“I engaged in the enterprise with enthusiasm, feeling that all the hardships and exposures of… travel through an unexplored region would be more than compensated by the grandeur and novelty of the natural objects with which it is crowded.”
With these words, Truman Everts began the published account of his perilous ordeal in the Yellowstone backcountry. He expresses the same sort of feeling you or I — or perhaps contestants on the hit History Channel program Alone — might feel at the start of our adventures in the wild. He had high spirits, with a healthy dose of romantic wonder baked in.
It’s not hard for high spirits to be tempered by the reality of immersion in the out-of-doors. The blazing sun, biting cold, and darkness of the night have the power to transform our bliss into misery. For the most unlucky, a simple mistake or lapse of judgement can turn their holiday into a hellscape.
Despite his initial positive outlook, that was the fate that met Truman Everts, a member of the 1871 Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone Plateau. Rather than documenting the wonders of the landscape with his companions, he became lost. Everts spent 37 lonely days wandering the hostile terra incognita. A lapse of judgement began his ordeal and a series of mistakes deepened its peril.
A lapse of judgement
When the Washburn Expedition set out in the late summer of 1871, the Yellowstone Plateau was almost entirely unknown. Among the frontiermen of Montana, there was a hunger to probe its corners, discovering if the rumors of scalding hot springs and geysers were true. As only the second major exploration of the landscape, the Washburn Expedition was working with only fragmentary maps and information — a reality that would make Truman Evert’s perilous odyssey even more dire.
Initially, it was the rugged terrain that separated Everts from the rest of the expedition. According to his account in Scribner’s Monthly, this was a fairly common occurrence and didn’t cause him much alarm: “I rode on in the direction which I supposed had been taken, until darkness overtook me in the dense forest.”
Everts followed what is now common survival advice: he stayed calm, opting to bed down for the night. The next day, he continued searching for his companions — until he had a serious lapse of judgement that proved disastrous.
Searching for signs of the trail on foot, he left his horse without securing the reins. The horse became spooked, bolting into the wilderness. “That was the last I ever saw of him… my blankets, gun, pistols, fishing tackle, matches — everything, except the clothing on my person, a couple of knives, and a small opera-glass were attached to the saddle.”
In the blink of an eye, Evert’s situation transformed from concerning to dire. He was now horse-less, gun-less, and without blankets or matches for warmth. His thirty-seven days of peril had begun.
A perilous series of mishaps and mistakes
Whether it’s the horrifying account of the Donner Party or the squirm-inducing story of Aron Ralston, survival situations often begin with a single mistake. The decision to take an unproven trail or descend a slot canyon alone can transform events that should have been routine into something extraordinary.
Over the next several weeks, the experiences of Truman Everts were truly extraordinary. Though his physical condition deteriorated, Everts stayed mentally sound. In his account, Everts describes the panic and loneliness, and how this anguish drove him to hopelessness. During each episode of life-threateningly low spirits, Everts thought of his daughter and found the resolve to stay alive. He developed a mantra, repeating it in his darkest moment: “Not to perish in that wilderness.”
With all his supplies carried off into the wilderness, Truman Everts greatest challenge was procuring food and warmth. Perhaps by instinct or sheer luck, Everts identified “a small green plant” with a “long and tapering [root], not unlike a radish.” It was elk thistle. It would be Evert’s only reliable food for the duration of his perilous ordeal.
After gorging himself on elk thistle (his first meal in four days) Truman Everts fell into an exhausted sleep. He was awoken to a screaming snarl. He scrambled up into the bows of the tree he was sleeping under. It was a wild cat, and its intentions to prey on Everts were plain. “The savage beast was snuffing and growling below… on the very spot I had just abandoned.” Everts played dead in the tree until the big cat finally abandoned its hunt.
Procuring fire proved to be a greater challenge for Everts. For several days, he took shelter near a cluster of hot springs, covering himself in pine branches to trap the warmth. This proved dangerous when he broke through the thin crust of soil, badly burning himself in the geothermal waters.
Eventually, he was able to use his opera glass to concentrate light from the sun and start a fire. This also led to a mishap. One evening, Everts fell asleep with his pine-branch shelter stacked too close to the fire. It lit, burning Evert’s hand and starting a small forest fire.
The second man
In the midst of all this, Everts was making his best attempt to retrace his steps and find the path home. One day, faced with a vast and insurmountable range of mountains before him, Everts again faced despair. In the midst of his inner darkness, he felt a sudden presence.
“I experienced one of those strange hallucinations which many of my friends have misnamed insanity, but which to me was Providence. An older clerical friend… seemed to be standing before me, charged with advice which would relieve my perplexity.”
The specter spoke: “Go back immediately, as rapidly as your strength will permit. There is no food here, and the idea of scaling these rocks is madness.” Everts pushed back on the apparition, desperate not to go back the way he came. The spirit insisted and Everts reluctantly complied.
This experience can be recognized as “The Third Man Factor,” a well-documented phenomenon among those put into survival situations. Like Evert’s ghostly cleric, an additional figure or voice mysteriously joins the victim, encouraging them and offering advice.
Truman Everts did well to heed the instructions of the spectral priest. He packed up a hearty supply of elk thistle and spent several days retracing his course. As he went, he continued to repeat the mantra that buoyed is spirit in the wilderness “I will not perish in this wilderness.”
After several days of trekking, Everts made contact with another figure — this time one that possessed flesh and bone. “Groping along the side of a hill, I became suddenly sensible of a sharp reflection, as of burnished steel. Looking up, through half-closed eyes, two rough but kindly faces met my gaze.”
Reportedly, the men who became his rescuers were unsure if the figure before them was a man or an emaciated bear. “Are you Mr. Everts?” they asked.
“Yes. All that is left of him,” he weerily replied. His thirty-seven days of peril in the Yellowstone wilderness were finally over.
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