LZA.
Conservative *
j A DISCOVERY.
f
In TIIE CONSERVATIVE of January
10th , a few notes were given , gathered
from different sources , bearing upon the
travels in the west of Captain William
Stuart of the British army , who , with
Dr. Benjamin Harrison , spent some
time in the 80's among the Indians and
fur-traders. The two were a rather
conspicuous pair , and are named quite
frequently by writers of the period ; I
have seen mention of them made by ,
or credited to , Washington Irving , Jim
Beckwourth , Kit Carson , Nathaniel
Wyeth and others.
Irving , on the authority of his friend
Captain Bouneville , calls Captain Stu
art "a gentleman of noble connections ,
who was amusing himself by a wander
ing tour in the Far West. "
Beckwourth , ( who didn't like him )
mentions him as "an English officer ,
who had figured conspicuously under
the Iron Duke. " Kit Carson is record
ed as having told Dr. Peters that "for
the goodness of his heart and numerous
rare qualities of mind , he will always
be remembered by those of the moun
taineers who had the honor of his
acquaintance. "
The most that I have learned about
Captain Stuart , however , is derived
from a note by Dr. Elliot Coues , on
page 16 of his edition of Charles Larpen-
teur's Journal. Hereon the authority of
an informant who remembered the
captain well from 1862-65 , he gives the
location of his estate as in Perthshire ,
Scotland , says that in those years he was
Sir William , and lived , surrounded by
Indian trophies and other curios ( bad
word , Dr. Coues ) , and gives other par
ticulars. This very full and satisfac
tory note concludes with the follow
ing remarks : "He published a
book about his adventures , the title of
which is one of a great many things I
do not know. "
Neither have any of the book-sellers ,
in this country and abroad , whom I
have consulted in regard to itknown the
title of this book ; and yet it seems to
me that I have found the work itself in
a bundle I have received from Francis
P. Harper , of New York , who is at
present selling off a most astonishing
collection of works on early American
travel and history.
It is a two-volume book , published
( my copy ) by Harper & Brothers , in
1846 : it is entitled "Altowan ; or , Inci
dents of Life and Adventure in the
Rocky Mountains. By an Amateur
Traveler. Edited by J. Watson Webb. "
I do not exactly know who J. Wat
son Webb was , though I suppose
this is discreditable to me : but ho has
to "Altowan" dedication
prefixed a 27-page
cation , addressed to Charles Fenno
Hoffman , . Esq. , and a passage in this
dedication , and another observed in a
hasty survey of the book itself , seem
to me to point quite clearly to Captain
Stuart.
The author , Mr. Webb states , "visit
ed this city ( New York ) in the summer
of 1882. He was one of the gallant
fellows who fought under Wellington ,
at Waterloo , and bore upon his person
honorable marks of his gallantry upon
that occasion , and among his insignia ,
ihe evidence of his country's gratitude.
The second son of one of the most
ancient families in Great Britain , with
e blood of princes in his veins , and
connected by birth and intermarriages
with royalty itself , lie had retired
upon half pay ; and in the spirit of ad
venture , which forms a prominent
! ; rait in his character , visited the United
States for the sole purpose of penetra
ting the great wilderness of the West ,
and partaking in the excitement and
adventure which it promised regard-
iess alike of the privations and dan
gers inseparable from such a life. "
Mr. Webb gave him letters to Gover
nor Clark and Generals Atkinson and
. "The latter " he "
Ashley. , says , "though
not of the army , went annually into
the Indian country in military array ,
to receive on the headwaters of the
Yellow Stone , the furs and peltries
which had been collected during the
preceding year ; and it was under his
auspices that our author first visited the
Rocky Mountains. When General
Ashley returned to the haunts of civili
zation , my friend , accompanied by a
small baud of hired voyageurs , continued
his course to the Pacific : spent three
winters in the Rocky Mountains , in
Oregon and Upper California : and
finally , after an absence of three years
and a half , returned to St. Louis. "
The absence of exact dates in this
statement leaves little ground for judg
ing whether or not it is consistent
with certain entries in Wyeth's Jour
nal : wherein it is related that Captain
Stuart accompanied that ill-starred
Yankee westward in the summer of
1884 , and took from him , in the fall .of
that year , letters of introduction to par
ties in the east.
"On his return to St. Louis , " says J.
Watson Webb , in continuation , "he
learned that his brother , the head of
his ancient house , had died without
issue , and that he was inheritor of the
family title and a princely estate. "
But he loved his wild life too well ; he
returned to the west and "again was
he absent two summers and a winter ,
devoting his time to hunting , and par-
talcing of all the excitement of that
boundless region. " But finally he got
to Scotland , whore , in the castle of his
ancestors erected in 1604 Mr. Webb
had the pleasure of visiting him , and
where ho found him "not only sur
rounded by a devoted tenantry , but by
galleries of magnificent paintings , exe
cuted by our countryman , Miller , from
sketches made during the second visit
of the author to the Rocky Mountains.
* * * * In 1842 , the author again
visited our country , and the scenes of
lis former adventures , declaring that
.t had charms for him which no other
and possesses. "
If all this does not refer to Captain
Sir William Stuart , it at least descri
bes him pretty well.
The apparent clew in the text proper ,
occurs on page 58 , where the hero
espies "a narrow valley , where he well
remembered having made his first camp ,
with one now far away , when on their
journey with Fitzpatrick from rendez
vous on a disastrous expedition to the
ountry of the Crows. "
This seems a very plain allusion to
the adventure Fitzpatriok's party ,
which included Captain Stuart , met
with at the hands of the Crows in
September , 1888 , and which was
described at length , though from op
posite points of view , by Irving and
Beckwourth respectively. The "one"
would in that case be Dr. Harrison.
As to the book itself , it is cast in the
form of a romance , and seems to be
rather poor stuff. But the author ,
whoever he may have been , disarms
criticism by giving notice that it was
written "for the amusement of some
young friends , during voyages over
heaving seas , and in moments of idle
ness , in various parts of the world ; and
printed without even a revision. "
A. T. RICHARDSON ,
PREPARE FLOWER BEDS WITH CARE.
It is important that the soil of one's
flower beds should be properly prepared
for the reception of seeds. It should
be worked over until it is fine and mel
low and made rich enough to support a
strong and vigorous growth of what
ever is sown in it. Keep turning and
stirring it until it is as fine and mellow
as it is possible to make it. Incorporate
the fertilizer used with it thoroughly.
Manures , not well worked into the soil ,
are likely to bring about a "spotty" de
velopment , which is far from satisfac
tory. * * * * * *
No garden can be considered com
plete , nowadays , unless it contains a
collection of dahlias. The newer kinds
bloom in mid-summer , and are , in all
ways , more desirable than the old ,
large , very double sorts , whose chief
merit is richness of color. To grow
these plants well , you must give them a
rich , deep soil , and keep it moist at all
times. By covering the plants when
the September frosts are here , they con
bo kept from injury and the season of
bloom extended for weeks until the
coming of really cold weather , in fact.
Eben E. Rexford in May Ladies' Home
Journal.
