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Robert Stuart October 16, 1812 Campsite

Historic Campsite

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place:4015172

place:4015150

At dawn the Astorians traveled again E.S.E. (112.5 degrees) about 24 miles in total along the foothills of the mountains on their left. Soon after they left camp, they crossed Willow Creek and then arrived at the base of the mountains which they traveled along.

When they forded Pine Creek near present day Pinedale, WY an amazing abandoned Indian village was discovered. From the condition of the buffalo carcases and bones around the camp area, Stuart believed the camp had been abandoned about a month.

In the center of the camp, he described a tipi like lodge, 150 feet in circumference made of 20 trees. The trees 1 foot in diameter and 40 feet long provided the tipi like support framework for attached pine and willow branches that provided shade. The lodge door that faced East. Based on the description, Dr. C. Adrian Heidenreich (2012) Professor Emeritus of anthropology Native American Studies at MSU-Billings identified the lodge as a Crow Indian Sun Dance Lodge. Just to the West, 3 Indians were buried, laid out feet towards the East. The head of each grave, was marked by an upright red cedar branch buried in the ground, with an accompanying black painted buffalo skull at the base of each cedar branch.

After leaving the Indian village, Stuart and his men traveled about 9 miles to the willow and cottonwood lined banks, of the confluence of Fall and Pole Creeks, where they camped (Rollins 1935, 159-60, 177 notes 99,100,105).

Irving described Stuart’s discovery of a Crow Indian Sun Dance Lodge at present day Pinedale, WY as:

On the following day they forded a stream of considerable magnitude, with banks clothed with pine trees. Among these they found the traces of a large Indian camp, which had evidently been the headquarters of a hunting expedition, from the great quantities of buffalo bones strewed about the neighborhood. The camp had apparently been abandoned about a month.

— Irving

In the centre was a singular lodge one hundred and fifty feet in circumference, supported by the trunks of twenty trees, about twelve inches in diameter and forty-four feet long. Across these were laid branches of pine and willow trees, so as to yield a tolerable shade. At the west end, immediately opposite to the door, three bodies lay interred with their feet towards the east. At the head of each was a branch of red cedar firmly planted in the ground. At the foot was a large buffalo’s skull, painted black. Savage ornaments were suspended in various parts of the edifice, and a great number of children’s moccasins. From the magnitude of this building, and the time and labor that must have been expended in erecting it, the bodies which it contained were probably those of noted warriors and hunters. (1836, 2: 158-59)

— Irving

Attribution of Source Material

The preceding summary for the approximated October 16, 1812 Robert Stuart Campsite location is used with thanks for the public domain source of Irving 1836. Additionally, appropriate parenthetical citations are used with thanks and credit in specific summary passages and quotes for sources that are not in the public domain Rollins 1935. Errors regarding unintended and improper copyright usage will be corrected immediately following notification.

Primary Sources

Irving, Washington. Astoria, Or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, 1836. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Astoria_Or_Anecdotes_of_an_Enterprise_Be/t6k-AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.

Rollins, Phillip A., ed. 1935. The Discovery of the Oregon Trail: Robert Stuart’s Narrative of His Overland Trip Eastward from Astoria in 1812-1813. Bison Book Edition reprinted from the original 1935 edition by Edward Eberstadt and Sons. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.

Secondary Sources

Heidenreich, C. Adrian. “Crow Indian Sun Dance Lodge.” Mountain Man Museum offers free evening socials - Pinedale, Wyoming, 2012. https://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2012/09/MountainManMuseumoff.htm. Accessed 8-25-2021

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Historic Campsite