We stayed here and trapped all winter, with splendid success. Jim
Bridger took twelve beaver from his string of traps every twenty-
four hours for seven successive days, being the greatest catch I
ever knew from one string of traps.
About the last of March we commenced making preparations to leave
the mountains, for fear the Indians might come and clean us out.
The day before we were to start there came a heavy fall of snow,
and we were not able to move until the first of April, when we
made another start for Santa Fe, going via Sweetwater, and we had
enough furs to load our entire train.
The second day after leaving camp we were attacked, about noon, by
twenty Indians of the Blackfoot tribe, who entertained us for
about an hour.
We huddled our horses and used them for breast-works, and killed
seven Indians without one of our men being wounded, but we lost
two horses.
It might be well to describe the manner in which trappers traveled
those days while passing through a country where there were
hostile Indians.
Each man would take the number of horses he was to lead and
string them out and fasten them together by tying each horse to
the tail of the horse ahead of him and the head horse of the
string he would tie to the tail of his saddle-horse. This had to
be done to prevent a stampede when attacked, and the horses, too,
were a great protection to the men, for when they were attacked by
Indians the men would ride to the center and use the horses for
breastworks in time of battle.
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