The_Old_West's topics - tribe.net

Whidbey Island Writers Conference

pimpstick — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 05:53:39 GMT

Is anybody going this year? I went last year and found it to be very helpful.

posted in The_Old_West - 1 reply

Old West Facts (5)

Bart — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 01:15:08 GMT

While the emigrants tried to bring as much food with them as their wagons would hold, the reality was it wasn't very much. Certainly not enough to last the entire trip. They could obtain food in two ways: 1) gather berries and fruit along the way. Many of the streams were lined with wild blackberries or raspberries. Some of the streams often had wild fruit trees such as apples, peaches, and sometimes apricots. Then, there was the game that could be hunted. This game was usually deer and antelope. In the mountain stretches of the trail, wild boar, moose, and bear. On the prairie, there were of course, buffalo. The second way the emigrant replenished supplies were at the various forts along the way. All of them had a store called a "Suttler's Store". Not all forts were equal. A fort like Laramie or Bridger had very large Suttler Stores with plenty of supplies. The other forts had much smaller stores with minimal supplies. The larger forts like Laramie and Bridger also had wainright shops where repairs to a wagon could be made.

At the end of the trail, Capt. Sutter built both a mill and a fort. The Fort was in what is now Sacramento and had everything imaginable for the arriving emigrant. He had a complete general store in the fort. There was also a bakery, a pharmacy with a doctor on call, wainwrights, a separate clothing store for men and women, and nursery with fruit trees and other plants a starting farmer would need. Sutter also had a lumber mill that not only sold lumber, but everything a person would need to build a home.

Sutter did something else. He mapped out and roughly surveyed many of the rivers in central and north eastern California mountains for homesteading. He also kept records of who homesteaded where even if they didn't use his pre-surveyed homestead sites. There was a method in his kindness and all the work he did. He wanted to be California's first territoral governor and perhaps the first state governor. He almost obtained his goal. He figured if he treated the arriving emigrants with kindness, they would vote for him. There was a little event he hadn't counted on that prevented him from reaching his goal. That event was the discovery of gold at his lumber mill and the following gold rush.

posted in The_Old_West - 3 replies

Old West Facts (4)

Bart — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 22:07:11 GMT

Indians!

Only in the movies the Native Americans were portrayed as the bad guys. Pioneer diaries indicate just the oposite. Most of the time, Native Americans were very helpful. It was easy for a wagon to become separated from the company they belonged. Often, because of various reasons, there were long distances between the individual wagons. Can you imagine being all alone on the prairie without seeing another wagon in front of you or behind you. More often than not, a Native American would guide you back to the trail or to the company of wagons you belonged. For pay for this service they just wanted food.

Often, a Native American that belonged to a prairie tribe, would act as a guide for a wagon train to the next fort or all the way to Fort Bridger. These guides would not go any further west than Fort Bridger. There was a reason for this: while a great majority of the Native Americans pretty much left the wagons alone, there were numerous wars among the various tribes.

These Indian tribal wars were extremely brutal. Sometimes, these battles took place relatively close to a wagon train. Close enough where the emigrants in the wagons could hear the thuds of arrows or tomihawks hitting bodies. When the battle was over, often they would hoop and hollar around and through the wagon train as if they were showing off their victory.

Besides being guides, Native Americans would assist the wagon trains in hunting. Often there were contests between the Native Americans and the emigrants shooting at targets. One thing reflected by the emigrants was the accuaracy of the Indians. One thing was for sure, both the emigrant and Native American helped each other.

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Old Family Recipes

Bart — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 20:11:52 GMT

Here is a place where you can post old west recipes. Cooking on the trail and at an emigrant's homestead or gold diggings was a large part of the pioneer's life. If you have any of theses recipes, please share them.

Thanks,
Bart Bevins

posted in The_Old_West - 10 replies

The Vacationers - Chapter 1 --- Please comment

Bart — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:08:50 GMT

December 6, 1848
Glade Run, Virginia

Papa lost his employment today. He had worked at JM General Store for many years but when Mr. Marshall passed away, he decided to close the store. Papa read an article in the Dayton News today about gold being discovered in California. Nadine Cook

Chapter 1
Gold!!

Jason Cook walked down the wooden side walk to JM General Store where he has been a clerk. His pace was his normal, slow gait, as he was early as usual. It was his habit to read the Dayton News, drink a cup of coffee, and chat with Joseph and sometimes, Sarah, Mr. Marshall’s wife.

Mrs. Goodridge stepped out of the Bakery. Jason tipped his hat, “Good morning. Lovely day, isn’t it?”

She smiled and replied. “Yes it is. A bit chilly though. Winter’s just around the corner.”

He continued on his way when he came across Mrs. Parker. “Has my order come in?”

Jason smiled and tipped his again. “I’ll check when I get in.”

“Thank you, Jason.” She replied. “I’ll be in Lulu’s Bakery, I just love her pastries.”

He went into the newspaper’s office to purchase this morning’s paper. “Morning Mr. Elder.”

“I have a copy right here, just for you,” the publisher said.

“Anything new?” Jason asked. This was his standard joke he asked every morning.

“By golly, there is,” Mr. Elder replied. “The other day I sent Donald up to Washington, D.C. to cover President Polk’s State of the Union Address, it is his last one.”

“I’ll make sure I’ll read it,” Jason said then left for the store.

He arrived at JM General Store and found the door locked. This is unusual he told himself as he fumbled for the key, unlocked the door, and entered. It was eerily quiet.

“Joseph? Are you here?” Jason called out. Nothing but silence her got in return.

“Hello, Sarah?” He called out as he started the fire in the pot belly stove, placed the coffee pot on the stove. And again, no answer. He went about the store lighting the oil lamps, raising the shades and preparing the store for business. While doing that he looked around the store and everything appeared to be in order and the way they left it last Friday.

He checked behind the counter finding a package with Mrs. Parker’s name on it. “Hmmm, Joseph or Sarah must have worked Saturday. Her package wasn’t here Friday. I’ll take it down to here when Joseph or Sarah arrive.”

The coffee was perking right along and it smelled like it was done. He poured himself a cup of the brew, set it on the table next to the chair to cool, and opened the paper.

There it was, the article by Donald A. Lowe. The President speaks to the Joint Session of Congress. He read the first two paragraphs then began to scan the article as it was very dry and uninteresting. Uninteresting until he came across something that caught his attention.

“It was known that mines of the precious metals existed to a considerable extent in California at the time of its acquisition. Recent discoveries render it probable that these mines are more extensive and valuable than was anticipated. The accounts of the abundance of gold in the California Territory are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service who have visited the mineral district and derived the facts which they detail from personal observation. Reluctant to credit the reports in general circulation as to the quantity of gold, the officer commanding our forces in California visited the mineral district in July last for the purpose of obtaining accurate information on the subject. He returned to Washington D.C. and gave to the War Department, who gave to me twenty-four pounds of gold. His report stated this gold was simply laying on the bottom of shallow stream beds in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There is every reason to believe the average citizen, with very little effort could find ten thousand dollars worth of gold. If he worked to some degree, he could find thirty thousand dollars, and if that individual worked diligently, he could find more than one hundred thousand dollars in gold.

I have therefore, ordered the Mint of the Department of the Treasury to set up assay offices where ever it would be necessary for individuals to turn in their gold findings for cash. There is a great need for shop keepers in California. The abundance of gold and the all-engrossing pursuit of it have already caused in California an unprecedented rise in the price of all the necessities of life.

That we may the more speedily and fully avail ourselves of the undeveloped wealth of the mines and streams that the mint establish a facility in California to mint coins for the Government.”

Jason’s reading was interrupting with the opening of the front door. Mrs. Parker entered the store. “Is my order here?”

Startled, Jason jumped to his feet. “Yes, ma’am. It is over here behind the counter.” He placed the package on the counter top. “That will be $2.00.”

She paid Jason the money, picked up her package, and started to leave. She stopped and turned around. “Too bad about Joseph’s father, give him my best.”

“What happened…..” Jason started to say but she was out the door. He watched her walked in a direction towards her home.

Jason went back over to the pot belly stove and added two medium logs. He went out front and looked up and down the dirt street. Only a few people were out this morning. A young man on his horse rode by, he had not seen this man before. He had the appearance of being a farmer.

Here comes Ed Howard. Haven’t seen him in a while, Jason told himself. Wonder if he’ll come in?

“How do?” Jason said as Ed entered the store.

“I be fine,” Ed replied. “Need some nails to fix up the place.”

“There in barrels against the wall. Three cents a pound,” Jason said and went to his chair by the stove.

“See they found gold in California,” Ed said without turning around. “Might go this spring.”

“Gold just laying in the river beds. Can you imagine that?” Ed said not waiting for a response from Jason.

“I saw that,” Jason said. “How’s the best way of going to California?”

“Don’t rightly know,” Ed answered. “I figure the least expensive way to go is by wagon. I’d join up with a company in Independence or maybe St. Joseph. Yeah, that’s what I’ do…and probably will do.”

Jason weighed the nails. “That will be fifteen cents. Anything else?”

“Oh, yeah. Amy wanted couple of those liquorish sticks,” He said.

“That will be a nickel,” Jason said and Ed paid him.

Once again, Jason was alone in the store. This was most unusual to be alone for so long of a time. He went to the back of the store and in the yard he grabbed an arm load of firewood.

I could go the Joseph’s home he told himself, but then they expect me to run the store. They would be angry with me if I locked up he rationalized. Before he made a decision, the door opened and Patti Foshee entered the store.

Jason smiled at the young school teacher. “How be everything at the Academy?”

“It is fine,” She replied. “They may close the class for the real young-uns. Not enough young students for next semester.”

“What can I get for you?” Jason asked.

“I need a sack of flour, a tin of lard, and I need to order another butter churn, my old one is on it‘s last legs,” she replied.

“I’ll order that churn for you,” Jason said then asked. “Going to make some pies?”

She smiled. “Yes, our trees are loaded. I’ll bake a couple extra for you and Margaret.”

“Much obliged,” Jason said then asked. “Want this on your account?”

“Yes please,” Patti said as she headed out to her wagon. He followed her out carrying the sack of flour and placed it in the back of her wagon. He watched her a few moments as she drove the horse drawn wagon out of town.

Jason looked behind him and off in the distance he saw a woman that appeared to be Sarah Marshall. From where he stood, he could see she was short in stature and had reddish brown hair. He went back into the store and added Mrs. Foshee’s purchase to the Ledger. He noticed her account had been paid in full and felt good about his decision to give her credit.

The bell on the door tinkled as it opened. Jason looked up and as he anticipated it was Sarah Marshall. “Good morning, ma’am.”

Sarah smiled. “Mornin’ Jason. Have you been busy?”

“Not really. It is a normal Monday morning. You just missed Mrs. Foshee. She has ordered a new butter churn.”

“Joseph will get one when he goes for supplies,” She replied.

“Where is Joseph?” Jason asked as went to the stove and poured a cup of coffee for Sarah. “It isn’t like him not to be here.”

She took a sip of coffee and sat down. “I didn’t know how or when to tell you. But now is just as good as later being we are talking about Joseph.”

Jason sat in the chair across from Sarah. He began to feel an uneasiness is his stomach he didn’t like. “I…is Joseph alright? Is he sick?

Sarah took a sip of coffee, looked down at the floor, then at Jason. “Joseph is alright. It is his father, William Marshall. We learned Saturday that he had a stroke.”

“Oh, my,” Jason said. “Joseph talked fondly about his father. How he was one of the founders of Glade Run. And how he relocated to the coast of New Hampshire. Is he alright?”

Sarah shook her head. “He is up there in years as is Mary, Joseph’s mother. William, Bill, is not doing very well. He needs to be kept and Mary is no longer able to do that, she can barely take care of herself.”

“What is going to happen?” Jason inquired.

Sarah didn’t answer immediately as she tried to choose her words very carefully. She took a sip of coffee to moisten her dry mouth. “Joseph made…we made the decision to go to New Hampshire to take care of his parents.”

“W-what is going to happen to the store?” Jason stammered.

She hesitated a moment before answering. “We have to close the store.”

Jason felt like he had just run over by a team of horses. “When is this going to happen?”

“Next Saturday,” she said. “We will take the B & O.”

“I can run the store,” Jason said.

“I know,” Sarah agreed. “But do you have the capital to purchase the goods.”

“I can get it on account,” he quickly replied.

“It took Joseph many years to be able to purchase on account,” she said.

“The don’t have to know that you and Joseph are no longer here. I get the supplies as often as Joseph,” Jason rationalized.
“And what will you do when the account comes due and you can not pay for it? Our good name will be ruined,” Sarah said. Her voice reflected her sternness after a moment of silence she suggested, “Why don’t you take a vacation? You have worked here for many years without taking one.”

“Suppose you are right,” he said.

The rest of the afternoon went by slowly. He started to think of what he was going to tell his wife, Margaret. He deiced to simply tell her the truth, after all, he didn’t do anything wrong. He wasn’t fired. He started to think about Sarah’s suggestion, take a vacation. Then he suddenly recalled that article in the Dayton News. Gold in California! Why couldn’t they go to California as their vacation? They just might find some gold of their own. We don’t have to stay, we’ll come back home.

posted in The_Old_West - 2 replies

Old West Facts (3)

Bart — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 20:25:53 GMT

In the movies that portray the westward migration in wagons, they show long lines of wagons and they show the emigrants riding in the wagons. Both of these are wrong.

The emigrants walked, not ride in the wagons. The husband drove the oxen by walking along side the lead animal. If he got tired, some of the wagons had a "lazy board" that pulled out. This was used by the driver when he become tired, he could sit on this lazy board. The women either walked along side the wagons or in the rear of the wagons if the trail was not dusty. One woman wrote in her diary that she had sprained her ankle and tried riding for a while. She said the ride was so rough that she got a headache that hurt more than her ankle. There was an exception to this and that was during foul weather, such as during a thunder storm or a rain storm. Many of the wagons had a canvass awning that tied to the first rib and went out front a bit. There were two poles that went into the wagon box and ropes at the corners of the wagon box. This kept them dry to some degree.

With the exception of the actual California Gold Rush, there weren't long lines of wagons heading west. First of all, a large company or wagon train consisted of 30 wagons. Second, because of the various speeds of the animals, there were large spaces between the wagons. It was common not to see a wagon in front of you or behind you. Sometimes this space was only 30 minutes while other times there may be as much as a full day travel time between your wagon and the wagon in front of you or behind you.

One woman wrote when they stopped to noon (have lunch) there were no wagons in any dierection. The only sounds she could hear was the breeze blowing through the tall prairie grass, the sound of the river water babling over some large rocks, and an occassional bird screetching as it flew over head.

As a rule, the trail was easy to follow. Either the prairie grass was beaten down from previous wagons or wheel ruts could be seen in the dirt.

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Old West Facts (2)

Bart — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 18:40:53 GMT

The time finally arrived for departure from camp along the Missouri River just outside of St. Joseph. But before they hit the trail some business has to take place. The first is the emigrants must top off their supplies. Knowing this, many of the merchants would raise the prices on everything. This would anger both the locals, who resided in and around St. Joseph, and the emigrants who had a limited amount of money. With this done, there was a company (wagon train) general meeting held for the purpose of making the announcement the time has come to depart. But the most important item on the agenda was the election of a Wagonmaster.

The Wagonmaster was the spokesperson for the company (wagon train) and generally speaking the wagon train was named after this individual. Such as the Donner Party, the Meeker Party, and etc. He was much more than a spokesman, the Wagonmaster was the law on the trail as once they crossed into Indian Territory there was no law. He was the judge, jury, and executioner. He had the authority to marry couples, assign an eligible bachelor to take care of a recent widow, he could grant devorces, and finally, administrate justice. There was no "death penalty" per se, but the closest thing to it and the maximum punishment was banishment from the company. He could banish an individual or an entire wagon. One thing a Wagonmaster was not and that was a guide. However, he could hire someone he thought was knowledgable of the trail.

Now ready to cross the Missouri the could tell it was too wide, too deep, and the current to swift to ford. Here was the wagon train's first real contact with the Indians. The Sioux to be exact. The Sioux operated two ferries at St. Joseph, each ferry could carry two wagons with oxen across the river. They charged each emigrant $1 to cross. These ferries where nothing more than barges made of large split logs. The Indians used horses and rope to pull the barges across the river. Ocassionally there was a problem with the oxen while on the barges and the animals would bolt, pulling the wagon and all of its contents into the river and all was lost. Sometimes an emigrant was killed when this happened usually when the emigrant tried to stop the freightened animals.

Once the wagons crossed into Indian Territory, they were completely on their own. They were headed for California or a place called Or-e-'gon.

posted in The_Old_West - 0 replies

Old West Facts (1)

Bart — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 02:28:50 GMT

After attending one of the government's sponsored town meetings in 1846, many of the future emigrants sold all of their houshold bleongings with the belief it was cheaper and better to re-purchase them in either Indepndence or St. Joseph. In fact, they were mislead by the government agents, in later years, some of the government agents were given kick-backs from merchants in St. Joseph and in Independence.

When they arrived in the town of departure, they found a shortage of hotel rooms and if they did find a room, it was expensive. So they had a wagon constructed by a wainwright. Often these wainwrights had ties with individuals who raised livestock they would need such as oxen, horses and cattle. Once the emigrants had their wagon, they would then seek a company to join for the journey west ward. A company was the actual wagon train. Once they were signed on to a company, they would join the encampment along the river bank waiting for Spring and the prairie grass to grow.

Each of the encampment had a set of outhouses. The emigrants would set up camps containing four to six wagons usually in a circle. There was a community cooking fire in the center of each camp and each wagon would have a smaller fire for warmth or doing the laundry. In town, there was a saloon with a community bath house attached to the rear of the Saloon with little or no privacy where men and women bathed in their own tubs but in front of each other. One woman dig a good job in describing one the bath house in St. Joseph. She said, ".... I walked through the swinging saloon doors and went to the counter at the rear of building. Waiting for the clerk, I noticed several tables for poker but only one table was occupied. There were 2 gentlemen and 3 women at the bar. There was a young man playing a piano with several saloon girls standing by the piano. I paid the clerk a knickle, he gave me a towel and lead me into the bathing room. In the center of the room was fire pit used for heating water. Surrounding the fire pit were 8 tubs on legs. I was instructed to place three buckets of hot water and one bucket of cold water. Arround the exterior walls were benches to sit and undress with hooks on the wall for my clean clothes and towel. All of this was in the open, only the saloon doors kept us from view of those in the saloon. I undressed and stepped into my tub. As I slipped into the warm water I noticed that none of the gentlemen present took advantage to view my nakedness. A few minutes after I started to bathe, a saloon girl entered the bathing room asking us if anyone wanted drinks. I asked for and received a cup of hot coffee. Another saloon girl came in asked several of the gentlemen present wanted her to dry him off and perhaps other services in a back room. Afterwards I quickly dressed and went back to our wagon completely satisfied with my bath."

Death was becomming more frequent due to exposure and illness. But this was life waiting for the Spring.

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California Trail Historic Interpretive Center

Izard-Nevada — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 08:09:48 GMT

In June of 2000 Jim Gibbons introduced a bill in Congress to establish the California Trail Interpretive Center in Elko, Nevada, to facilitate the interpretation of the history of development and use of trails in the settling of the western portion of the United States and the blocking of colonization of the west coast of North America by Russia and the British. The Bureau of Land Management was the established agency to host the monument recognizing the movement over the California Trail completed by over 300,000 settlers, many of whom left records or stories of their journeys, with additional recognition and interpretation of the movement over the California Trail to portray the national scope of nineteenth century westward movement in the United States; and respond to the strong interest expressed by people of the United States in understanding their history and heritage.

The facility is actually located in Wells (Elko County), Nevada. and is administered by the Wells Chamber of Comnerce, For an online slideshow, check out this link: http://www.californiatrailinterpretivecenter.com/

Here's an explaination of the significance of the California Trail: http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/road2oregon/sa24goldrush.html

posted in The_Old_West - 1 reply

New photos

Bart — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 20:19:25 GMT

I posted several new photos dealing with the old west. I hope you will enjoy them. Feel free to copy them.

Any comments or want to add a new photo or two?

posted in The_Old_West - 0 replies

Old West Facts

Bart — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 17:47:56 GMT

President Polk wanted the United States to go from sea to sea and this was known as the Manifest Destiny policy he founded. To promote this policy he had Congress pass the "Homestead Act" and made it retro active to the 1830's. This is where an individual could claim 80 acres and a family could claim 160 acres as their own. All they had to do was improve the land by either farming or living on the land, clearly mark the property they were homesteading, notify the Department of the Interior, pay a filing fee, and after six years have a government agent and/or 6 neighbors verify all the conditions were met.

This was a great program that helped the country when times were difficult. President Polk instructed the Department of the Interior to send government agents to the various communities along the eastern part of the United States, hold town meetings, and inform the population of the free land. This too, was good however there was a problem. The government agents hired by the Department of the Interior had never been west of the Missouri River. While they were knowledgeable about the Homestead act, they had no knowledge of what is was like once they crossed into "Indian Territory".

Because of this, the agents would tell the gathered citizens at these meetings, "...the land is flat and clear from St Joseph (or Independence) to California. It would take a prudent man to find more than a few hills along the way, certainly nothing to impede his progress." He would also say something like this "...the trip is safe for women and children, and women in the delicate condition." Ofcourse, there were rumors that California was the land of milk and honey. In one diary of a pioneer I found this interesting entry: "...the government man told us today that if a man were to get lost in the wilderness of California, he could easily survive on the wild berries and fruit growing everywhere. In fact, he would most likely gain weight before he would be found.....I have been told there are wild hogs running among the oak and fruit trees already cooked, with a knife and fork stuck in them. A man can slice off a piece of meat and the hog doesn't mind as the flesh regenerates...."

Any thoughts or comments?

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Pioneer diaries

Bart — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 02:07:33 GMT

Research is so very important when writing. When writing in the Western and Old West genres it is extra important. There is a web page on the internet that has a large number of complete pioneer diaries and letters. The address is: http://www.over_land.com/diaries.html

posted in The_Old_West - 0 replies