untamed Character of Many Hunters.--The Surveyor's Camp in an Indian Territory.--Terrors from Indians.--Joe Walker.--A Mountain Man.--Soda Lake.--Optical Illusion.--Camp on Beaver Lake.--The Piyute Chief.--Conversation with Him.--An Alarm.--A Battle.
CHAPTER XVII.
Frontier Desperadoes and Savage Ferocity.
Original Friendliness of the Indians.--The River Pirates, Culbert and Magilbray.--Capture of Beausoliel.--His Rescue by the Negro Cacasotte.--The Cave in the Rock.--The Robber Mason.--His Assassination.--Fate of the Assassins.--Hostility of the Apaches.--Expedition of Lieutenant Davidson.--Carson's Testimony in his Favor.--Flight of the Apaches.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Last Days of Kit Carson.
The Hunting Party.--Profits of Sheep Raising.--Governmental Appointment.--Carson's Talk with the Apaches.--His Home in Taos.--His Character.--Death of Christopher Carson.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Last Hours of Kit Carson.

CHRISTOPHER CARSON.
CHAPTER I.
Early Training.
Birth of Christopher Carson.--Perils of the Wilderness.--Necessary Cautions.--Romance of the Forest.--The Far West.--The Encampment.--The Cabin and the Fort.--Kit an Apprentice.--The Alarm.--Destruction of a Trading Band.--The Battle and the Flight.--Sufferings of the Fugitives.--Dreadful Fate of Mr. Schenck.--Features of the Western Wilderness.--The March.
Christopher Carson, whose renown as Kit Carson has reached almost every ear in the country, was born in Madison county, Kentucky, on the 24th of December, 1809. Large portions of Kentucky then consisted of an almost pathless wilderness, with magnificent forests, free from underbrush, alive with game, and with luxuriant meadows along the river banks, inviting the settler's cabin and the plough.
There were then many Indians traversing those wilds. The fearless emigrants, who ventured to rear their huts in such solitudes, found it necessary ever to be prepared for an attack.
But very little reliance could be placed even in the friendly protestations of the vagabond savages, ever prowling about, and almost as devoid of intelligence or conscience, as the wolves which at midnight were heard howling around the settler's door. The family of Mr. Carson occupied a log cabin, which was bullet-proof, with portholes through which their rifles could command every approach. Women and children were alike taught the use of the rifle, that in case of an attack by any blood-thirsty gang, the whole family might resolve itself into a military garrison. Not a tree or stump was left, within musket shot of the house, behind which an Indian could secrete himself.
Almost of necessity, under these circumstances, any bright, active boy would become a skilful marksman. A small garden was cultivated where corn, beans and a few other vegetables were raised, but the main subsistence of the family consisted of the game with which forest, meadow and lake were stored. The settler usually reared his cabin upon the banks of some stream alive with fishes. There were no schools to take up the time of the boys; no books to read. Wild geese, ducks and other water fowl, sported upon the bosom of the river or the lake, whose waters no paddle wheel or even keel disturbed. Wild turkeys, quails, and pigeons at times, swept the air like clouds. And then there was the intense excitement of occasionally bringing down a deer, and even of shooting a ferocious grizzly bear or wolf or catamount. The romance of the sea creates a Robinson Crusoe. The still greater romance of the forest creates a Kit Carson. It often makes even an old man's blood thrill in his veins, to contemplate the wild and wondrous adventures, which this majestic continent opened to the pioneers of half a century ago.
Gradually, in Kentucky, the Indians disappeared, either dying off, or pursuing their game in the unexplored realms nearer the setting sun. Emigrants, from the East, in large numbers entered the