The Carlin Party, sometimes referred to as the Carlin-Himmelwright Hunting Party, was the name given to a hunting expedition that left Kendrick, Idaho, on September 18, 1893, and was met and rescued along the Lochsa River on November 22 of that year, after becoming trapped on the upper reaches of the Lochsa by unseasonably early snowfall.
The party's fortunes were widely covered in the contemporary press due to the notoriety of some of the party's members, excitement over the scale of the search parties launched in an attempted rescue, and eventually the death of the party's cook, George Colegate, who was ill, and abandoned by the rest of the party when he was unable to continue the journey down the Lochsa River.
Party members
The hunting party was led by William E. Carlin, the then 27-year-old son of Brigadier General William Carlin. Carlin was a West Point graduate. While the party would later be referred to disparagingly in regional press the press as "the New York Men" (implying that they were unfit for the rigors of hunting in the Idaho mountains), Carlin had a significant amount of experience exploring the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. This included serving as a photographer on Army Lieutenant James A. Leyden's expedition through parts of Idaho and British Columbia.
Carlin was joined by A. L. A. Himmelwright, then 28, a civil engineer from New York who would later write a book detailing his account of the journey, titled, "In the Heart of the Bitterroot Mountains: The Story of the Carlin Hunting Party", originally penned under the pseudonym of "HECLAWA".
John Harvey Pierce, 30, Carlin's brother-in-law from White Plains, New York, was the 3rd hunter who joined the party. Pierce was 20 at the time of the expedition, the son of Dr. H.M. Pierce whose primary occupation was managing his father's investments.
Before setting out the party hired two additional members, a guide named Martin C. Spencer, and a cook from Post Falls who had worked for Carlin on previous expeditions named George Colegate (often written as Colgate in contemporary press accounts). Colegate suffered from an enlarged prostate and chronic inflammation of the bladder, and required the use of a catheter to urinate. While his physician, W. Q. Webb, advised that Colegate only make the trip with his catheters, Colegate left the devices behind.
Midway through their journey the group encountered and hired trapper Ben Keeley to assist them in rafting down the Lochsa river. Keeley would later dispute parts of the accounts of the other members of the party, particularly related to their care for, and abandonment of Colegate.
The party was accompanied by three dogs. Carlin was loaned a white English Terrier and Scottish Terrier by a former hunting companion Fred Palmer, for the purposes of the hunting trip. Not knowing their names, the party named them "Montana" and "Idaho." When Keeley joined the party, he brought with him a "big wooly shepherd mixed with a strain of hound" named "Riley". All three dogs survived the journey.
Hunting expedition
The group assembled in Spokane, Washington, on September 15, 1893. There, the hunters met with their guide, Spencer, and their cook, Colegate. The group procured supplies and equipment for their trip, including . of flour, of bacon, of sugar, a wall tent, blankets and a long list of other food and equipment.
The group shipped their horses and supplies to Kendrick, Idaho, by freight train, and arrived there by passenger train on September 17. At 1:00 in the afternoon the following day, the expedition departed.
On September 20, the party reached Weippe, Idaho, on a route that would loosely follow the route taken by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The group purchased additional food supplies and encountered a local farmer who questioned their ability to complete the trip before the winter snows came. In his 1895 book, Himmelwright wrote that the guide Spencer replied, "we got out last year as late as the 20th of October, and we figure on getting out this time by the 15th."
On September 21, the party reached Snowy Summit, a . peak to the North East of Weippe, where six inches of snow lay on the ground. They camped off the trail in a cedar grove. The group continued on, and reached the Indian Post Office Rock Cairns on September 25, where Spencer measured the average snow depth to be 8 inches.
On September 26, the group descended towards the Lochsa River near the vicinity of the modern-day Jerry Johnson Hot Springs. During this descent, Himmelwright writes that Colegate became exhausted, and alarmed other members of the party with his considerably swollen feet and legs. However, Colegate assured the party that he needed nothing more than rest.
Near the hot springs, the group met the prospector and trapper Jerome "Jerry" Johnson, and his partner Ben Keeley who were building cabins and planning to overwinter at that location, as well as two hunters from Missoula who were planning to return home in the coming days. The group found a nearby campsite by the Lochsa river, and spent a week hunting elk in the area.
Snowed in
On October 2, Colegate revealed the true nature of his illness — and the fact that he had not brought his catheters on the expedition — to the group. Around that same time, the guide Spencer shared fears that the group might be snowed in, due to ongoing rain at their lower elevation that he expected was snow blocking their return route at higher elevations.
By October 6, Colegate's condition had worsened, and the group discussed either sending Colegate and Spencer back early, or returning altogether. By October 9, they had resolved to return to Kendrick together, and saddled the horses and attempted the return route on October 10. By noon, the group reached an area where the snow on the trail was 3-feet deep, and the guide Spencer predicted that continuing along this trail would soon mean abandoning the horses, and walking out. As Colegate was too ill to walk, the group realized this plan "involved almost certain starvation for the entire party or the eventual abandonment of Colegate to save our own lives."
The party returned to their camp, resolved to build rafts and float them down the Lochsa river to civilization. While the guide Spencer expressed skepticism at this course of action, they believed it to be the only chance they had of bringing Colegate out alive. The party then purchased the supplies, and assistance of the trapper Ben Keeley, and spent several additional days helping Jerry Johnson to finish his cabin where they hoped to store their un-needed gear and hunting trophies over the winter.
On October 15, the group began to build rafts for their attempt down the Lochsa. By October 30, they had completed two rafts, each approximately long, and wide. The group proposed leaving Colegate with Jerry Johnson, and sending a relief party after him. But Johnson refused. Unsure of their ability to survive their evacuation attempt, the group left letters with Johnson which he was to deliver the following summer when he went to Missoula. After once again confirming that the trail was impassable due to snow, the group launched their rafts on November 3.
Rafting down the Lochsa
On the first day of the expedition's raft journey down the Lochsa, November 3, a raft was pinned on two rocks and Pierce, Colegate and one of the expedition's dogs, Montana, were all thrown from the rafts. All three were rescued. The group returned additional items to Johnson's cabin in an effort to lighten their load on November 4, and continued their journey down the Lochsa on November 5. Progress was slow, and by November 6, the group estimated that they had made no more than of progress.
Over the following days, the group attempted to float less difficult rapids, and guided the rafts from the shore using ropes through more difficult passages. At times, they portaged their supplies overland, not trusting even them to the river. During this time, they observed Colegate "failing very rapidly in strength and mind."
By Saturday, November 11, the group believed themselves to be "stuck." In the river, they faced rocks past which the rafts could not pass. Their provisions were low, and they had found little success fishing or hunting for game. The only way forward was overland through steep canyon walls and dense brush. Colegate was unable to walk, and the group did not believe it was possible for them to carry him across the rough terrain.
Abandonment of Colegate It was at this point that the party made the decision that would lead to their infamy: choosing to abandon George Colegate while he was still alive, yet unable to proceed on the journey down the river.
Afterwards, A.L.A. Himmelwright would take a lead role in defending the party's decision, first in newspaper articles and then later in the book he wrote on the expedition.
The group's justifications were primarily that they believed Colegate to be "hours from death", that to wait with Colegate longer would have further endangered the lives of the remaining expedition's members, and that he was so ill that he was unable to appreciate "efforts that have been made to make him comfortable".
Himmelwright's later account of the journey did not mention the specifics of the supplies that the group left with Colegate, apart from tying blankets to Colegate to keep him warm in what they believed to be his last hours. In one interview given to the New York Times, Himmelwright would claim the group divided their food with Colegate. However, in an interview with the Weekley Missoulian Newspaper, Ben Keeley stated that the group left him with a blanket, matches and salt, a tin cup and fishing tackle, but no food.
On November 13, the group left an unresponsive, unmoving Colegate, and proceeded downriver on foot.
Search parties and rescue
Concern over the party's fate was first raised by William Wright, a guide who had previously worked with Spencer. On November 7, Wright wrote to a contact in Spokane, "If Spencer has not got out of the mountains before now, he will not get out before spring [...] General Carlin had better send out a relief party to hunt them up."
Wright's contact passed the letter on to an army commander in Fort Spokane, who telegraphed his superior General William Carlin at Fort Vancouver. General Carlin replied:
Over the next several days, three separate search parties were launched at General Carlin's direction.
The Missoula search party Captain Louis Merriam of Fort Spokane arrived in Missoula on November 10 to organize a search party that would depart from Missoula, approach Lolo pass from the East and then move down towards the presumed location of the party on the Lochsa river.
The Missoula search party would be led by Captain George Andrews of the 25th Infantry, and guided by Spencer's partner William Wright. The plan was to push as far as possible towards the presumed location of the lost hunting party with wagons, pack animals and supplies, after which a smaller party would proceed on snowshoes if necessary.
The party of 60 men left Missoula on November 10, however, they would not succeed. By November 21, it was reported that the rescuers had met with deep snow storms, and were forced to turn back "in danger of their own lives."
The Overton search party Following General Carlin's orders, Lieutenant Clough Overton of the 4th Cavalry, based out of the Vancouver barracks, led a search party that passed through Colefax, Washington on November 10, and then continued on to Weippe, Idaho. The Overton party would proceed up the Lolo Trail following the same route the hunting party took on their outward journey.