| Notes |
- Thomas died at the home of his daughter Mrs.Roy Sabin of Grand view,Iowa in his 90th year.
He was the youngest brother of Mrs. Sylvester Coe and one of the "original forty-niners" who crossed
the plains to California.From that time for forty years he roamed the plains as scout,trapper and guide.
He was with General Reno and helped bury the dead after the Custer Massacre.He went as a civilian scout with General Crookes expedition through the Badlands of Dakota and fought the Sioux Indians
for months.In 1872 he made a journey of exploration through Central Canada,from Fort Benton,Montana to Hudson Bay.He crossed the Isthmus of Panama where the Panama Canell now runs,on foot in the
early fifties.(1850's).
Thomas Owens Rowland was born January 15,1834,at Caerlleon,near Llanfyllin,Montgomery-shire
Wales.When five years old he came to America with his parents.He went to California with the gold rush in 1850.He later joined Cookes Expedition across the Bad Lands of Dakota,fought the Sioux almost every day for months.The year of 1872 founf him at Fort Benton,Montana.He had heard that there was plenty of fur to be taken in Canada,near Hudsons Bay,and he determined to try his luck there.He had no
definite idea of how far it was,but he outfitted to be gone a year.
With a saddle horse and two pack mules with flour,bacon,sugar,coffee,tea and salt,enough to last until
he returned he was off.Of meat he knew he should find plenty.Armed with a Winchester rifle and two revolvers,both 44 caliber,plenty of ammunition,steel traps. With his animals he turned northeastward
and kept straight ahead for nearly three months,sleeping by night under the stars and traveling by day.
After starting on June 15,1872,and making fairly good progress,sometimes as much as forty miles a
day,other days he didn't travel as far,depending upon the weather and grass for the animals.
the territory was mostly undulating prairie,covered with short grass.It seemed that he saw a million
buffalo.They grazed everywhere around him.there were many deer,antelope,and some elk,also a few
caribou.Tom met a few Indians,but not many,never saw a white man,or the trail of a white man.He also
saw no lake of any kind. After traveling nearly three months,he came to some highlands,almost
a small mountain chain.He crossed a number of streams whose names he didn't know,traveling up
several but abandoned them as they bore to the west.
In these highlands he located a favorable place to set his traps for a big catch.it was a marsh on a high
plateau.there was timber all around the edges,and he knew it was the home of the marten. He was
not mistaken,for he made a fine catch.There were plenty of rabbits,he knew there would be fur about as
the winter set in.Fur bearers follow the rabbit. Finding a pretty spot in a ravine sloping to the southwest,where there was a spring,he built a shack of brush for his winter home.it was about such a
shed as Abraham Lincoln was born in. After making a nice,level spot for his bed,he filled it deep with
spruce boughs and never slept in a better or sweeter bed.
He made a crude chimney of logs and mud,built a fire place,and dug out the spring so that there was
plenty of water.After covering the front with poles and brush,leaving merely a low door to creep out of,
over which he hung a buffalo skin,he made things very snug and comfortable.
four fat deer were killed,dressed,and hung before the winter season should set in.The deer is fat,and
his meat is much sweeter,if killed before the snow comes,when they have to subist on boughs,which
tends to make the meat strong. There were plenty of moose,but tom did not care to kill them for he didn't
like moose meat.A crude shelter was made for the horses,and they were turned out to pasture.
Tom arrived in the camp about the middle of September,and it took him about three or four weeks to
get his traps set and his winter quarters completed.A passing Indian told Tom that he was within a
three day journey of a Hudson Bay Company trading post,and pointed the direction.Tom had no idea
that he was so near Hudsons Bay ,as there were no maps or guide posts to mark the course.
He had steered by the sun and the stars.After caching his supplies Tom made off for the trading post.
In about three days he found the post.There were half a dozen Englishmen and Scotch men there,and
plenty of trade goods,including some fire water.
Tom did not now remember the names of any of the traders except that we called them Sandy,Mack,
Jock and other nick names.There were some Indians camped at the post.Ten days were spent visiting
with these white men and Indians,drinking fire water,and generally enjoying the company of human
beings.Additional supplies were bought and the return trip to camp made,remaining there for the winter.
It was very cold that winter,and there was a lot of snow,although the wind blew the snow off the sides
of the hills in such a way that the animals found plenty of grass,and at night they generally came back
to the shelter that had been built,where there was water.Once a herd of buffalo came into the valley,
after a storm.It seemed there were thousands of them.The next morning a black one was shot,and
the rest of them moved out.Many marten were taken,one silver fox,a black wolfe,a buffalo that fur like
a beaver,and a number of beaver were caught,some wolves and a good many fox.
When spring came there were a good many furs ,Tom really liked that winter.A small pool had been
made below the spring inside the shelter,big enough to take a bath in.Whenever a bath was taken
stones were heated in the fire,then rolled down the into the pool,which would warm the water enough
to get a good comfortable bath.
There was plenty to eat.Flapjacks and syrup,with broiled venison and coffee,made a meal that would make a hungry man turn green with envy,many such meals were held. Camp was broken early in
April of "73", got the duffel together.The horses and pack-mules had remained in good condition,and
we started our homeward journey.
After nearly three months territory Tom recognized came into view. A Pondieu Mission held fur traders
from Missouri to whom Tom sold his furs.Tom doesn't recall the prices he received,but recalls that he
sold the silver fox skin for $ 180.00,and the dried beaver skins brought $ 2.00 a pound.
Tom made many journeys across the western plains of America and Canada,but this was the longest
one. Tom says he's been told that much of the territory he'd been over now is wheat fields and is
traversed by several railroads and many auto roads. Tom says that it was a good country when he
went over it,but that was a long time ago.
Most of this article was supplied by W.T. Coe of Minneapolis,Minnesota a lawyer (Coe was the son
of Susan Ann Rowland whom had married Sylvester Coe.)
Facts about this person:
Alt. Born July 06, 1827
Burial
Grandview,Iowa
|
1827 - 1923 (96 years)
[1, 2, 3, 4] 