"i ita UnlvtreN) i Ibrary W002fl02906601 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Bought with the income of the fund established in Memoty of MAY HUMPHREYS, Yale 1890 ' "'- . "¦ " -', ¦¦ . ¦ :,:¦':;: -^-;:y'ff.f mm ¦¦ . -¦-_- 1 ECHOES PRO M T H 15 Rocky Mountains Reminiscences and Thrilling Incidents of the Romantic and Golden Age of the Great West, with a Graphic Account of its Discovery, Settlement and Grand Development. BY JOHN W. CLAM PITT Counselor at Law. EL.A.BORA.TELY ILLUSTRATED. CHICAGO, NEW TORK, rHTI.ADBI.PHIA SAN" FRANCISCO : BELFORD, CLARKE & CO. Copyright 1888, by JOHN W. CLAMPITT. Cv^.4-38 DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY, printers and binders, Chicago. Pioneers of the Pacific, Men who Nobly Braved the Waves of Perilous Fortune AND Laid Down their Lives in Founding the Great Commonwealths of the Pacific Coast, THIS WORK IS DEDICATED. "What lives they lived ! What deaths they died 1 A thousand canons dark'ning wide Below Sierra's slopes of pride Receive them now. And they who died Along the dim, far desert route — Their ghosts are many. Let them keep Their vast possession. The Piute, The tawny warrior, will dispute No boundary with these. And I — Who saw them live, who felt them die — Say, let their unplowed ashes sleep." INTEODUCTION". The pages of this book record many scenes, events and perils clustering about the life of the writer during a residence of several years as an officer of the Federal Government in the far "West, in the territory embracing the Missouri Eiver and the Pacific Ocean. It likewise relates the earlier voyages of discovery in its trackless depths. First by that known as the Lewis and Clarke expedition at the instigation of President Jefferson, who sought a highway to the Pacific Ocean, through our newly acquired territory, known as the Louisiana Purchase ; and by that of the path-finder, John C. Fremont, who later on verified the dream of Jefferson and opened up a highway to myriads of gold seekers. It tells of the early settlement of California, the Pacific coast and "North western Territories consequent upon the discovery of the pre cious metal in Sutters' Mill race on the Sacramento, by Marshall the Mormon, and the swift settlement and development of that land of wealth and wonders. Of the establishment of the Pony Express, and the great Over land Mail Express lines that speedily followed. Of the vast system of electric wires connecting the Orient and the Occident. Of the building of the three great lines of transcontinental rail roads that pour the mineral and agricultural wealth of that region into the lap of the world, and of the national legislation promoting the vast labor. It describes much of the wild scenery, glowing landscape, majestic waterfalls, mighty lakes, mysterious mountain vales, lost rivers and natural wonders of the far "West. It tells of massacres and assassinations of pioneers who first trod its unknown depths. Of Indian violence and treachery of the white man. Of mail-coach pillage on the highway, and the robbers of the canons. Of the vigilantes of California, Montana and Idaho, and scenes and incidents connected with the exercise of their mysterious and tremendous power. It speaks of Indian songs, legends and dances. Of the wonders of Yosemite and the Yellowstone. Of great mining industries and the V] INTRODUCTION. vast productions of gold and silver that enabled tlie Government to resume " specie payment." It relates the acquisition of territory and the means whereby we acquired title to many thousands of square miles of territory. It is a brief review of the earlier history of events, marking the development of the great West and the perils that beset the path of the American pioneer. It is the product of leisure hours snatched from busy professional and official life, and is presented to the reading American public as an exhibit of pioneer life, truthful and original, in many of whose excit ing scenes and events the writer participated, and who was inspired to prepare the work from the deep reverence he holds for the American pioneer. It has been in the main carefully prepared from notes and records made by the author during the prosecution of his official trusts. Wherever information has been obtained from other sources, they have been fully verified before adoption. It has been in some degree a labor of love to commemorate the virtues and brave deeds of many mountain friends who have crossed the " divide " and passed down into the sweet Valley of Rest. It is presented after the lapse of years, that the generation which has grown up since their fathers' heroism opened the great Pacific highway to the world may know and understand through " what perils passed and dangers undergone" the foundation of this mighty Western empire was laid. The Author. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. The Romantic Age of the Western Frontier — The Adventurous Settlements of the Pacific Coast — Discovery of Gold, 1848 — The Lewis and Clarke Expedition — Fremont's Expedition — Fremont's Early Life and Marriage — Terrible Suffer ings in the Sierras — Compelled to Eat as Food the Bodies of TheirDead Com panions — Gen. John S. Sutter — Marshall, the Mormon — General Sutter's Ranch on the Sacramento — The Pathway to the Pacific 19 CHAPTER II. The Pony Express — From River to Ocean — The Story of Its Establishment — The Wager between the Ocean Express and the Overland Firm of Russell, Majors, Waddell & Company — The Continent to be Crossed in Fifteen Days — Fifty Thousand Dollars the Wager — Story of the First Ride — The Lost Rider — The Drowned Horse in the Platte River — The Wager Won by Twenty Minutes — The Pony Express Assured — The Pony Express Riders, Sui Oeneris — Fac Simile Copy of Pony Express Envelope Which Carried the News of the First Election of Abraham Lincoln to Denver, then the Territory of Jefferson — Other Letters — The Pony Express and the Fast British Mail from China to London — The Pike's Peak Gold Excitement 37 CHAPTER III. The Electric Telegraph — Early Experiments— Charles Morrison, of Renfrew, Scotland — The First Experiment Contemplated a Circuit of but Forty Yards — ¦ A Century Passes, and Telegraphic Engineering sends a Circuit Forty Hundred Miles across the Continent — The Mountainous Republic of Switzer land, the Sire of European Telegraphy — The Great Republic of America — Its Pioneers Lay the Transcontinental Wires — San Francisco Prints Daily News of London, Paris, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Calcutta and China — The Missouri & Western Telegraph Company — The First Office in Omaha — The Pacific Telegraph Company Chartered by Congress — The Overland Telegraph Company Organized in California — Sketch of the Country through which it Passed — Exciting Incidents and Adventures Connected with its Construc tion — Mode of Testing the Wires by Ranchmen — Discovering the Breaks — The Dream of Inspired Shakespeare Planting the Forces of Instantaneous Transit and Marshaling Time's Moments Realized by the World-girdling Telegraph — The Grants Made by Congress , 61 Viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. The Overland Mail, and Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express — Sketch of Country and Mining Camps where the Mail Facilities were Supplied by Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Mail Express — The Frontier Postoffice — The Postmaster Who Was a Mail Carrier — The Notice He Posted in a Trading Store— His Correspon dence with the. Postmaster-General — The Drivers of the Mail Coaches and Their Pay — The Way Beset by Indians, Robbers and Road Agents — Robbers as Drivers — The Murder and Robbery of a Coach Load of Passengers in Port Neuf Cafion, Idaho Territory — Battle between Passengers and Robbers — The Founding of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express — Its System of Letter Carrying — A Great Financial Earthquake on the Pacific Coast — Fall of Noted Houses — Wells, Fargo & Co. again on Its Feet — History of Pacific Express Companies — Louis McLane — The Various Routes to the Pacific. . . 73 CHAPTER V. The Pacific Railroads — Surveys andJExplorations by the Government — Acts of Congress — The Granting of Subsidies — A Minute Description of the Building of each Road — Their Plans and Methods — The Initial Point Established by Abraham Lincoln — His Appointment of Commissioners — The Commencement of the Work — The Immensity of the Undertaking — Hardships and Privation Endured — Completion of the Two Great Trans continental Lines — Incidents Connected with Their Construction — Driving of the Two Gold Spikes — The Cost of Each Road — The ' ' Credit Mobilier " — Its Mysterious Methods — The Vast Sums of Money it Captured — Oakes Ames — The Fabulous Earnings of the Roads — Their Great Benefits to the Country 91 CHAPTER VI. The Southern Pacific — The Route Marked Out — Infantile Efforts to Construct it — The Southern Commercial Convention — Resolutions Adopted — The Road Begun — Work Suspended — The Texas Pacific — Acts of Congress Relating Thereto — Description of the Route — Thomas A. Scott — Other Connecting Railroad Lines — The Land Grant by Texas — Earnings of the Road — Events Connected with its Construction 115 CHAPTER VII. The Building of the Northern Pacific — The First Projected Road across the Con tinent — The Expedition of 1853 — Josiah Perham's Labors — Proposition to Raise One Hundred Millions of Dollars by Subscription — The Firm of J. Cooke & Co. — Its Connection with the Road — Placing of Eighty Millions of Bonds on the American Market — Some Methods that were used in Plac ing the War Loans of the Government — The Memorable Panic of 1873 — The Failure of Jay Cooke & Co. — The Widespread Financial Ruin that Followed — Henry Villard — The Oregon Transportation Company — The Final Completion of the Northern Pacific over the Route Marked Out by Thomas Jefferson 122: CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. The Robbers of the Overland Routes — My Mission from the Government to Cap ture and Prosecute the Depredators — Sketch of the Country — Exciting Scenes — Description of Frontier Towns — The vast Army of Men that were Scattered over the Country after the Close of the War — Murders and Assas sinations — Depredations upon Overland Mail by Organized Bands of Mail Robbers — Railroad Towns by Night — Punishment of the Robbers — A Des perado's Innocent Amusement — Commissioned by the Government — Journey to the far West, via New York, Niagara and St. Louis — The Hudson, the Rhine of America — West Point— Other Cities 132 CHAPTER IX. A Glimpse of Horace Greeley at Albany — Niagara Described — From the Falls to Chicago — St. Louis — Turkish Bath in the top Room of the Southern Hotel. 142 CHAPTER X. On the Missouri — Story of the Gentle Missionary on the Missouri River Steamboat — The Baptist Elder and the Captain of the Ocean Steamer in a Storm — ' ' Well, just swear a little." 151 CHAPTER XI. Journeying toward Julesburg — The Broad Nebraska Plains — "Spotted Tail" — Race on the Iron Road between an Antelope and the " Mighty Engine " — Julesburg by Gaslight — The Coach Ride to Denver — The Perilous Road — Indian Signs — Indians Circling around Us — Coaches Halted and Horses Corraled — Waiting for the Sundown Attack — The City of Denver by Daylight — Col. James T. Tracy — Tall Church Spires and Closed Stores on Sunday, in the place of the "Hurdy Gurdy " and the "War Cry" of the Auctioneers 159 CHAPTER XII. The City of Denver — Pike's Peak — Garden of the Gods — Williams Canon — The Gun-Barrel Road — Snowy Range — Long's, Gray's and Pike's Peaks — Bowlder City and Bowlder Canon — The Wonderful South Park — The Valley of the Arkansas — Fossil Footprints — The Science of Ichnology — The Road to Cheyenne — Scenes of Indian Violence — The Black Embers of the House and the Story of the Murder by Indians of a Pioneer's Family 17* CHAPTER XIII. The Midnight Supper and Dance at La Porte — The Prairie on Fire — Riding Through the " Wave of Flame" — Arrival at Cheyenne — Primitive Postoffice — The Story of the "Lawyer's Offer and the Justice's Jurisdiction" — Sudden Illness and the Doctor's Interview — Ordered to be Bled — Dale Creek and Dale Valley in Summer and Winter — Change — Magnificent Panorma of Mountain and Valley— Morning Dawn in the Mountains 187 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. The Journey over the Plains — The Spirits of Medicine Bow Valley — Medicine Bow Station — The Subterranean Fort — The Land of Antelopes — Rock Springs— The Lone Station in the Wilderness — The Ice Waters of the Alkali — The Frontier Traders who Left Their Goods to Gaze upon the Beauty of Two Lady Passengers in the Overland Coach— Washakie, the Good Chief of the Bannocks — South Pass City — ' ' Miner's Delight — Bat tle between Sioux and Bannocks — Miners Aid Washakie to Repel the Sioux — The Sioux's Revenge — Massacre of Settlers in Wyoming 201 CHAPTER XV. The Grand Canon of the Colorado — Review of Major Powell's Explorations — Stories and Legends of the Mystic Stream — Perils Passed — Battling with the Waters — Going Down the Falls — Sublime Courage and Heroism 214 CHAPTER XVI. Midnight Adventures upon Green River — Crossing the Turbid Stream in a Skiff — Almost Lost — Loaded to the Gunwales — Miraculously Saved — The Mayor of Cheyenne and two Others Lost at the same Spot a few Weeks Afterward — The Famous Beauty at Green River Station, and her Voice of Thunder — The Murder of a Trader by a Green River Desperado — Arrest of the Murderer by the Civil Authorities of Green River City — Seizure of the Prisoner by Colonel Knight, Commanding the United States Camp, on the Banks of Green River at the Railroad Crossing — Uprising of the Citizens — Conflict between the Citizens and the Military — Two Thousand Citizens Meet and Arm — Great Meeting on the Public Street — The Citizens Demand to be Led against the United States Troops — Colonel Knight Loads his Cannon and Holds the Prisoner — Interview between Colonel Knight and a Deputation of Citizens of Green River — The Matter Compromised by Referring it to General Mor row, Commanding the Forces at Fort Bridger — General Morrow Telegraphs Colonel Knight, to Hold the Prisoner at all Hazards — General Augur Coun termands General Morrow's Order, and Restores the Prisoner to the Civil Authorities at Green River — The Escape of the Prisoner through the Treachery of the Deputy Sheriff— The Power of Money — The Inquest upon the Body of the Victim— The Masonic Burial of the Murdered Man in the Old Burial Ground of Fremont's Party 234 CHAPTER XVII. From Green River to Salt Lake — Fort Bridger and its Command — Stories of the Indians — Old " Judge " Carter — The Indian Scout, "Jim Bridger," who never saw any bad Whisky ; some of it might be better than another, but all of it was good — Cobble-Stone Hill— Through Echo and Weber Canons — The wonders of the Canons— The "Devil's Gate" and Pulpit Rock — "Rattle-Snake Hills"— The Great Dead Seaof the West — Zion's City— The Mighty Wahsatch— Description of Public and Private Buildings — The Tithing House and Temple— Brigham Young's Abode— The Lion House — The House with many Gables — Endowment House — Description of Scenery in the Valley — Brigham Young — His Wives— The Favorite Amelia— The Romance of her Early Courtship— The Homes and Avoca tions of Brigham's Wives— Habits and Business Life of the Mormons — Salt Lake Theater — John McCullough 253 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XVIII. Utah Judges — Interview Between Brigham Young and Judge Titus — The Mor mon Officials and Judge Drake — United States Judges of Utah and Other Officials— -The Morrisites — Murder of Their Prophet by Brigham's Direc tion — Other Murders — Great Excitement Among the People — System of Trade Among the Mormons — Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution — Brigham's Autocracy 273 CHAPTER XIX. Camp Douglas — Conflict between United States Troops and Mormon Officials — Assassinations by Mormons — The Danites — Origin of Their Order — Its Mission and Its Murders in the Name of the Church and Religion — " Bill" Hickman, the Chief of the Danite's — History of His Life — "Bill" Hick man's Confession to the United States District Attorney — Eighteen Per sons Assassinated by His Hands — He Kills His Own Brother-in-Law in the Presence of His Sister, in the Name of the Lord 288 CHAPTER XX. The Persecution of the Gentiles — The Life of the Editor of the Gentile Paper in Salt Lake City Threatened by Mormon Leaders — The Bold Attitude of the Paper — The Mormon Convention — Brigham's Speech Enrages the Multi tude — Threatened Destruction of the Gentile Press — Armed Citizens Bar ricade the Entrance to the Editor's Sanctum and Await the Attack — Word Secretly Conveyed to Brigham Young by Colonel Lewis, Commanding the Post at Camp Douglas that He would Hold Him Personally Responsible for any Attack upon the Lives and Property of the Gentiles — Brigham Alarmed and Calls off in Haste His " Dogs of War " — The Good Bishop Wooley, the Friend of the Gentiles — His Sunday Evening Discourses — His Quaint Speeches 300 ¦ CHAPTER XXI. The Mormon Religion — Tenets of the Mormon Faith — The Power of Brigham Young, Their Seer — His " Communidn with God" — The Blood Atone ment — The Murder of a Wife by Her Husband — The Order of Enoch — Brigham's Great Wealth — George Peabody 's Statement of His Deposits in The Bank of England 311 CHAPTER XXII. Utah, Continued — The New Movement — A Church Convulsion — Disfellowship of Leading Mormons by Brigham Young — Establishment of a Liberal Mormon Journal — The Sons of Joseph Smith, the Founder of the Mormon Faith, Appear in Salt Lake City — Brigham's Wrath — The Mormon Endowment House — Graphic Exposure of the Institution where Polyga mous Marriages are Solemnized — Confession of a Woman Who had Taken all the Degrees — The Garden of Eden — Many Eves in the Garden — Brigham Appears as God and Drives Them from the Garden — The Words and Vows Uttered by the Candidates — The Oaths They Take to Sustain the Power of Their Prophet above that of the Government. 323 AU CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. The Winter Ride from Salt Lake City— Description of Scenery— Mormon Settle ments—Three Days' Rain— The Mormon Bible— Our Blooded Horses— Mon roe Salisbury, the Mail Contractor— The " Sleep " at Chicken Creek— Our Pre-empted Ranch on the Sevier River 337 CHAPTER XXIV. Christmas Eve in Round Valley— No Bed to Sleep On— Beating of Drums and Firing of Guns in Honor of Christmas Morning— The Terrible Storm in the Mountains— The Mormon Fort in the Wilderness, the City of Refuge— The Hospitality of its Kind-hearted Keeper— His Beautiful Daughter— The Ride to Fillmore City— To Beaver— To St. George— The Business Bishop of Beaver— The Mormon Ball at Fillmore City— The Belles of Fillmore City— Our Dance — Narrow Escape — The River Forded — Return to Salt Lake — Spies on our Track 351 CHAPTER XXV. The Mountain Meadows Massacre — A Complete Account of the Murder of over One Hundred Rich Emigrants from Arkansas on Their way to California, by a Band of Mormon Militia and Indians — Believed to have been Murdered at the Command of Brigham Young — Young's Positive Knowledge of the Crime — His Report as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Territory Attributes the Bloody Deed to the Indians, when he Knows that the Dark Crime was Committed by Mormons at his Bidding — The Emigrants, Unsus pecting, Betrayed, Murdered and Plundered — Their Mangled Bodies Permit ted to lie Unburied, to be Devoured by Wolves and Vultures — Destruction of the Women and Children First, and the Men Afterward — The Confession and Affidavit of Bishop Klingan Smith — The Confession of John D. Lee — His Trial and Execution Twenty-five Years after the Commission of the Heinous Crime — Thrilling Scenes Described 368 CHAPTER XXVI. The Grasshoppers — Graphic Description of the Descent upon the Valley of Salt Lake of a vast Army of Grasshoppers, and the Destruction of Every Living Green Thing in the Valley— The Patience and Resignation of the Mormons — The Tales Told by the Mormons of Strange Miracles for their Preservation in Early Days— The Stories of the Stork and the Crickets— The Sea-Gulls and the Grasshoppers 390 CHAPTER XXVII. The Mail Robers of Echo Canon— Graphic Description of Their Arrest and Pun ishment—Drivers in League with Robbers— Narrow Escape from Death- Trial and Conviction of Robbers 399 CHAPTER XXVIII. Bear River City — Murder Committed during the Construction of the "Grade "— Vigilance Committee Executes Outlaws— The Town Fired by Armed Bands of Desperadoes— Arming of the Citizens— Battle and Repulsion of the Rob bers— Driven to the Mountains— The " Dead Line "—Arrival of United States Troops from Fort Bridger— Peace Restored— Midnight Ride from Bear River to Salt Lake City— The Upset of the Coach and Death of the Driver, Sage Collyer— Lost— Tramping Through the Deep Snows to Find the Wagon Ruts— The Big Baptist Elder and His Little Wife— " Hold Down the Coach " —The Perilous Ride Through Echo Canon 4}0 CONTENTS. XU1 CHAPTER XXIX. Shoshone Falls — Snake River near Fort Hall — Fishing for Trout — The Wondering Ducks upon the Waters, Who had Never before Seen the Face of a White Man — Bell's Landing above Shoshone Falls — Story of the Lone Miner on the Banks of tte Great Falls — Dashed to Ruin over the Falls 429 CHAPTER XXX. Lost in the Mountains of Montana — Wanderings — The Miner's Camp — My Guide — The Wild Beast in the Jungle — The "Pard's Regret" — The Governor's Search Party — The Telegram to Salt Lake City — Rescue 438 CHAPTER XXXI. Wonderful Escape from Massacre by Indians in Arizona — Colonel Stone — Delegate McCormick of Arizona — Meeting in Washington City — On My Way to Join Them — Arrival at Sacramento — Telegraphic Order from Washington Direct ing Me to Return and Proceed to Montana on Important Government Busi ness — Colonel Stone and Whole Party Murdered by Indians 461 CHAPTER XXXII. Description of the Yosemite Valley 474 CHAPTER XXXIII. The First Vigilance Committee in California and the Great Vigilance Committee in 1851— The Tolling of the Fire Bells— The Hanging of the Proscribed on Sunday from the Windows of the Vigilantes' Headquarters — Scenes and Events — Names and Dates 483 CHAPTER XXXIV. The Vigilantes of Montana — Thrilling Description of the Acts of Violence on the Part of " Road Agents," or Robbers that led to the Formation of the Com mittee — The Executions Ordered by its Decrees 493 CHAPTER XXXV. The Execution of Slade— The Story of His Life and Death— His Wife— A New and Correct Account of His Early Life in Illinois — His Difficulty with Jules Beni — The Subsequent Killing of Beni by Slade's Direction— Slade Con nected with the Overland Express — His Removal to Montana — Freighting on Milk River — Earns Large Sums of Money Which is Spent in Riotous Dissipation — He Stamps Upon the Writ of a Court and Points His Pistol in the Face of the Judge — His Arrest at Virginia City, Montana — His Execution 502 CHAPTER XXXVI. Vigilance Committees in Montana, Continued — Names and Dates of Executions by its Decrees — Story of the Snow-Drif ts on the Columbia — The Heroic Soul of the Robber Chief — Joaquin Miller's Story of Their Escape from Freezing 510 CHAPTER XXXVII. Indian Dances — Legendery Lore of Their Song and Dance — Baby Songs of Indian Mothers — The Young Warrior's Ordeal — Dance of the Calumet — Indian Rites — The Scalp Dance — Origin of Scalping — Not Always Fatal — Experi ence of this Indian Pastime 523 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Sun Dance of Sioux — Its Religious Character — The Wolf Dance of the Tonkawas — The Snake Dance of the Moquis — Their Discovery by the Spanish Mis sionaries — Diagram Illustrating Ceremonies of the Dance — Story of " Night on the Plains" — The Sleeping Sentinel— Midnight — The Stake, Human Lives — The Blackfoot Indian Scout — The Avenging Fang of the Rattle snake — The Family Saved '. 536" CHAPTER XXXIX. The Wonders of the Yellowstone — A Full Description of their First Discovery and Publication to the World by an Exploring Party from Montana 554 CHAPTER XL. Thirty-Seven Days of Peril — Review of the Story of Thuman C. Everts, One of the Party of Explorers from Montana Who Became Separated from His Party, and Who Wandered for Thirty-Seven Days in the Unknown Depths of the Yellowstone 574 CHAPTER XLI. First Days of Nevada — Story of the Settlement and Scenes and Adventures in Silver Land — Review of Ross Browne's Description of Washoe 595 CHAPTER XLII. Washoe and Reese River — Many Interesting Descriptions of Life in their Early Settlement 60S' CHAPTER XLIII. Mines and Mining on the Pacific and in the Territories — Laws Relating to Mining — Character of Miners — The Vast Mineral Productions — Quicksilver Mining in California 619s CHAPTER XLIV. Mines and Mining, Continued — Nevada, the Silver Land of the World — The Won derful Productions of Its Great Mines — The Big Bonanza Companies — Dis covery of Gold in Colorado — The Vast Silver and Lead Deposits — The Rise of Denver— Leadville— The Mineral Wealth of Dakota— The Black Hills- Gold and Silver Mining in Wyoming — Bad Lands — Bones of Great Animals —Mining in Montana— Its Vast Mineral Deposits— Virginia City — The Mineral Resources of Idaho — Washington Territory — Silver Mining — Its Minerals — Oregon— Utah — Its Mineral Wealth— The Mines of New Mexico and Arizona— Ancient Races— The Pathway of Civilization — The Upbuild ing of Empire , , Q2Q> CHAPTER XLV. The Course of Empire — History of the Acquisition of Territory The Louisiana Purchase— The Treaty of Gaudalupe Hidalgo— The Contest Over the Ques tion of the Northwestern Boundary — "Fifty-four Forty or Fight" The First Discovery of the Columbia River by an American Sea Captain— Our Title Based in Part upon that Discovery — The Wonderful Growth of the Pacific Coast— The Territories— The Advancement of the Arts and Sciences The Seats of Western Empire— Learning's Capitol on the Western Slope- Manifest Destiny of the Vast American Republic ggj ILLUSTRATIONS Portrait of Colonel John W. Clampitt, . Frontispiece A Vision of Our Western Empire, .... Portrait of General John C. Fremont, Portrait of General Sutter, . . . . Discovery of Gold at Sutter's Mill, . Sutter's Fort, .... ... The Ancient and Modern Knight, Pony Express Race from St. Joseph, Mo., to Sacramento, Cal Portrait of Murray, ...... Fac-Simile of the First Letter Carried over the Plains by the Pony Express Bearing the New» of the Election of Lincoln, Portrait of Kit Carson, Lone Ranchman Frightened at the Sound of His Own Voice Laying the Telegraph Across the Plains, Frontier Postoffice on the Plains, Mountain Mail Carrier, Overland Mail Express Arriving in Town, The Mail Robbers of Port Neuf Canon, Letter Carrier on Snowshoes, Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, Weber CaSon, Union Pacific Railroad, Driving the Golden Spike, . Portrait of Thomas Jefferson, Just for Luck, ..... On the Hudson, View from West Point, Arrival at the Southern Hotel, St. Louis, The Mate and the Clergyman, . Indian Mode of Burial, Race with an Antelope, Camp Attacked by Indians, . View of Pike's Peak, .... The Farm Hand's Escape from Indians, A Martyr Pioneer, .... Escape from a Prairie Fire, Postoffice at Cheyenne, Old Fort, Laramie, .... Trout Fishing, ..... Home of the Antelope, The Lone Station in the Wilderness, Frontier Tradesmen Gazing with Rapture upon Two Lady Gate of Lodore, ...... CaSon of the Colorado where Major Powell and Party Buttes of the Cross in the Tooni-pin Wu near Tu Weep, Marble CaSon, .... Climbing the Grand CaSon, Crossing Green River, .... The Famous Beauty at Green River Station, Arrest of Murderer — Conflict Between United Citizens, ..... Flight of Prisoner and Deputy from Green River Echo CaSon, .... Devil's Gate — Weber CaSon, Portrait of Brigham Young, Temple and Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Travelers, • were Upset, States Troops and illustrations. Murder of Morris, Destruction o? Mosrisites Gentiles from Jerusalem, A Danite, . . . . John D. Lee, ... Bill Hickman, "Bill" Hickman Shooting His Son-in-law, Garment of Polygamic Marriage Ceremony Robe of Polygamic Marriage Ceremony, Sal's Mother and the Lawyer, . Mormon Herd, Southern Utah, The Storm in the Mountains, . "You Must Ask the Bishop," Mountain Meadow Massacre, . Grasshoppers' Descent upon Salt Lake Valley, Discovery of Mail Robbers, .... Mail Robbers of Echo Canon, Vigilance Committee Hanging Desperadoes, "I'm not much Hurt but the Whisky is Gone,". Lost in the Deep Snow, .... The Lone Miner Going over the Shoshone Falls, Standing Rock, ...... Lost in the Mountains of Montana, Chinese Cook, ...... I Glimpses of the Yosemite, ..... Vigilantes Hanging a Desperado in San Francisco, Masked Highwayman, .... Execution of Hunter, ..... Slade Defying the Court, ..... Night on the Lower Columbia, Robber Chief Saving His Band and Miners From Freezing An Indian Dance, ...... The Scalp Dance, Bloody Laurels of the War Path, Indian Village — Sun Dance Pole, Indian Brave Graduating by Self-Torture An Indian Atonement, The Father Guarding His Family, Falls of the Yellowstone, . The Mud Volcano, The Giant Geyser, Fan Geyser, Yellowstone Region, The Grotto Geyser, Yellowstone Region, Mountain Lion, ..... A Night of Terror, " He Beheld the Blazing Eyes of a Forest Monster Everts Rushing From the Forest Fire, Imaginary Companions, Everts' Rescue, Mining Town, .... Succor of Ross Browne by the Jew, Camel Train, Struck it Ricn, The Trapper, .... Mount Hood, .... Rival Fur Traders, England and the United States at Monterey Fremont's Peak, ECHOES FROM t h e Rocky Mountains CHAPTEE I. THE ROMANTIC AGE OF THE WESTERN FRONTIER — THE ADVENTUROUS SET TLEMENTS OF THE PACIFIC COAST — DISCOVERY OF GOLD, 1848 — THE LEWIS AND CLARKE EXPEDITION —FREMONT'S EXPEDITION — FREMONT'S EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE — TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS IN THE SIERRAS -COMPELLED TO EAT AS FOOD THE BODIES OF THEIR DEAD COMPANIONS — GEN. JOHN S. SUTTER — MARSHALL, THE MORMON— GENERAL SUTTER'S RANCH ON THE SACRAMENTO - THE PATHWAY TO THE PACIFIC. The romantic age of the Western frontier has disappeared for ever. Its last vestige was destroyed by the golden spike, driven in the ides of September, 1883, on the northern line of railroad beneath the shadow of the white head of Mount Paul, where, amid the wildest scenery, its own icy springs and cascades mingle with the waters of the Independence and the Deer Lodge, and thence, through broad Pend d'Oreilleandthe swift Columbia, flow on together within the bosom of the Pacific, and lose their identity in its vast eternity. Upon the adventurous footprints of Jonathan Carver, in 1763, fol lowed the dream of Thomas Jefferson. Its realization came just within the closing outlines of a century, whose history has been the grand est yet vouchsafed to man in the struggle and mastery of mind over matter. "Within this period, however, the broadest field of romance and of chivalry was opened up to the unconquerable spirits of the age. "For wild adventure, thrilling conflict and personal daring it was unsur passed in history. Neither the age of Arthur, nor Charlemagne, nor Amadis of Gaul, nor the barons of the feudal times, nor the knights of 19 20 ECHOES FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. the middle ages, with their traces of stoic philosophy, nor the heroes of Chaucer, of Germanic traditions or classical antiquity, nor the knights of the crusades, crowned with their religious orders, nor the legends of the poets from the days of Trojan heroes to the trouba dours, whose romantic deeds shine out as a bright light in the gloom of the dark ages, can obscure by comparison the chivalrous and romantic deeds of the American pioneers preceding and following the discovery of gold upon the Pacific coast. These were the unawed men who pushed their way through the unbroken wilderness of a strange land, through hostile Indian bands, across rapid mountain streams swollen to their utmost verge, over the crags of ice-bound mountains, through the cypress depths of dark, unex plored canons, beyond trackless wastes of alkali deserts and treacher ous quicksands, through valleys whose breath was death, and across chasms from whose rocky depths came the sound of hissing, boiling waters and the cataract's roar. And yet, amid all this hazard and toil and ceaseless endeavor — past the myriad milestones of unburied bones of souls who had laid clown at once their pack and the burden of life — past the wreck of wheel and truncheon, over which the storms of the plains had swept and whitened in their solitude — rode for three thousand miles the unruffled knight of wild American adventure, the bravest soldier of fortune, whose stalwart arm and invincible courage had carved the paths of empire, following the dim trail of a human footprint until with the years it broadened into a highway of civilization ; battling with the dangers and privations of his perilous journey across the con tinent, as if, instead of continuous peril and starvation, and, perchance, sudden death at the hands of red or white assassin, a jeweled crown, a kingly sceptre and robes of royalty waited him at its farther end. It was not, however, the search for power that led thither the bold, adventurous spirit. It was a mightier incentive. • Few, indeed, of the hardy bands of pioneers who journeyed beyond those trackless wastes dreamed of the empire that time would unfold on the shores of the distant Pacific ; that while Anglo-Saxon spirit and enterprise should lay its hand of industry upon the distant line of continent, where ihe horizon drops into the sea, liberty and law would go hand in hand to fashion the rude elements of material society, mold the manhood and form the superstructure of government in A VISION OF OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. n ECHOES FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 23 accordance with the progressive ideas of civilization in the home val leys they had left behind, in tlieir conquest over nature in the daring search for gold. The discovery of gold in large quantities upon the Pacific coast was the mighty incentive that led thither the adventurous American pioneer. Men of the coolest blood and bravest spirit nocked to the new -El Dorado. Not since the walls of Eome fell beneath the imperial blows of Tudor and Plantagenet had such a scene been presented as the crumbling of ancient mountain walls beneath the prowess and genius of their descendants. They differed, however, from their ancient ancestry in this : this conquered empire was one of peace, not of war. The enemy they subdued was that of nature, not one of armed battalions. They were crusaders, whose aspirations were molded, governed and controlled by the sovereign, progressive ideas of the glowing century in whicli they lived. They were soldiers of industry, drilled by labor and hardship, and transformed from a cha otic mob of men into an organized and disciplined army, with mighty weapons of industry, who went forth only to industrial conquest. They possessed themselves of the richest mineral-bearing lands, and located their mining camps. They built villages, towns and cities so far beyond the pale of civilization that for many years they had no local existence upon the land maps of the government. All the indus trial labors of the human race were pursued with tireless energy in this remote wilderness. Forests were felled, rivers bridged, mills constructed, water-courses changed, canals dug, flumes built, mines worked, and the virgin soil, which had slept unbroken amid everlast ing silence since the mountains and stars watched over its birth, was, for the first time in all the ages, upthrown to the dew and the sun shine. Such was the advent of the forces of civilization upon the Pacific coast, and the strangest part of the phenomena, that to be most won dered at, and yet in itself illustrating in a high degree the cohesive power and paramount influence oi the institutions of our government, is the fact, patent to mankind, that for twenty-five years this tide of civilization moved on in all the grandeur of its rapid and complete development in the upbuilding of empire, in its barter and sale and its vast accretions of wealth under laws framed by itself and alone enforced by the general sentiment of the community. 24 ECHOES FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. Amid all the excitement of a mining camp, the decision of a miner's court, composed of a few leading men chosen from among the miners to adjust the claims of conflicting interests, were promptly obeyed. In after years when, over this vast field of human industry in which the tireless energy of the race had found the means of develop ment, the United States government had spread the asgis of its laws and institutions and the forms of its liberal rule, and by organic act courts of record were established to enforce the statute law, the early decisions of the miners' court, framed amid the rude elements of the incongruous and complex society of that period, were invariably accepted as law and precedent, although involving many millions of value. The transition from industry organized upon a small scale to the larger industries of compact labor extending its diffusive energies from mining camp to city, from city to State, is exemplified in the vast creation of States and Territories upon the Pacific coast, and in that fruitful field of industry and development, peopled with many thou sands of human beings and dotted with towns, villages and cities, which but a little while ago was placed upon our maps as an unknown and mysterious land, within whose weird borders the wThite men had never passed ; where savage tribes were said to hold their wild orgies of blood, and cannibals dwelt, who loved the taste of human flesh ; a land given up to darkness and death — a broad black belt of territory indicated upon our maps as the terra incognita, now a land of peopled towns, of wealth and riches, of labor and prosperity, of happy homes and sunshine. And this is what hath been given us by the mighty forces of civili zation first displayed and set in motion in an inhospitable land by that chivalrous crusader — the American pioneer and gold-seeker ! During the administration of Thomas Jefferson, and at his urgent appeal, Congress voted an appropriation for the initial survey of the vast wilderness lying between the Missouri Eiver and the Pacific Ocean, by an expedition to discover a practicable route for travel and traffic, to follow the Missouri Eiver to its source, pass over the mountain head lands and descend the water-courses of the western coast until thev merged into the Pacific Ocean. The expedition that accomplished this perilous work is known as the "Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804." Merriweather Lewis ECHOES FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 27 was a native of "Virginia, and in the year 1800 a captain in the regular army of the United States. Shortly afterward he became Jefferson's private secretary, and so impressed the President with his qualifica tions for the great task that he appointed him leader of the expedi tion to the Pacific Ocean. "William Clark was likewise a native of Virginia, and a lieutenant of artillery in the regular army, and was ordered by the President to join the Eocky Mountain Expedition, and it is said that to his thor ough knowledge of the Indians and their habits the success of the expedition was mainly due. In 1813 he was appointed governor of Missouri, and held the office until the complete organization of the State government. In 1822 he was made superintendent of Indian affairs, which office he continued to hold until his death. Poor Lewis met a sadder fate. Brilliant, brave and generous, he was withal subject to periods of great mental depression, in one of which he slew himself, near Nashville, Tennessee. Before this, how ever, he rose to considerable distinction, was made governor of the Territory of Louisiana, and Jefferson's own hand traced the lines of his memorial, which was published in 1814, together with the ''Narra tive of the Lewis and Clark Expedition." The wonderful journey they made across the unknown continent began at St. Louis, then but a trading post, early in the month of May, 1804. They wintered at a point fifty miles above the present location of the town of Bismarck, on the Missouri Eiver. After innu merable hardships and many perils by field and flood and Indian treachery, on the 7th of November, 1805, they beheld for the first time the broad waters of the Pacific Ocean. Their homeward journey began in the month of March, of the year following, and they reached St. Louis again in the month of September of the same year, thus traversing the vast wilderness, exploring an untrodden field, and revealing the hidden mysteries of a land of silence and darkness. They returned over the route marked out by the hand of Jefferson, and over which the present Northern Pacific Eailway now runs. Thus has the dream of Jefferson been realized within a century, along the northern border of what was once " The Great American Desert." It was, however, left to a familiar figure of contemporary history to pierce the rim of darkness surround ing the great black belt of territory lying central on the continent 28 ECHOES FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. between the Missouri and the Pacific. To John C. Fremont are this honor and this fame accorded, and the lofty peak which he ascended, 13,750 feet above the level of the sea, bears his name, and becomes the eternal monument of his genius, courage and resolution. It is unnecessary to do more than to refer to the early life of the great " Pathfinder," as his late achievements are familiar to all. In 1840 he received from President Van Buren a commission as lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. "While in the city of "Wash ington, preparing reports of certain' explorations in which he had been engaged, he met Jessie Benton, the daughter of the senator from Missouri. At that time she was a pretty girl of sixteen years, and, fascinated by the gallant address of the young lieutenant, she engaged herself to him in marriage. This act greatly enraged the senator, and he endeavored to break up the match by causing Fremont to be sent upon a distant expedition, to examine the Des Moines Eiver. He, however, completed the work within a year, and returned to claim his bride. The opposition of the senator still continuing, he contracted a secret marriage. Then, fired with the hope of distinguishing himself by some brave movement in the line of his profession, and of present ing a great contribution to the geographical science of the world, he planned a geographical survey of the Territories of the United States. These plans were partially approved, and he was directed to explore the Eocky Mountains, particular attention to be given to the South Pass, with a view to an overland communication with the Pacific Ocean. This he accomplished with but a handful of men, discovering the route to California through the great South Pass, followed soon after by tens of thousands of gold-seekers. His reports attracted great attention both at home and abroad. In the following year (1843) he planned a second expedition to explore the unknown country lying between the Eocky Mountains and the Pacific coast — a land of forms and shadows, wild and weird, and open alone to the speculations of those who had trodden upon its borders. He started with his band of men in the month of May, explored the Kansas Eiver, went through the South Pass, and, after an unbroken journey of 1,700 miles, on the 7th of September came in sight of the saline waters of the Great Salt Lake. M GENERAL SUTTER. ECHOES FROM Tn E EOCKY MOUNTAINS. # 31 At this point he diverged northward to the tributaries of the Columbia Eiver as far as Fort Vancouver, and in the month of Novem ber began his return through an unknown region barred by rugged mountain ridges. Falling into deep snows in a barren and desolate country, with death from cold and starvation awaiting his farther progress, he concluded that the lives of his party depended upon their ability to cross the snowy range and proceed to San Francisco, instead of the United States. The Indians declared the mountains had never been crossed by a human being and refused to guide them. His lofty spirit, however, overcame all obstacles, and, traversing the snow deeps of the lofty range, in forty days his party reached Sutter's Fort, on the Sacramento, more like ghosts than living human beings, having been reduced to skeletons by starvation. The history of this man is full of interest. His name was John Augustus Sutter. He was born in Baden in the year 1803, and became an officer in the Swiss service, where he served honorably for a number of years. In 1834 he emigrated to this country, and established him self as a trader at Santa Fe. In 1838 he pushed his way to the Pacific coast, thence to the Sandwich Islands, and far up afterward to unex plored Alaska, on the return voyage from which, in 1839, he was wrecked in San Francisco Bay. Here he determined to locate, and obtaining a grant of land from the Mexican government he established, in 1841, on the spot where Sacramento now stands, a settlement he called New Helvetia. He was made governor of Northern California by the Mexicans, and when by treaty at the close of the Mexican War it passed under the jurisdiction of the United States, he was appointed by our government Alcalde and Indian agent. His settlement was flourishing; he built large saw mills ; became the proprietor of other large indus trial interests, and gathered within his control considerable wealth. He became noted far and near for his generous nature and his charita ble deeds, and no lost or wearied traveler or sojourner in that remote region was ever refused food and shelter and warm-hearted encourage ment. In the month of February, 1848, Marshall, who had contracted to build a saw mill for General Sutter on the Sacramento, while dig ging the mill race discovered in the sand particles of gold. Upon further examination it was ascertained that the whole bed of the stream was filled with rich 'deposits of the precious metal, which likewise spread over a large area of territory. 32 ECHOES FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. Then began that wonderful hegira to the new El Dorado, more particularly described in the chapter on mining. But this great dis covery, which enriched so many of mankind, impoverished the gener ous proprietor of Sutter's Mills. His mills and workshops, once full of activity, became idle for the want of labor to successfully run them. He could not afford the wages that men could earn working in the mines. His works by degrees were destroyed and his lands pre empted by the gold-diggers who, seeking the precious metals in their DISCOVERY OF GOLD AT SUTTER'S MILL. hiding places, found them within his possessions. Year by year every thing of value was swept from the noble-hearted pioneer, and in his old age he was left penniless, and in 1873 he removed from California to Pennsylvania. Often have I beheld this venerable man with frosted head standing within the halls of Congress, appealing in his old age and poverty for a pittance of that which had been taken from him under the forms of law. Finally, Congress granted him an annual pension of $3,000. He lived but a year to enjoy the "bitter little that of life remained." Worn with life's cares and anxieties, and the betrayals which in his advanced years fell heavily upon him, this brave SUTTER'S FORT. ECHOES FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 35 soldier of the wilderness, whose arms of industry flashed far brighter in the sun of civilization than war's plumed helmet, laid down his burden at seventy -seven and went to repose in the land of shadows. Warmed back again into life and health by the old General's hospitality, and obtaining a new outfit, Fremont proceeded south ward along the western range of the Sierras and discovered a gap in that range, through whicli he passed into the great basin beyond, and thenee safely to the Missouri, reaching Washington City again on the 9th of August, 1844. The same year he organized another expedition and explored the great basin and the maritime region of California. The war with Mexico intervening, it was not until 1848 that he organized another exploring party. He now sought a passage to California along the upper waters of the Eio Grande. In this attempt to cross the snow-covered Sierras the guide lost his way, and the party was subjected to the most terrible suffering, compelled by starvation to subsist upon the flesh of their dead companions, one-third of their number perishing from hunger and cold. Dissatisfied with the results of this effort, the following year he organized another party of thirty men, and in the earty part of that year, after a most determined effort, he succeeded in discover ing a pass over the mountain ranges to the Sacramento. Thus was the road opened to the myriad gold-seekers, all the way from the Missouri to the Pacific, by the indomitable energy and most persistent endeavor of the remarkable man whose place in history will be greater than that of an Achilles. But what of the brave men who shared with him all the dangers and privations of his perilous labor? — except that hero of the plams, the faithful friend, guide and companion of Fremont, the chivalrous Kit Carson — their names may not live in history. No monument of the everlasting hills will bear their fame to Time's remotest age. But they were the brave companions of Fremont, who made success possible, and without whose aid he would have perished in his vast endeavor. Some of them lie in little, graveyards in the heart of the mountains, by the side of torrent streams that forever sing a wild dirge to their memory ; some in green graves covered with the 36 ECHOES FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. flowers of remembrance, far beyond the crags over which they strode more like gods than men ; some sleep in tlieir own home valleys ; some of the gallant band are yet in the active, busy world, awaiting the final summons beyond the snow and the frost line. Wherever they are they will be recalled as heroes of the storm-beaten heights — gods of the solitude greater than a Spartan band — through whose mountain passes run the electric wires of memory, stretching along the lines of the centuries, and whose blood-dyed walls loom up grander in thought than ancient Thermopylae. CHAPTER II. THE PONY' EXPRESS -FROM RIVER TO OCEAN -THE STORY OF ITS ESTABLISH MENT—THE WAGER BETWEEN THE OCEAN EXPRESS AND THE OVERLAND FIRM OF RUSSELL, MAJORS, WADDELL & COMPANY — THE CONTINENT TO BE CROSSED IN FIFTEEN DAYS— FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS THE WAGER-STORY OF THE FIRST RIDE-THE LOST RIDER— THE DROWNED HORSE IN THE PLATTE RIVER — THE WAGER WON BY TWENTY MINUTES — THE PONY EXPRESS ASSURED — THE PONY' EXPRESS RIDERS, SUI GENERIS — FAC SIMILE COPY OF PONY EXPRESS ENVELOPE WHICH CARRIED THE NEWS OF THE FIRST ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO DENVER, THEN THE TERRITORY OF JEFFERSON— OTHER LETTERS — THE PONY EXPRESS AND THE FAST BRITISH MAIL FROM CHINA TO LONDON— THE PIKES PEAK GOLD EXCITEMENT. The red man and the frontier have faded together. Wars and wildernesses have likewise disappeared. Along the great lines of railroad plowing their lightning way through those once vast soli tudes all is life and activity. Towns and cities have invaded their silent paths. Men who followed the faint trail of civilization have themselves beheld the great tide roll over their own footprints, and view with wonder its ever advancing waves. They are no longer pil grims upon an inhospitable sod. They have annihilated space. They live in the new land of destiny, yet breathe in their old home val leys. At 'each station they hear the click of a wire tongue repeating its cabalistic speech 3,000 miles away — man bargaining with man across a continent about a mule, a mill-site or a million dollars of bonds. He, who but a few years ago trod these forlorn paths without a friend or human habitation in sight for countless miles, now sits beneath the glare of an electric light and reads the daily press, which with its own bright light has come to illumine the mind and tell the world of its matchless power and genius. Schools, churches and opera houses have likewise appeared to enlighten the multitude and mold the morals of the new-born commu nity. Hotels and banks now stand and welcome guests pour their gold over the very spots where but a little while ago the wolf and the bear prowled and the wild buffalo roamed in freedom. What a wonder ful scene now uplifts its romantic, idealistic, yet solid picture before the 37 38 ECHOES FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. mental vision of the wonder-stricken pioneer1, who lately delved amid the mountain rocks or trod the level plains in the awful stillness that fell around him like a mantle of sombre cloud ! And now the vast system of railroads, electric wires and mails all rush along together ! What an advent to him was the era of the first daily mail from the Missouri to the Pacific ! Who among the old pioneers and settlers upon the plains does not remember the contracting firm of Eussell, Majors, Waddell & Co., at once the earliest and largest contracting firm in the great West, their business amounting to many millions of dollars annually? Who among the early business men of the plains and Pacific coast now alive does not remember how very irregular were the mails — the Southern stage line carrying, or pretending to carry, a weekly mail which they were fortunate indeed to get through safely at great cost, but frequently lost on the way? How often have I heard the story from those who were eye witnesses of the manner in which the first daily mail was carried across the country by the " Pony Express." There were different versions of this remarkable event, but they were all grouped about and cen tered upon the same facts and results. A part of the story related by old settlers and travelers told of the great spirit of rivalry existing between the stage and ocean lines of mail carriers to the Pacific coast — the steamers conveying the mails from New York harbor to the Isthmus, thence overland to the Pacific Ocean, and up the Western coast by steamer, through the Golden Gate to the city of San Francisco. The mail line by stages extended through New Mexico and Arizona, thence through Southern California to the upper settlements on the coast. The firm of contractors above alluded to, Eussell, Majors, Wad dell & Co., held control of the central route by way of Julesbury, Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie and Salt Lake. It was not believed that this route was practicable for a mail route, and the suggestion of a daily mail was met with derision. This firm, however, had sufficient faith in its ultimate success to invest nearly $100,000 in equipping the line with stock and stations for the world-renowned Pony Express, which began its wonderful work in the month of April, 1860, a year before the bells were pealing the first wild notes of war in the distant States. If it did not succeed to a brilliant career and pile up vast wealth for its aJ '^£5