Here Kit Carson met a Mr. McCoy, formerly a trader in the employment of the Hudson Bay Company, but who was now out on a trapping excursion.  With the consent of his companions, Kit Carson and five others withdrew from the larger party to join their fortunes with Mr. McCoy.  A rumor had reached them that abundance of beaver were to be found at a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles, on Mary’s river, since called the Humboldt.  Here again they were doomed to disappointment.  They followed down this stream, trapping in vain, for a hundred miles, till its waters were lost in what is called the Great Basin.

These hardy adventurers now directed their steps north, and after traversing a country, most of it wild and barren, about two hundred miles in extent, again reached the banks of the Snake river, midway between its source and its mouth.  Here the company divided.  Mr. McCoy set out to trap down the stream, about one hundred and fifty miles, to Fort Walla Walla, which was near the junction of this river with the Columbia.

Kit Carson and his band followed up the stream about the same distance, trapping most of the way.  They, however, encountered continued disappointments.  The region they traversed was dreary and barren in the extreme.  Often there was no game to be found.  They were brought to the very verge of starvation.  For some time they subsisted upon nutritious roots, which they had adopted the precaution to take with them.  When these were exhausted they were reduced to the greatest straits, and could be only saved from starving by bleeding the mules and drinking the warm blood.  This is a resource which could not be repeated.  The animals were also very poor, though enough of dry and scanty grass was found to keep them alive.

The whole party became frightfully emaciated, and they began to fear that they should be compelled to kill some of their mules.  But the men themselves had become so weak it was with difficulty they could carry their rifles.  The loss of any of these useful beasts of burden would terribly enhance their peril.  It might compel them to abandon, not only their traps, but also their rifles and their ammunition.  In this dreadful emergency they came across a band of Indians who proved to be friendly.  But the savages were also in an extremely destitute condition.

Fortunately for both parties there was water at hand, and the withered herbage furnished the animals with sustenance.  The Indians had a young horse which was respectably fat.  It required all of Kit Carson’s diplomatic skill and knowledge of the Indian character to induce the Indians to part with the animal.  It was not until after much maneuvering that they succeeded in obtaining him.  He was immediately killed and eaten.  To the hungry men, the horse flesh afforded as delicious a feast as epicure ever found in the most costly viands.