From The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer, Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians, 1856. Read OnlineDownload PDF
James P. Beckwourth, around 1860 in Denver, Colorado. Photographer unknown. Larger.
Tales of California fancy often overwhelm tales of California fact, so it's not surprising that readers of The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth have a hard time telling the difference.
Though Beckwourth's 1856 book isn't a wholly reliable guide to the life of the famous African-American frontiersman, it still offers an authentic-feeling, first-hand perspective on our past, as in this passage where Beckwourth describes the approach to the Sierra pass he discovered and that bears his name.
It was the latter end of April when we entered upon an extensive valley at the northwest extremity of the Sierra range. The valley was already robed in freshest verdure, contrasting most delightfully with the huge snow-clad masses of rock we had just left. Flowers of every variety and hue spread their variegated charms before us; magpies were chattering, and gorgeously-plumaged birds were caroling in the delights of unmolested solitude. Swarms of wild geese and ducks were swimming on the surface of the cool crystal stream, which was the central fork of the Rio de las Plumas, or sailed the air in clouds over our heads. Deer and antelope filled the plains, and their boldness was conclusive that the hunter's rifle was to them unknown. Nowhere visible were any traces of the white man's approach, and it is probable that our steps were the first that ever marked the spot.
Beckwourth hoped to make a fortune by promoting his pass as an easy trans-Sierra route to California. Though disappointed in that endeavor, the book Beckwourth dictated turned out to be a more successful one.
James Beckwourth, early American traper and fur trader of the West, c. 1860, photographer unknown. Larger.
California's Gold Rush offered all sorts of profitable opportunities besides the obvious one of digging for the precious ore. One way was opening up a better route for emigrants.
James P. Beckwourth was a mountain man and fur-trapper who led wagon trains through a Sierra pass of his own discovery. He there established a hotel and trading post, an enterprise that didn't quite work out as anticipated.
Numbers have put up at my ranch without a morsel of food, and without a dollar in the world to procure any. They never were refused what they asked for at my house; and during the short space that I have spent in the Valley, I have furnished provisions and other necessaries to the numerous sufferers who have applied for them to a very serious amount. Some have since paid me, bu the bills of many remain unsettled. Still, although a prudent business man would condemn the proceeding, I can not find it in my heart to refuse relief to such necessities, and if my pocket suffers a little, I have my recompense in a feeling of internal satisfaction.
Beckwourth dictated his life story to Thomas Bonner, who published it as The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth in 1856.
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