CROSSING THE PLAINS.
Everything worked along smoothly on my westward way, after my adventure
with the Indians, until I reached Walnut Creek, at the Big Bend of the
Arkansas River. At that point the buffalo, running past my herd of oxen
in the night, scattered them, part running with the buffalo and crossing
the river where it was very high, it being the season of the year when
the channel was full of water, from the melting of the snow in the
mountains from which it received its waters. The next morning, as
before, at the One Hundred and Ten, I found a portion of my herd
missing, but not so many this time as to prevent me from traveling. I
had the teams hitched up, some of them being a yoke of oxen minus, but
sufficient remained to move the wagons, and I started my assistant, Mr.
Samuel Poteet, one of the most faithful of my men, on the road with the
teams, and I took my extra man to hunt for the missing oxen. We crossed
the river where it was almost at swimming point and at the place where
the buffalo had crossed the night before, for we had followed their
trail for several miles. After losing the trail, for they had so
scattered we could not tell which trail to take, we wandered around for
a time in the open prairie, expecting Indians to appear at any moment;
but in that we were happily disappointed. I finally found my cattle all
standing in a huddle near a pond. We soon surrounded them and started
driving them to the river, crossed them and reached the road, following
the train, until we overtook it a little before sundown that evening.
From that point there was nothing to trouble or disturb our movements
until we reached the Wagon Mounds, beyond the borders of New Mexico, now
a station upon the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad. There we came
upon the ruins of a stage-coach which had been burned; the bones and
skeletons of some of the horses that drew it, as well as the bones of
the party of ten men who were murdered outright by the Indians. Not one
escaped to tell the story, and they were, I think, a party of ten as
brave men as could be found anywhere. Whether there were any Indians
killed while they were massacring this party is not known, for it was
some few days before the news of the affair was known, as there was
little travel over the road at that season of the year.
This party had passed me on the road some weeks before, and being able
to travel three times as far per day as I could, had reached the point
of their fate several weeks before, so we could see nothing but the
bones the wolves had scratched out of the ground where they had been
buried. In fact there was nothing to bury when we found them. The wolves
would not even let them lie at rest. It seemed there was no flesh the
wolves could get hold of they were so fond of as the flesh of an
American or white man, and, strange to say, they would not eat a Mexican
at all. It frequently happened that when the Indians killed a party on
the Santa Fé Road there were both Mexicans and Americans left dead upon
the same spot. When found the bodies of the Americans would invariably
be eaten, and the bodies of the Mexicans lying intact without any
interference at all.
There were various speculations with travelers along that road as to why
this was so. Some thought it was because the Mexicans were so saturated
with red pepper, they making that a part of their diet. Others thought
it was because they were such inveterate smokers and were always
smoking cigarettes. I have no suggestions to make on the subject any
further than to say such was a fact, and there are many American boys
to-day who would not be eaten by wolves, so impregnated are they with
nicotine.
After passing this gloomy spot at the Wagon Mounds, which almost struck
terror to our hearts to see the bones of our fellow-men who had been
swept away by the hand of the savages, without a moment's warning, we
pursued our way to Santa Fé, N. M., and delivered my freight to the
merchants. They paid me the cash, $13,000 in silver--Mexican
dollars--for freighting their goods to that point, a distance of 800
miles from the place of loading at Kansas City, Mo. I returned home
without any further drawbacks or molestations on that trip.
On arriving home I found that Maj. E. A. Ogden of Fort Leavenworth
desired to send a load of Government freight to Fort Mann, 400 miles
west on the same road I had just traveled over, at about the point on
the Arkansas River where Fort Dodge now stands. I agreed with him on
terms at once, and loaded my wagons for that point. Lieutenant Heath of
the United States Army was in command of the little post at Fort Mann. I
arrived in good time, with everything in good order, and when the
Government freights were unloaded he expressed a desire that I should
take my entire train and go south about twenty-five miles, where there
was some large timber growing near a stream called Cottonwood, for the
purpose of bringing him a lot of saw-logs to make lumber for the
building of his post. A more gentlemanly or clever man I never met in
the United States Army or out of it--thoroughly correct in his dealings,
and kind and courteous as could be. I made the trip and brought him a
fine lot of cottonwood and walnut saw-logs, for these were the only
kinds of timber that grew along the stream, unloaded them at his camp
and returned home without losing any men or animals. The men were all in
fine health and good spirits, as men generally are when everything moves
successfully in their business, and particularly a business which hangs
upon so many contingencies as our trips across the plains did.
In the year 1851 I again crossed the plains with a full outfit of
twenty-five wagons and teams. This trip was a complete success; we met
with no molestations, and returned home without the loss of any animals,
but, owing to the cholera prevailing to some extent among the men who
were on the plains, I lost two men by that disease. Several would have
died, perhaps, but for the fact that I had provided myself with the
proper remedies before leaving Kansas City. In 1852 I corraled my
wagons, sold my oxen to California emigrants, and did no more work upon
the plains that year. In 1853 I bought a new supply of work-cattle and
again loaded my wagons at Kansas City for Santa Fé, N. M., as I had
previously been doing. I was very successful in my operations that year,
meeting with no loss of men and no animals worth mentioning. I also made
a second trip that year from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Union, in New
Mexico, returning to my home near Westport, Mo., late in November.
During the year 1854 I also went upon the plains as a freighter,
changing my business from freighting for the merchants in New Mexico to
carrying United States Government freights. At this time I added to my
transportation, making 100 wagons and teams for that year, divided into
four trains. Everything moved along this year in a most prosperous way,
without loss of life among my men, but I lost a great many of my
work-cattle on account of the Texas fever. The loss was not so great,
however, as to impede my traveling. The Government officers with whom I
came in contact at either end of the route were well pleased with my
way of doing business as a freighter, for everything was done in the
most prompt and business-like manner.
In 1855 W. H. Russell of Lexington, Mo., and I formed a partnership
under the name and style of Majors & Russell. That year we carried all
the Government freight that had to be sent from Fort Leavenworth to the
different posts or forts. The cholera prevailed among our men that year.
Not more than two or three died, however, but quite a delay and
additional expense were caused on account of this dire disease among our
teamsters, with a train load of freight for Fort Riley. This was in
June, and the train was almost deserted. Another train was entirely
deserted, the sick men being taken to some of the farmers in the
neighborhood, the well ones leaving for their homes, our oxen scattering
and going toward almost every point of the compass. It was not long,
however, until we got straightened again, and the train started for its
destination.
Not long after this Maj. A. E. Ogden, the United States quartermaster at
Fort Leavenworth, was taken with the cholera, and died at Fort Riley. A
more honest, straightforward, and Christian gentleman could not be found
in any army, or out of it. He had more excellent qualities than are
generally allotted to man, and his death was much mourned by all who had
the pleasure of his acquaintance. He left a very estimable wife and
several children to mourn his death.
After the cholera disappeared that year, the freighting business moved
along nicely and resulted in a prosperous year's work, after all the
drawbacks in the early part of the season.
We also did a large business in freighting in 1856. I think that year we
had about three hundred to three hundred and fifty wagons and teams at
work, and our profits for 1855 and 1856 footed up about three hundred
thousand dollars. This sum included our wagons, oxen, and other
freighting and transportation outfits, valuing them at what we thought
they would bring the beginning of the freighting season the next year.
In 1857 the Government extended the contract to Majors & Russell for one
year longer, and it was during this year the United States Government
determined to send an army to Utah to curtail the power that Brigham
Young was extending over the destiny of that country; many complaints
having reached Washington through the Government officials who had been
sent to the Territory to preside as judges in the United States Courts.
This resulted in a very great increase of transportation that year, and
great difficulties were encountered, to begin with, which required quite
an increase in the facilities for transportation, which had to be very
hurriedly brought together. Before all the Government freight reached
Fort Leavenworth, it became too late for trains to reach the
headquarters of the army before cold weather set in, in the high
altitude of Fort Bridger and that portion of the country where the army
was in winter quarters; therefore many of the animals perished on
account of having to be kept, under army orders, where grass and water
were sometimes scarce, and they suffered more or less from severe cold
weather. The result was great loss of the work-animals and an entire
loss of the previous two years' profits.
A party of Mormons, under command of Col. Lott Smith, had been sent out
by the Mormon authorities in the rear of Johnston's army to cut off his
supplies. They captured and burned three of our trains, two on the
Sandy, just east of Green River, and one on the west bank of Green
River. They gave the captain of each train the privilege of taking one
of his best wagons and teams and loading it with supplies, to return
home or back to the starting point. They committed no outrage whatever
toward the men, and, as soon as the captain of each train told them he
had all the food necessary to supply him to get back to the starting
point, they told him to abandon the train, and they were set on fire and
everything burned that was consumable. The captains of the trains, with
their teamsters, returned to the States in safety. The cattle were
driven off by the Mormons, and those that were not used for beef by the
hungry men were returned in the summer to the company after peace had
been made between the Mormons and the Government. The loss to the army
was about five hundred thousand pounds of Government supplies. This loss
put the army upon short rations for that winter and spring, until they
could be reached with supplies in the spring of 1858.
That spring, our firm, under the name of Russell, Majors & Waddell,
obtained a new contract from the United States Government to carry
Government freight to Utah for the years 1858-59. That year the
Government ordered an immense lot of freight, aggregating 16,000,000
pounds, most of which had to be taken to Utah. We had to increase the
transportation from three or four hundred wagons and teams we had
previously owned to 3,500 wagons and teams, and it required more than
forty thousand oxen to draw the supplies; we also employed over four
thousand men and about one thousand mules.
Our greatest drawback that year was occasioned by floods and heavy rains
upon the plains, which made our trains move tardily in the outset. We
succeeded admirably, however, considering the vast amount of material we
had to get together and organize, which we could not have done had we
not had so many years' experience, previous to this great event, in the
freighting enterprise; and especially was this so with me, for I had
had, previous to this, a great many years' experience in handling men
and teams, even before I crossed the plains ten years before. We
succeeded this year in carrying everything to the army in Utah, fifty
miles south of Salt Lake City, to Camp Floyd, the headquarters of Sidney
Johnston's command, a distance of 1,250 miles.
After unloading the wagons at Camp Floyd, they were taken to Salt Lake
City and placed as near as they could stand to each other in the suburbs
of the city, and covered many acres of ground, where they remained for
one year or more, when our agent sold them to the Mormon authorities for
$10 apiece, they having cost us at the manufacturers' $150 to $175
apiece. The Mormons used the iron about them for the manufacture of
nails. The oxen we sent to Skull Valley and other valleys near Camp
Floyd, known to be good winter quarters for cattle and mules. During the
year 1859, while our teams were at Camp Floyd we selected 3,500 head as
suitable to drive to California and put on the market, and they were
driven to Ruby Valley, in Nevada, where it was intended they should
remain, that being considered a favorable winter locality; and in the
spring of 1860 they were to be driven to California, the intention being
to let them graze on the wild oats and clover in the valleys of the
Sacramento, and convert them into beef-cattle when fully ready for the
market. A very few days after the herders reached the valley with them,
which was late in November, a snow-storm set in and continued more or
less severe, at intervals, until it covered the ground to such a depth
that it was impossible for the cattle to get a particle of subsistence,
and in less than forty days after the animals were turned out in the
valley they were lying in great heaps frozen and starved to death. Only
200 out of the 3,500 survived the storm. They were worth at the time
they were turned into the valley about $150,000, as they were a very
superior and select lot of oxen. This was the largest disaster we met
with during the years 1858 and 1859.
[Illustration: A ROUGH TRAIL.]
In 1857 the Indians attacked the herders who had charge of about one
thousand head on the Platte River, west of Fort Kearney, which is now
called Kearney City, in Nebraska, killing one of the herders and
scattering the cattle to the four winds. These were also a complete
loss.
We had very little trouble with the Indians in 1857, 1858, and 1859 in
any way, owing to the fact that Johnston's army, consisting of about
five thousand regulars, besides the teamsters, making in all about seven
thousand well-armed men, had passed through the country in 1857, and
they had seen such a vast army, with their artillery, that they were
completely intimidated, and stayed at a very respectful distance from
the road on which this vast number of wagons and teams traveled. Each
one of our wagons was drawn by six yoke, or twelve oxen, and contained
from five to six thousand pounds of freight, and there was but one wagon
to each team. The time had not yet come when, what was afterward
adopted, trail wagons were in use. This means two or three wagons lashed
together and drawn by one team. Twenty-five of our wagons and teams
formed what was called a train, and these trains were scattered along
the road at intervals of anywhere from two to three miles, and sometimes
eight to ten miles, and even greater distances, so as to keep out of the
way of each other.
The road, until we reached the South Pass, was over the finest line of
level country for traveling by wagons, with plenty of water and grass at
almost every step of the way. Crossing the South Platte at what was then
called Julesburg, and going across the divide to North Platte, at Ash
Hollow, we continued in the valley of the North Platte to the mouth of
the Sweetwater, and up that stream until we passed through the South
Pass. After passing that point it was somewhat more difficult to find
grass and water, but we were fortunate enough all along the road to get
sufficient subsistence out of nature for the sustenance of our animals,
and were not obliged to feed our oxen. They did the work allotted to
them, and gathered their own living at nights and noon-times.
In the fall of 1857 a report was sent by the engineers who were with
General Johnston's army at Fort Bridger, and who had crossed the plains
that year, to the Quartermaster's Department at Washington, stating it
was impossible to find subsistence along the road for the number of
animals it would require to transport the freight necessary for the
support of the army. General Jessup, who was then Quartermaster of the
United States Army at Washington, and as fine a gentleman as I ever met,
gave me this information, and asked me if it would deter me from
undertaking the transportation. I told him it would not, and that I
would be willing to give him my head for a football to have kicked in
Pennsylvania Avenue if I did not supply the army with every pound that
was necessary for its subsistence, provided the Government would pay me
to do it. We satisfied him after the first year's work had been done
that we could do even more than I assured him could be done.
There is no other road in the United States, nor in my opinion
elsewhere, of the same length, where such numbers of men and animals
could travel during the summer season as could over the thoroughfare
from the Missouri River up the Platte and its tributaries to the Rocky
Mountains. In fact, had it been necessary to go east from the Missouri
River, instead of west, it would have been impossible in the nature of
things to have done so, owing to the uneven surface of the country, the
water being in little deep ravines and, as a rule, in small quantities,
often muddy creeks to cross, at other times underbrush and timber that
the animals could have roamed into and disappeared, all of which would
have prevented progress had we started with such an enterprise east
instead of west. But the country west of the Missouri River for hundreds
of miles, so far as making roads for travel of large numbers of animals
is concerned, is as different from the east as it is possible for two
landscapes to be. The whole country from the west border of the
Missouri, Iowa, and Arkansas was thoroughly practical, before inhabited
by farmers, for carrying the very largest herds and organizations of
people on what one might term perfectly natural ground, often being able
to travel hundreds of miles toward the sunset without a man having to do
one hour's work in order to prepare the road for the heaviest wagons and
teams.
The road from Missouri to Santa Fé, N. M., up the Arkansas River, a
distance of 800 miles, was very much like the one up the Platte River,
and over which millions of pounds of merchandise were carried, and where
oxen almost invariably, but sometimes mules, did the work and subsisted
without a bite of any other food than that obtained from the grasses
that grew by the roadside.
The roads all running west from the Missouri River came up the valleys
of the Platte, Kansas, or Arkansas rivers, running directly from the
mountains to the Missouri River. These rivers had wide channels, low
banks, and sandy bottoms, into which a thousand animals could go at one
time, if necessary, for drink, and spread over the surface, so as not to
be in each other's way, and whatever disturbance they made in the water,
in the way of offal or anything of that kind, was soon overcome by the
filtering of the water through the sand, which kept it pure, and
thousands of men and animals could find purer water on account of these
conditions.
Then again the first expedient in the way of fuel was what was called
buffalo chips, which was the offal from the buffalo after lying and
being dried by the sun; and, strange to say, the economy of nature was
such, in this particular, that the large number of work-animals left at
every camping-place fuel sufficient, after being dried by the sun, to
supply the necessities of the next caravan or party that traveled along.
In this way the fuel supply was inexhaustible while animals traveled and
fed upon the grasses.
This, however, did not apply to travel east of the Missouri River, as
the offal from the animals there soon became decomposed and was entirely
worthless for fuel purposes. This was altogether owing to the difference
in the grasses that grew west of the Missouri River on the plains and in
the Rocky Mountains and that which grew in the States east of the
Missouri. Thus the fuel supply was sufficient for the largest
organizations of people who, in those days, were traveling on the
plains. Armies, small and great, that found it necessary to cross the
plains, found sufficient supply of this fuel, and it seemed to be a
necessity supplied by nature on the vast open and untimbered plains
lying between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, far beyond the
Canadian line to the north, without which it would have been practically
impossible to have crossed the plains with any degree of comfort, and in
cold weather would have been absolutely impossible.
The small groups of timber growing along the streams would soon have
been exhausted if used for fuel, and there would have been nothing to
supply those who came later.
History records no other instance of like nature, where an immense area
of country had the same necessity and where that necessity was supplied
in such a manner as on the vast plains west of the Missouri River. These
chips would lay for several years in perfect condition for fuel.