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Beckwourth's
role in American history was often dismissed by historians of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many were quite blatant in
their prejudices, refusing to give any credence to a "mongrel of mixed
blood or Negro." An actual statement made by several noted historians
of that time.
His greatest contribution was in in 1851,
when he discovered a pass across the Sierra Nevada, which at 5,221 feet
was considered the lowest and easiest route for immigrants that
traveled from Nevada to the Sacramento Valley.
This route provided
easier, less costly and less dangerous access for farmers who
eventually created one of the greatest food producing areas in the
history of man. It is now know (even today) as the Beckwouth
Pass and there is still today a town named after him, (Beckwourth,
California). He also built the first house in the Sierra
Valley, and operated an inn and trading post there. During the 1850's,
the gap served as an important immigrant route, and later, as the route
of the Sierra Valley & Mohawk Railroad.
In 1827 he "married" a woman from the
Blackfoot tribe. In 1829 he found himself unable to pay a debt, so he
took refuge among his friends of the Crow tribe, where he married
again. Beckwourth says he married eight women while staying with the
Crow. He soon led a successful raiding party against another tribe and
was made a chief of the Crow. In later years, Beckwourth led the Crow
in a great battle against their Blackfoot enemies in which he claimed
that all the Blackfoot were killed and the Crow lost thirty or forty
warriors. During this time Beckwourth continued to trap and sold his
furs to the American Fur Company
of St. Louis. In 1837, however, he was dropped from the Company's books
and decided to look elsewhere for a livelihood.
Beckwourth found employment as a scout and
mule driver for the U.S. Army in its war against the Seminole tribe
of Florida. He took part in the Battle of Okeechobee
that was fought on December 25, 1837, but after the war settled into
routine, Beckwourth became bored and returned to Missouri and the fur
trade. He was offered employment by Andrew Sublette, the younger
brother of William. He took a trading party down the Santa Fe trail to Taos, New
Mexico, where he married a local Mexican woman. In October 1842,
Beckwourth and his bride headed north to what is now Colorado and
opened a trading post on the Arkansas River that eventually
grew into the city of Pueblo.
In 1843 Beckwourth left Pueblo with a
trading party of 15 and headed for California, then a part of Mexico.
They arrived in Los Angeles
in January 1844. When the local residents rebelled against the Mexican
officials, Beckwourth joined their side in the "Battle" of Cahuenga in
1845. He then left California for New Mexico and traded along the Santa
Fe Trail until August 1848. He was hired as a guide by an official of
the U.S. War Department, and their party traveled to Los Angeles, where
they arrived on October 25, 1848. From there they went north to
Monterey, the capital of California at the time. He took on a job as a
courier to a ranch near the present-day city of Santa Maria, north of
Los Angeles. On his way there he came upon the massacre of the Reed
family who were living in the old Mission of San Miguel and led the
posse that apprehended the murderers.
When gold was discovered in northern
California, Beckwourth joined the California Gold Rush. He did not
actively pan for gold but gambled and traded horses and made his living
among the prospectors. In the spring of 1850 he traveled to the remote
mining areas of the Sierra Nevada in the region of the present-day Lassen Volcanic
National Park. One day he saw what looked like a low pass to
the west. At the end of April he led three men to this pass, which was
subsequently named Beckwourth Pass. It is just to the west of the
California-Nevada border about 30 miles north of Reno. Beckwourth immediately saw
that it could be a major entrance from the east into the gold mining
region, and he and his companions spent the summer and fall of 1850
opening a road through the pass. During the spring of 1851 he actively
promoted his "New Emigrant Route" and got capital from the merchants of
Marysville, California to develop it. Beckwourth guided the first wagon
train through the Pass in late July or early August 1851. When it
arrived in Marysville in September 1851, there was so much celebration
that the town almost burned down.
At about that time Beckwourth met T. D.
Bonner. Bonner was the former president of the New Hampshire Temperance
Society who had been forced to emigrate to California when he started
drinking again. He became a justice of the peace in Butte County,
California where Beckwourth met him. In the spring of 1852, Beckwourth
had decided to settle in the "pleasant valley" that lay to the west of
Beckwourth Pass. There he built a house and hotel for the travelers
coming through the Pass. It developed into one of the main entry points
for pioneers coming to California. In October 1854 Bonner came to live
in Beckwourth's hotel, and he contracted to write Beckwourth's
"autobiography." By June of 1855 Bonner was back east and had signed a
contract with Harper and Brothers in New York to publish it. When it
came out in 1856 its tall tales and exciting adventures made it a
bestseller, and Beckwourth became an instant celebrity.
Particpation Economic Impact:
Beckwourth stayed at his ranch (now
Beckwourth, California) until November 1858. He then headed back east
to Missouri, and the St. Louis and Kansas City
newspapers recorded the visit of the famous mountain man. He then moved
to Denver, Colorado, where he married once again and settled down as
the manager of a general store. He and his wife had a daughter who died
in infancy. After her death, the marriage broke up, and Beckwourth
moved in with a Crow woman. He became involved
in various scrapes with the law, including a charge of manslaughter
from which he was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. He then
joined the U.S. Army as a scout and took part in several actions
against the Cheyenne tribe. In September
1866 he went to visit a Crow village on a mission for the Army. He died
there, sometime around September 25, 1866.
LINKS:
- Beckwourth.org
- Wikipedia
- James
Beckwourth Mountain Club
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