Ghost Towns

The Western landscape by nature reflected the moving on spirit. The remains of wagon train settlements were abandoned by those looking for a fresh start. A nearly empty continent with fast moving families  left behind the abandoned places we know as ghost towns - places left before they were used up.

in Iowa, for example a list from 1930 of towns, villages, even post offices that had been abandoned since 1838 were 2,205 ghost towns.   This list did not count towns and villages that become parts of other places, nor name changes. or those never built up.  These were actually abandoned places where people had once lived. Mail was delivered there.   Houses were built.   Hopes and dreams were lived out before the people moved on. The time frame for this list only concerned places abandoned between 1852-1912 -  a period of 60 years.  A comparable list of Kansas abandoned towns is over 2,500 considered ghost towns.

The western settlers moved on because they had more need, more temptation and more opportunity to do so. They had no roots and no time to make roots. The uncertain America from as far back as the first
settlement of Jamestown was one of the first ghost towns. Founded in 1607, it had the first legislative assembly in 1619 and was actually the capital of Virginia until 1698. By 1722 a visitor noted that
"nothing but abundance of brick rubble and three or four inhabited homes" remained of Jamestown.

Like the West, our capital was mobile and the eastern states capitals as well. By 1812 eight of the original 13 states had different capital cities than they had in 1776.  Most of these new capitals were moved once the new capitals had gained enough population.  Many were were settled for that specific purpose. New Hampshire's capital moved from Portsmouth to Concord (1808). New York City to Albany (1797), Princeton, New Jersey to Trenton (1790) with Pennsylvania, Delaware,  North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia all following suit. These were the signs of rapid population growth in America's early days

 

Unlike the western territories, these capitals did not become ghost towns, just cities of lesser importance.  The western territories however went about their capitals a bit differently…

Next time- The Western Capitals

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Today in Pioneer History: "On August 17, 1862, Minnesota erupts in violence as desperate Dakota Indians attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. The Dakota were eventually overwhelmed by the U.S. military six weeks later. The Dakota Indians were more commonly referred to as the Sioux, a derogatory name derived from part of a French word meaning “little snake.”

This Land in My Land

Traveling back in time to a wide open West.  Before the Gold Rush.  A nearly empty continent west of the Allegheny Mountains.  The Great Land Rush of the 19th century in America.  When there was no government rule, just land for the taking.  Or was there?

The western public lands were technically under the control of the Federal government headquartered in the East.  The belief was that you could not deal with land at a distance without an accurate definition of what you were dealing with.  This led to surveying the lands into rectangle townships - each six miles square with 36 sections, each a mile square of 640 acres.  The sale of these large tracts of land to those in the East with money seemed the simplest and most orderly way of settling the West.  Beginning with Ohio in 1803 (the first public land state) the government kept the title to all ungranted land with the exception of that for education.  Nice and orderly...

That's not how it actually happened though...the first settlers, called "squatters" were those that got there first and they didn't wait for any laws or deeds to tell them they owned the land.  They cared less and knew even less what the government said.  To have waited for protection by law would have been to lose all the advantages of being there first.  So they made their own laws.

These settlers came without proper documentation, nor the intention of adhering to any program or surveys.  They stopped here, they stopped there, according to how the land looked, how the wagon was faring, if the oxen were tired.  More times than not they didn't stay put and moved on - not really knowing where their final destination was, but hoping for the best land.  However orderly and neat might the Federal plan be, the settlement of the West was anything but that - nearly all westward movement in America in the 19th century was a land rush.

Next time...building a system of laws.

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Today in Pioneer History: "On June 15, 1846, the Oregon Treaty is signed between the US and Great Britain, establishing the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Georgia as the boundary between the United States and British Canada.  The United States gained control of the Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana while the British retained Vancouver Island and navigation rights to part of the Columbia River. 

Mary Rockwood Powers - Conclusion

I have to ask what was Americus's problem?  Was it just a family squabble that Mary made sound more than it was? Was Americus really a fool?  Or was it because Mary was said to have been a very pretty young woman and her behavior with the other men was inappropriate?  We are left to wonder...

In October 1856 the family came out of Sierra Nevada.  Of all the stories we have looked at,

emotional stability had threatened the Powers' lives, not the Indians.  Mary told her mother "my health was most miserable and grew worse very fast.  Our journey across the Plains was a long and hard one.  We lost everything but our lives."

The following June in California, Mary gave birth to twins, of whom died before their first birthday.  Mary remained loyal to her husband, but one year later she, too died.  This time Americus wrote to Mary's mother "Mary followed me to a distant land, but the expedition was an unfortunate one.  Had it succeeded we would have been independent, but since everything went wrong, I did the best I could and so did Mary.  We both anticipated better days."

Mary's last instructions, however, were for her children to be educated by her mother and her mother's family in Wisconsin.  Americus became a recluse and was shot during an ambush in 1886 in the California hills.

Like most of the men who went west, he risked everything, including his family for that spirit of adventure.  The frontier tested one's psyche as much as it tested their strength.

Next time...Helen Carpenter, Young Bride

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Today in Pioneer History: On March 16, 1903, Judge Roy Bean, the self-proclaimed “law west of the Pecos,” dies in Langtry, Texas

Mary Rockwood Powers -Part 2

As we discovered in that last part, Mary Powers' husband, Americus, was a doctor unable to adapt to life on the trail.  His incompatibility with the other men in the wagon party was noted by Mary in her journal: "the company went on and left us to get on as best we could."  A very unusual course of action for a wagon company to take under any circumstance.  Mary says only that "a dissatisfaction among the company separated us.  I forebear giving the details."

Mary did write more to her mother that their horses could not carry them and their possession and were giving out.  She wrote that "the doctor told the other men it was his business.  He would not ask for help, nor would he buy a team of oxen.  I am in the hands of a maniac. Myself and my little ones at the mercy of a mad man." 

Somehow they reached Salt Lake City.  While there two men from the wagon company rode back to find them and talk with Mary.  The men made commitments to Mary and the children, not to her husband. 

In another letter to her mother, Mary says "for some days the doctor had been falling into his old sullen mood again, out of humor with everyone.  Mr. Curtis offered to take me and the children into their wagon and divide up the luggage.  But despite all their urging, the doctor would not give up his horses but hitched them up and drove off like he was Lord of all surveyed."

The next day Mr. Curtis and the other men came back and demanded to know if Americus was a "mad man or a confounded fool."  Seems Americus found public ridicule too much and bought some oxen and the family once again joined the wagon train. 

Before they left, Mary cooked the last of her dried strawberries, poured them over fresh made dumplings, and give them to Mr. Curtis and his friend who had tried to help her.  Did the doctor get any?  I hope not...

We'll conclude this story next time...

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Today in Pioneer History: On March 13, 1836, after less than a week after the disastrous defeat of Texas rebels at the Alamo, the newly commissioned Texan General Sam Houston begins a series of strategic retreats to buy time to train his ill-prepared army.

Final Count

During this time, Bonneville figured out that the trappers were more interested in injuring their rivals than actually doing any trapping.  Nevertheless, the final count of the 1832 fur trapping season was 62 packs of fur for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, 51 packs for the American Fur Company, and 30 for the free trappers.  

Bonneville's men cashed in 22 1/2 packs with $15,000 which was quite respectable for 40 men in the early 1800s west.

By the time Bonneville got to the rendezvous, Walker had already been there a month before.  The Snake chief had provided Walker with an escort of 200 men for protection and Walker had dug up the stored furs at Fort Nonsense and begun trading.  Once that task was done, Walker took 6 men and hit the trail again.
 
Walker's conduct and success in the 1832 fur trapping season indicates that he was already an experienced furman.  The ease and assurance with which he moved and maneuvered in the central Rockies in 1832-33 suggests that he may have been there before - maybe with the Tais trappers as a younger man?

Next time...Tourists and Trappers

Ambush!

Ironically while the fur companies were playing tag, Walker's men were the only ones actually trapping.  By October they had 2-3 packs of beaver pelts at 100 pounds each. They headed back up the Salmon River to meet up with Bonneville.

Along the way they were surprised by some Blackfoot Indians while they camped by a creek.  Walker and his men were playing "Sledge" a popular frontier gambling card game.  Hearing Blackfoot war cries coming up from behind them,  the men quickly jumped to their feet, but by the time they had grabbed their guns and readied for the attack, they found the raiders had already mounted.  Walker and his men were able to force them back with bullets and the Blackfoot hid in the brush, holding off the trappers until the Blackfoot were finally able to escape.

No one was killed and only 2 horses were stolen, but Walker recalled it as the single most humiliating experience of his frontier career and never played Sledge again!

Next time...Moving On.