Trails to Oregon, California, Utah; Treaty-making
I. Oregon travelers: middle-class families moving West to make permanent homes
a. heavy wagons, laden with supplies and pulled by horses or oxen
b. took money to purchase necessary equipment to move West--not a journey for a poor person or a newly-arrived immigrant without any money
c. no incentive for single men seeking quick fortunes
II. Gold discovered in California, 1848
a. James Marshall found gold at Sutter's Mill in January, word spread about discovery
b. California trail travelers increased in total numbers--25,000 in 1849 alone
c. single men, mostly, wishing to get to the gold fields very quickly
d. little regard for government agreements with Indians
III. Pre-Civil War military "incidents" with
Native people in Wyoming vicinity
a. Grattan massacre near Fort Laramie: "as cultural
conflict"?
b. Harney expedition and
massacre at Ash Hollow (Nebraska)
IV. Contradictory views of migration:
a. ease or difficulty of travel often depended on point
of view
i. Oregonians told others that Oregon was "a garden" and the trail was fairly easy, but still demanded army help to keep trails safe
ii. Midwesterners wishing to keep farmers there told of horrible atrocities and
hardships on trail
b. constant requests for government help undermined "garden"
claims as did reports of hardship
V. Making it SAFER-- Government and Oregon pioneers' goal
a. safety came with better guidebooks and maps
i. John C. Fremont expeditions of 1842 and 1843. locating good places for forts—chains of forts would provide locations where civilization could grow up around them.
ii. Thomas Hart Benton, Manifest Destiny. (Benton was Fremont's father-in-law).
iii. Stephan Watts Kearney expeditions 1845—leave all but roads to natives, using cavalry to subdue Indians, send a major military expedition every 2-3 years to "show the flag".
b. dependable sources of supplies; safer clean water; ferries and bridges across raging rivers.
i. ferries later became bridges such as the Gruinard Bridge; Reshaw Bridge over Platte near present-day Casper
ii. Mormon ferry over Green River; Bridger's ferry over North Platte River near Orin Junction
c. "safety" came with army strategies against Indians
i. purchase or construction of forts by the army—Fort Laramie, 1849.
ii. treaties with Indians
VII. Part of "Making it Safer": Make Treaties
a. Fort Laramie Treaty (1851)
i. promote peace among tribes
ii. designate Indian territory and divide it among tribes
iii. U S roads and forts allowed
iv. annual annuity payments ($50,000 per year for 50 years—later reduced to 10 years)
b.
Fort Laramie Treaty (1866)--not made in good faith
c. Fort Laramie Treaty (1868)
d. Fort Bridger Treaties (1864, 1868)
e. "peace" from Fort Laramie treaty of 1851 came to an end with Grattan Massacre, August 1854.
i. Grattan, 29 soldiers and interpreter killed in the so-called "Mormon cow" incident..
ii. Only ten men at Fort Laramie, rest on hay detail.
iii. Ushered in Harney expedition, Ash Hollow.
a. better roads—
1849--Capt. Howard Stansbury expedition—18 men..
i. Oregon Trail west and then back along southern route.
ii. mapped the Laramie Plains.
1854—Frederick Lander, Puget Sound to Council Bluffs route and in 1858, Fort Kearny, South Pass, Honey Lake Road.
1858—Pacific Railway surveys (see below)
b. alternative means of transport—Rufus Porter’s balloon
c. stagecoach routes across Oregon Trail
i. Ben Holliday's "Overland Stageline"
ii. other stagecoach companies
iii. Mark Twain's travel by stage across Wyoming
d. better communication with the Pony Express
i. operated for only 18 months
ii. $5 oz. for mail.
iii. 190 stations; 10-15 miles apart.
iv. took 10-13 days to deliver letter St. Joseph to San Francisco.
e. construction of the transcontinental telegraph line
i. contract let in 1860, construction completed when wires joined at Salt Lake City in October 1861.
ii. builders were John and Edward Creighton.
iii. federal government paid $40,000 per year for ten years to company.
iv. various towns paid to be connected, but Denver refused to pay $20,000 so line laid out north.
f. beginning of Civil War—need for even better communication and transportation.
i. subsidies to Ben Holladay’s stageline along Oregon Trail continued
ii. U. S. Army protected Holliday's home stations, swing stations in 1862.
g. Holladay forced to move South—overland stage route. records destroyed in San Francisco earthquake of 1906, but---
i. 94 stations, 31 of them in Wyoming
ii. 110 coaches in beginning costing $1,500 each, weighing one ton. 9 passengers; 25 lbs. of mail, $1 per pound. 75 drivers.
iii. Virginia Dale, Laramie, etc.
iv. demands federal protection—Fort Collins, Fort Halleck
v. galvanized Yankees.
h. But with Holliday's company moving south, there was still traffic on the Oregon Trail and "protection" needed.
i. Battle at Platte Bridge Station—Lt. Caspar Collins.
b. Col. Henry Carrington.and 700 men. summer, 1866, went to set up forts in Powder River country, previously reserved for Indians
c. While troops moving north to set up forts, army met Indians for Fort Laramie treaty of 1866
c. Fetterman fight (Dec. 21, 1866)
d. 81 killed. Indian leaders were Crazy Horse, Red Cloud.
e. John “Portugee” Phillips rode 235 miles, arriving Christmas night at Fort Laramie.
f. Fort Laramie treaty of 1868—for protection of railroad construction.
X. Coming of Rails
a. Early Efforts at Dependable Transcontinental Travel and Communication
i. railroads back east: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, first passenger railway in US, 1828
ii. by 1840, US had 3,328 miles of railroad track, all east of the Mississippi River. By 1860, 28,000 miles.
b. Asa Whitney's plan to speed up shipments to and from China to New York (1844)
c. Theodore Judah's plan to connect California to the eastern U. S. (1850s)
XI. The Pacific Railway surveys (1853-56)
a. Civil War sectionalism as factor in route location
b. surveys as training grounds for future Civil War officers (Stevens, McClellan, Pope)
i. Central route (Chicago-San Francisco)
ii. Northern route (Lake Superior -Portland, Oregon)
iii. 35th parallel route (St. Louis-West Coast)
iv. two southern routes: Vicksburg, Miss., New Orleans
c. significance of the presence of minerals: the 1849 Capt. Howard Stansbury report
d. Congress unable to make decision on route until South secedes
e. Lincoln's role in route location