How'd You Get Here?

By 1863 there were new ways to travel the overland trail to the West. 

Hallie Riley Hodder and her sister rode to Atchison, Kansas, on a "steam car".From there it was 700
miles to Denver, Colorado by stagecoach.  Hallie notes in her journal,

"We changed horses every 10 miles at the little stations on the way, and riding nights as well as days, we made 100 miles in 24 hours, reaching Denver on the evening of the 7th day."

Hallie spent a year and a half in Colorado and then returned back to the East. She notes an interesting observation in her journal after leaving Denver...

"Before leaving a cousin provided me with a new small revolver, and had taught me how to use it.  It was loaded and I took it out of the holster at my belt, so I presume I was ready to use it on myself if we were ever captured by Indians." Researching I found  travelers would rather have committed suicide it seems than  be taken prisoner by the Indians.  Interesting...

Next Time...West by Rails
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On this Day in Pioneer History:  "On May 11, 1896, Mari Sandoz, the author of several histories that demonstrated sympathy for Indians that was unusual for the time, is born in Sheridan County, Nebraska.

A New Era of Western Migration

A dozen or so years after the westward emigration had begun, the Trail had undergone significant changes.  There were trading posts, stagecoach stations, and travel no longer meant empty vast land and loneliness.    Travel had been reduced by almost a month.  Telegraph poles were strung along the entire length of the route by 1861, and messages could be sent from coast to coast in seconds. 

The fear of Indians was the new threat to this "second generation" western emigrants.  Their fear was
equaled only by their ignorance to Indian ways and customs.  A common custom of Indians, for example, was to offer strangers a token of hospitality and the Indians expected the same in return from the travelers, which resulted in reports of Indians "begging" the pioneer travelers.  If truth be told in most cases, the Indians had given their "tokens of hospitality" and were looking for the pioneers' return tokens.

This ignorance was more dangerous because it was usually accompanied by a show of arrogance by the pioneers.  Helen Curtis noted in her journal  that once the party had reached Pawnee Sioux territory:  "There was a white man who boasted that he would kill the first Indian he saw.  He soon had the opportunity of fulfilling his boast as he saw a squaw.  He shot her as he would a wild animal and the Indians came on and demanded the fellow be given up.  The Indians skinned him alive."

More on Indians on the Trail next time...

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Today in Pioneer History:  On February 9, 1864  Elizabeth Bacon marries George Armstrong Custer and would become his most dedicated champion.

Kit Carson

Kit Carson was probably the best known of the mountain men.  In the 1830s it was said that not even Daniel Boone was "so much on the move throughout a long and restless life" as Kit Carson.  

Carson was physically a small man, but inexhaustible which attests to the fact that he made the 3,000 miles journey from California territory to Washington through hostile Apache lands with the news of the Bear Flag Republic victory.

Before his death at Fort Lyon, Carson lay on his buffalo robe and demanded his pipe and a big dinner.  He was warned that both would probably kill him, to which he is said to have replied, "No matter.  Bring me some fust rate doin's, a buffalo steak, my pipe and a bowl of coffee".  After eating 2 pounds of meat and smoking his pipe, Carson died.  He received a funeral with general's honors and as he wished was buried at Taos.

Next time we start our journey with the greatest mountain man of them all, Joseph Walker.

Jedediah Smith

Jedediah Smith ventured west as a business man working for the fur trading companies.  His goal was to trap beaver and otter, and make trading contacts with the Native Americans.

His first expedition in 1822 provided information of Western geography and potential trails available to future homesteaders.  In 1824 he rediscovered the South Pass - an easy route across the Rockies in modern day Wyoming (fur traders actually discovered it, but never publicized the fact).

In 1831 Smith left St. Louis bound for Santa Fe, NM without adequate supplies, the why we will probably never know since he was well-acquainted with the arid territory and the need to carry water.  Eventually his party had to split up in search of adequate water or perish, and Smith was attacked alone and killed by Comanche Indians, thus ending the life of an important trader and trail blazer in our Western history.

People have debated what happened to Jedediah to make him so careless to venture out alone in such hostile territory and to come so ill prepared.  Popular historic opinion is that he became too confident in his abilities and his experience and thought he could survive just about anything...that day he was wrong.

We will meet Jedediah again on our journey with Joseph Walker...

Indians in Service

Forming relationships for mutual support with the Indians, frontier women exchanged good and services.  Native Americans brought butter, eggs, potatoes, corn, pumpkins, melons, strawberries, blackberries, vension, fish, and dried salmon to trade.  A welcome relief from a diet of salt pork, beans and bread.

Women also grew skilled at bargaining for buffalo hides and robes, antelope and elk clothing, moccasins, baskets, and beadwork.  Bargains and good deals were not easy to come by as on woman said in 1864 Montana "They not only recognized the difference between coins and greenbacks, but would only take the latter at 50 cents on the dollar."

Indians began to be hired to perform services such as guides, herders, wood cutters, shoveling, drawing water, nursemaids who taught children their native customs, dialects, games and food.  In exchange for working for the white man, the Indian expected to be well-treated, properly paid, and left free.

When it came down to it, individuals had more to do with it than anything else.  There are records of women calling for Indian doctors and nurses to tend their children. When one child's Indian nurse died, "we mourned him as though he were a member of the family".

So Indians became more desired as purveyors, assistants, and guides far more than they became enemies.  Settlers who were confident and realistic of their own roles, contributions and strengths became more secure and sympathetic in the relations with the American Indians.

Next time...Interactions of Men and Women Settlers

California Here We Come

As Pioneers moving into Kentucky and the Great Lakes were mostly farmers looking for more land, Pioneers moving to the Pacific were searching for riches in gold and silver. Young men left families at home to go West and get rich. It was a promise for the big opportunity that many Easterners were looking for - without the struggle of farming. 

All a typical Gold Rusher needed to "pan for gold" was a pick axe, shovel, washing pan, and rocker.  Most were young men who did send their profits back home, but most lost the rest to booze and bad companions.

Gold Rushers were never noted for their "self-control".  Think about it - what kind of people were attracted to "get rich" opporutnities?  Impulsive, Quick Thinking, Impatient, Risk Taker...all qualities associated with the Gold (and Silver) Rushers of the mid-1800s. 

Saturday nights at a Gold Rush camp included dancing, poker, booze and even auctions.  Since the camps were lacking women dance partners, half of the men would tie red hankerchiefs around their arm and "be a designated woman" for the evening.

Most gold rush camps were really gambling camps with gold being gained and lost quicker than it was earned.  It was no place for a family or "women of good repute".


For more on the Gold Rush  see "California Needs an Incentive" posted on 11/4/09

Next time...Early Mining Towns