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

Trouble in California

Somewhere between Utah and California the party split up with Walker taking the pack mules, furs and horses through Walker Pass,  and Fremont going through Oregon, both agreeing to meet up in California. Captain Walker's party had a good trip through the Sierra and was waiting on Fremont for almost a month.  Walker went north to find Fremont (who claimed it was Walker who got lost).

The Mexican authorities  allowed Fremont's expedition under the title "scientific expedition" even though Fremont had no orders to be in California at all.  Walker was there as a free trapper/trader. 

About this time, rumors were  circulating that the United States and Mexico would soon be at war.  There were some 500 American settlers in California at that time, with the Indian population about 7000.  Col. Jose Catro was the local military commander and decided Fremont's "scientific expedition" was really a United States spy mission.  He ordered Fremont out of California immediately and began gathering regular military troops to enforce his demand.  Did John Charles Fremont helped incite the war with Mexico?  History doesn't say but from the story here, it sure didn't help.

Next time...I Don't Think So

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This Day in History:  On October 13, 1909,  the Ballinger-Pinchot scandal erupts when Colliers magazine accuses Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger, an appointee of President Taft,  of shady dealings in Alaskan coal lands. It is, in essence, a conflict rooted in contrasting ideas about how to best use and conserve western natural resources.