USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 14
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On June 12, 1847, the caravan arrived at the Platte River, two miles above the
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present City of Casper, where it was intended to cross the stream. Boats and rafts were constructed, but the river was running bank full and a whole week was spent in effecting a crossing. On the 19th the entire party was across the river and ready to proceed. The 20th was Sunday, but so much time had been lost that the emigrants traveled all day. On the 26th they went through the South Pass, where they met a party of trappers led by Moses Harris, who gave them in- formation regarding the course they were to pursue. Two days later they met Jim Bridger, from whom they obtained additional information. This was the first meeting of Bridger and Brigham Young, and both their parties encamped while the leaders held a conference.
Upon reaching Green River on the last day of June, the company was met by Elder Brennan of California, who urged Brigham Young to go to Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) but the committee sent out early in the year had reported in favor of the Salt Lake Valley and Young would not alter his course. Green River was crossed on the 3d of July and a rest of two days followed. From this point five men were sent back to pilot the other trains. On the 6th the company encamped on the site of the present Town of Granger. Wyo., and on the 7th arrived at Fort Bridger.
Jim Bridger was exceedingly skeptical about the Salt Lake Valley being a place to establish a farming community and it is said he offered Brigham Young $1,000 for the first bushel of grain grown in the valley. To this Young merely replied "Wait and see."
On July 21, 1847, the first company, led by Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow, saw from the top of an elevation the panorama of the Great Salt Lake Valley and sent a messenger back with the information that they had reached the place recommended by the committee of investigation. Young had made such head- way with his company that he arrived on the 24th, only three days behind the leaders, though the latter had a start of nearly a month from the Missouri River. The day before his arrival some of the first company plowed the first ground ever broken between the Platte River and the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
An August 16, 1847, Brigham Young started back to the Missouri River to in- form those left behind of the character of the country and the prospects for the future. A history of the Mormons entitled "Route from Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Valley," was published in 1853, edited by one James Linforth. It gives the following account of the emigration to Utah :
"The next consecutive event of importance in President Young's career after his arrival at Kanesville or Council Bluffs, was his starting in the spring of 1847, at the head of 143 picked men, embracing eight of the Twelve Apostles, across the unexplored country in search of a new home for the Saints beyond the Rocky Mountains. (Young really accompanied this company only as far as the Elkhorn River.) The pioneer band pursued their way over sage and saleratus plains, across unbridged rivers and through mountain defiles, until their toilsome and weary journey was terminated by the discovery of Great Salt Lake Valley and the choice of it for the gathering place of the Saints. They then returned to Council Bluffs, where they arrived on the 31st of October, and an epistle was issued on the 23d of December by the Twelve Apostles, noticing the principal events since the expulsion from Nauvoo and the discovery of the Great Salt Lake Valley."
While the above statement is correct in the main, it is not true that the entire
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143 "picked men" returned to the Missouri. Those who returned were Brigham Young and the committee which had been sent out to select a location.
In the march across the plains every man among the Mormons carried a rifle or a musket, and such discipline was maintained that it is said the Indians would frequently allow a small party of Mormons to pass unmolested and attack a much larger body of other emigrants, who were not so well organized for defense. The route the emigrants followed from the Mississippi River near Keokuk, Iowa, became known as the "Mormon Trail." In after years the Mor- mon Trail westward from the Missouri River became the route of the great Union Pacific Railway.
The number of Mormons who passed up the Platte Valley and through Wyo- ming in 1847 was 3,113. In 1848 Brigham Young personally conducted 1,200 men, women and children to the new home of the Saints and a number of smaller parties came in under other leaders, so that in the fall of that year the Salt Lake Valley had a population of about five thousand. During the next five years it is estimated that one hundred thousand Mormons crossed the plains on their way to Salt Lake. They opened and developed farms, built irrigation systems, and transformed the desert into a veritable garden spot.
THE SCARE OF 1857-58
At the time the first Mormons settled in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the terri- tory was outside of the boundaries of the United States. By the Treaty of Guad- alupe Hidalgo, in 1848, which concluded the Mexican war, Utah, with other ter- ritory in the Southwest, was ceded to the United States by Mexico. The Mor- mons then organized the "State of Deseret," adopted a constitution and sent a delegate to Washington to urge the admission of the state into the Union. Con- gress refused to admit the state, or to recognize the delegate, but in 1850 the Territory of Utah was organized and Brigham Young was appointed governor.
In the latter '50s a number of outrages were committed upon emigrant trains and some of these outrages were attributed to the Mormon organizations known as the "Danites" and the "Avenging Angels." In 1857 trouble arose between Brigham Young and the other territorial officials appointed by President Buchanan. Perhaps the officials may have been incompetent to a certain degree, as claimed by Young, but the Territorial Legislature of Utah had already adopted the laws of the State of Deseret and it was apparent that the Mormon Church was de- termined to rule the territory. Instructions from Washington were disregarded and in some cases Young openly defied the United States authorities. It was finally decided by the administration to send a military expedition to Utah, to pre- serve order in the territory and prevent further depredations against peaceful emigrants.
When the announcement was made public in the fall of 1857, that the Govern- ment was about to send an expedition into Utah, considerable anxiety was felt among the settlers of the West, for fear that the Mormons would retaliate by sending companies of the "Danites" and "Angels" against the frontier settle- ments. Gen. William S. Harney was first selected as the leader of the expedition, but he was succeeded by Col. Albert Sidney Johnston, who was afterward killed at the Battle of Shiloh, in April, 1862, while commanding the Confederate forces. Vol. I-9
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The expedition left Fort Leavenworth in the fall of 1857, and, although there was little actual fighting, the Mormons harassed Johnston's movements to such an extent by burning supply trains, etc., that the troops did not occupy Salt Lake City until in June, 1858.
While the expedition was en route the "scare" reached its greatest height. In April, 1858, a communication signed "Fair Warning" was published in the Omaha Times, in which the writer said: "When our army shall enter the Valley of the Salt Lake the Mormons en masse will rise in hostile array, for they are sworn to resist. At that moment let the good people west of us look well to their safety. We hesitate not to say that those 1,000 Mormons near Loup Fork, armed and equipped as they are, can and will sweep from existence every Gentile village and soul west of the Elkhorn. As to Omaha City, the nursling of a government hostile to Mormon rule, the rival of Mormon towns and the victim of sworn Mormon vengeance, how shall she share in this strife? In the space of one night the 100 Saints now here could lay in ashes every house in the city, whilst the armed bands in our vicinity should pillage and revel in our blood. The Deseret News proclaims to the wide world from the great leader of the hosts of the anointed thus: 'Winter quarters is mine, saith the Lord. Nebraska will I lay waste. With fear and with sword shall my people blot out from the face of the earth all those who kill the prophets and stone the Lord's anointed.'"
The Deseret News, from which the writer quoted, was a Mormon newspaper published at Salt Lake City. Truly this "Fair Warning" was a pessimistic prophet -a veritable "calamity howler"- but events failed to justify his doleful prediction. When Johnston's army arrived at Salt Lake, Brigham Young was removed as governor of the territory and the worst of the trouble was over. A garrison was maintained there for several years, however, as a precautionary measure against further insubordination on the part of the Mormon leaders.
"WESTWARD HO"
Some five years before the departure of the Mormons from their winter quarters on the Missouri, the tide of emigration westward had commenced. As early as 1841 a party of fifteen, a few of whom were women, passed the fur companies' posts in Wyoming on their way to the country west of the Rocky Mountains. Later in the same year Bidwell's California company crossed the plains. In 1842 Elijah White led 112 men, women and children through Wyoming on the way to Oregon. These emigrants were equipped with eighteen Conestoga wagons, a number of cattle, and several pack mules and horses. In crossing the plains the emigrants found resting places at Fort Laramie and other trading posts, where they could purchase supplies, though they sometimes grumbled at the prices charged by the post traders.
In 1843 the number of emigrants who crossed the plains was estimated at one thousand. By that time the western coast was no longer an unknown land. Those who went west in 1843 carried with them oxen and horses, herds of cattle, farm implements, household goods, etc., which indicated that they had "come to stay." By that time, too, the beaver had been almost exterminated in the valleys along the Wyoming streams and many of the trappers employed by the fur companies
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were diverting their attention to occupations that promised greater profits, or leaving for other fields where the beaver were more plentiful.
THE ARGONAUTS
Among those who settled in California prior to the Mexican war was John Sutter, who was born of Swiss parents in Baden, Germany, in 1803. He came to California in July, 1839, and the next year became a Mexican citizen. Alvarado, the revolutionist, was then in power as the governor of the province. He took a liking to Mr. Sutter and made him an official of the government. The same year Mr. Sutter bought out some Russian settlers on the Sacramento River and built a small fort. It was at this fort that Fremont's second expedition arrived on March 8, 1844.
Late in the year 1847 Mr. Sutter employed James W. Marshall to build a saw- mill near the fort. As the mill was to be run by water power it was necessary to excavate a mill-race, and it was in this race that gold was discovered. Mr. Marshall, who made the discovery, afterward gave the following account of how it occurred : "One morning in January ( it was the morning of January 24, 1848), as I was taking my usual walk along the race, after shutting off the water, my eye was caught with the glimpse of something shining in the bottom of the ditch. There was about a foot of water running then. I reached my hand down and picked it up; it made my heart thump, for I was certain that it was gold. The piece was about half the size and shape of a pea."
Mr. Marshall showed the nugget to Mr. Sutter and a few of the men whom he thought he could trust, and all kept a lookout for more. Within a few days they had collected about three ounces of the metal, which was subjected to tests and proved to be gold. They tried to keep the matter a secret, for fear their workmen would desert in the hope of getting rich quickly by searching for gold. but it happened that some ex-soldiers at the fort learned of the discovery and the news spread rapidly. There was no trans-continental telegraph in those days, but it was not long until every hamlet in the Union knew that gold had been found on the western coast.
Gold had been found in placers near Los Angeles in 1841, and it is said that Jedediah S. Smith found gold near Mono Lake on his first trip to the coast in 1827. Neither of these discoveries created the least ripple of excitement when compared with the discovery at Sutter's mill. Within one year nearly one hundred thousand people from the older states went to California with the expectation of accumulat- ing a fortune in a few months. There were three ways of getting to the El Dorado: I. By going by sea around Cape Horn ; 2. By the land and water route via the Isthmus of Panama; and 3. Overland via the Oregon, California and Salt Lake trails. Each of the three routes was soon crowded to its utmost capacity.
THE OVERLAND ROUTE
The principal starting points for the journey across the plains were at Inde- pendence and St. Joseph. Mo., though a little later many crossed the Missouri River where the City of Omaha is now located. California Street in that city takes
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its naine from the fact that it marks the course followed by the gold seekers of the early '50s. In April, 1849, some twenty thousand people left the Missouri River bound for the new gold fields. The plains were dotted with the vehicle known as the "prairie schooner," some rode on horseback, and many undertook the long, wearisome journey on foot. One argonaut, who afterward returned to his home east of the Mississippi, said he counted 459 wagons in going a distance of nine miles. In outfitting at the starting place, many of the wagons were laden with tools, provisions, etc., but as the journey procecded and the teams began to show signs of weariness, many of the heaviest articles were thrown away, espe- cially as the driver saw others passing him on the road. The main object was to get to the diggings before all the paying claims were "staked off." Capt. Howard Stansbury, who was then engaged in making some explorations in the West for the Government. says in his reports :
"The road was literally strewn with articles that had been thrown away. Bar iron, steel, large blacksmith anvils, bellows, crowbars, drills, augers, gold waslers, chisels, axes, lead, trunks, spades, plows, grindstones, baking ovens, cooking stoves without number, kegs, barrels, harness, clothing, bacon and beans were found along the road in pretty much the order enumerated."
Some clung to everything with which they started and in the end found it had paid them to do so. Prices in California soared. Flour sold as high as seventy- five dollars per barrel, bacon fifty cents to one dollar per pound, and other things in proportion. Those who came too late to secure a paying claim, but brought with them a supply of provisions, made about as much money as, perhaps more than, the average gold hunter. San Francisco grew from a straggling hamlet to a thriving city almost over night and was the chief source of supply for the gold diggings. "The days of '49" have been celebrated in song and story. A few acquired fortunes, but a large majority of the argonauts were glad to get back to the homes they had left, many of them poorer than when they started for the land of gold.
The first gold found in California was what is called "free gold," being easily taken from the places where it had been deposited in the sands of the streams. No costly machinery, such as stamp mills and smelters, was needed to extract the precious metal. By 1856, eight years after the first gold was found by Mr. Marshall, $450,000,000 had been taken from the California placers.
While the excitement was at its height, Fort Laramie, Fort Bridger and the other posts in Wyoming did a thriving business in furnishing supplies to the argonauts. Those who acquired wealth in the diggings usually returned east by the water route, while those who had failed and returned overland had little money with which to purchase supplies. All they wanted was a "bite to eat and a place to sleep." They carried information, however, concerning the West that had its influence upon many who, a few years later sought homes beyond the great "Father of Waters." In this way the argonauts of '49 paved the way for the settlement of Wyoming and some of the adjoining states.
Neither Marshall nor Sutter, who made the first discovery of gold, derived any substantial profit from it. They expected to make money from their saw- mill, and did make money for a time, but as the timber was cut off near the mill and logs had to be brought from a distance, their profits were reduced. Added to this, the gold fever subsided and the demand for lumber correspond-
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ingly decreased. Both were granted pensions in their old age. Marshall died at the age of seventy-three at Coloma, and was buried in sight of the spot where he found the first nugget of gold in January, 1848. Over his grave stands a statue of himself in bronze, of heroic size-a poor reward for a man who gave to the world a gold field that has produced millions of dollars.
CHAPTER X
STORIES OF THE PIONEERS
FISH AS BRAIN FOOD-A MOUNTAIN TRIP IN 1879-A FRONTIER MINING CAMP --- STORY OF THE LOST CABIN GOLD PLACERS-JOHN HUNTON AND OLD FORT LAR- AMIE-OTHER PIONEERS OF NOTE-FRANK GROUARD, THE FAMOUS SCOUT- SACAJAWEA, THE INDIAN GIRL PATHFINDER- CASPAR COLLINS AND OLD PLATTE BRIDGE-LUKE VOORHEES AND EARLY STAGE COACH DAYS-BEN. HOLLIDAY IN A HOLD UP-STORIES OF A PIONEER PREACHER-THE COWBOY'S PRAYER.
The adventures and experiences of the early settlers of Wyoming, with all their humorous, tragic and romantic phases, become more interesting to the reader and more valuable historically, as the days go by, when the actors dis- appear and the curtain falls on the thrilling and realistic scenes of frontier life. The old frontier is disappearing, in fact, has disappeared, and we realize the truth of the old saying, "Distance lends enchantment to the view." Today the auto- mobile is everywhere, and wherever that swift moving machine glides through the landscape there is no frontier-there is no explorer, for the remotest nook and corner is explored-and even the hunter and trapper by mountain or stream can no longer be a recluse in silence and solitude, for from the banks of a stream or on the side of a mountain he may hear the chug of a motor car or look up into the sky and see that bird of a new civilization, an aeroplane. Therefore we may dwell with peculiar interest on the memories and stories of the old pioneers.
From many sources have been gathered the personal narratives, sketches and relations that follow, many of them from the lips of the men who were actors in the scenes they describe, and they are given without regard to time, place or order of occurrence, promising only that they are true and illustrate historically the early days of Wyoming. To begin with some of the early experiences of the author, in which I have given some notes of what I saw and "a part of which I was."
FISH AS BRAIN FOOD
In the Territorial Legislature of 1882 I was a member of the house. We passed a pretty good game bill for that period. On the last night of the session while the house was indulging in a good deal of horse-play, Judge J. M. Carey informed me that Pete Downs, a member from Uinta County, had just been ap- pointed fish commissioner and suggested that I announce it and get a rise from the gentleman. I made the announcement and suggested to Downs that he should introduce terrapin in Crow Creek waters, plant clams in the Sweetwater and make certain experiments with pickeled eel's feet, etc. Pete Downs was
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an original character of a jovial nature and universally popular. He never made a speech longer than a motion to adjourn. As I finished the members began to call Downs, and yell "Speech ! speech !"
Pete got up somewhat flustrated and said: "Boys you know I can't make a speech."
"Yes you can, go on, go on," shouted the members.
He hesitated, cleared his throat and assumed a belligerent attitude.
"I tell you I'm no speech maker, but I want you fellers to understand if I tackle this job I am going to do it right. I'm told that fish is the greatest brain food in existence. If that's the case, I'm going to stock up our streams to beat the band, and I'm going to make it my special business to see that the next Legislature has a damn sight more brains than this one has !"
As he said this his voice rose and rang through the hall, he swung his fist around and hit the desk a resounding whack and sat down. The house broke out in a roar of laughter and applause. I have heard many orations and speeches but none so instantaneously effective.
I wish to state here, sub rosa, that since then, several Wyoming Legislatures have convened and adjourned, that certainly appeared to be shy on brain food.
TEN MILLION BUFFALO
In attendance at the Oregon Trail monument celebrations, I met and had some interesting talks with old timers. In the evening of the celebration at Fort Laramie several of us were swapping stories under the piazza of the old cavalry barracks which resembles the palaces of South American presidents. The build- ing is about three hundred feet long and has a balcony extending along the whole front. Joe Wiley is now governor general of this famous building and grounds. Talking about game animals in that section in early days, Ed. Patrick asserted that he had seen "5,000 antelope in one bunch near Rawhide Buttes, and they were so tame it was a shame to kill one."
"That's good," said I, "but when I crossed the plains in 1864, I saw 10,000,000 buffalo in practically one herd extending along the Arkansas River for five hundred miles."
"How do you know there were 10,000,000" said Patrick.
"I counted 'em," said I.
This raised a laugh on Patrick and he came back with this :
"How did you count them?"
"Psychologically and in my mind's eye," said I.
There might have been more but a million or so difference in the estimate wouldn't cut much figure. Our route lay along the Arkansas Valley from Man- hattan to Ben's old fort and being in the month of November all the big herds of the North were moving South and found their best feeding grounds in this section. They therefore delayed in crossing south during the pleasant weather and rap- idly accumulated in numbers. The western Indians were on the warpath then and might be classed as wild animals, but that makes another story.
Showing how tame wild game was at that time, Mr. Patrick mentioned the incident of a young antelope getting in between his team of horses for protection from a dog.
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A NORTH PARK TRIP
In August, 1878, I came to Cheyenne to take the position of military store- keeper at Camp Carlin which was then the largest supply depot in the West. It had fourteen large warehouses full of military supplies, several large manufac- turing and repair establishments, a garrison of soldiers, officers and employees quarters, corrals and stables for five large wagon trains. Ten forts located at points in Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska and Idaho were supplied from this great depot. and from three hundred to four hundred civilians were given constant employment as teamsters, wagon makers, blacksmiths, saddlers, packers, etc. The military depot was located about half way between Fort Russell and Cheyenne.
In the summer of 1879 with my wife and children, I made a camping out trip to and through North Park for a month's vacation. We took a tent, camp equipage and grub. There were few ranches and for days at a time we saw no human habitations. Game was very plentiful, especially antelope. At the southern end of the park we camped near a ranch where the owner had seven or eight elk he had captured and was training them for work and selling them to animal collectors. These elk were as tame as a domestic cow.
On the trip we had a dog who was fired with the ambition to catch an ante- lope, but he got his lesson and quit. In the last attempt he started after a bunch when the leader, a big buck, turned around suddenly and jumped on him with his forefeet, stiff-legged. The dog, who was hit only by a powerful glanc- ing stroke, rolled over down the hill yelling in terror. He came back to the wagon with scars on his head and the side of his body and never chased any more antelope.
Twice on the trip we found little baby antelopes in the sage brush where the mother had left them. One little one that was running around we captured and took along for a pet, feeding him on canned milk, warm and diluted. He thrived well for several days, but at one of our camping places got away long enough to drink some very cold spring water, which caused his death.
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