Re: MtMan-List: Hounds in the Early west

["Larry Huber@warnerbros.com" <Larry_Huber@warnerbros.com>]

        I,ve been waiting for someone to mention the dog that Merriwether 
Lewis 
took with him to the Pacific and back.  The dog's name was "Scannon" and was 
a 
large black Newfoundland-type critter and although not used specifically for 

hunting was useful as camp-guard.  
        I wasn't aware of a "cur" breed classification.  Seems like a 
contradiction in terms.  Kinda like trying to establish a "paint" breed 
among 
horses.
        The Russian fur trappers along the Pacific coast brought dogs with 
them.
 The "Promyshleniki" released them on the Channel Islands where they became 
a 
problem to the local Chumash Indians.  But I suspect that this documentation 

isn't what you want.  I doubt a lone trapper would bring a dog along.  
Useful in
issuing a warning, it could also give away your presence to human hunters.  
This
isn't the same kind of a problem with a "brigade" as the Indians already 
knew 
they were there.  If a dog went West during the fur trade, it probably went 
with
a brigade.  Are there any records of dogs (other than Indian dogs) at Fort 
Union
or other Posts?

LARRY HUBER
AMM #1517
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Subject: MtMan-List: Hounds in the Early west
Author:  owner-hist_text@xmission.com_at_~internet at pcworldtalk
Date:    3/21/97 07:36 AM


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jsweet@wyoming.com wrote:
<snip>
These discussions of dogs at roundezvous are fine, but they don't offer 
anything in the way of history.  I'm looking for references.
By the way, if any hunters out there are interested, modern "cur" breeds 
(Blackmouth, Ladner, Leopard, Catahoula, et. al.) are actually strains of 
American hunting dogs selectively bred over generations so that they are 
no
longer "mongrels" at all.  I guess the dictionary writers haven't caught 
up
with the usage yet.
I SUSPECT that hunting dogs went west from Missouri and into the Rockies. 
They can be documented in Missouri, and some references can be found to 
dogs
and their usefullness (not just as a food, c'mon people) in primary source 
documents.  If they were useful to some trappers, possible the fine 
animals
that were in use on mtn lions and black bear further east might have made 
their way west as early as the 1830s.  Their presence later is well 
documented (Custer took greyhounds with him on his campaign of '67, etc.). 
The question I have is:  how far back do they go?
</snip>
     
     
A search on the word "hound" revealed no mention of hounds being brought 
from the east by the mountain men, at least in the documents we've got 
on-line so far.  There are references of Indian dogs being trained to 
hunt, however.  W. A. Ferris has an interesting story:
     
"On the eleventh an Indian reached us in advance of a party coming on 
from Bitter-root river; he said that three Flatt heads had been killed 
in that quarter, by the Black feet. The Indian, Pillet; whom the 
reader will recollect as my kind entertainer a few days since, came 
here on the twelfth, to receive a present I had promised him in return 
for his hospitality. He informed me with sorrow, that "Tloght" had 
been severely wounded in a contest with a lynx, and that he was much 
afraid he could never recover. I felt really grieved for him, knowing 
the value of the friend he was likely to lose; but lest the reader 
should feel an emotion of regret that he might afterwards think 
misplaced, I hasten to inform him that Tloght, the poor wounded 
Tloght, was of the canine species. Yes, reader! he was, though one of 
the noblest of his kind, only - a dog - a large powerful black hound, 
exceedingly swift, and well trained to hunting. He has often caught 
and killed deer of the largest kind, unaided; he was also fond of 
hunting lynx, and animals, very strong and fierce; and indeed, I have 
been more than once indebted to the courage and agility of Tloght, for 
a most delicious meal of the flesh of this animal. On one occasion, 
when Pillet was hunting with his faithful dog; the latter treed a lynx 
- which the Indian killed, - and there found in the snow beneath the 
tree, no less than three fine deer, which the lynx had killed, and 
buried there; all of which, through the sagacity of his dog, became a 
prize to the hunter. The name - Tloght - which was borne by this fine 
animal, signifies Fleetest; and is but a literal expression of his 
speed. Pillet, was a poor Pen-d'orielle, whose sole reliance for the 
support of his family and himself, was on his dog, and his own 
exertions. He had no horses, his other dog was quite inferior, and 
Tloght was the most valuable of his possessions. It will not then be 
wondered, that the story of this misfortune to the gallant Tloght, 
should have been the first intelligence communicated to me by the 
simple savage; or that he should dwell with a melancholy eloquence, on 
his virtues, and abilities, and deplore his calamity. "