Untamed & Uncharted

The selection

I met Jake the next morning in the town hall; it was full of the hopeful pilgrims, some from my ship and other pilgrims who had heard of the mission, as being part of the team was much safer than trying to go it alone. Jake stood behind a small table to his right stood a short man then I stood to his left, I told Jake that my recommendations were the Thompson twins from Ireland and their wives; my others were then Lou Antonella and Mario Rosetta from Italy.
He thanked me with a few loud claps he called for the pilgrims that I had recommended to step up to the table.He started with the Thompson's, he asked why they should be on this mission, Brian looked Jake in the eye then said we are all young, strong, fit and healthy. I worked for the past three years as a butcher; I have skinning and tanning knowledge my brother Neil and I labored for many years part-time on a small piece of hard rocky land left to us in our father's will, the land was poor soil and crops would not grow. My wife Kate worked in the bakery for two years before our departure, Neil is an excellent marksman he won all the shooting trophies back home. His wife Daisy is a qualified nurse; we are not quitters and are team players.
There is nothing left for us back in Ireland, no family nothing but a constant uphill struggle day after day; we all know this new land will work for us because we will make it.
Well, Jake said that is exactly what I am after, then there was a loud shuffle and most of the pilgrims lost hope and left, then the two Italians told of their past struggles working in a marble quarry since the age of ten. The long hours six days a week with pick and shovel, they told Jake, that they would move a mountain to find gold. Jake continued until the selection had completed then he introduced Mr. Carlton, his is a former army drill sergeant so he will be making you ready for the trip over coming weeks.
Mr. Carlton then addressed the group he said I have set up a training course on that steep hill at the east of the town, we will meet there at six every morning then you will get details of your training. Go now to get some rest and I will see you in the morning, you will meet the rest of the chosen team members then, forty eager pilgrims gathered at the training site, they introduce themselves to each other. Mr. Carlton sounded a large triangle then asked everyone to gather around him, he said I have trained hundreds of foot soldiers for survival in this land of extreme conditions and challenges.
You will all make every effort to keep up with your training and follow my directions, if you fall behind at any time then you will go, many others are waiting for the chance to join this mission. Now select your dress kit from the piles laid out in front of me, don't put your boots on, you will need to follow a process to soften them, or you will get blisters.
The mission will be on foot, you will at times be carrying heavy weights in your backpacks, during the training you will feel the weight increase every day. You will learn all the survival skills from Ben Harper, a mountain man with over ten years of experience; Ben's role is shooting hunting and shelter. Now I want you all to walk the course at your own pace then put on your backpack, then put a bag of sand in it then walk the course again. Each two days you will add another bag of sand, each day the number of times around the course will also increase. Ben then stepped forward and asked for the shooters to make themselves known to him, he had six-shooters approach him; he asked if any of them had seen a grown hungry grizzly bear on the charge.
They all shook their heads, Ben said well I hope you never do, I want you to take a look at the stuffed one standing inside my trading post if you haven't already. This is a killing machine, it's hard to stop, it will outrun you and out climb you and it will take more than one good shot to stop it. You will only get one shot each, so you need to work well together to stop this charging beast.
I want you standing five paces apart, your weapons ready facing up this hill as that bear is about to charge you, then this huge barrel-rolled down the slope at speed, six shots rang out.
On inspection of the barrel, there was only one hole, Ben said if this was for real a few of you would be dead now or wish you were,Ben then gathered the rest of the team and led them to a wooded area where he had built a makeshift bark shelter.
There he explained the methods used, told them that before their training was over they would be able to build a log cabin.
As week two was drawing to a close, Mr. Carlton could see the training was taking its toll on some of the pilgrims, he said we will leave out the training course for a few days. You will concentrate on learning how to build traps, snares, felling trees, then cabin and raft building. This was great news for all including myself, the shooting was progressing well the barrel had a lot of holes in it. On day seventeen Alan Jamison one of the shooters failed to show for training, his wife arrived late and said Alan was ill all night with fever, chills and sweating, Mr. Carlton said sounds like malaria, I will get doc Langdon to check him out. If it is malaria he will not be on the mission, it's a new deadly disease it has claimed many lives here in the past few years.
The next morning Nellie Jamison arrived she said the doc confirmed that it was malaria; he told me that Alan may die soon.
She said I have nowhere to go now; I have spent a lot of time hunting and shooting with Alan so I think I can take up his role.
As the training was drawing to a conclusion, I could see the trainers were all pleased with the pilgrims, due to the initial selection method, Jake used? Mr. Carlton said the guts and determination displayed was as good as anything he had seen in the army, I thank you all I wish you well, assemble here in three days, Jake will be here, with his team and provisions for this mission.

I met Jake Morrison the next day and asked about the problems we may encounter with the Indian tribes, he said his scout Kamak from the Yakima tribe, got word that the Nez Perce tribe was on the verge of waging war.
There are many tribes here and communication is a problem, I included a scout from the Nez Perce tribe Hinmah also a scout from the Cayuse tribe Qualta, these tribes are semi-nomadic they have difficulty finding food in harsh times.
Mr. Farr the Governor's coach driver picked me up at ten the following day, he was to take me to a lunch meeting with the Governor at his club, I told Mike about my briefing from Jake over the Indians. He said that the Chinookan tribe was almost wiped out by disease, smallpox and malaria, they believe the diseases came to their land by the white man, they may be right, there was a medical mission set up but massacred by the Cayuse tribe. He said I am trying to negotiate a treaty with the tribes so that settlers get land, he asked if I had any issues with the task ahead I replied no Mike I am in good shape now after the training. I realize the terrain will be much different from what I travelled before but the challenge is the same.After lunch, I asked Mike if he would tell me what brought him to this place, he said I am a retired British Colonel who served in some of the most godforsaken places on earth. I am the only child of a wealthy aristocrat, and military commander, he served here in the War of Independence, when he died I inherited and sold his estate. He had told of this new land of opportunity and rugged beauty, I came here eight years ago, and in that time I have played a part in its rapid growth, I see this mission being the first of many if it is successful.
The pilgrims met to start the trip; they gathered around Jake and were not expecting to find a team of pack horses.
There was an enormous amount of rope and provisions, Jake saw the puzzled looks on their faces, he said, you are wondering why you went through the training with those heavy backpacks?
There are three reasons there are Indian tribes that will try to steal the horses, at times the terrain will be too steep for the horses so you will need to share their loads. At the end of our journey, we will be leaving the horses at the river then build cabins to stay the winter. You will build rafts to travel to your chosen destination; you will then have to carry your provisions, some of you may not see another white man for twelve months or more. With me are three Indian scouts from different tribes, they will assist the shooting team to provide us with fresh meat daily, along the way; we will have only one meal of fresh meat at the end of each day. You will learn how to use your compass from Brett Hudson, be sure to learn it well as your future will depend on your ability to navigate. We will not be in a hurry to get to the river as you will need to put into practice the survival skills you learnt, distance travelled each day will depend on the weather; adverse conditions can come in this time of the year, so use your skills to provide shelter. Now I have to warn you that there has been a rumor of unrest from Indians, make sure you don't stray too far away on your own, keep your eyes opened, pack the horses now and we will start the journey.
Finally after many months, the mission left into the untamed and uncharted land the distance travelled the first few weeks was good, the terrain wasn't difficult and the weather was magnificent as was the scenery. The teams worked well with their tasks and settled into their routines, three Indian scouts upfront spread apart marking the trial, with the shooters each scout.
The scouts taught the pilgrims to read the animal tracks and what to shoot; there was always a plentiful supply of meat each day. The pilgrims were seventeen farmers, twelve prospectors and ten trappers. When we reached streams further up in the mountains the prospectors were anxious to try their hand at gold panning, they had no experience Jake got them on the right foot.
Week seven saw the weather turn from bad to worse with thick fog, then a blizzard it kept us grounded for days.
The trail ahead was steep and treacherous and could not be travelled in bad weather, we all banned together and built a bark shelter between clumps of large trees, our small tents became a bit too confined during the day so we all gathered under the bark shelter and exchanged stories. My fame of the Nile river expedition had spread among them so they wanted me to tell my story.

Read part 4. The Nile Expedition part 1

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