his _History of Nevada_, a
party of twenty-three men, enthused by the glowing accounts they had
heard of California, left Council Bluffs, May 20th, crossed the plains
in safety, and reached the Humboldt River. Here an Indian, named
Truckee, presented himself to them and offered to become their
guide. After questioning him closely, they engaged him, and as they
progressed, found that all his statements were verified. He soon
became a great favorite among them, and when they reached the lower
crossing of the river (now Wadsworth), they were so pleased by the
pure water and the abundance of the fish to which he directed them,
that they named the stream "Truckee" in his honor.

This Capt. Truckee was the chief of the Paiutis, and the father of
Winnemucca (sometimes known as Poito), and the grandfather of Sarah
Winnemucca Hopkins, long known in Boston and other eastern cities,
where she lectured under the patronage of Mrs. Horace Mann, Mrs. Ole
Bull, Miss Longfellow, and other prominent women, as the Princess
Sallie. When I first went to Nevada, over thirty-three years ago,
I soon got to know her and her father, Winnemucca, and met them
constantly.

Sarah always claimed that Truckee and Fremont were great friends and
that it was the Pathfinder who named the river after her grandfather,
but nowhere in his _Report_ of the 1843-44 Expedition does he
mention Truckee, and he called the river the "Salmon Trout River";
and this name he retained both in the report and map published in his
_Memoirs of My Life_, Vol. I only of which was issued by Belford,
Clarke and Company, of Chicago, in 1887.

Hence Sallie is undoubtedly mistaken in this regard. But on several
points she is correct, and too great emphasis cannot be laid upon
these facts. They are, I, that Truckee guided several emigrant
parties, even as far as Sutter's Fort, California (where Sacramento,
the Capital of the State, now stands); II, that he was always
friendly, true and honest in his dealings with the whites; III, that
had the emigrants and settlers in Nevada treated him as honestly as he
did them there would never have been any conflicts between the Paiutis
and the whites; IV, that when the latter first came to the country he
called councils of his people and bade them welcome the newcomers with
open arms.

He died just as the wrongs inflicted upon the Paiutis were making them
desperate and resolved on war. Though his son, Winnemucca, is well
known never openl