Page 20 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

James Ohio Pattie
In 1825, James and Sylvester Pattie, James Kirker, and Nathaniel Pryor reopened the Santa Rita mine. It was abandoned in 1838 because of increasing warfare between the Europeans and the Apaches. (Cooke’s Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui - A Focus on United States History in Southwestern New Mexico, pp. 23-24) James Pattie apparently made trips into Mexico on mine business, probably (based on route notes) traveling via Cooke’s Spring.
The Personal Narrative of James O. Pattie of Kentucky, edited by Timothy Flint, was published in 1831. It may be a stretch to refer to a trapper as a naturalist, but Pattie was certainly an observer of the natural world. The description of his initial crossing of the Black Range and his first trapping expedition into the Gila starts on page 52 of that work.
“On the 7th (ed: December 7, 1824) we left the del Norte, and took a direct course for the Copper mines. We next traveled from the river over a very mountainous country four days, at the expiration of which time we reached this point of our destination. We were here but one night, and I had not leisure to examine the mode, in which the copper was manufactured. In the morning we hired two Spanish servants to accompany us; and making a north-west course pursued our journey, until we reached the Helay (ed. - Gila) on the 14th. We found the country the greater part of the two last days hilly and somewhat barren with a growth of pine, live oak, pinion, cedar and some small trees, of which I did not know the name. We caught thirty beavers, the first night we encamped on this river.” (p. 52)
“On the morning of the 13th . . . crossed the river, here a beautiful clear stream about thirty yards in width, running over a rocky bottom, and filled with fish . . . compelled to cross it thirty-six times. We were obliged to scramble along under the cliffs, sometimes upon our hands and knees, through a thick tangle of grape-vines and under-brush . . . where the river forked, and encamped on the point between the forks. We found here a boiling spring so near the main stream, that the fish caught in the one might be thrown into the other without leaving the spot, where it was taken. In six minutes it would be thoroughly cooked.” (p. 53)
The next day he set off alone and saw many bear, killed and cooked a turkey for dinner, and awoke in the night to see:
“a panther stretched on the log by which I was lying, within six feet of me, I raised my gun gently to my face, and shot it in the head. Then springing to my feet, I ran about ten steps, and stopped to reload my gun, not knowing if I had killed the panther or not.” (p. 54)
On January 2, 1825, along a river they named the St. Francisco they came came upon:
“multitudes of mountain sheep. These animals are not found on level ground, being there slow of foot, but on these cliffs and rocks they are so nimble and expert in
jumping from point to point, that no dog or wolf can overtake them. One of them that we killed had the largest horns, that I ever saw on animals of any description. One of them would hold a gallon of water. Their meat tastes like our mutton. Their hair is short like a deer’s, though fine. The French call them the gros cornes, from the size of their horns which curl around their ears, like our domestic sheep. These animals are about the size of a large deer....” (p. 56)
By January 19 they had returned to the Gila, having trapped 250 beavers.
The Pattie narrative is replete with adventures, and it is a time when adventures were to be had. It is also full of vivid descriptions of the natural world he encountered as one of the first Northern Europeans to explore our area.
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