A Calculated Decision: Trail Conditions, Disease or Overcrowding

For all the careful planning and agonized thought that many emigrants put into the selection of a route to California – Platte River Road, Santa Fe Trail or some other route? – some changed their minds at the last minute, influenced by a chance remark, a letter, or the conditions they found at Independence or St. Joseph or even once they had left the Missouri River and were heading west – such as a crowded ferry crossing, rumors of poor forage along the Platte River, or fear of that greatest of the diseases of the trail, cholera.

Two different observers, both recording the scene across the river from St. Joseph in May 1849, give an indication of the hubbub and uproar an emigrant might encounter. Major Osborne Cross, who led a military expedition from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Vancouver in 1849, noted as he left and headed for the Platte River Road, “Large trains were coming in from all points on the Missouri river on trails intersecting this great highway. . . . All these trails followed ridges, which placed the wagons frequently in such position that they seemed to be crossing the prairies in every direction . . . . They looked at a distance not unlike vessels on the wide ocean steering for different parts of the globe.” At St. Joseph itself, an emigrant passing on an upriver steamer observed, “The country on both sides of the river was lined as far as the eye could reach. . . . [The emigrants] were and had been for the last two weeks, crossing day and night. There were two ferry boats . . . and two more a few miles above. Two steamboats had been engaged one or two days, and still the accommodation was insufficient. Many had gone to other places to cross. . . . A considerable number had concluded to go by Santa Fe. . . .” (Cross, 42; Barry Beginning 849)

The threat or prevalence of cholera could change an emigrant’s plans and route. Charles Pancoast, who left St. Louis in early April, made his way by steamer to St. Joseph, then travelled to Leavenworth and, as indicated above, was a member of the Peoria Company, led by James Kirker. His panic is palpable in his journal: “We had hardly moved off from St. Louis before there was talk on the Boat that there was a case of Cholera on board. . . ” as proved to be only too true. He continues,“[One] morning there were two dead and five or six more attacked; before night there were seventeen sick, and nine dead. . . . We were all now much alarmed. . . . The disease increased, and the next morning we again landed in an obscure place and buried twelve more. . . . Thus far not a single soul that was stricken with the disease had recovered.” On landing at St. Joseph he noted, in what perhaps was not an understatement, “Thus ends the most perilous nine days of my life.” (Pancoast 172-176)

The progress west of two emigrant companies, the Calloway County [Missouri] Pioneers and the Morgan County and California Rangers was influenced by the cholera epidemic. William Hunter kept a journal of his travel with the Calloway County party, which left Montgomery County, Missouri, on April 23, 1849. Even as they crossed Missouri he recorded, “On nearing ‘Lone Jack’ [Jackson County, Missouri] . . . we were much perplexed by doubts as to the best course to pursue. The cholera was raising violently at Independence, and there we dared not go. . . . We finally concluded to start on the road and to fall in with some company about to cross the Kansas River tolerably high up, and by striking across the country obliquely to fall into the ‘South Pass’ road amongst the foremost trains.” On their way, they encountered a train headed for the Santa Fe Trail and were convinced that road would suit them better: “A vote was accordingly taken as to which route should be taken. . . . The vote of over three-fourths was given in favor of the Santa Fe route, and from this moment, in good earnest, we concluded to speed on our way.” Augustus Heslep was with the Morgan

Rangers. Between Independence and present-day Gardner Junction, where the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails diverged, Heslep – in a letter to the Daily Missouri Republican, published July 4, commented, of the Pioneer Company, a train taking the Platte River Road, “That monster, the cholera, was again in [that] train, there being two new cases during the night. Much consternation prevailed. I had been uncommonly successful in keeping up the health of our company and in saving the cases treated. . . . It is at this point that the Oregon and Santa Fé routes separate, and after a hearty adieu we left the Pioneer Train to pursue, I am fearful, a troublesome voyage.” (Hunter 10-11; Bieber [Heslep] 362)

Other immediate factors, besides cholera, could induce emigrants to take the Santa Fe Trail rather than the Platte River Road. The uncertainty of conditions for livestock along the Platte, as compared to the well-known campgrounds along the Santa Fe Trail, was one such concern. An unidentified correspondent to the New York Weekly Tribune, writing from Council Grove on June 7, 1849 – whose letter was published on July 21^st – bluntly stated, “All persons familiar with the South Pass route . . . anticipate that those who have gone that way will suffer greatly from the want of grass, which, giving out, as it is bound to do, the mules, and especially the oxen, will die by thousands, and the men cannot carry enough to support themselves, and that they would get no further than the mountains ere Winter, where they are bound to freeze to death.” In contrast, emigrant Thomas Sutherland, also writing from Council Grove – three days earlier on June 4^th, traveling with James Collier’s party and his military escort, cheerfully observed, “We start this morning for Santa Fe, having remained here two days repacking, and washing, and resting our cattle. Thus far we have had very good luck, plenty of grass, and the season has been so wet that there is abundance of water everywhere. We apprehend no scarcity of water on our journey to Santa Fe. The crowd is not very great on this road.” (See “Unidentified emigrant” Kansas Historical Quarterly (August 1950) 325; Sutherland 205)

John Hudgins, traveling from Livingston County, Missouri, sums up these variable factors, writing in his memoirs, “We expected to go the South Pass route, and intended to cross the Missouri River at St. Joseph. The spring was cold and wet which made the grass late and traveling slow. . . . We sent a man ahead to see about crossing the [Missouri] river. He reported that the ferry was two weeks behind, and the people there were dying with the cholera like hogs. We heard there was a small boat at Westport Landing . . .” and that set his party’s course for Santa Fe. (Hudgins 4)

Besides the main Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to Santa Fe, two other overland routes which incorporated portions of the Santa Fe Trail led emigrants to the southwestern desert trails through New Mexico and Arizona, to California. One was the Fort Smith to Santa Fe Road, which, according to historian Patricia Etter, carried thousands of emigrants west in 1849 alone. It joined the Independence-Santa Fe Trail at several points near San Miguel, New Mexico. The other was the Cherokee Trail, blazed by several parties from northeastern Oklahoma to the Santa Fe Trail, intersecting it at Running Turkey Creek, near present-day McPherson, Kansas. This trail then followed the old Santa Fe Trail on its Mountain Route to Bent’s Old Fort, and then went farther up the Arkansas River and headed north along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains to meet the Oregon-California Trail at Fort Laramie, in present-day eastern Wyoming. Emigrants on these variant routes chose them for reasons just as compelling as those that influenced the many thousands that went via the Independence-Santa Fe Road. (Etter 25 for “thousands of emigrants”)

California-bound gold seekers arrived at Fort Smith overland, mostly from Arkansas or contiguous states, or by steamboat from more distant points. Those choosing the river routes came from states as far-flung as Maine and New York, following the Ohio, Mississippi and Arkansas rivers from the east. Some of them, usually well-financed, took the unique step of shipping their heavier supplies via Cape Horn and then traveling light across the prairies. George Sniffen, a member of the Havilah Mining Association, a consortium of young men from New York state which left Fort Smith on April 11, 1849, mentioned in his journal that some men in this company chose to “round Cape Horn” and consequently, “The largest portion of our machinery and supplies were shipped by sea in charge of our members who preferred that route.” The New York Knickerbocker Association, organized in New York City, also sent its heavy equipment – including mining machinery – via Cape Horn, though it brought wagons west by steamboat and then purchased horses and mules at Fort Smith. The “Knickerbockers” left Fort Smith on March 26^th. (Sniffen, ms not paginated; Foreman Marcy 23)

As with those who followed the old Santa Fe Trail, emigrants opted for the Fort Smith-Santa Fe Road for individual reasons, weighing the alternatives of what route to take. Few probably were as diligent as George Sniffen who, again in his journal, recalled, “Sometime in the month of December 1848, I first conceived the idea of going to California and having made up my mind to it shortly after, I cast my eyes diligently about me in order to ascertain the most advantageous methods of making the trip.” On the other hand, some might not have given their choice a second thought – Stanislas Lasselle of Logansport, Indiana, was a Mexican-American War veteran and, Patricia Etter, who edited his journal suggests, “Lasselle’s participation in the Mexican War no doubt influenced his decision to travel a southern route and also hardened him for the rigors of the journey.” (Sniffen, ms not paginated; Lasselle 3)

In general, however, several basic factors – as discussed below – induced emigrants to take the Fort Smith-Santa Fe Road, including:

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  Geographical proximity
  
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  Heavy promotion in regional newspapers, much copied in the eastern press, by cities and merchants in Arkansas
  
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  Recommendations from respected military leaders
  
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  Prior knowledge of the route gained from Josiah Gregg’s Commerce of the Prairies
  
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  The opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge of the route and conditions from recent or even on-going U. S. Army expeditions such as those of Lieut. Abraham Buford or, especially, Captain Randolph B. Marcy – who was commissioned not only to blaze a road from Fort Smith to Santa Fe but provide protection to emigrants
  

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  Geographical Proximity
  

As early as September 1848, men in the Fort Smith area began talking about going to the mines, and soon formed a “committee” to carry their project forward. The following January, this committee published a manifesto, “Ho! for California Gold Mines,” which gave notice that a party would leave for the west early in April and provided detailed instructions on what outfit (wagons, oxen, mules, horses, etc.) and provisions to take. This manifesto was reprinted in newspapers from Little Rock to New York City. Soon other organized parties began arriving at Fort Smith. As Grant Foreman discovered when he researched this topic, “River towns on the Mississippi and Arkansas were entertaining hordes of visitors on their way to Fort Smith and Van Buren. A company from Mississippi arrived in Memphis [on] March 15, 1849, and the Memphis Daily Enquirer said there were 175 emigrants feverishly seeking steamboat accommodations to Fort Smith. The Little Rock and California Association was one of the first Arkansas companies to constitute itself formally, at Little Rock on February 1, 1849. Its “captain” was James McVicar, who had served as a quartermaster sergeant in the U. S. Army during the Mexican-American War. This group left Van Buren on April 16 and arrived in Santa Fe in mid-June. Dozens of other regional companies followed suit throughout the ensuing summer. Obviously, geographical proximity was a factor, though not the only one, as mention above of the Havilah Mining Association from New York demonstrates, for taking the Fort Smith-Santa Fe Road. (Foreman Marcy 12, 13-14)

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  Advertising Arkansas and the Fort Smith Road
  

Another tactic was to cast doubt on the feasibility of taking a more northerly trail. As Francile Oakley notes in her article, “Arkansas’ Golden Army of ’49,” referencing the Arkansas State Democrat and its comments on the Platte River Road, “The journalists recounted the delays caused by late snows and heavy rains at the points of rendezvous, they described the desert wastelands that characterized the route, and they expressed grave doubts that there would be sufficient pasturage for the vast number of animals that would be driven over the arid prairies. Attention was focused on examples of Indian attacks, and imminent trouble with the Mormons was prophesied.” A long editorial in the Arkansas Banner also warned of these dangers, purportedly showing great concern for the well-being of emigrants: “By reliable accounts from the East we learn that the rush of emigration to California continues as large as ever. . . . In view of these facts we call upon the press of Ohio, Kentucky, and all along the Ohio River, and everywhere else within earshot of those emigrants who at this time are wending their way to the northern route, to sound the alarm, and warn them of the dangers which threaten them and the privations which they may be obliged to endure – the dreadful sufferings they may be subjected to, and the horrid fate which they may meet. . . .” (Oakley 18; McArthur 29)

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  Recommendations of Respected Military Leaders
  

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  Josiah Gregg and Commerce of the Prairies
  

Besides touching on aspects of the Canadian River route – his chapter titles for the journey out include “A Party of Comanches,” “Ponds and Buffalo Wallows,” and “Valley of the Canadian and Freaks of Nature,” – Gregg included a highly detailed map “Of the Indian Territory in Northern Texas and New Mexico,” which traced his route to Santa Fe in 1839 and the route back in 1840. In his concluding remarks on the blazing of this road to Santa Fe, Gregg contrasted the old Santa Fe Trail which he knew so well with his newly opened route, writing, “Concerning this expedition, I have only one or two more remarks to offer. As regards the two different routes to Santa Fé, although Missouri, for various reasons which it is needless to explain here, can doubtless retain the monopoly of the Santa Fé trade, the route from Arkansas possesses many advantages. Besides its being some days’ travel shorter, it is less intersected with large streams; there are fewer sandy stretches, and a greater variety of wood-skirted brooks, affording throughout the journey very agreeable camping places. Also, as the grass springs up nearly a month earlier than in upper Missouri, caravans could start much sooner. . . .” What emigrant would not be persuaded by such a recommendation? (Josiah Gregg 328)

That Gregg’s Commerce of the Prairies was well-known to emigrants and widely consulted is demonstrated in three unsigned “letters to the editor,” sent by gold seekers about to embark or already on the Fort Smith-Santa Fe Road. One correspondent, writing from Fort Smith on March 11, 1849 to the Arkansas State Democrat [published on March 16^th], commented on various companies leaving Arkansas, noting, “The Van Buren party goes up on the south side of Webber’s Falls and will cross at that point, taking Gregg’s route out between the Canadian and the North Fork. . . . Many of them are experienced Arkansas and Missouri frontiersmen, and go about their preparations with as much sang-froid as if they were not ‘going out of sight of land.’” Another correspondent to the same newspaper, writing from Van Buren on April 18, 1849 observed, “In consequence of the miry condition of the roads through the Choctaw Nation and the delays and obstacles met with by the parties that went that route, many of the emigrants who were encamped on the south side of the [Arkansas] river crossed over and took the road on the north side . . . following Gregg’s route from Van Buren to Santa Fé.” A third emigrant, writing to the Van Buren Intelligencer from Albuquerque on June 23, 1849, began his letter by saying, “I embrace this opportunity to write, it being the first since our leaving Little river [in eastern Oklahoma]. We have followed the route pursued by Gregg on his return in 1840, with slight variations.” If any of the volumes of Gregg which the emigrants took with them and consulted survive, their marginal notes might be interesting. (Bieber, 284, 287, 311)

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  Military Expeditions: Buford and Marcy
  

Captain Buford received his orders to explore west from Fort Gibson before the news of gold in California gripped the nation and gold fever struck. Accompanied by Company H of the First Dragoons, he and his men left Fort Gibson on July 17, 1848. They struck the Cimarron River and took its north bank westward, joining the Santa Fe Trail near the Middle Spring of the Cimarron in present-day southwestern Kansas. From there they followed the old trail into Santa Fe, arriving on September 9, 1848. Buford returned to Fort Gibson the next year, leaving Santa Fe on June 6, 1849. He kept to the Santa Fe Trail as far as Running Turkey Creek, near present-day McPherson, Kansas, where he and eight of his men turned south to Fort Gibson on what became known as the “Cherokee Trail,” inaugurated several months previously by an emigrant company led by Lewis Evans, of Evansville, Arkansas. Several Arkansas newspapers and the New York Weekly Tribune published dispatches from Buford recommending his route west in their July and August 1849 issues. At least one party followed in his footsteps. It departed from Fort Gibson by mid-April 1849, reached Santa Fe and eventually took the Gila River route to California, arriving on the banks of the Colorado River in September. (Foreman Marcy 88)

Concerning Buford’s route, the editor of Arkansas State Democrat accused Missouri newspapers of trying to consign Buford’s exploits to oblivion as they sought to promote the Platte River Road and maintain their hold on the Santa Fe trade, complaining, “As an evidence of this, witness with what unanimity the press of Missouri acted in suppressing the testimony of Lieutenant Buford in relation to the superiority of the Arkansas route. . . . Almost every paper in Missouri . . . in copying the intelligence [Buford’s recommending his route as the “best and shortest”], merely mentioned the arrival of Lieutenant Buford, suppressing entirely his flattering, but what is well known to be truthful, notice of the southern route!” (McArthur 25)

Captain Randolph Marcy’s expedition of 1849-1850 was designed to be more definitive and have a more permanent impact than that of Captain Buford. Marcy was directly ordered to establish a road from Fort Smith to Santa Fe, protect any emigrant parties which chose to accompany him, and “conciliate as far as possible the different tribes of Indians who inhabit the region of the country through which you shall pass.” As it transpired, the loosely organized Fort Smith and California Emigrating Company departed with him; it consisted of 479 emigrants – some with families, “seventy-five wagons, including sutlers or merchants with their stocks of goods, traveling forges and other equipment drawn by 500 oxen and as many mules and horses, besides hundreds of saddle- and pack- horses and mules. The caravan when united extended its length more than three miles along the road,” and took two and a half hours to pass any given point. (Foreman Marcy 149, 142)

Marcy departed from Fort Smith on April 4, 1849 and arrived in Santa Fe on June 28^th. He followed the Canadian River into northeastern New Mexico and then made his way to the village of Anton Chico on the Pecos River. Upon leaving Anton Chico he by-passed San Miguel, Pecos Pueblo and Glorieta Pass, the route of the main trail to Santa Fe, and went overland south of the Pecos River to Galisteo [Gallestia in his report], south of Santa Fe, and then north into La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís – Santa Fe. Most emigrants who followed him and his newly blazed trail ultimately chose to go to San Miguel and take the Santa Fe Trail from there, either then branching off just west of Glorieta Pass south to Galisteo, or heading on into Santa Fe. (Foreman Marcy 246-248)

Marcy had much to say about New Mexico and its people. His reaction was mostly positive, in contrast to many who came later via the Fort Smith-Santa Fe Road. As will be discussed elsewhere in this study, they often characterized Mexicans as dirty, lazy, conniving thieves. Of Anton Chico, Marcy graciously commented, “This was the first settlement we had seen since leaving Edwards’ trading-house [in eastern Oklahoma]; and we were much delighted to see houses and cultivated fields once more. . . . Anton Chico is a town of about five hundred inhabitants . . . built . . . of ‘adobes,’ or unburnt blocks of clay. . . . The inhabitants raise corn, wheat, onions, beans, and peas, upon which they subsist. . . . In the evening I visited a fandango for a few minutes, where I saw the Mexicans in their favorite national amusement, the dance; and I was surprised to see with what ease and grace a ‘peon,’ who is degraded to a condition worse than slavery, and is constantly employed in the lowest kind of menial services, would hand his signorita to the floor to engage in a gallopade or waltz. They are really very graceful.” (Foreman Marcy 245)