



Produced by Greg Bergquist, Charlie Howard, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)







Transcriber's note: Italics text is denoted by _underscores_.


[Illustration]




             THE AWAKENING OF THE DESERT




                    THE AWAKENING
                    OF THE DESERT

                          BY

                   JULIUS C. BIRGE

                 _With Illustrations_

                    [Illustration]

                  RICHARD G. BADGER
                   THE GORHAM PRESS
                        BOSTON




        _Copyright 1912 by Richard G. Badger_
                _All Rights Reserved_


         _The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A_.




CONTENTS


   CHAPTER                                                    PAGE

         I  A Call to the Wilderness                            11

        II  "Roll Out"                                          18

       III  The Advancing Wave of Civilization                  24

        IV  A River Town of the Day                             38

         V  Our Introduction to the Great Plains                52

        VI  The Oregon Trail                                    64

       VII  Society in the Wilderness                           76

      VIII  Jack Morrow's Ranch                                 88

        IX  Men of the Western Twilight                        102

         X  Dan, the Doctor                                    118

        XI  Fording the Platte in High Water                   133

       XII  The Phantom Liar of Greasewood Desert              142

      XIII  The Mystery of Scott's Bluffs                      156

       XIV  The Peace Pipe at Laramie                          167

        XV  Red Cloud on the War Path                          186

       XVI  The Mormon Trail                                   196

      XVII  Wild Midnight Revelry in the Caspar Hills          211

     XVIII  A Night at Red Buttes                              223

       XIX  Camp Fire Yarns at Three Crossings                 237

        XX  A Spectacular Buffalo Chase                        252

       XXI  The Parting of the Ways                            267

      XXII  The Banditti of Ham's Fork                         281

     XXIII  Through the Wasatch Mountains                      290

      XXIV  Why a Fair City Arose in a Desert                  303

       XXV  Some Inside Glimpses of Mormon Affairs             324

      XXVI  Mormon Homes and Social Life                       342

     XXVII  The Boarding House Train                           359

    XXVIII  Some Episodes in Stock Hunting                     380

      XXIX  Adventures of an Amateur Detective                 393

       XXX  The Overland Stage Line                            409




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


    Trail Through Salt Lake Desert                    Frontispiece
                                                       Facing page
    Elk                                                         16

    Wild Cat                                                    48

    The Oregon Trail, Through Mitchell Pass                     64

    Chimney Rock, One of the Old Landmarks of the '49 Trail     74

    Grizzly Bear                                                96

    Cougar                                                     112

    Buffalos                                                   130

    Jail Rock and Court House Rock                             148

    Scott's Bluff, Showing Dome Rock in the Distance           155

    The Old Company Quarters at Fort Laramie                   184

    Sage Brush Growth                                          202

    The Rockies                                                252

    Fremont Peak and Island Lake on the West <DW72> of the
            Wind River Range                                   268

    Red Sandstone Cliffs, on Wind River                        280

    Weber River, Mouth of Echo Canyon                          294

    Joseph Smith                                               304

    The King of Beaver Island                                  308

    Brigham Young                                              316

    First House Built in Salt Lake City                        330

    Great Salt Lake                                            346

    Through the Wasatch                                        360

    Dead Man's Falls, Little Cottonwood, Utah                  386

    Sutter's Fort Before Restoration, Sacramento, Calif        406

    First House in Denver                                      420




THE AWAKENING OF THE DESERT


[Illustration: TRAIL THROUGH SALT LAKE DESERT]




THE AWAKENING OF THE DESERT




CHAPTER I

A Call to the Wilderness


"Will you join us in a camping trip to the Pacific Coast?" This alluring
invitation was addressed to the writer one cold, drizzly night in the
early spring of 1866 by Captain Hill Whitmore, one of a party of six men
who by prearrangement had gathered round a cheerful wood fire in a
village store in Whitewater, Wisconsin.

The regular business of the establishment had ended for the day; the
tight wooden shutters had been placed upon the doors and windows of the
store as was the custom in those times; and the key was now turned in
the lock to prevent intrusions. All the lights had been turned off,
except that of a single kerosene lamp, suspended from the ceiling near
the stove; the gentle glow revealed within a small arc on either side of
the room the lines of shelving filled with bolts of dry goods, but
toward the front and the rear of the long room it was lost in the
darkness. The conditions were favorable for a quiet, undisturbed
discussion of a proposed enterprise, for even Ray, the clerk, after
ramming a maple log into the fire, had quietly stretched himself out
upon one of the long counters near the stove, resting his head upon a
bolt of blue denim.

Tipping back in a big wooden chair against the opposite counter, at the
Captain's side, with his feet on the rail by the stove, sat big John
Wilson. John had made a trip across the plains with Whitmore the
preceding year, and was now arranging to become his partner in a similar
venture on a larger scale. Trader and adventurer by instinct, Wilson, as
his record had shown, would promptly accept a brickyard or a grocery in
exchange for live stock or a farm, and preferred any new enterprise to a
business with which he was familiar.

Fred Day, an interesting young man of twenty years, was a consumptive.
He and I sat side by side at the front of the stove, while nervous
little Paul Beemer, when not pacing back and forth between the counters
behind us, sat astride a small chair, resting his arms on its back, and
listening with close attention.

Stalwart Dan Trippe sat in a big arm chair near Paul. He had already
been informed in a general way that a transcontinental expedition was
being planned. Dan also was ever ready to consider any new venture. He
had once crossed the plains to Pike's Peak, and had no present vocation.
Running his fingers through his curly hair, as was his habit in serious
moments, he launched a question toward the opposite side of the stove.

"Well, John, what's the proposition? What's the scheme?"

Dropping his chair forward upon its four legs, and knocking the ashes
from his pipe, John proceeded to outline the tentative plan then in
mind. Briefly stated, the project was to fit out a wagon train with the
view of freighting from the Missouri River to the Coast. In the
preceding year the rates for transportation to Salt Lake had been from
twenty to thirty cents per pound, affording a fine profit if the train
should go through safe.

Hill Whitmore, a vigorous, compactly built man, then in the prime of
life, and who since the discovery of gold in California had more than
once piloted such trains across the wide stretch of plains and mountains
to the Pacific Coast, would be a partner in the enterprise and the
Captain of the expedition. We had known him long and well.

An opportunity was now offered for the investment of more capital which,
if no mishap should befall the train, would pay 'big money.'

A few young fellows could also accompany the outfit and obtain a great
experience at a moderate cost. Being myself a convalescent from a
serious attack of typhoid fever, and having temporarily withdrawn from
business at the recommendation of physicians, Fred's condition commanded
my serious consideration. I gently pulled his coat-sleeve as a signal
for him to follow me, and we leisurely sauntered down into the shadows
near the front of the store where, backing up against a counter, we were
soon seated together on its top. We both knew, without exchanging a
word, that we had some interests in common. Ordinarily, he was a genial
and affable companion, but we both remained silent then, for we were
absorbed in thinking--and doubtless along the same lines. The mere
suggestion of the trip at once brought vividly to my mind all the little
I then knew of the West. Like all Gaul in the days of Caesar, it seemed
in some vague way to be divided into three parts, the plains, the
mountains, and the region beyond.

The indefiniteness of the old western maps of the day left much to the
imagination of the young student of geography and suggested the idea of
something new to be discovered. The great American Desert was
represented as extending hundreds of miles along the eastern <DW72> of
the mountains. Other deserts were shown in the unoccupied spaces
beyond, and

        "As geographers in Afric's maps
        With savage pictures fill their gaps,"

so here and there on our maps of the western territories was inserted
the name of some Indian tribe which was supposed to lead its wild,
nomadic life in the district indicated. A few rivers and mountain peaks
which had received the names of early explorers, Great Salt Lake to
which the Mormons had been led, and other objects to which had been
applied the breezy, not to say blood-curdling, appellations peculiar to
the nomenclature of the West, all were perhaps more familiar to the
average American schoolboy than were the classic names which have lived
through twenty centuries of history. In the imagination of youth, "Smoky
Hill Fork," "Devil's Slide," and "Rattlesnake Hills" figured as pretty
nearly what such terms naturally suggest. Along the first-mentioned
stream--then far away from civilization--the soft haze and smoke of an
ideal Indian summer was supposed to rest perpetually, and it was
believed that in days of long ago, weird demons were really wont to
disport themselves on the mountain <DW72> called Devil's Slide. The far
West seemed to be a mystic land always and everywhere wooing to
interesting adventure.

"Do you think that Ben would go?" asked Fred in an earnest tone.

"That's a bright thought, Fred. With Ben, we would be a harmonious
triumvirate; but let's hear more of the program." So we returned to our
seats by the stove.

Whitmore was outlining some of the details and indicating the provisions
which it would be necessary to make, in view of the fact that no
railroad had as yet been laid even across Iowa, much less between the
Missouri and the Pacific.

"Now boys, you must understand that we're cutting loose from all
established settlements. There won't be any stores to drop into to buy
anything that you have forgotten to bring along. Anybody that wants
lemonade will have to bring along his lemons and his squeezer. After we
get beyond the Missouri River you will find no white peoples' homes
until you strike the Mormon settlement in Utah, so we'll have to take
along enough grub to feed us for several months;--of course we ought to
kill some game on the way, which will help out. Our stock must live
wholly upon such pasturage as can be found along the way. The men must
also be well armed with rifles; wagons must be built; and the cattle
must be purchased. There is a lot to do to get ready, and we must start
in on it at once."

During the preceding year, as was well known, the Indians in the West
had been unusually hostile. Many parties of freighters, among them
Whitmore's train, had been attacked, and a great number of travelers had
been massacred. That year and the one to be described, are still
mentioned in the annals of the West, as "the bloody years on the
plains." This state of affairs was fully considered and discussed, not
solely from the standpoint of personal safety, but also with reference
to the success of the enterprise.

Having been reared among the Indian tribes of Southern Wisconsin, and
within a mile of the spot where Abraham Lincoln disbanded his company at
the close of the Black Hawk War, I was disposed to believe that I was
not entirely unfamiliar with the manners and customs of the aborigines.
Searches for arrows and spearheads in prehistoric Aztalan and in other
places, visits to Bad Axe and to other scenes of conflict with Indians
had been to me sources of keen delight. Over these battlefields there
seemed to rest a halo of glory. They were invested with interest
profound as that which, in later years, stimulated my imagination when I
looked upon more notable battlefields of the Old World, where the
destinies of nations had been decided. But at this time the experiences
of my youth were fresh in my mind and the suggestion of a western trip
found in me an eager welcome.

It was not indeed the lure of wealth, nor entirely a search for health
that attracted the younger members of the party to a consideration of
the project, nor in contemplating such an expedition was there enkindled
any burning desire for warfare; it was the fascination of the wild life
in prospect that tempted us most powerfully to share the fortunes of the
other boys who had been our companions in earlier years and whom we
fervently hoped would join the party. Fred undoubtedly expressed our
sentiments when he said:

"My enthusiasm might take a big slump if a raid of those red devils
should swoop down upon us, but if I go, I shall feel as if I didn't get
my money's worth, if we don't see some of the real life of the Wild
West."

We had all been accustomed to the use of firearms and could picture in
our imagination how, from behind an ample rock, with the aid of good
long-range rifles, we would valiantly defend ourselves against an enemy
armed with bows and arrows, we being far beyond the range of such
primitive weapons.

[Illustration: ELK]

Immense herds of buffalo and other large game were also known to range
over the plains from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico, and
these at times might receive proper attention. Yea, there were some
present who even expressed a desire to capture a grizzly bear in the
mountains--of course under sane and safe conditions--though none up to
that time had seen the real thing.

A former schoolmate, Billy Comstock, best known as "Wild Bill," who rode
the first pony express from Atchison, and had often been called upon by
our Government to act as Indian interpreter, was said to be somewhere on
the plains. This was encouraging, for William would be able to give us
some interesting pointers.

"We will meet here again after the store closes tomorrow night" was the
word that passed round as we went out into the sleet and rain, and the
door closed behind us.

At the earliest opportunity our friend, Ben Frees, who had recently
returned from the war, was interviewed with favorable results.

"Yes, I will go with the boys," was my decision finally reached after a
full discussion of the subject at home.

And the three boys went.




CHAPTER II

"ROLL OUT"


Whitmore and Wilson, who were the leading spirits in our expedition,
urged that twenty-five Henry repeating rifles (which had recently been
invented) and thirty Colt's revolvers should be secured for our party;
this in view of their experience on the plains in the preceding year and
of recent reports from the West. If any trifling precaution of that
nature would in any way contribute to the safety and comfort of those
gentlemen, it would certainly meet with my approval. They were to leave
families behind them and should go fully protected. In fact certain
stories that had been related in my hearing had excited even within my
breast a strong prejudice against the impolite and boorish manner in
which Indians sometimes scalped their captives. Orders were accordingly
transmitted for the arms to be shipped from Hartford. The sixty wagons
were built specially for the purpose in question and thirty-six vigorous
young men, the most of whom had seen service in the Civil War just
ended, were secured to manage the teams.

Under the new white canvas cover of each wagon lay at least