USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Vol. I > Part 11
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The cost of this expedition, for reasons that will be stated later on, was borne partly by Fremont, but strongly supplemented by generous contributions of money, equipage and supplies from wealthy citizens of St. Louis. The route taken passed south of the Kansas River to the Smoky Hill Fork, with the view of locating a more southerly line, which might be used to better advantage for railway purposes than those previously reconnoitered, owing to its greater immunity from heavy snows in winter. From the headwaters of the Smoky Hill the party passed to Bent's Fort, which they reached on the 17th of No- vember. The Indians encamped about the trading post warned him that the snow was deeper on the Sangre de Cristo than had been known in many years, and predicted a winter of unusual severity.
In a letter to his wife, dated the 27th of January, 1849, Fremont details the horrors of his campaign in the mountains, from which the following is condensed : From Bent's Fort he proceeded to the upper Pueblo of the Arkansas, whence he departed with thirty-three men and a hundred and twenty mules, with forage for the same. The fatal
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error, as subsequently reported, was in the selection of his guide, a mountaineer named Bill Williams, who, whatever his experience may have been, proved wholly incompetent for the mission intrusted to him on this occasion.
It is possible that neither the historian of Fremont's expedition, nor the Pathfinder himself, were wholly just to the guide who led this ill-fated and ill-advised enterprise. Carson, Fitzpatrick and other famous contemporaries, who knew him as " Parson Williams," from the fact of his having been in early life a Methodist preacher, were more charitable, hence this digression for a brief statement of facts. Wil- liams had lived among the greater part of the Indian tribes from the Missouri River to the Pacific, and had hunted and trapped all over the Rocky Mountains, and, presumably, from the San Luis Valley to the Arkansas. In the pursuit of his erratic career he wandered from one band to another, remaining a sufficient time with each to master its language, then passing to another, becoming in the course of years an accomplished interpreter. Whether he knew the region in detail through which he was engaged to lead Col. Fremont, or only in a gen- eral way, cannot be stated, but of his extensive knowledge of the Rocky Mountains there can be no doubt. As a rule, the guild to which he belonged did not bivouac in the mountains during the severest winters, of whose approach they were apprised by certain unmistakable signs, but sought the trading posts on the plains, where they remained until the passes were free from snow, and the streams of ice. There- fore, in this perhaps one of the longest and most tempestuous seasons within the knowledge of white men, it is not surprising that he should have been bewildered by the obliteration of familiar landmarks, and thus led the entire party to disaster. Williams was killed by the Indians some years afterward while on one of his trapping excursions.
But whatever the cause, for nearly twenty days they plunged about in the depths, pursuing first one course and then another in their desperate efforts to reach an accessible outlet. "On the 12th of De- cember," says Fremont, "we found ourselves at the north of the Del
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Norte Cañon, where that river (the Rio Grande) issues from the St. Johns (San Juan) Mountains, one of the highest, most rugged and impracticable of all the Rocky Mountain ranges, inaccessible to trap- pers and hunters, even in the summer time." Nevertheless, Williams with characteristic insistance upon the accuracy of his trail, took them across this elevated range in spite of all protests, for though their confidence in him had been impaired, they were compelled to trust to his guidance, being utterly ignorant of the country, and therefore unable to discover the right course. At the lowest points in the val- leys and along the river bottoms the animals sunk to their bellies, and the men to their waists in the soft yielding mass, and as the snow fell almost continuously, those of our early pioneers who have crossed the ranges in midwinter or early spring can readily imagine the ter- ribleness of their situation. To make matters still more intolerable, the weather was very cold, and intensified by strong, bitter winds. As they approached the summit the snow deepened. They were five days in climbing to the top of the ridge above timber line. Here they were further harassed by frequent "pouderies"-light, dry snow which every passing breeze took up and dashed in their faces in blinding clouds. A dozen or more of the men were severely frozen, faces, hands and feet. The guide himself barely escaped with his life. Dead mules and their burdens strewed the dreadful trail ; not- withstanding the bitter cold, snow fell without intermission. It became impossible to open a pathway except by beating trenches with mauls fashioned from the trunks of trees. Again the Pathfinder writes from the depths of his unspeakable wretchedness: "The trail showed as if a defeated party had passed by ; pack-saddles and packs, scattered articles of clothing and dead mules strewed along ; a continuance of the storm paralyzed all movement. We were encamped somewhere about 12,000 feet above the sea. Westward the country was buried in deep snow. It was impossible to advance, and to turn back was equally impracticable. We were overtaken by sudden and inevitable ruin." At length, after herculean effort, the surviving men and ani-
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mals, with what remained of the baggage, were moved down to the Rio Grande. From there a party was sent forward to the Spanish settlements for aid, and provisions for the continuance of their journey to Taos. For this desperate enterprise volunteers were solicited, and four accepted. Meanwhile, those who remained established an encamp- ment on the bank of the river, and there awaited the further assaults of misfortune. When sixteen days had passed without tidings from the "forlorn hope," Fremont, becoming alarmed, started out in search of them. At the end of the sixth day they were found, only three of the four, however, "the most miserable objects," writes the narrator, " I have ever seen. They had been starving. King-the leader-had starved to death a few days before." On the 20th of January they reached a Spanish settlement, "having traveled through snow and on foot one hundred and sixty miles."
In due time Fremont and those with him in the advance reached Taos and were welcomed by Kit Carson and family, who had taken up their residence there. Eleven of the brave company were lost in the mountains, and the greater part of the survivors did not arrive until some days later. While here Fremont was visited by Ceran St. Vrain, who had come up from Santa Fe, en route to the Missouri River, and it was by his hand the historic letter was sent by Fremont to his wife describing the awful experiences of his command.
On the 24th of February he arrived in Socorro, New Mexico, having passed down the Rio Grande via Albuquerque, thence between the Rio Grande and the heads of the Gila to Tucson, and across the Colorado to Aqua Caliente and to California. General Marcy asserts that Fremont crossed the range fifty miles " south of Cochetopa Pass."
During his absence the people of St. Louis, taking, as we have seen, an absorbing interest in this expedition, and acting upon the presumption that a practicable railway route had been discovered, on the 21st of February held a great mass meeting, which was addressed by prominent orators of the time. The following resolution was adopted :
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Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be tendered to Colonel John C. Fre- mont for his intrepid perseverance and valuable scientific explorations in the region of the Rocky and Californian Mountains, by which we have been furnished with a knowl- edge of the passes and altitudes of those mountains, and are now able to judge of the entire practicability of constructing a railroad over them from St. Louis to San Fran- cisco, in California," etc., etc.
Happily they had no report of the fearful trials their explorer had encountered. It was the general belief at that period that he had passed the ranges in safety, and was then in California. Omitting further details, it is sufficient to state, that, having been largely instru- mental in saving California to the United States, on its admission to the Union September 9, 1850, he was chosen to be one of its Sena- tors. Here, again, however, ill-fortune attended him. In drawing lots for terms with his colleague, the short term, which expired March 4, 1851, fell to Fremont. Being unable to attend the short term of the XXXIst Congress, his entire career as a Senator was limited to what remained of the long session which terminated September 30th, leaving him but twenty-one days.
At the close of the session of Congress March, 1852, through the efforts of Senator Chase an appropriation was made for the survey of three routes to the Pacific Ocean, with the view of obtaining further information as a basis of legislation for a national highway between the Mississippi Valley and the coast of California. Fremont being at that time in Paris, he returned, with the fixed resolve to fit out a fifth expedition at his own expense, and complete the survey which was lost in his fourth endeavor, and which he regarded as the most direct and practicable route. In August, 1853, he set out, proceeding over the original course. On reaching Bent's Fort he discovered that only the ruins remained. The result of this final journey was admi- rably epitomized by Senator Benton, who said, "He went straight to the spot where the guide had gone astray, followed the course described by the mountain men, and found safe and easy passes all the way to California, through a good country, and upon the straight line of 38 and 39 degrees. It is the route for the Central Pacific Rail- road which the structure of the country invites, and every natural consideration demands."
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CHAPTER IX.
1846 to 1857-OUTBREAK OF THE MEXICAN WAR-DONIPHAN'S EXPEDITION-DARING EXPLOITS OF MAJOR WILLIAM GILPIN -- PURSUIT OF INDIANS IN THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-SURVEYS FOR A PACIFIC RAILROAD-CAPT. GUNNISON'S EXPEDITION AND ITS TRAGIC ENDING-CAPT. MARCY'S MIDWINTER MARCH FROM FORT BRIDGER TO FORT MASSACHUSETTS-TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS-CAMPING AT MANI- TOU AND DENVER-DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CHERRY CREEK.
The annexation of Texas in 1846 brought a declaration of war from Mexico, followed immediately by the movement of a strong force across the Rio Grande. In May of the same year, the American Con- gress accepted the gage of battle thus presented, and authorized Pres- ident Polk to call into service fifty thousand volunteers. The number responded promptly to the proclamation, and were mobilized. These proceedings naturally created great excitement throughout the country. The overland division, to which we shall confine our attention, was intrusted to the command of Colonel Stephen W. Kearney of the regu- lar army. A force of one thousand Missouri volunteers under Colonel A. W. Doniphan, was ordered to Santa Fé. From the rendezvous at Fort Leavenworth the campaign began. Here an election for field officers took place on the 18th of June. Doniphan was chosen Colonel, C. F. Ruff Lieutenant-Colonel, and William Gilpin Major. The entire force consisted of sixteen hundred and fifty-eight men, with sixteen pieces of ordnance. On the 26th the advance began under Doniphan, Kearney following on the 29th with the rear guard. The route lay along the well known Santa Fe trail, and in due time the invaders reached Bent's Fort where they halted to await the arrival of Kearney. This fort was subsequently converted into a general depot of supplies.
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The divisions uniting at this point, as soon as the requisite preparations could be made, Kearney crossed into Mexican territory for his descent. upon Santa Fé. On the 3d of August the command entered the dreaded Cimarron Desert, which was utterly destitute of anything to support human or animal life, and in appearance and by reason of the terrible sufferings experienced by all travelers by this route, fit- tingly christened "the Journey of Death." Soldiers were stricken down, and animals perished by the score. At length they arrived at the mouth of the Purgatoire or Purgatory River, and there obtained their first view of the magnificent snow-capped Spanish Peaks, and the ranges bordering the beautiful valley of the San Luis. At the Mora, they were at the beginning of the Mexican settlements. Charles Bent, with a companion named Estes, who had been sent out to reconnoiter, returned and reported that two thousand Mexicans awaited Kearney in a narrow, lonely canon six miles from Las Vegas, and that the posi- tion was apparently impregnable, if stoutly held. While engaged in preparations for the attack, Kearney received his commission as Briga- dier General in command of all the troops operating in New Mexico. The army advanced in line of battle, prepared for a stubborn resistance, but when it reached the pass it was found that the enemy had retired. Entering Santa Fé, Kearney took possession of the territory, and at once proceeded to the organization of a civil government, appointing Charles Bent, Governor; Don Aduciano Vijil, Secretary; Richard Dal- lan, Marshal; Frank P. Blair, District Attorney, and Joab Houghton, Antonio José Otero, and Charles Beaubien Judges of the Supreme Court.
The principal interest of our citizens in this narrative beyond which it is needless to extend it, lies in the prominent part taken by the first Governor of Colorado, William Gilpin, in the conquest. Therefore, omitting the incidental movements, we find that on the 18th of September, Major Gilpin, with a squadron of two companies, was ordered to the old town of Abiquiu on the Rio de Chama, for the purpose of chastising the Utes and other tribes who were committing
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serious depredations in that quarter. Having been remarkably success- ful in executing this order, some time later he returned to headquarters bringing a large number of Indians, for a conference with General Kearney. At the same time, writes Captain John T. Hughes (a nephew of General Bela M. Hughes of Denver), from whose account of the expedition from its opening to the close this description is mainly compiled, "an express arrived from Colonel Sterling Price" (noted during the war of the rebellion under the pseudonym of "old Pap Price,") "informing General Kearney that he was short of provisions, and asking for supplies. This was the first and only reliable informa- tion we had received of the Colonel and his forces since they left Fort Leavenworth. They were then at Cimarron Springs nearly three hun. dred miles from Santa Fé." .
In October, orders were dispatched to Major Gilpin at Abiquiu, directing him to penetrate the country of the Navajoes, where there were evidences of a formidable uprising, to give the Indians battle wherever they appeared to be hostile, and hold the captured chiefs as hostages for future good behavior. On the 22d of November Gilpin left his encampment on the Chama and began his march against the Navajoes, completing in six days more than six hundred miles,* having followed the Rio de Chama to its source in the snowy regions, tran- scending the elevated range of mountains which separates the waters of two great oceans of the world, and descending into the valley of the San Juan, a branch of the Western Colorado." He was attended in this long and trying journey by sixty-five Mexicans and pueblo Indians, as guides and general utility men. "The perils, hardships and suffer- ings of this march were almost incredible." * The rugged ways, the precipitous mountains, the dangerous defiles, the narrow passes, the yawning chasms and fissures in vitreous rocks
* which ob- structed their passage, rendered the march arduous beyond the power of language to describe." The author quoted glowingly compares the
*We follow the author, but this feat was physically impossible. The distance could not have been made in the time mentioned.
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march of Major Gilpin on this occasion with that of the Carthaginian General of the Apennines, and of Napoleon over the Alps. Snow fell frequently, and in great masses: avalanches plunged down the mountain sides threatening the devoted band with destruction. Meanwhile the Indians of whom they were in pursuit occupied lofty eminences, con- templating with infinite satisfaction the frightful hardships encoun- tered by the enemy. Great as the difficulties were, however, Gilpin charged them, but, as may be imagined, without success. Finally they came to his camp for a parley. Gilpin sent one of their number to Col. Doniphan with a letter stating his position. He then moved with his voluntary captives down the San Juan River toward the Tunichi Mountains, which were crossed. The men floundered through the deep snows; many of the animals fell over the precipices and were dashed to pieces on the jagged rocks below. Here the Indian whom he had sent to Doniphan rejoined him, bearing an order from his chief to meet him at Bear Springs. "The snow was now deep, and the weather excessively cold. The fierce winds whistled along the rugged granite hills and peaks. The prospect was terrible. Half the animals had given out and were abandoned. Half the men were on foot, carrying their arms, stinted in provisions, destitute of shoes and clothing. Sometimes when they lay down at night, wrapped in their blankets and the skins of wild beasts, before morning they would be completely enveloped in a new crop of snow, and they rose at day- dawn with benumbed limbs and bristling icicles frozen to their long hair and whiskers." At length they encamped on the summit of Tunichi range. "The desolateness of the place was dreadful." But "the descent was even more terrible than the ascent had been. * The crevices in the rocks were filled with driven snow many fathoms deep, so that man and horse would often plunge into these through mis- take, from which it was difficult to extricate themselves. Having accomplished the descent at sunset, the men built their campfires-for they had no tents-on a brook issuing from a cleft in the mountain side, where they found wood and grass." Here the long and bitter
.
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travail ended, the remainder of the journey to Bear Springs being accomplished without difficulty.
Meanwhile, Doniphan had been scouring the country in other directions in search of Navajoes, and having made numerous captures, met Gilpin at Bear Springs, when a council was held and a treaty of peace signed, which terminated present disorders. Their next move- ment brought them to the pueblo of Zuni. "During the entire march into the San Juan Mountains," writes Hughes, "there appeared numerous indications of the precious metals abounding. Blossoms of gold, silver and lead, and some specimens of copper were seen. This whole region of country is unquestionably rich in mineral wealth." At Zuni another council was held, and terms of peace between the Pueblos and the Navajoes negotiated.
This business having been concluded, Gilpin's detachment pro- ceeded to the Valley of the Del Norte by way of Laguna. The results are thus summarized : " The march of the squadron under command of Major Gilpin ranks among the brightest achievements of the war. His passage over the Cordilleras and Tunichi Mountains, accomplished as it was in the depth of winter, when the elements and obstacles were ten times more dreadful than the foe, with men destitute of everything but arms and resolution, meets not with a parallel in the annals of his- tory. From the time of his leaving Santa Fé, including the diversion he made into the country of the Yutas, his column marched at least seven hundred and fifty miles before reaching Valverde, over the loft- iest mountains and most inaccessible regions on the continent. The success of the celebrated Navajo treaty was not less owing to the gal- lantry and energy of this column, in hunting up and bringing in the chiefs of that nation, than to the skill and diplomacy of Col. Doniphan, who brought the negotiations to a happy issue."
While on this expedition Major Gilpin acquired much of the knowledge, not only of the configuration of the Rocky Mountains in the Southwest, and the geography of the region penetrated, but of the existence of gold and silver bearing ores, which led in after years,
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during his brief administration as the Executive of Colorado Terri- tory, to the organization of an exploring party into the section where at this time are being developed some of the richest mines in the world. His tramps with Fremont in previous years suggested that this country contained vast treasures. Its promulgation wherever he could find an audience, led to revelations that have built the State. Here he discovered che actual demonstration.
Excepting the conflicts with savage tribes, the burden of which fell upon Gilpin, the conquest of New Mexico was bloodless. It is unne- cessary to follow the further advances of the army into California. It is sufficient to say that both Doniphan and Gilpin bore conspicuous parts in the war, participating in numerous bloody engagements, which gave ample proof of their valor, and which have been woven into the history of that memorable struggle.
Col. Doniphan died in Missouri in August, 1887, but Gilpin lives to witness the fruition of his prophecies made years before its birth in regard to the Central State of the great Western Empire.
We now take up one of the three principal surveys designed for the location of a route for a Pacific Railway through a portion of the vast territory which fell into the hands of the government as one of the results of the Mexican war.
By authority of an act of Congress approved March 3, 1853, directing such explorations and surveys as may be necessary to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, the War Department, by Jefferson Davis, its Secretary, ordered the survey of a line through the Rocky Mountains near the headwaters of the Rio del Norte by way of the Huerfano and Cochetopa, or some other eligible pass, into the region of Grand and Green Rivers, and westerly to the Vegas de Santa Clara and Nicollet Rivers, to the Great Basin, and thence northward to the vicinity of Lake Utah on a return route, with the view of exploring the most available passes and cañons of the Wahsatch range. and the South Pass to Fort Laramie. At the head of this expedition
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was placed Capt. J. W. Gunnison, of the Topographical Engineers, with Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith, of the Third Artillery, as assistant, and Captain R. M. Morris in command of the escort.
Outfitting in St. Louis, and taking a detachment of troops from Fort Leavenworth, the company made its general rendezvous at West- port. On the 17th of June, 1853, it advanced along the old Santa Fé trail, pursuing the general level of the country between the Kansas and Osage Rivers to a point on the Arkansas three miles below the original Bent's Fort, where it encamped. Lieutenant Beckwith in his report observes that this fort was abandoned in 1849, "but not until the owner had destroyed it." As they met William Bent at the ford, it is assumed that the information came from him. At that time the adobe walls, with here and there a tower or chimney, were still standing, and some of the remains in a fair state of preservation may be seen at this late day. The report comments at some length upon the peculiar advantages of this position for a strong military post, because of its accessibility from all points, the abundance of grass and fuel, and its central position on natural lines from the east, from Santa Fé, from Taos,-thien one of the strongest trading posts on the extreme fron- tier,-through the Sangre de Cristo, and from Fort Laramie, a well known and frequently traveled route. Says Beckwith, " It is on an emigrant road from Southern Missouri and Arkansas, either by the North Park or Cochetopa Pass; and it is in the heart of the Indian country, accessible to the resorts of the Comanches, Cheyennes, Ara- pahoes, Kiowas, and some bands of Apaches, and even occasionally of the Utahs of New Mexico." Exactly why the government persistently ignored the eligibility of this noted crossing and ultimately established Fort Wise, and still later Fort Lyon, a long distance below on the Arkansas in less desirable situations, cannot be related. But the fact remains that Beckwith was entirely correct in his opinion of its value.
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