Black Beaver Letter, 1877-08

Black Beaver or Suck-tum-mah-kway (1806—1880, Delaware) was a Native American trapper for the American Fur Company, a scout and guide, and interpreter who was fluent in English, and several European and Native American languages. After working as a scout, he settled among his people in the village of Beaverstown in Indian Territory, where they had been removed. He is credited with establishing the California and Chisholm trails. He died at Anadarko, Oklahoma, in 1880.

He was an interpreter at the earliest conference with the Comanche, Kiowa, and Washita tribes held by Colonel Dodge on the Red River in 1834. One of the most noted latter-day Delawares, he was guide and scout for Capt. John C. Fremont on a trip to the Pacific Coast.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he had settled on a fine ranch in what is now Caddo County. At Fort Washita he was asked by Major William H. Emory, Commandant, to help guide the Union forces out of the country surrounded by Chickasaws and Choctaws who were slave owners and Southern sympathizers. During his absence he lost all of his property and was never recompensed for it.

He had been the custodian of a treaty with the Indians signed by William Penn which had been passed down from one chief to another, but it was lost when his buildings were burned.