USA > Wyoming > The history of Wyoming from the earliest known discoveries > Part 33
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and would see to it that they followed the train and de- spoiled the emigrants of all they possessed. George Morris, one of the emigrants, refused to be bulldozed, and drawing a revolver, covered Reshaw with it and ordered him to get in the boat and accompany a load that was going across, informing him at the same time that he would stand no more of his abuse, but that he might make his complaint to the leader of the train, who was on the other side of the river. Reshaw went over, and when he reached the other side. he burst out anew and fairly astonished the people of the train with his violent language. It so happened that the parties to the dispute were standing near a wagon which was occu- pied by a sick man. Reshaw heard the click of a rifle as it was cocked and looking around to see where it came from, discovered that the invalid had him covered with his rifle and seemed to be fully determined to hold his advantage. This brought an end to the scene and Reshaw and his armed ruffians started back down the river, but with a parting malediction on the heads of the emigrants, threatening them with 500 savages, who at his bidding would capture the train, scalp the people and run off their stock. He then left, amid the jeers of the party. As soon as he had de- parted a subscription was taken up and twenty-five dollars raised and paid to the owner of the boat for its use. The train now proceeded on to the west. Reshaw's threat was not carried out, as no Indians followed or disturbed the emigrants.
In that same year Louis Ganard built a bridge at the Mormon ferry, as it had become a place of some importance. This point was occupied by troops July 29, 1858, Companies D and E, Fourth Artillery, Captain Joseph Roberts, Cap- tain G. W. Getty, being a part of the second column of the Utah expedition, for the purpose of keeping open the com- munication with Salt Lake City, and to aid in the prompt forwarding of supplies. I find on file in the War Depart- ment an order dated Washington, March 23, 1859, which orders the abandonment of the post at Platte Bridge, and the troops were accordingly withdraw on April 20th of that
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year. The same order includes the abandonment of Camp Walbach, a post which had been located at a somewhat earlier date, but what year I am unable to find in the records of the War Department. The location of this post was at the head of Lodge Pole Creek, on the old Lodge Pole trail. The locality is now in Albany County, about twenty miles east of Laramie. Old pioneers say that the soldiers sta- tioned at Camp Walbach were massacred in 1854, but that it was reoccupied afterwards. It was an unhealthy spot, the water being bad and caused a great amount of sickness among the troops. There were no troops at Platte Bridge from April 20, 1859, until sometime in the month of May, 1862, when it was occupied by volunteer troops who were serving as escort for emigrants and for the protection of the telegraph line. When it was decided, a year or two later, to chastise the Indians, the post was rebuilt to accommo- date several companies.
To return to the Platte bridge, which was the most notable structure of its kind in this part of the country in early times. It was finished, it was said, at a cost of $60,- 000. It was of cedar logs, built on cribs filled with stone, and made to resist the current of the river and time. Martin Oliver of Caspar, who, when he first came to the country, worked on the bridge, says that it was commonly reported that Ganard came from the Sweetwater with $30,000 in cash, and this sum he put in the new bridge before it was completed, and that he spent every year large sums in building new piers and structural work. This, then, is the $60,000 which the bridge is said to have cost.
At the time Johnston's army went to Utah in 1857, Jim Bridger had a ferry on the North Platte, a short distance below where Orin Junction is today. Its more exact loca- tion is near the Cheyenne and Northern railroad bridge which now spans the North Platte. This ferry was a fairly good business enterprise, but Bridger was too active a man to give it much personal attention. He had a number of partners in the venture, and it is quite safe to say that he did not make any great amount of money out of his ferry.
2
LA BONTE STAGE STATION ON THE OVERLAND.
BRIDGER'S FERRY.
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At the time he put in this ferry on the North Platte, Jim Baker commenced a like enterprise on Green River at the old Overland crossing. Baker was another man who was not adapted to a business requiring him to remain in one place, but he made some money during 1857-8, yet the sea- son of high water was so short that it was not encouraging for him to continue the business any great length of time.
I will now go back to the Overland Stage Company. The new proprietors, Russell, Majors and Waddell, regard- less of expense, abundantly equipped the line and started the stages running early in the summer of 1859. The rush to California, Oregon and Utah was considerable that year and the Concord coaches were filled with trans-continental travelers. They did a large business in express as well as passengers. This same firm ran a line from Leavenworth to Denver. Previous to that all mail for Denver and other Colorado points was carried by the Salt Lake stages and dropped at Fort Laramie, and mail matter was often three months old when it reached Colorado. Russell, Majors and Waddell did business under the name "Central Overland, California and Pike's Peak Express Company." This name was so unwieldy that it was abbreviated to "C. O. C. & P. P. Express," which everybody will admit was long enough. Newspaper editors of the country, those practi- cal men of few words, called it the Overland stage, and the roadway itself the Overland trail. This great mail, express and passenger route was the talk of the whole country and the news of events occurring along the line became a regular feature in the great journals of the day. This news consist- ed principally of attacks on the stages or the stage sta- tions by Indians, robberies by freebooters, snowbound stages, sickness and deaths along the road. Those were days filled with stirring events in Wyoming, but the coun- try had scarcely accustomed itself to the fast time made by the daily Overland stage before a new enterprise was announced. W. H. Russell of the C. O. C. & P. P. Express conceived the idea of carrying letters to and from Califor- nia by pony express, and the schedule time between San
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Francisco and New York was ten days, less than half the time heretofore required to carry the mail through." All letters by this route were required to be written on tissue paper, and the charge for each half ounce was $5.00. Mes- sages by this line were sent by telegraph from New York and other eastern points to St. Joseph, Missouri. They were then carried by pony express to Sacramento, Califor- nia, and from there forwarded by telegraph to San Fran- cisco. On the pony express line between the Missouri River and Sacramento there were 190 stations; 200 men were employed as station keepers and eighty men as riders. Riders were selected from trappers and scouts, who were acquainted with the country, understood the service for which they were needed, capable of great physical power, endurance and bravery. They were armed with a Marlin rifle and a Colt's revolver of the most approved pattern. The horses were a cross between the American horse and the Indian pony. The saddle was of medium weight, made of the best material, and to the cantle was attached a pair of saddle-bags containing the dispatches and letters. The schedule time to be made was fifteen miles an hour, but this was more than was averaged. The first pony express left St. Joseph April 3, 1860, going by way of Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie, South Pass, Fort Bridger, Salt Lake, Carson City, to Sacramento, making the distance in ten days. The first express rider from the west left Sacramento on April 4th and reached St. Joseph on the 13th. These trips were made once a week from each way. It was considered at that time a wonderful achievement, but in a financial way it was not a success. Indian troubles occurred at many points; stations were burned and the keepers killed, stock run off, riders shot from ambush, and in short the dangers were of such a character as to be almost insurmountable, and yet the promoters of the line continued to furnish new riders in place of those killed and new ponies in place of those stolen, and so they continued to keep the enterprise in
*F. A. Bee and B. F. Ficklin were the assistant projectors of the pony express, though W H. Russell was the man who organized it.
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full practical operation for two years, when it was from ne- cessity abandoned, the business having paid only about ten per cent of the amount expended.
The season of 1861 was filled with important events along the Overland trail in Wyoming. There were many depredations committed by Indians and the trouble seemed to be on the increase as the summer advanced. The Sioux were out in full force, likewise the Cheyennes. The Sho- shones early in June camped on the Sweetwater, ten miles west of Strawberry Creek. Soon after a war party of Chey- ennes, Sioux and Arapahoes made their appearance on the Strawberry, where Lewiston is now located. They were in search of the Shoshone village and they pushed on to the west to the point where their scouts had located the enemy. The Sioux had the advance and came in sight of the Sho- shone camp just at sunrise on the morning of June 20th. B. F. Lowe, who was at the Shoshone encampment, says that as the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes advanced in solid column with the rising sun reflecting on their bright bur- nished spears and shields, it was a magnificent sight. The Sioux dashed forward and cut off four hundred of the Sho- shone horses and started back with them in an easterly di- rection. All was now excitement in the Shoshone village, and preparations were instantly made to follow the ma- rauders. The war chief of the band was the eldest son of Chief Washakie, and he was the first to mount. He sat astride his noble war-horse, in front of his father's lodge, waiting for a few of his picked men. The old chief came out and his face wore signs of impatience. Casting his eyes on the young war chief, he said, "What are you waiting for?" The young man made no reply, but brushing the flanks of his horse with his heels, the spirited animal bounded for- ward, carrying the war chief in pursuit of the fleeing ene- my. He dashed along a distance of six miles, when he came up to eight Sioux Indians at the crossing of Willow Creek. These closed in on him with their lances, but the Shoshone warrior, with a Colt's revolver in each hand, did not shrink from the unequal contest. With his right hand
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he brought down a Sioux, and another with his left, but at this instant the remaining six crossed their spears in his body and he fell to the ground lifeless. His enemies had barely time to remove his scalp when young Washakie's friends were upon them and a running fight ensued which lasted for three hours. The Shoshones recaptured their horses, besides securing a number of those belonging to the Sioux, who had retreated into a green grove of quaking asp near Eagle Nest, on Little Beaver. The Shoshones as- saulted their position but were unable to drive the Sioux out of the timber and finally night put an end to the con- test. After a brief consultation, the Shoshones decided to return to their village, bury their dead and care for the wounded. The Sioux, taking advantage of the darkness, managed to escape, but they were on foot and had to travel many a weary mile to insure their safety. The Shoshones lost in this fight five killed and several wounded; the Sioux had forty men killed and lost a large amount of supplies, arms and horses. Chief Washakie has never ceased to mourn the loss of this, his eldest son. He has always felt that his own hasty words brought about the death of the young man.
In this connection it will not be out of place to more fully introduce this remarkable chieftain, who will here- after be prominent in this history. Captain Bonneville says that in 1833 he met a young Shoshone chief, "a man of great promise," but unfortunately he fails to give his name. I feel satisfied, however, that the chief he referred to was Washakie. This great leader of the Shoshones became a chief when he was nineteen years old. The "Indian Guide," published at the Wind River boarding school, Shoshone Agency, in its December number, 1897, says that Washakie was born 1803, that his father was a Flathead and his mother a Shoshone, that he was a warrior from his youth up. According to the date given by the "Indian Guide," Washakie was 30 years old at the time Bonneville met him. The age of this chief has been a question of more or less speculation for years. In 1892 the writer met this re-
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nowned warrior at Fort Washakie, and in the conversation. asked him how old he was and he promptly replied that he did not know, but he remembered that he was fifty-five years of age at the time the great treaty was signed, meaning the treaty of 1868. This would make the year of his birth 1813 and his age when Bonneville met him twenty years, and eighty-five at the present time (1898.)
The Overland telegraph was the great event in the west during the year 1861. Edward Creighton of Omaha, in. 1860, conceived the idea of constructing a line of telegraph across the Rocky Mountains. He had completed several lines in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, and this experi- ence, together with his great energy and business qualifica- tions, enabled him to carry out the undertaking. During . the year 1860 he entered into a contract with the Western Union people to build a line from the Missouri River to Salt Lake. Congress, in the meantime, had granted a subsidy of $40,000 a year for ten years as an inducement for the con- struction of the telegraph. During the fall of 1860, Mr. Creighton visited Salt Lake and secured the co-operation of Brigham Young in the enterprise. From Salt Lake he went to California and procured the help of the California State Telegraph Company. This company was to build as far east as Salt Lake. In the spring, Mr. Creighton com- menced the construction west and the work was pushed with great vigor, and on October 17th, 1861, his con- tract to construct the line to Salt Lake was completed and on the 24th of the same month the California company reached Salt Lake with their line and the two wires were united. The route chosen was the Overland trail. The telegraph offices were numerous in Wyoming-one at Fort Laramie, Horse Shoe, Deer Creek, Platte Bridge, a couple on the Sweetwater, one at South Pass, Sand Creek, Fort Bridger and several other points. As part payment for the construction of the line, Mr. Creighton was to receive $100,- 000 in stock, which was valued at eighteen cents on the dol- lar. The company afterwards increased the amount of stock to three times the original and gave Mr. Creighton his
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portion of the increase. The shares immediately rose in value from eighteen cents to eighty-five cents. He after- wards sold one-third of his stock for $850,000. This same contractor in 1865 commenced to build a line from Denver west on the southern stage route, and the next year it was pushed across Laramie Plains, through Bridger Pass and on to Fort Bridger and Salt Lake. Both of these lines were of national importance and a great convenience to the army in its operations against the Indians in Wyoming.
CHAPTER XXX.
CHANGING THE OVERLAND TRAIL.
BEN HOLLIDAY BECOMES PROPRIETOR OF THE STAGE LINE-SHOSHONES CAPTURE ALL THE HORSES FOR A DISTANCE OF 200 MILES-THE MORMON BATTALION-ARRIVAL OF VOLUNTEER TROOPS-THE EMI- GRANT ROAD EXPEDITION-COLONEL P. EDWARD CONNOR TAKES CHARGE OF THE MILITARY DISTRICT OF UTAH-FORT DOUGLASS LO- CATED-FORT BRIDGER GARRISONED-MORMON EFFORT TO HAVE TROOPS REMOVED FROM FORT DOUGLAS-COLONEL CONNOR'S LETTER TO THE WAR DEPARTMENT-REMOVAL OF THE STAGES TO THE LARA- MIE PLAINS AND BRIDGER PASS ROUTE-WHISKY GAP NAMED-THOR- OUGH EQUIPMENT OF THE HOLLIDAY LINE.
The events on the Overland mail route in the year 1862 were many. Tribes that had heretofore been peaceable suddenly assumed an attitude of hostility. The trouble had in the past been mostly with the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arap. ahoes, but in the early spring of this year Indians to the west made war on emigrants, freighters and the Overland mail coaches. The government, being now thoroughly aroused, ordered to the west volunteer troops from Califor- nia, Kansas, Iowa and other states. There were some troops enlisted by the government composed of captured Confederate soldiers and also deserters from the southern army. These were made into regiments which were sent
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Changing the Overland Trail.
to fight Indians on the plains and were styled U. S. Volun- teers. When these troops arrived in the west they were distinguished from other volunteers by being called "Gal- vanized Yankees." Before any of the troops mentioned had time to arrive, the Indians commenced active hostili- ties.
During the winter of 1861-2, Russell, Majors and Wad- dell found themselves financially embarrassed through losses sustained in the pony express enterprise and the daily Overland coach system. They had been obliged to borrow large sums of money to meet their obligations and keep the business running, and they found themselves at the close of 1861 owing Ben Holliday $100,000. Holliday was the proprietor of the line running from Salt Lake to California. Russell, Majors and Waddell being unable to meet their debt to Holliday, turned over to him the prop- erty and franchises. The pony express had served its pur- pose, however, by securing from the government a contract for carrying the mails for the neat sum of $1,000,000. This contract, or at least one-half of it, together with the horses, coaches, stations and outfit of the line from the Missouri River to Salt Lake, fell into the hands of Holliday at a mere nominal cost, and Russell, Majors and Waddell were obliged to content themselves with a loss of several hun- dred thousand dollars. It was a bitter stroke of fortune for these pioneers.
Holliday had been busy during the winter and spring, stocking up the line, distributing additional men, horses and stores at the different stations in Wyoming, and all things were in readiness for business when in March, like a thun- derclap from a clear sky, the Shoshone tribe which had for so many years been peaceable and friendly to the whites, made a descent simultaneously on the stage stations from Platte Bridge, just above Caspar, to Bear River Station, where Evanston now stands, and captured every horse and mule belonging to the company. The coaches containing passengers were left standing at stations and between sta- tions. The Indians refrained from killing anyone except at
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the station of Split Rock, on the Sweetwater. Holliday had brought to that place a Pennsylvania colored man who spoke only what is called Pennsylvania Dutch. This man was the cook at the station. The Indians who were gather- ing up the stock reached Split Rock and concluded that it was a good opportunity to get something to eat, and select- ing one of their number who could speak English, instructed him to direct the negro to prepare dinner for them. The order was given in fairly good English, but the negro failed to understand. The native linguist then tried French and followed it with Spanish, but none of these languages were understood by the trembling cook and things began to look serious. After a brief consultation among the Shoshones, they decided that the negro was bad medicine, so they killed him on the spot. Near the Devil's Gate Station they met the west bound coach, which contained, besides some pas- sengers, Lem Flowers, an agent of the company, also two other employes, Jim Reed and Bill Brown. A demand was made on them for the horses, which they refused to give up, and a fight ensued which resulted in the wounding of the three men mentioned. They finally gave up the horses, and the Indians were content to go away. This attack on the stage line by the Shoshones resulted in the stoppage of all stages in Wyoming. President Lincoln was appealed to, but having no troops who could reach the scene of Indian depredations under two months, made a personal appeal to Brigham Young to send troops for the protection of the mails. In response to this request, Young sent what was known as the Mormon battalion. It consisted of 300 men under the command of Lot Smith. Headquarters being es- tablished near Devil's Gate, details of twenty men were made to guard different points on the road. New stock was furnished by the stage company, and by the time the stages were again ready to move, the Sioux in eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska started out on their regular spring campaign of murder and plunder. The War Department, being again appealed to, could do nothing but push the vol- unteer troops forward. The Fourth Iowa Cavalry arrived
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in May, and they were followed by a battalion of the Sixth Ohio Cavalry, afterwards known as the Eleventh Ohio Cav. alry, and about the same time the Eighth Kansas Infantry came out. These troops were distributed over a wide sec. tion of country, and their duties were to escort emigrant trains, the mail coaches, and to guard and repair the tele. graph line. It was hard service, but it was performed in a creditable manner. The Mormon battalion did not wait to be relieved, but quietly withdrew to Salt Lake. It has never been explained why these troops were in such a hurry to get away. It has been claimed, however, that Brigham Young offered to make a contract with the government to guard the Overland mail, and it is believed that his proposi- tion was considered at the time, but nothing came of it. There were many charges made against the Mormons at that period, some going so far as to claim that they were responsible for the Indian outbreaks. This was the opinion of a majority of the army officers who were engaged in the Indian service.
It is an indisputable fact, when we look up the evidence, that the government had many enemies in this quarter of the globe, shortly after the breaking out of the war. Many army officers who had been in service in the west had re- signed and cast their lot with the southern Confederacy in 1861, and these had their friends in the west. The Demo- cratic party was in control of the national government up to the time of Lincoln's inauguration. The southern peo- ple, who had always possessed a strong desire for civil ap- pointments in connection with the army, had been success- ful in securing numerous post traderships, and these traders had brought with them assistants and clerks from the south and it was quite natural that these people should be in sym- pathy with their kindred at home. This element, up to the time the volunteers were stationed along the Overland trail, was more or less demonstrative. The Mormons, no one pretended to claim had any love for the government. Added to this disloyal sentiment, there was a Confederate influence brought to bear from New Mexico, which showed
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itself in Colorado and in other portions of the Rocky Moun- tains, and especially along the Overland trail. Public feel- ing ran high in Denver and on one occasion a rebel flag was raised over a store on Sixteenth street, in that city. A crowd of Union men quickly gathered in front of the store and told the parties who raised the flag that Denver was a Union city and that the Confederate emblem must be taken* down at once or serious consequences would result. The flag was promptly removed. Governor Gilpin took ener- getic measures to protect Union citizens, and to this end raised a military force which co-operated with the United States troops in the subjugation of the Confederates in the southwest. His splendid service on this occasion did much to suppress disloyalty in the whole western country. The Confederate sympathizers in Wyoming were not numerous enough to exert any detrimental influence after the arrival of the volunteer troops. A few ill-advised persons along the stage line expressed their sympathy with the Confederacy and denounced President Lincoln, but a sharp reprimand from an officer was all that was required to bring these fool- ish people to their senses. Volunteers thought it bad enough to be obliged to fight savages without submitting to having treason talked in their presence by white men, con- sequently it early came to be understood that neither the government of the United States nor its honored chief ex- ecutive could be lightly spoken of in their hearing.
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