The Midnight Wolf

There are many stories about the last rendezvous of 1833 that belonged to just the good ole boys.  Nearly anyone who had any reputation in the mountain fur trade was there and ready to party.  They sang, drank, gambled, fought, courted Indian women and of course, traded furs. 

Such folly involved one trader,  a wild, light-hearted young man by the name of Joe Meek.  True to the wanton abandon of these affairs, William Stewart wanted a place to entertain an Indian woman so he kicked George Holmes out the their shared tent.  

George Holmes was a New York gentleman so he wrapped a blanket around him and tried to sleep in the grass until he was bitten by a rabid wolf.  His screaming as he was attacked created more laughs than sympathy.  A midnight wolf hunt was suggested.

The next morning Stewart found Joe Meek trying to get up from where the whiskey had left him the night before.  Stewart told him he was lucky the wolf hadn't gotten him to which Meek replied, "It would have killed the wolf." 

Unfortunately whiskey couldn't save Holmes who became ill with rabies and died.  He was buried in an unmarked grave along an unmarked stream.   

Next time...Dreaming of the Ocean