National Parks and the Misadventures of Truman C Everts

this episode of the history guy brought to you by magellan tv [Music] established in march of 1872 yellowstone is widely held to be the first national park in the world it took the vision of many people to compel president ulysses grant to set aside this vast amazing but at the time nearly inaccessible area as a public park and that decision was largely driven by three early scientific expeditions and while each of those expeditions is important and interesting in its own right the experience of just one member of one of those expeditions represents the risks that those early explorers took in the creation of yellowstone park the amazing almost unbelievable story of the misadventures of truman c everts is a story of survival and a cautionary tale about why it's important not to get lost it is history that deserves to be remembered and speaking of getting lost in yellowstone i just watched a great new documentary on magellan tv called yellowstone yes i love my subscription to magellan tv it's a new kind of subscription service it's run by filmmakers and there's more than 3 000 documentaries on there everyone's worth the price of subscription if you haven't signed up you really should and to help you do that magellan tv is offering a special offer just for our viewers an extended month-long trial for free yellowstone offers a virtual tour of america's first national park covering both the park's human history and the natural history that has made the park world famous the documentary is full of the breathtaking photography and compelling animations that are one of the reasons that the documentaries on magellan tv are just so compelling i thoroughly enjoyed it another documentary that alone justifies the price of subscription i'm a big fan of history documentaries but you might enjoy science or space or nature all of which magellan tv offers magellan tv has the richest and most varied history content available anywhere it's got ancient modern current early modern war biography and of course even non-historical genres like science and crime are historical in nature you can watch yellowstone anywhere on your television laptop or mobile device magellan is compatible with roku amazon fire tv apple tv google play and ios and you're giving a cast from your phone to your television if you haven't signed up for magellan tv do and if you have signed up go watch yellowstone it's a great documentary it's well worth your time and of course the most exciting news is that magellan has that special offer just for our viewers of an extended month-long trial for free and to get that offer all you have to do is use the link that's in the description the name yellowstone is derived from the name the hidatsa suiant people used for the yellowstone river mitsi adasi roughly roculo river it's possible the name referred to the color of stone and the grand canyon of the yellowstone although the exact source of the native american name is not clear the name was first translated by french fur trappers who used the name roshijon the name was then translated into english at least by 1797 when it was used by the british canadian fur trader and cartographer david thompson according to the national park service the name was first used as two words yellow stone and over time became formalized as one word like we know it today the area around the yellowstone river was used by native americans at least as far back as eleven thousand years ago by ancestors contemporary tribes like the blackfeet and the nez perce the area was known to european fur trappers by the early 19th century notably john coulter who had been a member of the 1804 lewis and clark expedition and is widely considered to have been the first mountain man coulter did explorations in the yellowstone area in the winter of 1807.08 while the area was visited by fur trappers and traders and its unique geological features recognized there was not apparent formal exploration or mapping of the area that would become yellowstone park and the fur trade had largely collapsed by the mid-19th century the first formal expedition to map the area did not occur until an expedition by three men from diamond city montana in 1869 david e folsom charles w cook and william peterson the journals for that expedition inspired another expedition in 1870 under the direction of henry dana washburn had been a general in the union army during the civil war had served in congress representing indiana and in 1869 had been named surveyor general of the montana territory the expedition also included explorer nathaniel p langford and a military escort under the command of lieutenant gustavus doane of the us second cavalry but the expedition was not for the faint of heart there were several risks including risk from hostile natives the chicago tribune opined any man which contemplates this long and dangerous journey may be prepared for any emergency that may arise in addition to washburn langford lieutenant doan and five soldiers as escort and two african-american cooks named newt and johnny the expedition included several volunteers from the bozeman area volunteers included samuel t hauser president of the first national bank of helena montana who would later become governor of montana territory and walter trumbull son of u.s senator lyman trumbull also included was truman c everetts of helena montana born in vermont the son of a great lakes ship captain in 1864 evarts had been appointed by president abraham lincoln as the first assessor of internal revenue for the newly created montana territory in february 1870 president grant replaced efforts with his own man in between jobs everts decided to volunteer for the washburn expedition although he was traveling with a group of experienced explorers evarts was not exactly an expert on wilderness survival an october 2016 edition of outdoor magazine described him as a middle-aged widower who had been a desk jockey his entire life he was also extremely nearsighted for his part everts wrote a desire to visit this remarkable region of which during several years residents of montana i had often heard the most marvelous accounts led me to unite with the expedition in fact he said i engaged in the enterprise with enthusiasm feeling that all the hardships and exposures of a month's horseback travel through an unexplored region would be more than compensated by the grandeur and novelty of the natural objects with which it was crowded at the time he seemed not to have fully appreciated the risk involved writing that of course the idea of being lost in it without any of the ordinary means of substance and wandering for days and weeks in a famished condition alone in an unfrequented wilderness formed no part of my contemplation the group left helena on august 16th and picked up their military escort at fort ellis departing again on august 22nd in the next few weeks the party viewed the grand canyon of the yellowstone reached yellowstone falls and crossed the river the expedition found the area to be as marvelous as it had been described with the saint joseph weekly gazette noting that they continued to meet with scenes of marvelous beauty which caused them in some instances to take off their hats and shout with ecstasy by september 9th they were near the headwaters of both the yellowstone river and the snake river the morning of the night the group was traveling through dense forest as was common in the area and while picking through an area of fallen trees in order to find his own path everett somehow became separated from the rest of his party the party realized that everest was missing that evening the party had already agreed to a meeting spot along the shores of the yellowstone lake in case they got separated the rest of the party went to the spot where they created a large bonfire fired shots into the air but everts was nowhere to be found according to lamford's account we searched for him for seven days then our provisions became short and it was necessary for us to strike for home party member william gillette and two privates from the second cavalry stayed behind and continued to search returning october 2nd without having seen any sign of him they cashed food for him in locations near where they had first lost track of him but he did not seem to find them langford lamented has he met death by accident or may he be injured and unable to move and be suffering the horrors of starvation and fever has he wandered aimlessly hither and thither until bereft of reason as i contemplate all these possibilities it is a relief to think that he may have lost his life at the hand of some vagabond indian the gazette noted their pleasures were marred by the loss of one of their members truman c evarts who wandered from the party and has not since been heard from it is feared that it has fallen into the hands of the indians the burlington weekly press of burlington vermont reported miles a everts of this city had received a paper published in helena montana containing intelligence of a loss in the woods and probable death of his brother t.c everts while connected with an exploring party up the yellowstone river but effort's death probable as it was was being staved off by his even more improbable survival upon being separated everett seems to have been completely confident that he would meet up again with his party he knew of the point where they were supposed to meet but apparently was disoriented and took off the wrong direction he spent his first night in reasonable comfort his horse carried his tent equipment and food but searching for the party the next day he was aiming to find their path since the falling foliage of the pines had obliterated every trace of travel then disaster struck while searching for a path he dismounted and walked a few paces deciding which path to take and his horse bolted he wrote i turned around in time to see him disappearing at full speed among the trees in fact the party would find his horse but not everts still efforts was in good spirits writing that he was cheered by the hope that it should soon rejoin my companions who would laugh at my adventure and incorporate it as a thrilling episode into the journal of our trip but his situation was much different having lost his horse leaving with him no food no fire no means to cure either alone in an unexplored wilderness 150 miles from the nearest human abode surrounded by wild beasts and famished with hunger alternating between hope and despair at first everest was afraid he might run into hostile natives but then he began to hope that he might find a friendly group but it was already clear that hunger was affecting him at one point he rejoiced at seeing a canoe being paddled by a lone oarsman imagining rescue only to realize as he got closer that what he thought to be a native in a canoe was only an enormous pelican he remarked this little incident quite unmanned me but he then found his salvation a thistle plant well looking for a spot where i might repose in safety my attention was attracted to a small green plant of so lively a hue as to form a striking contrast within the deep pine foliage for closer examination i pulled it up by the root which was long and tapering not unlike a radish it was a thistle i tasted it it was palatable and nutritious my appetite craved it and the first meal in four days was made on thistle roots eureka i had found food the plant was cerseium scarioza a type of thistle plant according to the u.s forest service flathead indians liked the thistle so much that they imposed a taboo to prevent people from overpicking the plant well commonly called elk thistle the plant is also known as efforts thistle the plant provided sustenance and energy but it came at a cost that everetts would discover later everetts was facing many obstacles including hunger and cold but the wilderness is also full of animals some of which are quite dangerous to humans one night efforts found himself being hunted by a mountain lion he climbed a tree to avoid the creature saying i would alternately sweat and thrill with horror at the thought of being torn to pieces and devoured by this formidable monster the lion stalked over the tree but eventually gave up and left although animals abounded everett's had few means to capture any at one point he managed to catch a small songbird which he ate raw saying it was a delicious meal for a half starved man another time he found the wingtip of a gulp caught in a bush and was able to grind and boil the bones into a small amount of broth at first he had no means to start a fire he decided to stay in an area of hot springs to stay warm the plan worked well enough until a vent of steam scalded him severely on the hip the burn was serious and compelled him to sleep sitting up eventually he realized that he could start a fire using the lens from his opera glass one of the few items on his person with the thistle root and opera glass he crowed i was now the happy possessor of food and fire as the sun was unpredictable he took to kindling the fire midday and then carrying a flaming brand with him blowing on it to keep an ember going until nightfall when he would use it to start a fire in this process he often burned his hand he managed to fashion a knife from a buckle on his vest and a fish hook from a pin inside his clothing and some ribbon that was in his pocket he never caught any fish however and lost both the buckle knife and the fishhook when his fire got out of control one night as he slept he barely escaped the blaze writing my left hand was badly burned and my hair singed closer than a barber would have trimmed it while making my escape from the semi-circle of burning trees he also burned the entire hillside the entire hillside was an ocean of glowing and surging fiery billows favored by the gale the conflagration spread with lightning swiftness over an illimitable extent of country filling the atmosphere with driving clouds a suffocating fume and leaving a broad and blackened trail of spectral trunks shorn of libs and foliage smoking and burning to mark the immense sweep of its devastation one night camp along the river he took off his shoes to let his blistered feet heal as he walked along the beach sand somehow he managed to lose one of his shoes which would have been a likely fatal disaster he spent a night searching and recovered the shoe he eventually located the place where the party had built a bonfire looking for him but they had long ago departed in the location where they camped he only found an old dinner fork which afterwards proved to be of infinite service and digging roots and discarded can that he could use as a cup as he became more emaciated he hallucinated more being given directions by an apparition of an old clerical friend for whose character and counsel had always cherished peculiar regard the whose nation told him put your trust in heaven help yourself and god will help you he also began talking to parts of his body saying my arms legs and stomach were transformed into so many traveling companions often for hours i would plot along conversing with these imaginary friends gradually it became clear that he was dying he wrote i lost all sense of time days and nights came and went and were numbered only by the growing consciousness that i was gradually starving i felt no hunger did not eat to a peace appetite but to renew strength i experienced but little pain the gaping sores on my feet the severe burn on my hip the festering crevices at the joints of my fingers all terrible in appearance had ceased to give me the least concern he recalled looking at his arm saying flesh and blood had apparently left them the skin clung to the bones like wet parchment a child's hand could have clasped them from wrist to shoulder and finally he came to surrender a solemn conviction that death was near that at each pause i made my limbs would refuse further service and that i should sink helpless and dying in my path overwhelm me with terror amid all this tumult of the mind i felt that i had done all that a man could do but again probable death was thwarted by improbable survival upon returning to montana members of his party had offered a reward for anyone who could recover him or his body two trappers yellowstone jack baronette and george a pritchett had discovered him nearly dead mumbling and delirious more than 50 miles from where he first gone missing burnett had at first thought he had seen a wounded bear but on closer inspection said when i got near it i found it was not a bear and for my life could not tell what it was it did not look like any animal that i had seen and was certainly not a human being the semi-weekly billings gazette wrote of him the man was crawling along on hands and knees his clothes were tattered and his shoes and feet had given out so that the bones protruded and he was forced to crawl by the time he was found everest had not only suffered severe burns frostbite and blistered feet but reportedly weighed a mere 50 pounds despite being rescued everts wasn't out of the woods just yet it seems that after weeks of eating nothing but thistle root his entire digestive system had ceased to operate having him probably survived to get rescue now looked like he might not pull through reportedly it was a local trapper who provided the remedy had him drink a pint of hot bear grease and that managed to unclog the pipes everett's survival made national news to attention to yellowstone helped to spray geological survey in 1871 and that helped to convince congress to create the world's first national park owing to his notoriety to truman everts was offered the position as the first superintendent of yellowstone park but he was forced to refuse as the position had no salary he eventually moved back to maryland worked for the post office passed away in 1901 the age of 85. i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets have forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section i will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on facebook instagram twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 122,794

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, yellowstone, truman everts, us history, american history, national park

Id: VgwWeprKphc

Length: 17min 19sec (1039 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 05 2021