Skirting the Land Offices

Federal land office finally opened under the Pre-Exemption Act of September 1841. Under these federal laws a man had to have a house on the land at least 12 feet square.  The house had to have a glass window.  Settlers, however, played games with these federal laws, so to speak by claiming they had a 12x14 house which in reality was actually a 12x14" house or hanging a window sash on the inside of the house to look like a window when there was none.  

Sometimes the same cabin was moved from claim to claim to satisfy the requirements.  In Nebraska there was said to be a house on wheels, drawn by oxen, for that very purpose.  At the cost of $5 a day a settler could hire out the house, thereby swearing that he had a residence of the land he was claiming.  It worked for many a "residence" in the community.

Women were not allowed to claim land unless they were widows who could claim "head of family."  Not to be outdone by the men, women came up with a plan to borrow a family.  A baby or child was hired out to serve as the movable house did.  The women would sign the adoption papers, swear to be head of the family and claim her land.  Afterwards, she would annul the adoption papers, and return the child to the rightful parents.  

From the early days of Western settlement age up until at least the Civil War, "association" (or club) law ruled the West.  It mean proper, quick judgment and procedures.  The do-it-yourself kind of law that for most practical purposes served to settle the West.

Next time...Not Always So Democratic

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Today in Pioneer History:  "On June 29, 1613, London's original Globe Theater was destroyed by fire.  The fire was started by a cannon shot that went off during the performance of Henry VIII.  The Globe was the theater where many of Shakespeare's play were performed.  

Taking the Law into Their Own Hands

The early farmer settlers organized to protect their lands.  There were no courts of law - only "associations" or "unions" which sprang up virtual everywhere settlers formed communities.  For example, in Elkhorn Creek, Wisconsin, 40 families settled in a grove before the land was actually for sale by the Federal government.  A Methodist circuit rider passing through in 1835, noted in his journal, "They had, in the absence of all other law, met and made a law for themselves...appointed commissioners to take care of the land, preserve the timber so as to make it valuable...when it was settled by township law."

These families in Elkhorn Creek had allowed each family 40 acres of woodland  and as much grassland and each one needed.  No man was allowed to monopolize the timber, but that they should sustain each other against any new settler coming in.  At no time should any settler bid on another man's land.  Such a man would be "knocked down and drug out of the land office", tried in court and fined.  No spectator bid on a settler's land and no settler bid on his neighbor's land.  That was "the law."

These associations or unions guaranteed that a settler's land, even if not surveyed yet, remained his land, any improvements made, his profit and any crops grown, his crops.  These groups grew up quickly in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa - wherever settlers "broke the sod."  They began with a mass meeting of all settlers, forming a committee to draft by-laws and elect official leaders.  Each association had a procedure for choosing juries to settle disputes, a president and a marshal.

Each association also handled the land title records, in many ways acting as the Federal government would act.  These unions became the whole government, punishing crimes against person or property.  You could say they were technically "outside the law" but it was through such organizations that law and order was brought to the West.

Next time...Association Membership

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Today in Pioneer History: "On June 22, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the G.I. Bill designed to compensate members of the armed forces for their efforts in World War II allowing my father and many of yours to go to college.  The bill was actually called the Servicemen's Readjustment Act and it was hoped to avoid the 20,000 unemployed veterans and their families who protested in Washington in 1932 from happening again.

Sheer Human Will

Six of the Donner who survived were James Frazier Reed, his semi-invalid wife Margaret, and their four children.  Their very survival may have not happened except for a tragedy that occurred in the Nevada Desert.  While struggling up a brutal grade, Reed quarreled with the ox driver of another family in the wagon train when the two wagons got tangled up together.  The man attacked Reed with his whip and Reed drew a knife and killed him in self defense.

The Reed family was then banished from the wagon train.  It was behind schedule and low on supplies even then.  Reed rode ahead to California to bring help.  He was stripped of his horse, his gun and food but friends secretly supplied him with food, a horse and a rifle. 

Reed arrived in California half starved himself at just the time that the Mexican War was going on in California.  It took him three months to organize a relief expedition.  Meanwhile Margaret, trapped in the snow, was somehow able to keep her children alive and their spirits up as well.

When Reed finally returned leading the men who were burdened with heavy feed sacks up the mountain, he met his wife and two of his children coming down the mountain in search of him!
Reed went looking for his remaining two children and found them alive two days later.

Quite a story of mishap, providence and courage...sheer human will to survive!

Next time...Manifest Destiny
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On March 9, 1959, Barbie makes her debut!  Made by Mattel she become the best selling toy of all time..."  (Slow day for pioneers!)

California Here We Come!

In the winter of 1840-41 the state of Missouri was experiencing hard times.  Farm prices had fallen, putting farmers deep in debt, and cholera was running rampart.  In the midst of the dark days, hope came from the West, in the promise of a place called California. 

In May of 1841,  a young school teacher and farmer by the name of John Bidwell, arrived at Sapling Grove to meet up with a wagon train going west to California.  Only 69 men, women and children made up the final train, which became the Bidwell-Bartleson party (Bartleson was the captain).

The party by all rights should never have made it to California as both men knew next to nothing about the wilderness and even less than that about guiding a wagon train through unknown country.  (this was prior to any Oregon Trail being blazed)  Luck was with them at first - shortly out of Sapling Grove they met up with a group of Jesuits with Father De Smet.  Wilderness savvy Tom Fitzpatrick lead the group.  As far as Soda Springs on the Bear River (Idaho) they relied on his expertise.  There they decided to part with the Jesuit half heading for Oregon, and the Bidwell-Bartleson half heading to California.

The California bound pioneer headed for Great Salt Lake in August with dwindling supplies.  Two riders were dispatched to Fort Hall on the Oregon Trail for a guide since they were uncertain of a route to take.  The two men came back empty-handed and no wiser.  "Generally just veer westward, neither too far north where you'd be lost in the maze of canyons, or too far south here you'd be lost in the desert."

So the party abandoned their wagons one by one as the 34 pioneer traveled through the Great Salt Lake Desert to the Humboldt River (Nevada) and followed that until it sank underground.  Game was scarce so they slaughtered their oxen to keep from starving.

By mid-October they reached the foothills of the Sierras.  Trudging over the mountains by sheer determination, they entered California's Joaquin Valley on October 29.  Their journey across land which no wagon had traveled became the California Trail and was a true miracle of luck and fortitude.  Their success gave hope to thousands to come.

Next time...The infamous Donner Party
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On This Day in Pioneer History: "On March 2, 1807, Congress abolishes the African slave trade, "to prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within jurisdiction of the United States from any foreign kingdom, place or country."

The Integration of the West

When California outlawed slavery in 1850 within it boundaries, the gold mines became places where a mixture of races and nationalities came together in search of wealth. 

Mary Ballou wrote home that she lived in a mining camp called "Negro Bar" where French, Dutch, Scotch, Jews, Italians, Swedes, Chinese, and Indians were all panning for gold.  Some of the women who worked in the mining camps had comes as slaves, sold by their masters to families headed West.

Even before the discovery of gold, California had been settled by men and women of Mexican,

Indian, and African descent.  According to the 1790 census, 18% of the population were of something other than Anglo-American origin.  By 1849, San Francisco had its own "mutual Benefit and Relief Society" of Afro-Americans.  By 1854, the city had three black churches and within 10 years, three black newspapers as well.

Oregon, on the other hand, was less hospitable to blacks than many who came West had hoped.  The territory passed laws prohibiting admission to black settlers in general.   In 1857 when Oregon became a state, the Free Negro Admission Article proposed for the state constitution, was defeated and the small number of blacks who had made their way to Oregon lived uneasily until the Emancipation Proclamation six years later.

Next time...we'll look at individual Afro-American pioneers who shaped our western civilization.
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Today in Pioneer History:  On June 16, 1884, the first roller coaster in America opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York. Known as a switchback railway, it was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson, traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride.

Ten Years on the Overland Trail Brings Changes

The 1840s pass into the 1850s.  Pioneers are still heading west from Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, but there are noticeable changes taking place. Not only has the size of the wagon train changed but so have the people in them.

Wagon trains are made up of larger family units.  In addition to the immediate family, extended

families now travel together...aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters and their families.  In addition to the people, these trains include herds of cattle and sheep.  One woman reported seeing at least "13,000 head of livestock" at one jumping off town.  Now extra wagons are packed with provisions. 

These wagons  had the names of the owners, place of origin and destination marked in large letters on the wagon sides or wagon covers.  No mistaking whose wagons belonged to who or where they were headed. 

The travelers were no longer just farmers either...they were business owners in search of businesses, hotel managers, carpenters, horse traders, cattlemen, and ranchers.  Their knowledge and skills were not so much for breaking ground, preferring to settle in towns instead of in the country.  Extra men tagged along with the wagon trains, drawn into families because of their willingness to work their way west.

The second western migration was a movement of monumental capital and goods.  The Overland Trail had become a commercial road.  From April through October standard fees at river crossings were $5 a wagon and 50 cents a head for livestock.  Quite a change from a couple of calico shirts in exchange for Indian help across the waters. 

Charlotte Pengra commented on the new costs of the journey in her journal in 1853:
"Our expenses have cost us nearly $75.  Persons starting on this journey should have at least $150."

Next time...Women sound off about work on the wagon trail...

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On this Day in Pioneer History:   On September 10, 1833,  President Andrew Jackson, announces that the government will no longer use the Second Bank of the United States, the country's national bank. He then used his executive power to remove all federal funds from the bank, in the final salvo of what is referred to as the "Bank War."