Sylvester and James Pattie
[from Sloan's History of Arizona, Vol. 1, pp. 126]
Prominent among the earlier settlers was James Pattie and his father Sylvester, a portion of whose lives was spent in Arizona. They hunted bear along the Gila in 1825 and in later years. To them belongs the honor of having explored more of the Colorado River than had ever been traversed to that time. They made their way to the Mission of St. Catherine after a disastrous experience with the Yuma Indians, and were thrown in jail there by the authorities. Here Sylvester died of fever. James was held for ransom, while members of his party returned with town officials to hunt for the furs which the Patties had buried before leaving the Colorado. However, his freedom was not gained when the party returned, and not until a smallpox epidemic broke out among the townspeople was he completely freed -- and then only because he had a large quantity of vaccine with which he inoculated them. He finally made his way to Mexico City, thence home to Cincinnati.
[F. C. Lockwood, Pioneer Days in Arizona, pages 53-56.]
Lockwood says the Patties trapped for four years on the Gila and San Pedro Rivers (1824 to 1828), killing many beavers on the latter, this being the first recorded trapping expedition to set foot on Arizona soil. They endured almost unbelievable cold, hunger and other hardships. Says they had eighteen distinct engagements with the Indians, in which more than 200 Indians were killed and a score of his companions. Says they shot Indians as casually as an Arizona boy of today shoots into a covey (he says 'flock') of quail.
The elder Pattie died in prison in California in 1829, denied even in his last moments the solace of his son. James was released on account of the smallpox vaccine he possessed (there being an epidemic of smallpox), and finally, over a circuitous route over land and by water, reached his grandfather's home in Kentucky, broken in health and finances.
Lockwood says of "Pattie's Personal Narrative" written by James that it is a classic of early American adventure in the southwest, the events recorded being mostly trustworthy (unbelievable as it my seem); that, since the author did not keep a daily journal, many inaccuracies occur, since the book was written from memory by a youth only fairly well educated. He attributes the fact that he gave none of the names of his companions (no doubt some of whom were men famous in pioneer annals) to youth and inexperience in writing and a sort of "bumptious and egotistical personality." The book was written after his return to Kentucky.
"We get in this narrative fresh, rough pictures of the buffalo, the deer, and the Indian in their native habitat. Myriads of buffalo and grizzly bear on the plains. The civilized mind refuses to believe that men could meet and endure the privations and sufferings such as were the common experience of these early American trappers." Here is one incident: "From the 8th to the 12th they were again destitute of food. On the 13th they killed a raven upon which the seven men feasted. They were now barefooted and emaciated. Late on the evening of the 13th, young Pattie killed a buzzard. This was cooked and eaten for supper. An otter caught in the traps provided breakfast and support of the 14th, when they killed one of the dogs and lived for days on that. After this came water and deer and turkeys in abundance." On more than one occasion they have valuable caches of furs stolen by the Indians.
Prominent among the earlier settlers was James Pattie and his father Sylvester, a portion of whose lives was spent in Arizona. They hunted bear along the Gila in 1825 and in later years. To them belongs the honor of having explored more of the Colorado River than had ever been traversed to that time. They made their way to the Mission of St. Catherine after a disastrous experience with the Yuma Indians, and were thrown in jail there by the authorities. Here Sylvester died of fever. James was held for ransom, while members of his party returned with town officials to hunt for the furs which the Patties had buried before leaving the Colorado. However, his freedom was not gained when the party returned, and not until a smallpox epidemic broke out among the townspeople was he completely freed -- and then only because he had a large quantity of vaccine with which he inoculated them. He finally made his way to Mexico City, thence home to Cincinnati.
[F. C. Lockwood, Pioneer Days in Arizona, pages 53-56.]
Lockwood says the Patties trapped for four years on the Gila and San Pedro Rivers (1824 to 1828), killing many beavers on the latter, this being the first recorded trapping expedition to set foot on Arizona soil. They endured almost unbelievable cold, hunger and other hardships. Says they had eighteen distinct engagements with the Indians, in which more than 200 Indians were killed and a score of his companions. Says they shot Indians as casually as an Arizona boy of today shoots into a covey (he says 'flock') of quail.
The elder Pattie died in prison in California in 1829, denied even in his last moments the solace of his son. James was released on account of the smallpox vaccine he possessed (there being an epidemic of smallpox), and finally, over a circuitous route over land and by water, reached his grandfather's home in Kentucky, broken in health and finances.
Lockwood says of "Pattie's Personal Narrative" written by James that it is a classic of early American adventure in the southwest, the events recorded being mostly trustworthy (unbelievable as it my seem); that, since the author did not keep a daily journal, many inaccuracies occur, since the book was written from memory by a youth only fairly well educated. He attributes the fact that he gave none of the names of his companions (no doubt some of whom were men famous in pioneer annals) to youth and inexperience in writing and a sort of "bumptious and egotistical personality." The book was written after his return to Kentucky.
"We get in this narrative fresh, rough pictures of the buffalo, the deer, and the Indian in their native habitat. Myriads of buffalo and grizzly bear on the plains. The civilized mind refuses to believe that men could meet and endure the privations and sufferings such as were the common experience of these early American trappers." Here is one incident: "From the 8th to the 12th they were again destitute of food. On the 13th they killed a raven upon which the seven men feasted. They were now barefooted and emaciated. Late on the evening of the 13th, young Pattie killed a buzzard. This was cooked and eaten for supper. An otter caught in the traps provided breakfast and support of the 14th, when they killed one of the dogs and lived for days on that. After this came water and deer and turkeys in abundance." On more than one occasion they have valuable caches of furs stolen by the Indians.