USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 73
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 73
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 73
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87
Bridger, before engaging as guide with Gore, had disposed of his post on Green river to the Mormons, who were the first actual settlers, to the number of fifty-five,3 in what is now a portion of Wyoming, but
3 According to the Utah Hand-book of Reference, 73, John Nebeker, Isaac Bullock, and 53 others were located at Fort Supply, in Green River county,
697
WYOMING.
was then considered to be in Utah. Fort Supply, as they had named the former trading-post, was intended as a station where passing emigrations could be fur- nished with provisions. It was abandoned on the advent of a command of United States troops in the vicinity, the occupants retiring to Salt lake. The army taking possession consisted of the fifth and tenth regiments of infantry, and Phelps' and Reno's batteries of artillery, under the immediate command of Colonel E. B. Alexander. It marched by the Platte route, and passing Laramie arrived at Henry fork of Green river, thirty miles east of Fort Supply, early in Octo- ber, where it went into camp.4 While awaiting orders from Washington, the Mormon militia destroyed five supply trains of twenty-five wagons each, leaving men and animals short of provisions and forage. Soon afterward General A. S. Johnston arrived, and moved camp to Black fork, establishing Camp Scott, two miles south of the present Fort Bridger. In the fol- lowing spring the Mormon settlers of Green river valley were called in, "except a few men in every settlement to burn everything in case the troops, upon their arrival in the valley, should prove hostile." The government retained possession of the valley, Fort Supply having been as much as possible destroyed, and when Major William Hoffman arrived, in the spring of 1858, with reinforcements and ample sup- plies, the present military post was erected, the former name restored, and Hoffman placed in command,
in Nov. 1853. These, then, were the first settlers after Bridger, though it is stated by some that Louis Robinson was the first settler. He is called a Mormon, though he is said to have come to the country in 1832 from North Carolina, via Taos, N. M., and had probably never heard of the Latter-day saints before they appeared at Fort Bridger in 1847. ' Uncle Jack Robinson, a warm personal friend of Bridger, and an old resident, has been confounded with Louis Robinson, who may have been one of the 55 settlers sent by Brigham Young. He kept a ferry on Green river in 1860. Con. Hist. Soc. Mont., 220, 222.
4 The Utah Hand-book of Reference, p. 75, informs us that on the 8th Sept., ' Captain Van Vliet, of Gen. Harney's staff,' visited Salt Lake City, and had an interview with President Young, and after a few days spent in that place proceeded to Washington, 'where he used his influence in favor of the saints. '
698
SETTLEMENT AND GOLD-HUNTING.
while Johnston marched the greater portion of the army from Green river to Salt lake, and established Camp Floyd in that vicinity. This was the end of Mormon occupation in Wyoming.3
From about this period frequent government expe- ditions touched at Laramie, and deflected to whatever
" Lieut Joseph H. Taylor, Ist cavalry, was the first post-adjutant at Fort Bridger; Lieut B. F. Smith, 6th inf., the first depot quartermaster. On the 17th of Aug., 1858, Lieut-col E. R. S. Canby, maj. 10th infantry, relieved Major Hoffman, who rejoined the 6th inf., which soon after marched to Cal. Canby was relieved March 7, 1860, by Maj. R. C. Gatlin, 7th inf., and went to N. M. In June Gatlin also was ordered to N. M., and Capt. Alfred Cumming, 10th inf., took command, who was in turn relieved, Aug. 9th, by Capt. Frank Gardner, same regiment. When the civil war broke out, Cum- ming joined the confederate army. In May 1861 Capt. Jesse A. Gore, 10th inf., was placed in command. When the troops were required at the east during the rebellion, Col Cooke, 2d cav., in command at Camp Floyd, aban- doned that post, and repaired to Fort Bridger, where the bulk of the sub- sistence and quartermasters' stores were sold at auction, and purchased by the Mormons. It was estimated that $4,000,000 worth of goods were sold for $100,000. Utah Hand-book of Reference, 78. After this both garrisons were marched to Fort Leavenworth, leaving only a few men, whose terms of service were nearly expired, at Fort Bridger, under Capt. J. C. Clarke, 4th art., who in Dec. 1861 was ordered east, leaving orderly sergt Bogee at the post, with a handful of privates. For about a year, at a critical period, considering the civil war, and the Mormon and Indian hostilities, Bogee remained in charge. The Mormons setting up a claim to the land, on the ground of a conveyance from Bridger, Post-trader W. A. Carter organized a volunteer company of mountain men for the protection of property at the fort. In Dec. 1862, Capt. M. G. Lewis, 3d Cal. inf. vols, arrived at the post and assumed command; and during the war, and until July 1866, it was garrisoned by Cal. and Nev. vols, who performed the hard service of guard- ing the mails, escorting travellers, and fighting Indians. Bvt maj. A. S. Burt, capt. 18th inf., took command, when the vols were mustered out, the garrison consisting of F and H companies 1st battalion, 18th inf. During the construction of the Union Pacific R. R. a garrison of 5 companies of the 36th inf., under Bvt-col Henry A. Morrow, was stationed at Fort Bridger, and much of the time employed in guarding the engineers, and the overland stage route for 200 miles east of Green 'river. Maj. J. H. Belcher, post- quartermaster, had many improvements made during that period. From May 1878 to June 1880 the post was abandoned. When reestablished the garrison consisted of F and H companies, 4th inf. In 1881, post-trader Carter caused a road to be constructed over the mountains from Fort Thorn- burg in Utah to a mail station 35 miles south of Fort Bridger, to facilitate communication. In 1883, additional barracks and quarters were commenced, and the garrison increased, consisting then of B. C, and G companies of the 9th inf., under command of Lieut-col T. M. Anderson, same regiment. In June of the same year a battalion, consisting of two companies from Fort Bridger, two from Fort Fred Steele, under Maj. I. D. De Russy, 4th infan- try, repaired and improved the road to Fort Thornburg. In Aug. 1884, the garrison at Fort Bridger was increased by companies D and H, 21st inf., and Col Anderson was relieved by Lieut-col Alexander Chambers of that regiment, to whose Hist. Fort Bridger, MS., I am indebted for most of the above account of its services in the history of Wyoming. Surg .- gen. Circ., 8, 316-24; U. S. Misc. Doc., 40, pp. 29-30, 41st cong., 3d sess .; U. S. H. Com. Rept, 520, iii., 43d cong., Ist sess .; Hayden, Rept, 1870, p. 55.
699
WYOMING.
course they had been destined for. Captain E. G. Beckwith, third artillery, who took charge of the survey of a railroad route near the forty-first parallel, after the massacre of Captain Gunnison and party in 1853, explored the valley of Green river and the streams issuing from the Uinta mountains. In 1857. Johnson's army encamped in Green river valley, and their supplies being cut off by the Mormons, Captain R. B. Marcy, with forty men, in the month of No- vember, proceeded from Fort Bridger to the foot of the mountains between Green and Grand rivers, up a cañon to the top of the range, to Grand river, near the mouth of the Uncompahgre, up Eagle-tail river to Coschetopes pass, and to Fort Massachusetts, where he obtained what was required, and returned the following June by way of the route east of the mountains, and through the South pass. Captain Marcy's success is a proof both of the courage of the man, and the excellence of the climate which spared his life on so terrible a journey.
In 1857 came William M. Magraw, who had se- cured a contract from the government to open a road through the South pass, as if that road had not been in constant use by emigrants for fourteen years. But being a government expedition, it was accompanied by naturalists,' whose reports were of value to science, and through science to more material objects. In 1858 Captain J. H. Simpson, of the topographical engineers, explored and opened a road from Fort Bridger to Camp Floyd, and thence the following year to Carson, Nevada,8 eking out the survey of Colonel Steptoe of 1855.
In July 1859 Captain W. F. Reynolds, of the topo-
6 Marcy, Thirty Years of Army Life, 224-49.
7 J. G. Cooper, surgeon of the wagon-road expedition, was naturalist to the previous expedition of I. I. Stevens, via the Missouri river to Puget sound, 1853. C. Drexler was taxidermist in 1857. Cooper returned to Wash- ington the same season, but Magraw and Drexler wintered on Wind river, moving to Camp Scott in March, where the latter made a large collection of birds. Smithsonian Rept, 1858, p. 50.
8 Simpson Explor. Great Basin, 7, 24-5.
700
SETTLEMENT AND GOLD-HUNTING.
graphical engineers, under orders from government, led an expedition from Fort Pierre, on the Missouri river, to the Black hills, and having explored the northeastern and northern portion of this range, moved on to Powder river and the Bighorn, exploring the country to the headwaters of the Yellowstone and Missouri,' with Bridger for a guide. Reynolds was accompanied by a scientific corps under Hayden, who had previously explored the Platte valley for some
Cr.
venne
R
BIG
Yello
Pe
River
Cr
FT PHIL. KEARNY
Stinking
Or.
Pork
Pumpkiny
Bull
R.
Buttes
'D
FT. RENO
IS
Cr.
Wind
Big Horn
Grey Bull
Route
South
R
remont
6am
Brown
De Cr.
Peak
MOR
FT. FETTERMAN
ATTL
SNAKE
1843
THAN
Sai
Sandy
FT. LARAMIE
Road
WE
Tig
H 1
anch
Medicine
Bow R.
Bridger's
Pass
Fx. Halleck
PT. OF ROCKS
Ft. Walbach
Sas
.Sanders
Ft. Bridger
Ft
A.Russell:
TRAILS IN WYOMING.
distance. They were escorted by a single company of soldiers, under Maynadier and Lee, and made a favorable report on the country.
Men were by this time earnestly looking for gold, and the report went forth that gold had been discov- ered in the Bighorn mountains by this expedition. But Reynolds, afraid of losing his escort by desertion, forbade the discoverer to reveal the truth to any but himself and Hayden, which reticence caused the local-
9 U. S. Jour., 300; 37 cong., 3 sess. Mullan, Military Road Rept, 27.
asperiwww.
New York
R
ter
Old Emigrant Road
omLaramie Pk
Sublette's
FT. F. STEELE
Laramie
Horas Cr
Piney
Fork
North
Woud
unulE
noman's
Beaver
-Cr
BLACK
IND RIVER MTS.
Wow
1'1 Dig
701
WYOMING.
ity to be lost ; and although there had been before, and have been since, several reputed discoveries in this range, there has never been any mining, for until within recent years the Indians made it such desper- ate hazard that few would venture, and those who ventured seldom returned to reveal any discoveries they had made, and the country remained practically unexplored.10
Colorado was swarming with gold-seekers, and Mon- tana was known to be rich in auriferous deposits; why not this region lying sandwiched between them ? This was the question asked by thousands who trav- ersed it, few of whom failed to strike a pick here and there as they passed, or to curiously examine the sands of every stream crossed in their wanderings.
A party of twelve men who left Missouri for Mon- tana in 1863 travelled the route up the Cheyenne river to the Black hills, where they prospected, and took out in three days $180 in placer gold ; after which, the season being late, they proceeded to their destination, and finding plenty of the precious stuff in Montana, did not return. In later years the same persons failed to rediscover the spot where they washed out their first gold.11
I have referred in my History of Montana to an expedition in 1863 which left Bannack City for the purpose of exploring the country drained by the Yel- lowstone for gold mines and town-sites. The party travelled up the Bighorn river, finding no gold, but losing several of their party by Indian attacks, and traversing the Wind river country, came to the Sweet- water at "Pacific City," a trading-house at the foot
10 A small party of Canadian Frenchmen in 1862 left the stage station at the crossing of the Sweetwater to go to the Bighorn mountains, having in vain endeavored to induce others to join them. They were never heard of more. They were J. Dubois, J. Patneese, and three brothers. There was no old trapper or guide in the country who did not have a tale of gold dis- covery to relate, but they could not be induced to reveal them either because they were untrue or that they feared the Indians.
11 G. T. Lee of Central City, Black hills, was one of the party. Strahorn, Wyoming, Black Hills, 86, 222.
702
SETTLEMENT AND GOLD-HUNTING.
of Rocky ridge, where they overtook a train guarded by a few soldiers, who were stationed at South pass. Along the road at intervals of about eighty miles were found small squads of troops for this service. They met here a Mormon who had been to Devil's gate for a cargo of soda, which he was taking to Salt Lake, this being the first recorded export of any min- eral from Wyoming. At Rock creek 12 they found a lieutenant and twenty soldiers, a telegraph station, and a few residents. Walter Cook, the telegraph operator; Louis Slivers, who had located at this place with the intention of farming, but had lost all his stock and goods by the Indians, and every growing thing by the grasshoppers; a blacksmith, and a trader constituted the settlement ; but the place was popu- lous during the season of travel, and business was at its height when the expedition passed. It visited Fort Bridger, finding on Ham's fork of Green river several wood and stone houses, a good stone corral and barn, with plenty of hay; signs of the advance of civ- ilization which had but little chance to live except under the walls of a fort. At the post the company were entertained by the California minstrels, a soldier troupe, which gave a concert, charging fifty cents admission. They also met there General Conner, who, on hearing of the sufferings which had befallen the exploring party by the Indians, did not show them much sympathy. Conner had at that time many lodges of the natives in the vicinity of the fort, hav- ing compelled them to bring in and deliver up stolen horses. As a consequence many white men were there hoping to recover their property, only a moiety of which was restored." 13 From Fort Bridger
12 James Stuart, in his journal of the expedition, says that he had found gold on this creek three miles above the crossing in 1860. Con. Hist. Soc., Montana, 218.
13 Stuart mentions meeting on the Sweetwater and Green river, Hardesty and Alexander, freighters, with a large train for Salt lake; William McAdow going to Montana; Josh Terry, Peter Myrtle, Granger, Louis Robinson, 'Uncle Jack' Robinson, Monsieur Boivert, Dick Hamilton, John Sharpe, and W. A. Carter, afterward probate judge of Uinta county, besides many others not known to him.
703
WYOMING.
the company returned to Bannack by the immigrant road via Soda springs," Red Rock valley, and Horse prairie, having made a circuit of 1600 miles without finding any diggings, yet not convinced that they did not exist. In the two following years efforts were made to effect a more satisfactory exploration of the Bighorn region by Montana companies, none of which were able to hold their own against the Indians.
The Bighorn country having yielded nothing to the hasty search which alarmed and distressed prospect- ors had made, rumors were started of rich diggings on Wind river, a feeder of the Bighorn, coming down from Wind river mountains, and four several com- panies from Idaho took the field in 1866, determined to remain in the country long enough to make a thorough survey of its mineral resources, while another from Montana joined its forces with theirs. 15
14 A half mile above Soda springs Stuart found a town laid out by the Morrisites, seceders from the Mormon church. They had about 20 houses built, and were erecting others in expectation of a train of their brethren to arrive in three days. Most of them were Welsh and Danes. They were poor and miserable, even to the point of beggary. The year before, in June, a posse from Salt Lake had besieged for three days a camp of Morrisites on Weber river, and after killing Morris Banks and four others, and having two of the attacking posse killed, carried the remainder of the camp as prison- ers to the city. Utuh Hand-Book of Reference, 79. The presence of a com- pany of Cal. volunteers stationed near the new settlement to protect the immigration prevented violence toward this camp in 1863, and the organiza- tion of Idaho in that year was another safeguard.
15 The Idaho companies were led as follows: Capt. Bledsoe, 45 men; Capt. Jeff. Standifer, 49 men; Capt. D. C. Patterson, 95 men; Capt. Bailey, 53 men. In Patterson's company were Henry Hughes, Jerry Fitzgerald, C. F. Nichols, John Arling, Charlez Merrill, Charles H. Young, George Podgett, R. C. Coombs, George Stonerood, Benjamin White, McCraw, Hawthorne, Thompkins, and others. Idaho World, Aug. 18, 1866. The Montanians joined Standifer, who had at one time 115 men in his company, and who kept on in the direction of Wind river, while the former, desiring to go to the Bighorn, where two forts had been erected that year, 75 of the company took that direction. This party had the usual experience of intruders in that region. On the 13th of Sept. Col J. N. Rice of Idaho and J. W. Smith of Helena, Mont., were killed while absent from camp hunting. Their bodies were not discovered for two days. They were at this time 18 miles from Fort Philip Kearny, and one of the party being ill, the explorers turned aside to leave him at this post. Twenty-six of the men engaged at the fort to help guard hay-cutters, who could not work for fighting Indians, who shot among them and burned their hay-stacks. This with other desertions reduced the Bighorn prospecting company to 16, a party too small to safely get out of the country. But a detachment of 26 soldiers being sent to Fort C. F. Smith with the mail, they joined this escort, which was glad of re- cruits. When within 45 miles of Fort C. F. Smith they were attacked in
704
SETTLEMENT AND GOLD-HUNTING.
They travelled, as Stuart's company had done, about 1600 miles, prospecting Bighorn, Wind river, Medi- cine lodge, and the streams at the head of the Yellow- stone and Snake rivers, finding nothing worthy of attention by miners 16 except at the head of the Stink- ingwater, where some of Standifer's party reported finding good prospects, and the following spring returned to that region."
Wind river mountains and valley were from earli- est times much talked of by white and red men. Many legends were current concerning the mountains, among which was one that in some places timber, ani- mals, and even men were petrified in the very sem- blance of life, and these places were shunned by the natives, who feared being turned to stone. This legend probably gave rise to the absurd story told by a Rocky mountain trapper that he had seen a tree petrified with all its branches and leaves perfect, with the birds on it turned to stone in the act of singing. The story was considered tough, even by mountain men ; but does not the account of Lot's wife equal it?
The valley, about eight miles wide, and between 150 and 200 miles in length, was regarded as one of the choicest spots on the eastern slope of the Rocky mountains. The river was rapid and clear, its banks adorned with stately cottonwood trees, while the mountain sides were covered with forests of pine. The soil was dark and rich, the climate mild, and game abundant. Vast herds of buffaloes, antelopes, deer, and elk roamed through it. At the upper end was a
camp by a large number of Indians, and compelled to intrench themselves. The battle lasted for two or three hours, when the Indians were finally driven off. During the fight a soldier was wounded, and a number of horses captured. The following day they were again surrounded, attacked, and forced to fight their way out, which they did with no serious casualties, though compelled to abandon their mining tools and provisions in order to mount all the men. They arrived at Fort C. F. Smith, where they were able to procure from private individuals a supply of food, and whence they returned to Virginia City in company with another small party of freighters. Virginia Montana Post, Oct. 27, 1866.
16 Owyhee Avalanche, Oct. 27, 1866.
17 Virginia Mont. Post, March 16, 1867.
705
WYOMING.
hot sulphur spring. 18 It was these attractions which had made it a favorite wintering ground of the natives and the fur companies, and which now made it desir- able that a reason should be found for making settle- ments in it. The Bighorn valley also was found to be an excellent grazing country, which in 1866 was covered with immense herds of buffalo, pointing to uses to which it could be devoted by home-building men. In short, Green river, Sweetwater, Wind river, and Bighorn valleys were beginning to be regarded as desirable for mining and grazing, if not for agricul- ture, when the usual check was placed upon settle- ment by the bloody protests of the native population.
18 Sweetwater Miner, Feb. 22, 1868.
HIST. NEV. 45
CHAPTER IV.
INDIAN WARS.
1841-1868.
EMIGRANT PARTIES-CHEYENNES AND SIOUX-FORCE AT FORT LARAMIE- FLEMING'S ATTACK-GRATTAN'S DEFEAT-A BLOODY WAR-LIFE AT FORT LARAMIE-MOVEMENTS OF THE CHEYENNES AND ARAPAHOES- EFFECT OF COLORADO IMMIGRATION AND CIVIL WAR-CONTINUED DEPREDATIONS-PEACE PROPOSALS-GOLD-HUNTING ON THE BIGHORN- CARRINGTON'S EXPEDITION-FETTERMAN'S DEFEAT-AFFAIRS AT THE FORTS-CONTINUED HOSTILITIES-TREATY COMMISSION.
THE immigration of 1842 would have fared ill but for the presence of Fitzpatrick of the American Fur company, who used his powerful influence and con- summate skill to prevent a slaughter. Not that the 112 had done anything to offend the Indians, but that the Cheyennes and Sioux were becoming, with their little and unfortunate knowledge of the white race, their whiskey, their improved weapons, and their wrongs, real or fancied, a foe to all whom they met, red men or white, who were not in alliance with them. More than that, in August 1841, they had fought a party of sixty men, led by Frapp, on the head waters of Snake river, losing ten warriors, though killing Frapp and four trappers. During the follow- ing spring the Sioux had cut off two small parties, one in the Black Hills, and another on the Bighorn. Still they were not satisfied, and a party of 350 braves followed the immigrants, overtaking them near Inde- pendence rock, but the courage and tact of their guide averted a catastrophe which might have delayed the settlement of Oregon for another decade, and
(706)
707
WYOMING.
altered the political history of the northwest territory.1 This company was permitted to pass, with the assur- ance, however, that in future the path would be found closed which led through their country. On this account, also, Frémont a little later was compelled to secure the services of a well known guide and inter- preter. But the next year what had the doughty Sioux warriors to say ? for here came 1,000 white men, women, and children, with hundreds of wagons, and great herds of cattle and horses, such as they had never dreamed of seeing, whom they could neither turn back nor kill. Destiny was too strong for them, and they retreated to their villages to consider what could now be done. A tribe of red men had some- times been exterminated by persistent and watchful hostility ; they would try what could be accomplished toward exterminating these audacious white people. Their efforts in this cause led to the occupation of Fort Laramie as a military post, in order to save the annual immigrations from plunder and massacre. While three companies of troops were at the fort, comparative order was maintained.
In 1851, Kirkpatrick having been appointed Indian agent, a treaty was entered into between the United States government and the Sioux, Arapahoes, and Cheyennes, of the North Platte, by which the terri- tory of these bands should be that contained-between the 100th and 107th meridians of longitude, and the 39th and 44th parallels of latitude, embracing 122,500 square miles. They were to receive annuities of the value of $50,000, and to preserve friendly relations with citizens of the government .? The number of warriors belonging to the Ogalalah and Brulé Sioux, and the Arapahoes and Cheyennes within this agency, was estimated to be 2,000, while the whole number was computed to be 5,500. To hold in check this hostile force-for despite treaties these savages were
1 Fremont Exped. 1842-3-4, 173-4; White, Ten Years in Oregon, 155-57
2 Ind. Aff. Rept, 1856, 94; Id., 1859, 137-8; Id., 1862, 229.
708
INDIAN WARS.
never friendly-after the first two years there was but a handful of soldiers, under young. and of course inexperienced officers. As soon as the Indians became aware of the reduction of the garrison, they became extremely insolent, refusing to obey the regulation which expelled them from the limits of the post after " retreat," a hand to hand conflict being necessary to eject them. For this insult to savage dignity they made a demonstration on the fort, which only the promptitnde of the little garrison, and the good offi- cers of Fitzpatrick prevented becoming a bloody affair.3
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.