https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/3d92b455efb385632f9590b2952d3ebe.pdf bb1daed96e6f8733ec16640d44f7b579 PDF Text Text Frank Julian Writes of SOME EARLY RANCHES By FRANK JULIAN (Editor’s Note: ’The author of the following interesting article came to Natrona County in 1896 and has lived in this county continually since that date. He first came to Wyoming in 1889. Mr. Julian is an authority on horti­ cultural matters and has won scores of blue ribbons for his work as a horticulturist. The article below deals with the ownerships of Natrona County ranches in the early days.) In the year, 1870, a young man who had come to this country with a wagon train, stopped and said to himself, “This country looks good to me and I believe I will stay here.” He built a half-dugout half-log cabin at a point about three miles southwest of the mouth of the Sweetwater river and at the south­ east comer of the Sweetwater rocks. Prom Rawlins, his closest town, he packed in supplies on a horse. He lived here for three years, hunting, trapping and looking the country over. ’This man was Tom Sun and in the spring of 1873 he picked as the most promising land for his fu­ ture cattle ranch,” the Sweetwater river country just above Devil’s Gate. His son, Tom, now owns the ranch and it is known as the Tom Sun Ranch. THE FL COW RANCH at the head of Poison Spider Creek was started in 1822 by a Mr. Wade. Wade ran the FL for several years before selling it, along with the UC Ranch and lower UC Ranch on Horse Creek, to Robert Taylor, The late Oscar Helstand was Mr. Wade’s last fore­ man at the FL. Robert Taylor, who was later a senator from Natrona County, ran sheep on these rjinches for a great many years before selling the properties to the Grieves who still own them. About ia7»-Alex' »wan -Df Chey­ enne and Scotland started the Two Bar Ranch on Bates creek. This ranch is now owned by John Tobin. Mr. Swan also started the 07 about this time. The 07 is located at the lower end of Bessemer Bend and is now owned by Mr. William Hufford. Mr. Swan also owned ranches on the Chugwater, using these mostly for stock cattle. He called his company The Swan Land and Cattle company. ’The Pathfinder Reservoir now oc­ cupies the land Which was formerly the TW Ranch, owned by A. J. Both­ well. Mr. Bothwell started his ranch on the Sweetwater river at the mouth of Horse creek, about four miles below Independence Rock in 1882. It was a cattle ranch until 1907 when the U. S. government bought it for the Pathfinder Reser­ voir site. THE DUMBELL RANCH located just below Devil’s Gate was started in 1882 also by Dr. Schoomaker. This prc^erty is now owned by William Grieve. About 1881 two ladies from Eng­ land started the Goose Egg Ranch on the Platte river at the mouth of Polson Spider. They employed a gang of stone cutters for about one year, cutting and dressing native stone for the two story ranch house. In 1886 they sold Goose Egg to J. M. Carey and his brother. While the ranch was operated by two ladies from England, William Ervlne was their range foreman, Ervine later left here to go to northern Wyoming where he managed the Half Circle L Ranch for many years. rest of their lives. In 1908 he passed away and in 1914 she passed away. It takes a lot to feed four healthy youngsters and two grownups. Then there were the transients that ex­ pected to be fed. I have heard cow­ boys say that Mrs. Stroud never allowed anyone to go by her place hungry. She was a fitting wife for a frontiersman. An expert shot with a rifle, many are the elk and ante­ lope she added to the family pot from her dooryard. The station four miles east of Cas­ per is named Stroud after this fam­ ily. The Stroud ranch is now owned by Homer Lathrop. Of the youngsters mentioned, three are now living. Mrs. Laura McGrath and Mrs. Bell Patton in Casper and Charley Stroud in Washington state. THE FIRST HOUSE built on Can­ yon creek was a log cabin, 16’ by 20’, and was located at a point about two miles east of the m.outh of the creek on the north side. It was built by Jack Roberts who came up the trail from Texas with a herd of steers in 1882. Roberts did not stay long, but shipped his cattle out and left the country. He did not file on the land and Mr. Boney Earnest filed on it, added four more rooms to the cabin and made it his home ranch. Earnest lived here until 1907, when he sold to the government for the Pathfinder reservoir. FRANK JULIAN THE OLD GOOSE EGG ranch house received much publicity in Owen Wister’s book, “The Virginian,” for it was there the babies’ clothes were changed, causing some parents an anxious hour or two. This ranch, comprising 1,200 acres, was later sold to D. N. Speas who, in 1888, had located his Cross S Ranch at the upper ehd of Bessemer Bend, Mr. Speas passed away several years ago, but his widow, Mrs. Mary N. Speas, still lives on the ranch. In 1880, J. M. Carey oi Cheyefne located his CY ranch two mi]e.< southwest 01 where Casper is today. For a good many years he ran cattle on the CY and this ranch is now owned by Harry Yesness, Casper clothier. Mr. Carey at one time own­ ed the Y Ranch on the Greybull, the SO Ranch down the Platte at the i mouth of Boxelder, the C Lazy Y also on the Platte and his home , ranch, Careyhurst, on Boxelder. Mr. Carey, who passed away several years at a ripe old age, served one term as governor of Wyoming and also as United States senator from Wyoming. THE WRITER BUILT the next cabin on the creek, near the mouth on my homestead and I lived there ♦' • • until I sold it to the government. FRANK ERVINE took up land at The first house built on the little the Cottonwoods mentioned above Canyon creek was a three-room the Earnest ranch on Big Canyon hewed log built by Mr. Dan Fitger creek and was named for a nice for Pedro Arisola, a Spanish-Amer­ ican who was a cowboy for the Pick outfit. Arisola did not prove up on this land, but left to work in Utah. In 1896 I bought his Improvements, moved the fencing and sold the house to Mr, E. M. Irwin who filed on the land and proved up on it< Irwin later sold to Mr. Roy Cardwell and moved on down the creek to a new location, which is now his THE V BAR V ranch was located i on the Muddy in 1881 by B. B. I Brooks. This ranch is about 251 miles east of Casper, and Gov. Brooks built it to a large ranch in a few years by buying small holdings. The V Bar V is now owned by Dr. H. E. Stuckenhoff of Casper. Mr. Brooks served two terms as governor of Wyoming and was prominent in | oil and banking circles. At the time of his death, a few years ago, he was president of the Wyoming Na­ tional Bank. His widow, Mrs. Mary N. Brooks still lives in Casper. IN 1876 JOSHA STROUD took the advice of Horace Greeley to go West young man, go West, Taking his wife and four young children he left his home in Indiana and in a reasonable time he arrived in Chey­ enne, Wyo. He lived in Cheyenne for several years and then decided to file on a piece of land about four miles from where Casper is now located, where the Oregon ’Trail crossed Elkhorn creek. After filing on this land, he took out a ditch, put in a garden and some alfalfa and i they made themselves at home. For I the next four years he had to haul his supplies from Cheyenne with home ranch. At this point a bear little grove of cottonwoods that grew there on the creek. story will be in order. In 1900, Henry Cardwell establish­ MR. FITGER, while building. the ed a homestead on little Canyon creek, just where it comes out of the Arisola home, had his brother-in- Pedro mountains. After living there law, Hans Neilson, working for him. a good many years, he sold it. Don Hans was wrangling horses one day Ervine now owns this place and* uses down at the cottonwoods, a place 1 it as his home ranch. Don also will mention later in this article. He owns his homestead west down to­ was up on a cliff looking down on a wards the river and two homesteads little brush patch. Wanting to try on Big Canyon creek, the Frank out his new 45-90 Winchester, he Ervine place at the Cottonwoods and threw a rock in the dead brush, plenty of leased land from the gov­ thinking to scare out a deer. .A deer ernment. did not come out, but a bear did. Hans downed the bear in two shots, AT THIS TIME I want to menand out came another bear. Well, tion a spot I found in the Pedro he shot bears for a few minutes and mountains, It is about two miles then got too scared to go down and south and a little west of the Ervine investigate. Hans went over to home ranch and is almost inaccessi­ Boney Earnest’s for help, but Cap­ ble. I discovered while hunting tain Bayley was there alone and deer in the winter of ’96. Some thought it too late in the day to boulders have been arranged by hu­ hunt crippled bears. So they waited man hands and there are pieces of until the morning to go down and arrow lying around. I asked Boney look the situation over. In the Earnest what he knew about it and morning they found five dead bears, he said they called it an old Indian meat and hides all spoiled in the fort. He thought two bands of In­ July weather. dians had fought to the death at Hans became a good cowman and this place. He said, “Your guess is was foreman for Dr. E. P. Schoo­ as good as mine.” maker on his Dumbell ranch on the I also must mention a spot I found Sweetwater river. I knev/ him very on the Platte river near my house. well. In 1900 he moved to Canada. It looks like a house had once stood In 1894, Horatio Burtch filed a there and the remains of a fireplace homestead on little Canyon creek, are around. I found it in 1877 while about one mile above Pedro Arisola’s place. He proved up and sold it and it now belongs to Roy Cardwell. Burtch was a rider for the Pick out­ fit for many years. fishing at the mouth of the cree' It looks just the same now as it di then. Someone must have live there at some time in the past. �Vol. 2 SEPTEMBER, 1925 No. 1 Independence Rock and other Historic Land Marks Along the Casper - Rawlins Route seekers for gold in California, and then later by the settlers bound for Oregon. In Alfred J. Mokler’s History of Na­ trona County, Wyoming, we find the fol­ HE Old Oregon Trail is said to have been 2,000 miles long. Doubtless to lowing story of Independence Eock. “Independence Eock, the ‘Eegister of most of the pioneers westward bound it seemed to be 20,000 miles long. This pio­ the Desert, ’ is probably the most interest­ neer route is generally conceded to have ing landmark on the whole of the old Ore­ begun at Independence, Missouri. If we gon Trail. It was at this spot the weary ■aro-tn ju(]ge by the atm-les of misfortunes., ])ilgrims, who traveled bv slow-going teams stopped to rest and refresh themselves. Whi('h occurred along this famous route and the time it took to travel its course It was here that they found pure, fresh we are certain to conclude that it was in­ water and an abundance of feed for their stock. It w’as here that they gathered deed a trail. It has been a question as to who laid out about the campfires in the evening and the “Oregon Trail” and it will undoubt­ sang the old-time songs while the young edly remain unanswered. It seems to have people danced in the moonlight on the been the natural route and was undoubted­ well-beaten area. It was here that they ly selected by the earliest explorers and cared for their sick and buried their dead. trappers. These were later followed by “This isolated mass of granite stands missionaries, then by Mormons, later by out on the desert plains at the foot of the Remove not the ancient landmarks which thy fathers have set.” Prov. 22-28. Eocky mountain range in the Sweetwater country. When the emigrants reached here from Independence, they had traveled 838 miles, and they considered that they had covered half their journey. The Sweet­ water Eiver flows along the southern base and, according to many writers and his­ torians the old Oregon Trail was on the north and west sides of the Eock, where -the—county road is-now loc-ate4-,--and thc-old bridge was supposed to be just east of where the new county bridge was built in 1920. This was not the ease however. The old Oregon Trail crossed the river about a mile east of the Eock, w’here the Sweetwater stage station was located, and passed by the Eock on the south side of the river, and of course south of the Eock. “From the very first the emigrants made Independence Eock their camping place View of the new treated timber bridge over Sweetwater River, Natrona County, Project No. 164B, Casper-Rawlins Road under con­ struction. Historic Independence Rock in the background, old Oregon Trail in the foreground. The original route of the pioneers was around to the right or south of Independence Rock, while the new highway passes to the left or north of the Rock where suit­ able markers have been installed to perpetuate the memory of the pioneers of those days. This point is 56 miles from Ca sper and 65 miles from Rawlins. �4 WYOMING ROADS September, 1925 and the custom of inscribing on it their bows, arrows, lances and shields; no more names caused Father DeSmet to call it will it mark for weary migrating hosts a INDEPENDENCE BOCK ‘ ‘ the great register of the desert. ’ ’ The spot of solace and of rest; for it forever, Probably discovered by returning AsIndians in the early days came here to probably, will remain only the quiet soli­ torians, 1812. Given its name by emi­ paint their picture—writing on its smooth tude of a lonely place, peopled solely by grants who celebrated Independence walls. It is said to have been named the memories of sunshine and shadow from ‘ ‘ Rock Independence ” by a party of trap­ day here July 4, 1825. Captain Bonne­ days that are no more. But as the soft pers who passed there early in the nine­ whispering winds of summer play about ville passed here with first wagons, 1832. teenth century. It is known that Robert its massive flanks let us believe they bring Whitman and Spaulding, missionaries. Stewart and his party passed by here in to it a message to mingle with those memo­ With wives, stopped here, 1836. Father November, 1812. ries; let us believe they re-echo to it as DeSmet saw it and owing to many they pass the Song of the West, which tells “There is no record of the exact date names upon it called it the “Eegister to us all: of the first white man to pass this way, of the Desert,’’ 1840. Gen. John C. ’At first ’twas the lure of metals, the dullbut Rev. Samuel Parker, who was there Fremont camped here with U. S. army, red stream borne gold. on the 7th of August, 1835, says ‘this rock Aug. 2, 1842. Fifty thousand emigrants When the weaklings died by the roadside, takes its name from the circumstances of passed here in 1853. It is the most fa­ when the slid snows buried the bold. a company of fur traders suspending their mous landmark on the And then ’twas the lure of the ranges, the journey and here observing in due form miles of unbroken sod. the anniversary of our national freedom. ’ OLD OREGON TRAIL Where the herder spread his blankets Captain Bonneville was here on or about ’neath the scintillant stars of God. the 14th of July, 1832, for he says: ‘On A bronze tablet measuring 24"x36" was But now ’tis the song of the water fioodthe 12th of July we abandoned the main ing the thirsty soil; stream of the Nebraska (now the Platte), placed on the northwest corner of the which was continually shouldered by rug­ rock recently and bears the above inscrip­ The grind of the stamps, quartz crushing, the gush of the spouting oil. ged promontories, and making a bend to the tion. The crash of the fall­ southwest for a cou­ ing timber, the ple of days, part of murmuring fields the time over the of grain. plains of loose sand, The hum of the encamped on the 14th blooming orchards, on the banks of the the road of the la­ Sweetwater, a stream boring train’.’’ about twenty yards How fitting that qua. in breadth and four of the highways of or five feet deep, the Wyoming Federal flowing between low Aid System passes banks over sandy by this venerable soil, and forming one landmark! The new of the forks or up­ highway from Casper per branches of the to Rawlins follows Nebraska. Frequently the old County road, the plains were stud­ Mastic wearing surface under construction on the new treated timber bridge over ded with isolated Sweetwater River, Natrona County, on Federal Aid Project 164-B, showing a portion in some places cross­ of the famous Independence Rock in the background. ing and in some places blocks of rocks, some­ paralleling the old times in the shape “In the year 1843 the Oregon Trail first Oregon Trail. That section of the high­ of a half globe, and from 300 to 400 feet high. These singular masses had occa­ became a great national highway, when a way passing close by the Rock is known sionally a very imposing and even sublime thousand homeseekers passed over the as Federal Aid Project Number 164-B., re­ appearance, rising from the midst of a Trail with their teams, ‘ and each year cently completed. The new highway thereafter’ writes Ezra Meeker, ‘wagon savage and lonely landscape.’ passes to the West side of the rock where ‘ ‘ Captain Bonneville was preceded by teams passed over the whole route to the Nathaniel Wyth, who was there during the Oregon country in varying numbers, wear­ suitable markers have been placed, and month of May of the same year. Dr. Mar­ ing the track deeper and deeper, until fi­ to the South crosses the Sweetwater over cus Whitman and his bride, who were mak­ nally the greater exodus in 1852, when a new treated timber bridge, replacing the ing their wedding tour as missionaries to a column of 50,000 strong moved out from County bridge mentioned in Mokler’s His­ the Indians on the Pacific coast, and Rev. the Missouri rvier and lined the Trail with tory. H. IT. Spalding and his young wife, were dead, 5,000 or more in number for that Just adjacent to the rock at the point at the rock in 1836. These were the first one year alone. Fully 300,000 people where the tablet has been placed is one of white women that crossed the Rocky crossed over what might be termed the the standard markers of the Oregon Trail, mountains, and of course the first white eastern section before the advent of the similar to a number of other markers women to set foot on Independence Rock. Pacific railroad in 1869, which diverted which have been placed at various points “Father DeSmet was here in 1840. He later traffic, and the Trail again became a along the route. writes: ‘It is the first massive rock of solitude.’ ’’ The highway also passes near Devil’s that famous chain which divides North In 1920, Judge W. A. Riner of Cheyenne, America, and which travelers call the back­ in an address at Independence Rock before Gate, another object of historic note, bone of the universe. It is the great regis­ several hundred people eulogized as follows: thence through what has been known for ter of the desert; the names of all the “No more will this great rock behold years as Muddy Gap, and a few miles fur­ travelers who have passed by are here to the wild troops of savages, bedecked with ther to the southwest joins the Rawlinsbe read, written in course characters.’ paint and war plumes, fluttering trophies. Lander road. �I p/' The Blackfeet Indians The Blackfeet (Algonquian) Indians were the scourge of the Upper Missouri country during the existing period of the wars between the white man and redmen in the North­ west country. The territory of the Blackfeet was the watershed of the Missouri river above the mouth of, and including, the Milk river, although it may be a doubtful ques­ tion if the territory above the Three Forks ought not rather be considered as common or fighting ground of the various tribes. The heart of the Blackfoot country may be taken as the immediate valley of the Missouri, near the mouth of the Marias, where the river makes it great bend from north to east. There were included under the general term Blackfee1j4’our distince bands; the Slackfeet proper (Siksikau), the Piegan (Pikuni), the Bloods (Kainah), and the Groventres of the Prairies or the Falls Indians (Atsinai), numbering all told about 14,000 souls. The origin of the naraS”Blackfeet" is said by tra­ dition to arise from the fact that in some of the tribal disputes of this nation the Siksikau separated from the rest of the tribe, then on the Saskatchewan river, or even farther north, and resolved to take up their new abode in the south. It was in the fall of the year when they reached the valley of the Missouri, and prairie fires had swept the country in every direction. After traversing this burnt district until their moccasins were blok with the ashes, they were met by a band of Crow, who, from their appearance, called them Blackfeet. This tradition may not be entitled to any greater weight than the following which accounts for the bitter hostility of these Indians to the whites. When they first saw the effect of firearms they were so much impressed that they wanted to know where they could procure some powder. They were told that it was a kind of a grain, which, if sowed in the spring, would, like any other grain, multiply in the harvest. They procured a large qxiantity of the powder at great cost and made the experiment. Nothing could ever induce them afterwards to treat the white man as a friend. BEbnencv^t cEnxwvr ccw*ai i-IVIWOHV COnUXA '•.* M’ 2--:' f �trail memorial ASSor, CENTEN A RY April 10, 1930 CELEBRATION December 29, 1930 PRESIDENT HOOVER’S PROCLAMATION Washington, D. C., Feb. 22 1930 President Hoover in a formal proclamation today cal­ led upon the nation to commemorate April 10, the one hundreth anniversary of the de­ parture of the first wagon train from St. Louis, Mo., toward the Oregon country. The proclamation read: “The congress by unanimous vote has authorized commemoration of the heroism of the fathers and mothers who traversed the Oregon Trail to the far west. “On April 10, 1830, the first wagon train left St. Louis for Oregon, pioneering the way for the thousands of men and women who settled the Pacific states. On Decem­ ber 29, 1830, Ezra Meeker was born, who carried over into our day a personal memory of this historic epoch. The Oregon Trail Memorial association, which he founded and which includes men and women in all walks oi life in all parts of the country, has spon­ sored the movement to observe the period from April 10 to December 29 of this year as the covered wagon centennial, to recall the national significance of this centenary of the great westward tide which establish­ ed American civilization across a continent. “Therefore, I Herbert Hoover, president of the United States, do call upon our people to employ this fitting occasion to commem­ orate the lives and deeds of the heroic pioneers who won and held the west. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. “Done at the city of Washington this twenty-first day of February, in the year of Our Lord, ninteen hundred and thirty, and of the independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and fifty-fourth. “HERBERT HOOVER.” by Joseph G. Masters, Omaha, Regional Director BLAZING THE TRAIL ma advent of the first wagon train over the Old Oregon Trail. On that date Capt. Wm. Sublette set out from St Loins with ten wagons and two Dearborn carriages for the Rendezvous on Big Wind River in Wyoming. He followed the general route of Robert Stuart of the Astorians and others of the great iur-trapping brigade. These tracks were followed a little later by the men of the covered wagon who set out for homes in that far-off country of Oregon,—hence the name The Oregon Trail. ' ihele was born 'thaf same year—December 29, looO near Huntsvielle, Ohio—a man who was to make the long journey in 1852 as a pioneer to Oregon. Many years later (in 1906) he was to retrace the tracks of the old trail with an ox-team telling again the story of its romance and tragedy to a generation that had never known that terrible battle through the great American wilderness, across miles and miles of trackless and treeless desert, over almost impossible mountain bar­ riers, through torrential streams that took its human toll as well as that of the sturdy oxen, and past mountain defile with its waiting ambush of the lurking savage—all in the old ox-wagon making from twelve to fif­ teen miles per day. This man, Ezra Meeker, made still other trips over this great high­ way by ox-team, automobile, air plaine; erecting many monuments at the great landmarks along this mighty highway. He may well be called the “Daddy of the Trail,” and so conspicuous has been his services in ex­ ploring and marking its pathway, in making known its struggles and hardships, in organizing the Oregon Trail Memorial Association, that it is altogether fitting that the one hundredth anniversary of his birth, mark the closing date of our centenary celebration. At the age of 98 this remarkable old man set out again from head­ quarters in New York in an “ox mobile” given him by Henry Ford for one more trip over the great sunset trail. By the time he had reached Detroit he was so ill and so nearly worn out that he was compelled to finish the journey to the land he loved in a pullman. Here at Seattle, surrounded by his loved ones, he crossed the last great divide, December 3, 1928. His last words form our challenge today: “I am not quite ready to go; my work is unfinished.” THE GREAT TREK The Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe Trail were one for 41 miles out of Independence, Mo. At a point just west of what is now Gardner, Kansas was a sign post pointing to the northwest with the legend “Road to Oregon.” The trail crossed the Kansas or Kaw just west of Topeka, crossed the Big Blue at Marysville, and entered Nebraska at the south­ east comer of Jefferson county. Just a short distance north was the famous Rock Creek station where Wild Bill Hlckock killed McCanles in the ’6O’s. This is about six miles southeast of Fairbury. A mile south­ west of this spot, high on Inscription Rock, may still be seen the names, “Kit Carson, Col. John C. Fremont, 1842.” Three and a half miles north and a half mile west of Fairbury one may see Dripping Springs and the Mormon graves nearby. Six miles north and a half mile west is Winslow Grave. From Jefferson county the trail went west along the Little Bl le four miles north of Hebron, past what is Oak, Nebraska where in tht terrible Indian raid of 1864 a part of the Eubanks family was murdered and Mrs. Eubanks and Laura Roper were taken captives by the Indiana. The trail followed west past Spring Ranch to the Old Dinner Station, (nine miles southwest of Hastings,) on northwest to the Lone Grave five miles northwest of Kenasaw. Thence Platte River and joined the Nebraska City Road (which left Nebraska City, ran west to Ashland, north of David City SIX miles north of Osceola to Dog Town and Point City, two very small towns a mile north of Lowell.) Both towns have long since disappeared. From here the trail ran west to Fort Kearney, the site of which is four M south and four miles east of Kearney and is now owned by the state of Nebraska. On the north side of the main highway may be seen the deep trenches of the fort. A part of the modem flag pole may b^found over among the trees. west to Plum Creek where occurred some of . hardest f^hting with the Indians. On west it went to the stage stations near Gothenburg, west past Brady’s Island to Ft. McPherson Oust southeast of the present national cemetery across the river from Maxwell). The trail passed at the bottom of Sioux Lookout behind which Indians would hide and swoop down on the passing wagon-trains I he Oregon road went on the south side of the South Platte to a point tour miles west of Brule, Nebraska where many crossed and made their way over the high table land to Ash Hollow' which is just south across the river (and east) from Lewellen, Nebraska. What a wonderful place IS Ash Hollow! As one approaches from the north there is, on the right in the little cemetery, the grave of Rachel Patterson, a ’49’er, whose original grave stone now rests beside a beautiful Oregon Trail Marker Farther up the canyon south is the pond now formed by the spring which offered such a wonderful camping place in trail days. There were many trees too, in the hollow in the old days. About three or four miles up the canyon high on the west side of Windlas Hill one may still see the deep gulches of the old trail ruts as the wagons were let down the long hill to the bottom of the canyon. Instead of crossing just west of Brule many kept on up the south Platte to where Pt. Sedgwick was built later, the site of which may be seen today six miles southwest of the present Julesburg on the south side of the river. The trail crossed the river here and came out on the north side, just below Lodge Pole Creek. This branch of the trail follow­ ed west to a large pine tree, struck northwest to Mud Springs (now Simla), going just east of famous Court House Rock and Jail (ten miles south of Bridgeport) on to the North Platte where it joined the trail made by those who had gone via. Ash Hollow. Wonderful Chimney Rock so famous in trail days is just south of Bayard, Nebraska. These great landmarks could be seen for days enroute for it must be remembered that Oregon Trail Caravans moved only about a dozen miles a day. Scott’s Bluff was the next great landmark and the old trail here made its way through Mitchell Pass where so many thousands of wheels cut the gulch so deep that only the bare tops of the wagons might be seen by an observer a few feet away. Prom here the trail swept into Wyoming to that wonderful haven and refuge. Old Fort Laramie. This great fort was the mecca of all who moved west over the trail,—ibr here they could rest, purchase supplies, and have their wagons repaired and their oxen or mules shod by the blacksmith. In the old days the fort was adobe. In 1849 the government bought it as a military post. Three of the old buildings erected in the early ’5O’s—the suttler’s store. Old Bed­ lam, and the guard house,—are still standing. Prom this point the pioneer battled to a point three miles west of what is now Gasper where later was built Platte Bridge which was destooyed by the Indmns who, (in the terrible attack on a wagon train in 186^) killed CaspOrfcollins for whom the city was later named. The trail here crossed to the north side of the river and for the last time joined �the California and Mormon Trail (called also the Overland Trail and the 3 a board or headstone, and hundreds of graves left without Oregon Trail) which took its beginning at Kanesville (Council Bluffs), this affectionate token ot remembrance, furnished abundant evidence of Omaha, and Mormon Hollow north of Bellevue. One branch of this the unsparing hand with which death has thinned their ranks. The trail ran through a part of what is now Omaha. The Mormons crossed ®attered fragments of the vehicles, provision, tools, etc., in­ the river and built Winter Quarters on the present site of Florence. +tended to be taken across these wild plains, tell us another tale of reck­ During the winter of 1846-47 some 500 died and their graves may be less boldness with which many entered upon this hazardous enterprise, seen in Pioneer Cemetery, west from the park in Florence. undertake this long trip except with very good animals, The Mormons began their great journey to the Promised Land in the vehicles and with a good supply of light provisions, spring of 1847. Their road, generally speaking, was that followed later such as tea, coffee, sugar, rice, dried apples, peaches, flour and peas or by the Military Highway, the Union Pacific, and the Lincoln Highway. Deans. Three miles southwest of Central City was the famous Cottonwood tree STORY OF MARCUS WHITMAN which has long ago disappeared but now replaced by one of concrete. In the summer of 1832 three Flathead chiefs and a Nez Perce came As the caravans dragged their weary miles over the two trails in to Saint Louis seeking the “Book of Heaven” and the White Man’s God Nebraska they could often see each other across the Platte,—the great whom they had heard about in their home beyond the Rocky Mountains. white winged argonauts moving always into the Great West. The story of this search spread so that in the spring of 1835 Dr. Marcus From Platte Bridge west of Casper the old trail made its way 55 Whitman and Samuel Parker set out from New York as missionaries to miles southwest to great Independence Rock,-a mighty landmark of the these Indians. Going west to the Green River Rendezvous they found the desert covering 27 acres. This was a famous place for camping, for mar­ Indians anxious to have the missionaries in the homes of the red men riages, and even many who died near were carried here for burial,-for Thereupon’ Whitman arranged to take back with him two Indian boys graves out on the desert or along a stream were so difficult to mark that and tell the story at home. Here Dr. Whitman removed two arrow heads they were seldom found in later years of search. Five miles west of here irom the back of the famous old mountaineer, Jim Bridger, while the Inwas Devil’s Gate, a great gap where the Sweetwater cut an enormous dians looked on with the utmost wonder at such surgical skill. gorge directly through the mountain range. And now came that delight­ ful drive west along the winding channel of the Sweetwater out on the Green River Rendezvous of 1835 related by Parker of the great Kit Carson, that is worth telling open prairie and the desert. All along through Nebraska and to South here: I will relate an occurrence which took place, near evening, as a Pass in Wyoming might be seen thousands of buffalo in the early days of the trail. Black tail deer, antelope, elk, grouse, prairie chicken, sage specimen of frontier life. A hunter, who goes technically by the name of the great bully of the mountains, mounted his horse with a loaded rifle chicken, and occasionally mountain sheep were to be had by the skillful and challenged any Frenchman, American, Spaniard, or Dutchman, to shot of that day. Split Rock, Dangerous Three Crossings, the great Wind River Range, fight him in single combat. Kit Carson, an American, told him if he wished to die, he (Carson) would accept the challenge. Shunar defied Rocky Ridge, and Burnt Ranch (of later days) were all of the utmost in­ terest to the trail-maker. When the crest of gentle South Pass was him. Carson mounted his horse, and with a loaded pistol, rushed into close reached and the weary traveler could look off to the Pacific Slope there contact, and both almost at the same instant fired. Carson’s ball entered Shunar’s hand, came out at the wrist, and passed through the arm above was an unbounded joy,- and yet this was only the half-way mark. How the elbow. Shunar’s ball passed over the head of Carson; and while he fortunate that so many could not realize the terrible journey still ahead. went for another pistol, Shunar begged that his life might be spared.” Camping at Pacific Springs just over the Divide the weary caravans It was spared. finally crossed the little Sandy, the Big Sandy, the Green River and made their way on to Fort Bridger. From this point those going to Utah Dr. Whitman told his story of the Indians to the American Board but most of all to Narcissa Prentiss, a beautiful strong and courageous and some going to Californiii turned south, but many swung again to the great Northwest with a renewed determination to go on to Oregon. young woman who had wanted since early girlhood to go west as a mis­ These with others who had followed up Ham’s Pork, to Smith’s Fork, now sionary. Dr. Whitman and Narcissa were married and with Rev. H. H. crossed the mountains and went down Bear River to Soda Springs with its Spalding and his wife, Eliza Spalding, together with the two Indian boys medicinal waters bubbling high in many sprays and jets. As the Bear and Wm. H. Gray, set out with two well filled wagons in the spring of River made its great loop and turned to the south another road led away 1836 for the mountains. They moved west to the landing near Liberty, to California. The Oregon Trail then took a northwesterly course Missouri. Dr. and Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding proceeded by boat to through what is now Pocatello to Fort Hall on the banks of the Snake what is now (Council Bluffs while Gray and Spalding came overland with River. the wagons, eight mules, twelve horses, and sixteen cows. From Fort Hall the old trail swept around that vast semicircle of the They crossed the Platte River in boats of skins, and fortunately fell SnaKe in southern Idaho, on past Thousand Springs for 40 miles along in with the expedition of the American Fur Company, under the highly the Snake. It crossed the Snake at (Renn’s Ferry^Idaho where we found _skn!ed leadership of Fitzpatrick. The company caravan consisted of 19 a rearOregon TraTil grave,—marked with three-fourths buried wagon-tires. carts each with two mules hitched tandem, one light Dearborn wagon, The trail crossed again at Ft. Boise and left the Snake at Farewell Bend, and two mules and two wagons belonging to an English nobleman, “titles Thence it made its way up Burnt River, over the Powder, down Ladd’s and all on.” He had with him another of blood “Who, between them, had Canyon, to the Grand Ronde, over difficult Blue Mountains, and down three servants, two dogs, and four extra fine horses to run and hunt the the Umatilla to the Columbia. Here the emigrants floated down the buffalo.” great river to the places they wished to settle. The vast trek of over two There were almost no trail marks of any kind except that of the thousand miles across the western half of the continent was at an end.They buffalo which were often worn deep and at right angles to the road they had reached home at last and were now ready to settle down as the were to take up the Platte. So out on the great sea of billowing prairie empire builders of the West. launched this interesting caravan with the first white women ever to go ALONG THE TRAIL over the dim trail which in time was to be called by the Indians, “The There were usually two, three, and even four or five tracks of the old Great Medicine Road of the Whites.” They killed game as they went, trail in the sod or desert. As soon as one was cut deep another would traded with Indians for buffalo meat, made two dug-out boats with be formed, and, often a driver would make a new track in trying to find which they crossed the Platte when they reached Fort Laramie. Some­ a better road or cutoff. Frank Helvey who first saw the Old Trail in times the nobleman’s dogs would give chase to the fleet-footed antelope what is now Jefferson County, Nebraska in 1858 thus describes it: “I but were generally so outdistanced that Sir William would return to the shall never forget that sight. Endless lines of white top wagons, drawn train swearing that the antelope could outrun a streak of lightning. by oxen, mules, horses winding and trailing through the blinding clouds From Fort Laramie west Dr. Whitman was determined to take of dust that hung in the air, and driven to their utmost energy by the his wagon and the fur company retained a single cart with the goods goading and hallooing of many men. I had never before seen such a loaded on pack animals. A special detail of men had to help the wagon sight so we camped that night near by and watched the wonderful scene and the cart when they overturned or were stuck in the mud. At the of the twinkling miles of camp fires up and down the whole valley.” crossing of the Platte below Red Buttes buffalo were killed, their hides Father DeSmet who made so many trips into the Old West as a mis­ sewed together and stretched over frameworks of willows. With tal­ sionary says, “The 2nd day of September, 1851, we found ourselves on low thoroughly rubbed into the skins and dried, these “Bull boats” ser­ They made their way the Great Route to Oregon, over which, like successive ocean surges, ved as excellent conveyances across the river. the caravans, composed of thousands of emigrants from every country past Independence Rock (after carving their names on the south side) and clime, have passed during these years to reach the rich gold mines to be met soon by one of the wildest cavalcades ever seen in the moun­ of California, or to take possession of the new lands in the fertile plains tains. and valleys of Utah and Oregon. These intrepid pioneers of civilization Joe Meek, the old mountain man with his band of trappers and a doz­ have formed the broadest, longest and most beautiful road in the whole en Indians came over the hill from the west riding like wild men to give world—^from the United States to the Pacific Ocean. On the skirts of the Whitman party a real welcome to the mountains. On they came, this magnificient highway there is an abundance of grass for supplying riding faster and faster, yelling louder and louder, and gesticulating the cattle and animals appertaining to the caravans which are incessantly more and more madly, until they met and passed the caravan, they dis­ traveling on it, from early spring to autumn, every succeeding year. The charged their guns in one volley”. They paid great deference to the two road is fine, broad, and perhaps the longest in the world. This immense ladies in the party and told them many wonderful tales of this new life avenue is like a barn-floor swept by the winds. No blade of grass springs in the west. up, so unceasingly is it trodden by the feet of thousands of Americans The caravan soon passed Split Rock and moved on to South Pass and Europeans hastening to California. Our Indians, who had seen only pathless wastes, crossed at most by a hunter’s trail, thought, on behold­ where one may still see the markers calling attention to the tracks of ing it, that the whole nation of the whites had passed over it, and the the Oregon Trail and the fact that Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spald­ the land of the sunrise must be depopulated. They could hardly ing were the first women ever to cross the Rocky Mountains. As they believe me when I told them that the multitudes who had gone were passed over this great divide and looked into the slope of the Pacific “they alighted from their horses and kneeling on the other half of the scarcely missed.” continent, with the Bible in one hand and the American Flag in the other, “The scene we witnessed on this road presented indeed a melancholy proof of the uncertainty which attends our highest prospects of life. took possession of it as the home of American mothers and the church of Christ.” The bleached bones of animals everywhere strewed along the track, the At the American Rendezvous on Green River they met the vast con­ hastily erected mound, beneath which lie the remains of some departed friend or relative, with an occasional tribute to his memory roughly course of trappers, Indians, traders in their wild orgy of yarns, trading, �fighting, drinking, racing, gambling and sometimes killing. From this point they set out with a Hudson Bay party for the long stretch to Fort Hall on the banks of the Snake. Whitman persisted in taking his wagon as far as this fort. Here Dr. Whitman converted the wagon into a cart and with it the party struggled forward to Ft. Boise where he was forced to leave it for the time being,—and, where it proved of immense service to the Hudson Bay Company in completing their fort. Four years later carts, and seven years later, wagons were to come on through to Oregon. It is to Marcus Whitman, however, that we must give the larger credit in making the great trail a roadway. From Ft. Boise they made their way along the Snake, thence up the Burnt River, down Ladd’s canyon into the Grande Ronde, thence over difficult Blue Mountains. Gray, who was a member of the party, says, “As the party began to descend from the western slope of the Blue Moun­ tains, the view was surpassingly grand. Beiore us lay the great valley of the Columbia: on the west, and in full view. Mount Hood rose amid the lofty range of the Cascade Mountains, ninety miles distant. To the south of K. t. H ood stood Mt. Adams, and to the north Mt. Rainier; while with the assistance of Mr. McKay, we could trace the course of the Columbia, and determine the location of Walla Walla.” Making their way down to the British posts of Ft. Walla Walla and Ft. Vancouver where they were courteously received and cared for, Whitman selected as the place for his mission, Waiilatpu, some 30 miles east of Ft. Walla Walla, while Spalding settled among the Nez Perces, 120 miles farther east. Dr. and Mrs Whitman at once erected buildings, called the Indians around them, planted and harvested their crops from season to season, attended the sick, taught the Cayuses the Christian faith, and fed and cared for many weary immigrants at the end of their long struggle across the continent. All of the time the entire Oregon country (now Oregon, Washington, Idaho) was claimed by the Great Hudson Bay Company for the British. One day in the fall of 1842 when Dr. Whitman was at Ft. Walla Walla, it was announced that the Hudson Bay Company was at last bringing settlers into the country. One of the guests was so greatly elat­ ed that he arose from the table and shouted. “Hurrah for Oregon, Ameri­ ca is too late; we have got the country.” Something surged deep within the heart of this great American. In two hours he was back at his mis­ sion and within twenty-four hours he swung into the saddle for a 4,000 mile journey to the capital of the United States. With a small escort he was at Ft. Hall in eleven days and knowing of the terrible snows in the mountains, he left the Oregon Trail and turned south toward the Santa Fe Trail. Passing Ft. Unita and Ft. Uncompahgre and striking boldly over the terrible snows of the moun­ tains the party lost its way. Lovejoy says that after hours of waiting in the storm, an old mule pointed his ears forward and when urged ahead guided the party back to the camp of the previous night. Whitman rode back to the fort, secured a new guide, and was again soon fighting his way through the terrible drifts, and gorges, over almost impassable barriers, through icy streams and with frost-bitten fingers, nose, toes, and ears, finally reached Taos. From here the party went to Santa Fe, where they picked up the well worn tracks of the Santa Fe Trail through New Mexico to that wonderful haven. Bent’s Fort, in Colorado. Thence Whitman made his way on east to Independence. He arrived at St. Louis about the last of February, 1843, and hurried by stage to Washington. Still dressed in his buckskin breeches and his great buffalo coat with hood, heavy fur leggings and boot mocassins, he arrived at the nation’s capital about the time the Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, was say­ ing, “But you are too late. Doctor, for we are about to trade off Oregon for the cod-fisheries.” It is said that he got a better hearing with the frontiersman, John Tyler, President of the United States. At all events, they at the capital, would remember the intrepid courage of one of America’s great men of the trails and his plea for the land beyond the Western Mountains. All the way east Whitman had stirred up the people by telling them of the wonderful country on the last frontier. As he came back to Inde­ pendence in the spring, a great party of 200 wagons and 1,000 men, women, and children were ready for that Great Migration in its mighty trek across the plains. Again following the trail into the great west this party organized, quarrelled, divided, but kept the divisions within supporting distance of each other. Whitman was always in the van pointing the way, swimming the streams to guide the caravan to the best crosslooking after the sick at night, and encouraging every one by hi® hopefulness and promise of land and plenty in the great western empire, ihis time they reached the Columbia with their wagons. Two succeed­ ing emigrations added greatly to the number of Americans spreading over Oregon. These tides of humanity were too staunch to be turned aside, or trifled with. Thus, in 1846, Great Britain recognized the Amer­ ican pioneer (who went into the west for homes) by signing the treaty giving to the United States the Oregon Country as far north as the 49th parallel. The great missionary and the emigrants had won, but Dr. and Mrs Whitman were to pay the great price. The Cayuse Indians, because many of their number had died of a strange malady, believed the doctor was the sourse of the illness, and hearing also the great numbers of whites now coming to the new land, brutally murdered Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, little Mary Ann Bridger, and Helen May Meek, daughters of the great fur trappers, together with some nine others in November of 1847. Six miles southwest of Walla Walla today the traveller and explor­ er of the Old Oregon Trail may behold the beautiful monuments an<f markers which a grateful and thoughtful people of a great state hav« erected to the memory and heroism of theseintrepid .......................... American pioneers. IN CAMP ON THE PLATTE “ An unoccupied spec­ tator, who could have be­ held our camp today, would think it a singular specta­ cle. The hunters returning with the spoil; some erect­ ing scaffolds, others drying meat (of the buffalo). Of the women, some were washing, some ironing, some baking. At two of the tents the fiddle was employed in uttering its unaccustomed voice among the solitudes of the Platte; at one tent I heard sing­ ing; at others some were engaged in reading, some the Bible, others pouring over novels. While all of this was going on,. that nothing might be wanting to complete the harmony of the scene, a Campbellite preacher, named Foster, was reading a hymn, pre­ paratory to religious ser­ vice.” Joel Palmer in 1846. A DAY WITH THE COW COLUMN IN 1843 by Jesse Applegate The above title represents the story of one day’s travel on the old trail and has now become a classic. It is written by Jesse Applegate who went out with the “Great Migration,” of the Whitman party of 1843. The Oregon Historical Quarterly (Dec. 1900) has done a great service in preserving such an intimate word picture of life on the trail. Some ex­ cerpts appear below: “The emigrants were also assured that the Sioux would be much opposed to the passage of so large a body through their country, and would probably resist it on account of the emigrants’ destroying and frightening away the buffaloes, which were then diminishing in numbers. “The migrating body numbered over one thousand souls, with about one hundred and twenty wagons, drawn by six-ox teams, averaging about six yokes to the team, and several thousand loose horses and cattle. “The emigrants first organized and attempted to travel in one body, but it was soon found that no progress could be made with a body so cum­ brous, and as yet so averse to all discipline. And at the crossing of the “Big Blue” it divided into two columns, which traveled in supporting distance of each other as far as Independence Rock on the Sweetwater.” “It is four o’clock A. M.; the sentinels on duty have discharged their rifles—the signal that the hours of sleep are over—and every wagon and tent is pouring forth its night tenants, and slow-kindling smokes be­ gin largely to rise and float away in the morning air. Sixty men start from the coral, spreading as they make through the vast herd of cattle and horses that make a semicircle around the encampment, the most distant perhaps two miles away. “The herders pass to the extreme verge and carefully examine for trails beyond, to see that none of the animals have strayed or been stol­ en during the night. This morning no trails led beyond outside animals in sight, and by 5 o’clock the herders begin to contract the great, mov­ ing circle, and the well-trained animals move slowly towards camp, clip­ ping here and there a thistle or a tempting bunch of grass on the way. In about an hour five thousand animals are close up to the encampment, and the teamsters are busy selecting their teams and driving them inside the corral to be yoked. The corral is a circle one hundred yards deep, formed with wagons connected strongly with each other; ths wagon in front by its tongue and ox chains. It is a strong barrier that the most vicious ox cannot break, and in case of an attack of the Sioux would be �BO contemptible intrenchment. From 6 to 7 o’clock is a busy time; breakfast is to be eaten, the tents strucK, the wagons loaded and the teams yoked and brought up in readiness to be attached to their respective wagons. All know when 7 ©clock, the signal to march sounds, that those not ready to take their proper places in the line of march must fall into the dusty rear for the cay. “There are sixty wagons. They have been divided into fifteen diinsions or platoons of four wagons each, and each platoon is entitled to lead in its turn. The leading platoon today will be the rear one tomor­ row, and will bring up the rear unless some teamster, through indolence or negligence, has lost his place in the line, and is condemned to that uncomfortable post. It is within ten minutes of seven; the corral but BOW a strong bayicade is everywhere broken, the teams being attached to the wagons. The women and children have taken their places in them The pilot (a borderer who passed his life on the verge oi civilization and has been chosen to the post of leader from his knowledge of the savage smd his experience in travel through roadless wastes), stands ready, in the midst of his pioneers and aids, to mount and lead the way. Ten or fifteen young men, not today on duty, form another cluster. They are ready to start on a buffalo hunt, are well mounted and well armed as ttiey need be, for the unfriendly Sioux have driven the buffalo out of the Platte, and the hunters must ride fifteen or twenty miles to reach them. The cow drivers are hastening, as they get ready, to the rear of their charge, to collect and prepare them for the day’s march. “It is on the stroke of seven; the rush to and fro, the cracking of whips, the loud command to oxen, and what seemed to be the inextricable confusion of the last ten minutes has ceased. Fortunately every one has been found and every teamster is at his post. The clear notes of a trum­ pet sound in the front, the pilot and his guards move out of the encamp­ ment, and take up the line of march the rest fall into their places with the precision of clock work, until the spot so lately full of life sinks back into that solitude that seems to reign over the broad plain and rushing river as the caravan draws its lazy length towards the distant El Dorado.” “They (the wagons) form a line three-quarters of a mile in length; some of the teamsters ride upon the front of their wagons, some march besides their teams, scattered along the line companies of women are taking exercise on foot; they gather bouquets of rare and beautiful flowers that line the way; near them stalks a stately greyhound, or an Irish wolf dog apparently proud of keeping watch and ward over his master’s wife and children. Next comes a band of horses; two or three men or boys fol­ low them, the docile and sagacious animals scarce needing this attention, for they have learned to follow in the rear of the wagons, and know that at noon they will be allowed to graze and rest. Their knowledge of time seems as accurate as on the place they are to occupy in the line, and even a full-blown thistle will scarce tempt them to straggle or halt until the dinner hour has arrived. Not so with the large herd of homed beasts that bring up the rear; lazy, selfish and unsocial, it has been a task to get them in motion, the strong always ready to domineer oyer, the_,weakt. -■Will I.—Il ■■ ' halt hl the front and rofbidfhu weak to pass thein.” " “But from the standpoint of the hunters, the vexations are not appar­ ent; the crack of whips and loud objurgation are lost in the distance. Nothing of the moving panorama, smooth and orderely as it appears, has more attractions for' the eye than that vast square column in which all colors are mingled, moving here slowly and there briskly, as impelled by horsemen riding furiously in front and rear.” “But the picture in its grandeur, its wonderful mingling of colors and distinctness of detail, is forgotten in contemplation of the singular people who give it life and animation. No other race of men with the means at their command would undertake so great a journey, none save these could successfully perform it, with no previous preparation, relying . only on the fertility of their own invention to devise these means to overi' come each danger and difficulty as it arose. They have undertaken to perform with slow-moving oxen a journey of two thousand miles. The ■way lies over trackless wastes, wide and deep rivers, ragged and lofty mountains, and is beset with hostile savages. Yet, whether it were a deep river with no tree upon its banks, a rugged defile where even a loose horse could not pass, a hill too steep for him to climb, or a threat­ ened attack of an enemy, they were always found ready and equal to the occassion, and always conquerors. May we not call them men of des­ tiny?” “It is now one o’clock; the bugle has sounded and the caravan has resumed its westward journey. It is in the same order, but the evening is far less animated than the morolng march; a drowsiness has fallen apparently on man and beast; teamsters drop asleep on their perches and even when walking by their teams, and the words of command are now addressed to the slowly creeping oxen in the soft tenor of women or the piping treble of children, while the snores of the teamsters make a droning accompaniment.” “The sun is now getting low in the west and at length the painstak­ ing pilot is standing ready to conduct the train in the circle which he has previously measured and marked out, which is to form the invariable fortification for the night. The leading wagons follow him so nearly around the circle that but a wagon length, separate them. Each wagon follows in its track, the rear closing on the front, until its tongue and ox-chains will perfectly reach from one to the other, and so accurate the measure and perfect the practice, that the hindmost wagon of the train always precisely closes the gateway, as each wagon is brought into posi­ tion. It is dropped from its team (the teams being inside the circle), the team unyoked and the yokes and chains are used to connect the wagon strongly with that in its front. Within ten minutes from the time the leading wagon halted, the barricade is formed, the teams unvoked and driven out to pasture. Every one is busy preparing fires of buffalo chips to cook the evening meal, pitching tents and otherwise preparing for the night.” “All able to hear arms in the party have been formed into three companies, and each of these into four watches; every third night it is the duty of one of these companies to keep watch and ward over the camp, and it is so arranged that each watch takes its turn of guard duty through the different watches of the night. They begin at 8 o’clock P M and end at 4 o’clock A. M.” Before a tent near the river a violin makes lively music, and some youths and maidens have improvised a dance upon the green; in another quarter a flute gives its mellow and melancholy notes to the still night air, which, as they float away over the quiet river, seem a lament for the past rather than a hope for the future. It has been a prosperous day; more than twenty miles have been accomplished of the great journey.” “But time passes; the watch is set for the night; the council of old men has been broken, and each has returned to his own quarter; the flute has whispered its last lament to the deepening night; the violin is silent, and the dancers have dispersed; enamored youth have whispered a tender “good night” in the ear of blushing maidens, or stolen a kiss from the lips of some future bride—for Cupid here, as elsewhere, has been busy bringing together congenial hearts, and among these simple people he alone is consulted in forming the marriage tie. Even the doctor and the pilot have separated for the night. All is hushed and repose from the iatigues of the day.” DATA AND DISASTER For the first few years after the opening of the trail by the SublettJackson-Smith initial wagon-train of 1830 only a few hundred set out each year. The year of 1843 with the Great Migration marked the first large numbers into the West. In 1844 from 500 to 700 went out; in 1845 over 3000 with 460 wagons made their way into the West; while in 1846 approximately 1600 went to Oregon and California. In 1847 at least 3000 Mormons made the trip over the two branches of the trail, finally reach­ ing Salt Lake; in 1848 a large number of Mormons and others were again found on the trail. This year may be said to close the pioneer-emigrant period. With the great gold excitement spreading over the world in 1848 and 1849, thousands upon thousands started for California. Some -went around the Horn (a few paying $1000 each idr passage), others via Panama, and by April 1, 20,000 had gathered along the banks of the Missouri ready to begin the trip over the trail just as soon as the spring grass would make its appearance to sustain the oxen and mules. The St. Joseph Advocate states that by May 18 of that year 2850 wagons had crossed the river at that point, and l^y June 1, 4000 wagons had passed Pt. Kearney on the south side of the river alone. It is estimated that from 8000 to 10,000 wagons went over the trail that year. There were often as many as ten oxen to each wagon. In the year of 1852, 500 wagons passed Fort Kearney in a single day. In a period of twenty-four hours, 888 wagons were counted on the trail between Fort Kearney and Julesberg on the south side of the river. In 1857 Albert Sidney Johnson passed over the trail with 2500 soldiers en­ route to quell the Morihons. Large numbers again fared forth with the “Pike’s Peak or Bust” discovery of gold in 1858 and 1859. In 1859 the secretary of the Columbus Ferry Co. at Loup Pork (just west of what is now Columbus, Nebraska) counted the following by the middle of June: 1987 wagons, 5401 men, 429 women and 48 children, 1610 horses, 406 mules, 6010 oxen, and 6000 sheep. With the moving of such vast hordes into the West, many started poorly prepared and outfitted. Worst of all, the dread scourge, the “Asi­ atic Cholera,” broke out in 1849 on the trail. Its victims would often live for only a few hours after the first attack. A multitude of graves soon lined both sides of the great roadway. Thus, the pioneers ol the plains lay dead in rows of fifties and seventies along the great highway. It is estimated that 5000 perished in the two or three years’ ravages of this terrible disease. Chenoweth, who ■went over the trail at this time, says, “But the name of cholera in a multitude—unorganized and unnumbered— is like a leak in the bottom of a ship whose decks are thronged with pas­ sengers. The disturbed waters of the ocean, the angry elements of Nature, when aroused to fury, are but faint Illustrations of the terror-stricken mass of humanity, when in their midst are falling with great rapidity the comrades—the strong, the young and the old—the strength and vigor of youth melting away before the unseen foe. All this filled our ranks with the utmost terror and gloom. This terrible malady seemed to spend its most deadly force on the flat prairie east of about Fort Laramie.” In 1860 the Omaha Republican estimated that a person could see from 50 to 100 teams at once on the trail. By May 23 of that year, residents declared that between 2500 and 3000, wagons had passed along the roadway of the trail. It was claimed on May 19, 1860 that 700 teams crossed in a single day between the Elkhorn and Loup Pork on the north side of the Platte. In the latter part of the ’5O’s the great firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell began their freighting business into the West. From April 25, to October 18, 1860 they had transported 2,750,000 pounds of freight. At one time this firm had in use on the trail 6000 wagons, 10,000 men, 100,000 oxen,, and many hundreds of mules. The enormous wagons carried from 5,000 to 15,000 pounds each. Stage coach travel was begun in 1858 across the 1900 miles from the Missouri river- to the western coast. At first it took 38 days carrying both passengers and mail, but this time was soon reduced to 24 or 26 days. In the early ’6O’s Ben Holladay had 135 stations, with 500 coaches and 150 drivers pushing on night and day to make the trips from river to coast. By 1860 the Pony Express riders were carrying the mail at break­ neck speed from St. Joseph to San Francisco in 10 days. Each rider carried the mail a distance of from 75 to 100 miles with two minutes for changing horses every 10 or 15 miles. Altogether, hundreds of thousands moved into the Far West as trappers, traders, voyageurs, gold seekers, soldiers of fortune, emigrants, soldiers, and settlers. One writer estimates that all in all there were 2,000,000 to pass over the old trail in helping to build the great westerB empire of the trans-Missouri country. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alfred J. Mokler Letterboxes Subject The topic of the resource Local authors -- Wyoming -- Natrona County -- Casper Casper (Wyo.) -- History Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) Natrona County (Wyo.) -- History Description An account of the resource The Alfred J. Mokler Letterboxes are a series of the larger archival collection that are his papers. Both his Letterboxes and his Notebooks available in this digital repository include holograph manuscripts, which is to say, manuscripts written in the author's hand. Much of the material in Mokler's Letterboxes dates to the 1920s and 1930s. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letterbox 1-F Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alfred J. Mokler Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/</a> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Oregon Trail Memorial Association Wyoming Roads Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Alfred J. Mokler Papers, NCA 01.v.1992.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Description An account of the resource This Letterbox contains an article titled "Frank Julian Writes of Some Early Ranches," an issue of Wyoming Roads (September, 1925), a paper titled "The Blackfeet Indians," and a copy of the Oregon Trail Memorial Association's December 29, 1930 newsletter. Type The nature or genre of the resource text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource ENG Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. The reformatted text and images in the Alfred J. Mokler Letterboxes are for personal, not-for profit use of students, researchers, and the public. Any use must provide attribution to the Casper College Archives and Special Collections (Western History Center). While being the property of Casper College, all text, images and other materials are subject to applicable copyright laws. Commercial use, electronic reproduction, or print publication ot text, images, or other materials is strictly prohibited without written permission. All permissions to publish must be obtained from the rights holder and are not the repository's responsibility for securing. The rights holder may or may not be the repository. Users also agree to hold the repository harmless from legal claims arising from their use of material held by the institution and made accessible in this digital repository. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Goodstein Foundation Library Archives and Special Collections (Western History Center) Relation A related resource Alfred J. Mokler Papers