THE early months of operation of the Leavenworthand Pike's Peak Express Company were much complicated by the fluctuations ofmigration to the new gold fields. This was due in part to the widespread exodusof many who were either ignorant of the hardships of mining in a remote andmountainous country or who were unwilling to undergo privation. Many withoutadequate supplies thoughtlessly joined the mad rush and still more who had noknowledge of prospecting and mining. As in all great migrations, there were many"floaters" who speedily moved on when they discovered that chunks of gold werenot scattered promiscuously about the landscape. A stronger cause fordiscouragement, however, which for a time threatened the future of the region asa mineral empire, lay in the fact that the early discoveries of flake gold wereinadequate to sustain the number that had migrated.

     Since winter had largely halted mining andprospecting, the scarcity of gold was not fully realized until the warm weatherof May, 1859. But even before this disappointed pilgrims were heading eastwardover the Platte route, telling the westbound emigrants that "Pike's Peak was ahumbug," "gold would never be found in paying quantities," "provisions andmerchandise were scarce and high," "the country [was] without law of any kind,"etc. [102]

     A stampede of returning emigrants took place,which at times approached panic proportions. Hundreds of wagons were soon on theback track; the roads were strewn with culinary utensils, camp fixtures, andother "impedimenta"; and oxen, teams and wagons were sold for a song. Some evenmade use of the Platte and Missouri rivers as a convenient way to return. [103]An observer on Big Sandy

creek, west of the Big Blue river, wrote a graphic account of this event forthe New York Tribune:

     We had already heard a faint murmur of aretrograde movement from the Peak, and no sooner did we arrive on top of thedivide than we beheld the advance guard of the retreating columns. Such astampede of human beings was never before seen. Mule teams, horse, cow and oxteams, hand-carts, men with carpet sacks, riders and runners, with everyimaginable conveyance, loaded with every species of articles, from steam sawmills to blankets, all coming back in a hurry, as if flying from danger; someswearing lustily at Pike's Peak, at themselves, and the rest of mankind. Somewere laughing at their folly, and at us. Some wore faces as long as the Peak theysought. The prairies, as well as the road, seemed alive with the masses. We nodoubt met a thousand men per day, with saw mills, quartz mills, and whole trainsof store goods. Outfits amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars arereturning. And still, in the face of all this, thousands were pushing on as ifnothing had happened. [104]

     This stampede was in great measure limited tothe Platte route and appears to have started in April and May, 1859, even beforethe season had opened in the mountains. The situation was well described by aDenver correspondent of the Leavenworth Herald:

     The first emigration that arrived here was ofthat excitable class who, deceived by the false and exaggerated tales of theMissouri River papers, rushed, totally unprepared-without tools, provisions orany proper outfit-to this place, expecting to pick up gold as they wouldpotatoes. Winter was still upon us, and digging had not commenced. . . .Disappointed in finding what they expected they turned back, and determined thatno others should come. They have, by the most unblushing lies and extraordinarystretch of fiction, contrived to turn back almost all of the emigration by theSouth Platte. By the Arkansas and Republican we are filling up fast enough. . . [105]

     In their bitter disappointment some of the moreunfortunate gave voice to a stinging rebuke of the whole "Pike's Peak humbug,"and directed a storm of abuse against the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak ExpressCompany. The Kansas City (Mo.) Journal of Commerce

had made repeated exposures of "this grand humbug," 100 and now rang thechanges with growing fervor. The Weekly Journal of Commerce branded asfalse everything the express company claimed to have accomplished. They assertedthat there has never been an attempt to open a route from Leavenworth by theSmoky Hill-that Jones & Russell never sent a coach that way-that theirexploring party has just returned from the Republican-that no daily line has beenestablished at all-that Jones & Russell have not advertised an express lineas in operation, in any paper either in Leavenworth or in America. That theirgold news is "gas," that their receipts of gold dust are "gassier," and thattheir "painted wagon," is "gassiest." In short, that the whole thing is buckram,from beginning to end. . . [107]

     The White Cloud Kansas Chief had longheld a similar belief and in its issue of April 21, 1859, remarked: "The rival`outfitting points' are becoming so jealous of each other, that they arecompelled to expose their own humbuggery." A few weeks later (May 5) it assertedthat they had "heard any amount of unfavorable news. Hundreds, and some saythousands, are getting back home as fast as they can, perfectly satisfied withtheir sight of the `elephant.' " Soon thereafter came the "explosion," but theybelieved that "our skirts are perfectly clear of this swindling affair." [108]The St. Joseph (Mo.) Weekly West could "hardly resist" calling the wholePike's Peak proposition a humbug, although it attempted to present the news ofall kinds in an objective manner. In its issue of May 18, 1859, it gave anadverse statement by George B. Throop, G. W. Price, and Job Sears, but pointedout that none of these men had actually been at the mines. In its issue of June12, however, on the basis of very unfavorable reports from Leavenworth, thispaper conceded that the whole affair was a hoax, and blamed the editors of theborder papers. It asserted "that [to] the credulity of the emigrant, theunmitigated villainy of the shareholders of townsites in the region

of Cherry Creek, and of letter writers in the mines, is to be attributed allthe disaster which has ensued. . . ." [109] The St. Joseph Gazette for a timesubscribed to the view that the Pike's Peak express company of Jones &Russell was "an arrant humbug," [110] but later spoke in much more hopeful termsof the prospects for gold"we are satisfied that the gold of the South Platteextends over a vast range of country, and that there are many places where it canbe ob tained in paying quantities." [111] In general, however, the border papersdid not blame the Pike's Peak Express Company.

     The initial trips of the Leavenworth and Pike'sPeak express were made with this background of uncertainty regarding the futureof the mines. The company being the chief means of carrying mail to the diggings,the arrival of the express coaches was awaited with the greatest interest by thepublic. On May 12, 1859, two coaches arrived in Denver for the second time, aftera journey of 19 days from Leavenworth. [112] Among the passengers was DanielBlue, who had been given free passage from Station 25, where he had been left bythe first stage coach after a grueling experience on the Smoky Hill route. [113]The most noted passenger on this trip was Henry Villard, a correspondent of theCincinnati (Ohio) Daily Commercial, who wrote a graphic account of thejourney to his paper. [114] Villard found the Cherry creek diggings in a state ofdepression, many miners were without funds and consequently the cry of theauctioneer was a very familiar sound. Many had struck for the mountains, andothers, disgusted, had returned to the "States." The prevailing "depression ofmind," however, was giving way to a more hopeful attitude, he wrote, adding thatthe Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express Company had shipped during the last weekabout a thousand dollars worth of scale gold. [115] B. D. Williams of the expresscompany returned to Leavenworth on the second return trip from Den-

ver and brought further details of the more favorable news from the mountains,where many were prospecting. [116]

     The third trip of the express coaches wascompleted the following morning (May 28), after a journey of nine days and a fewhours from Denver, which would have been reduced a full day had it not been forhigh water. This forced them to swim the Wildcat, near Manhattan, and delayedthem a day at Rock creek, [117] where they met the westbound coach with itsillustrious passenger, Horace Greeley, and his journalist companion, Albert D.Richardson. The passengers on the third coach reported a great hegira from thesettlements to the mountains, and the prevalence of a feeling of confidence thatgold would be found in considerable quantities. [118]

     The journey of Horace Greeley and Albert D.Richardson by Pike's Peak express to the gold mines of Colorado has beenchronicled by a number of writers. [119] Richardson left Leavenworth on the stageof May 25, 1859, and wrote an interesting account of the Concord coach which,like the "wonderful one-hoss Shay," was made so that it "don't break down, butonly wears out."

     It is covered with duck or canvas, the driversitting in front, at a slight elevation above the passengers. Bearing no weightupon the roof, it is less topheavy than the old-fashioned stage-coach for mudholes and mountain-sides, where to preserve the center of gravity becomes, withFalstaff's instinct, `a great matter.' Like human travelers on life's highway, itgoes best under a heavy load. Empty, it jolts and pitches like a ship in a ragingsea; filled with passengers and balanced by a proper distribution of baggage inthe `boot' behind, and under the driver's feet before, its motion is easy andelastic. Excelling every other in durability and strength, this hack is used allover our continent and throughout South America.

     Two coaches, each drawn by four mules, leaveLeavenworth daily [120] and make the entire trip together, for protection in caseof danger from Indians. A crowd gathered in front of the Planters' House to seeour equipages start. Amid confused ejaculations of 'Good-by, old boy. `Write assoon as you get there.' `Better have your hair cut, so that the Arapahoes can'tscalp you.' `Tell John to send me an ounce of the dust' 'Be sure and give Smiththat letter from his wife.' 'Do write the facts about the gold,' the whipscracked and the two stages rolled merrily away. [121]

     After he had concluded a brief tour of theprincipal settlements Greeley boarded an express coach bound for the mines.Wherever he went he aroused the interest of the people, even though heencountered, every now and then, one who had been "born and raised in Missouri,"who had never heard of Greeley and the New York Tribune. [122] The tripwas completed without incident of importance, although shortly before arriving atStation 17 the coach was overturned and Greeley suffered injuries which provedmore painful than serious.

     Descending an abrupt bill, our mules, terrifiedby meeting three savages, broke a line, ran down a precipitous bank, upsettingthe coach which was hurled upon the ground with a tremendous crash, and gallopedaway with the fore-wheels. I sprang out in time to escape being overturned. Froma mass of cushions, carpet-sacks and blankets soon emerged my companion, his headrising above the side of the vehicle like that of an advertising boy from hisframe of pasteboard. Blood was flowing profusely from cuts in his cheek, arm andleg; but his face was serene and benignant as a May morning. He was soon rescuedfrom his cage, and taken to Station Seventeen, a few yards beyond, where the goodwoman dressed his galling wounds. [123]

     At Station 23, nearly 600 miles fromLeavenworth, B. D. Williams of the express company overtook the coach containingGreeley and Richardson and proceeded with them to Denver. [124] The sight of themountains towering in the west gave the travelers new hope, and the

reappearance of trees in abundance was even more cheering. [125] Early in themorning of June 6 the coach arrived at Denver City, after a journey of elevendays from Leavenworth. Even though a trip by stage was much superior to othermethods of transportation Greeley could not fail to note the humbling influenceof the experience, and remarked:

     A true picture of gold-seekers setting out fromhome, trim and jolly, for Pike's Peak, and of those same gold-seekers, sober asjudges, and slow-moving as their own weary oxen, dropping into Denver, wouldconvey a salutary lesson to many a sanguine soul. Nay, I have in my mind's eye anindividual who rolled out of Leavenworth, barely thirteen days ago, in asatisfactory rig, and a spirit of adequate self-complacency, but who-though hishardships have been nothing to theirs-dropped into Denver this morning in asobered and thoughtful frame of mind, in dust-begrimed and tattered habiliments,with a patch on his cheek, a bandage on his leg, and a limp in his gait,altogether constituting a spectacle most rueful tobehold.[126]

     The next day (June 7) Greeley, Richardson andHenry Villard set forth on an expedition into the mountains to investigate thenew mines. B. D. Williams, superintendent of the express company, placed one ofthe coaches at their disposal and personally accompanied them on the trip. [127]It was clearly to the interest of the express company as well as the press toplace the truth before the people of the country and end if possible theoft-repeated charge of humbug. After visiting the principal mines Greeley,Villard and Richardson issued a combined statement which described the operationson the leading claims, the amounts of gold being produced and future prospects.The manifesto portrayed the region as very promising, but closed with a warningof the grave difficulties involved

and the possibility that emigrants might come away empty handed and be forcedto endure privation, particularly late in the season. "Greeley's Report" wasgiven the widest publicity throughout the country,"' and was very effective instilling the cry of hoax and placing the future of the region on a firm basis,although for a time there were allegations that even this was humbug. Richardsonasserted that he had "absolute confidence in the permanency, extent and richnessof these diggings," but he warned that a great many would fail in theundertaking. [129] On the second day of the trip Greeley addressed a mass meetingof the miners of Ralston valley, which embraced the rich Gregory diggings. Hespoke hopefully of the mines, advocated the formation of a state government andplaced himself on record in favor of temperance.

     Mr. Williams, the Superintendent of the ExpressCompany, succeeded him in some eloquent and logical remarks, in the course ofwhich he took occasion to refer to the willingness of the Company he representedto facilitate the intercourse of the miners with the States at the lowestpossible rates. He explained the arrangements made by the Company for theshipment of dust, transportation of mails, etc., all of which were received withevident gratification by the audience. . . ,
There is a very cordial feeling here towards your city [Leavenworth], and thewarmest gratitude is felt towards the Express Company.
The emigration can now start on a certain basis. Everything looks well for Kansasand the Great West.
Three cheers for Pike's Peak and Leavenworth[130]

     The dispatches from the mines during the monthof June, 1859, were a barometer of the great change that was taking place. Thecoaches that had taken Greeley and Richardson to the mountains returned too soonto bring the good news of their joint report but did carry the welcome messagethat emigration from the mines had entirely ceased and that business had greatlyrevived. James M. Fox of the express company wrote from Denver on May 30,asking

vincing to most people. [135] The Leavenworth Daily Times asserted thatall conclusions be suspended until he could get the report of Martin Field andHenry Villard, whom he had sent into the mountains, and said, "I think it is therichest country in the world." [131] The next day he wrote in a much morepositive manner, confirming in full the richness and extent of the discoveries,stating, "You can set down the unparalleled richness of this country as a fixedfact." [132] The express coaches that arrived on June 13 were too early to carrythe "Greeley Report" but did bring over a thousand letters from the mines,addressed to every part of the country. The Leavenworth Daily Times [133]remarked:

     A number of private letters to our citizens havebeen shown to us, and we have yet to see one that gives us a discouraging accountof the mines or those who are there The excitement in our city relative to thematter is as general as intense. Knots and groups of men at every corner are seendiscussing the propriety of "taking a start." "Pike's Peak" is again a householdword, and the gold fever is turning into a regular epidemic.
Thus wags the world. Up and down. Down and up. A few weeks since and everybodydeclared= `I always knew and always said Pike's Peak was a humbug." Now the songgoes-"Just as I predicted and always maintained, Pike's Peak is allgold."[134]

     The express that arrived on the night of June 19brought to Leavenworth conclusive tidings of great riches in the Westernmountains. It carried $2,500 in gold, of which a thousand dollars was consignedto the Leavenworth firm of Smoot & Russell, and the rest to Easterncustomers. The express also brought the "Greeley Report" on the mines and miningoperations in the West, which substantiated the claims of rich discoveries andmade the news convincing to most people. [135] The Leavenworth Daily Timesasserted

that its position "from first to last, [was] sustained and vindicated." Thosedesiring to emigrate "should start at once, and those who can should take Jones& Russell's Express." [136] Beginning June 21 the Times ran a newadvertisement of improved service by the express company:

JONES, RUSSELL & CO.'S

EXPRESS TO THE GOLD MINES WILL LEAVE EVERY DAY

When coaches are full of passengers. No coach will leave except onTuesdays, unless there are six passengers.
One, two or three coaches will start every day, if there are passengers enough tojustify. Fare $125, including 20 lbs. baggage. Extra baggage will be chargedexpress rates.

JOHN S. JONES, Supt.

---

FREIGHT FOR THE MINES

     I have on hand a large number of oxenand wagons, and will contract with parties to deliver in Denver City any quantityof freight. Will start a train next week, and at least two or three a week duringthe summer, or as often as freight offers. Apply at my office, under thePlanter's Hotel.
     June 20th, 1859.

JOHN S. JONES [137]

     The coaches that arrived at Leavenworth on June19 would have made the trip in seven days from Denver had they not been delayed aday by an accident which took place near Station 12. The vehicles were moving ata fast pace while thousands of buffalo were swarming on the plains and in theroad. A herd passed directly in front of the mules, which took fright and ran.The driver dropped the reins and jumped for the animals. He caught the harness,but was dragged along like a feather. B. D. Williams, who was in the coach, triedto catch the reins, but when the mules dashed for a precipice he hastily jumpedout. He was caught by the wheels, which passed over his legs and one arm,inflicting painful but not

serious injuries. In a few moments mules, coach and all rolled over thedeclivity. Marvelous to state, neither animals nor coach were injured, althoughtwo of the mules escaped for a day. [138]

     The trips of late June were affected by plansfor a change-over to the Platte route to the mines. On May 11, 1859, Jones,Russell & Co. purchased the mail contract of John M. Hockaday & Co., whosince 1858 had held a government contract to transport the mail from St. Joseph,Mo., to Salt Lake City. In the transfer were included all the stations, livestockand equipment of the Hockaday firm. Since the contract provided for mail serviceby way of Forts Kearny and Laramie, it was necessary that the route of theLeavenworth and Pike's Peak Express be moved to the Platte if its coaches were totransport the overland mail. The press remained very quiet concerning the change.Since the Pike's Peak firm had been accorded much praise (and some blame) for itspioneering in establishing a new and shorter route, it is possible that thecompany frowned on all publicity in the matter. Late in June the service by wayof the old route was interrupted, and mail and passengers from Denver werebrought to the junction point on the South Platte, where connections were madewith the overland mail to Utah and California. [139] Shortly thereafter theoutbound coaches followed the new route, the first express for Denver by way ofthe Platte leaving Leavenworth July 2, 1859.

     The route of the Leavenworth and Pike's PeakExpress from the Missouri river to the Rockies was an indefinite "right of way,"the exact location of which is difficult or even impossible to establish withcertainty. Since it was laid out before the region west of eastern Kansas hadbeen surveyed the precise station locations are often questionable, particularlythose in extreme western Kansas and Nebraska and present-day eastern Coloradowhich in 1859 constituted a part of Kansas and Nebraska. The following table ofstations and intervening locations is based upon the available sources,particularly the detailed field notes of E. D. Boyd as they appeared

in Freedom's Champion of Atchison, June 25, 1859; 140 Horace Greeley'sOverland Journey; Albert D. Richardson's Beyond the Mississippi;and Henry Villard's account as published in the Cincinnati DailyCommercial. [141] The mileage figures are largely based upon "Boyd's Notes"and although believed to be fairly reliable should be regarded more as estimatesthan exact computations.

STATION 1.-Basement of the Planter's House, Leavenworth.

STATION 2.-Easton, Leavenworth county, which Greeley described as "a villageof thirty to fifty houses." [142]

STATION 3.-Osawkie, Jefferson county, at the crossing of Grasshopper creek.Greeley described the town in 1859 as in "a state of dilapidation and decay, likea good many Kansas cities which figure largely on the map. [143]

STATION 4.-Silver Lake, Shawnee county, on the Pottawatomie Indianreservation. Richardson points out (p. 160) that this station was kept by ahalf-breed Indian [144] with whom he passed the night after a day's journey of 68miles from Leavenworth.

STATION 5.-St. Mary's Catholic Mission.

Richardson:

Passed St. Mary's Catholic Mission-a pleasant, home-like group oflog-houses, and a little frame church, bearing aloft the cross-among shade andfruit trees, in a picturesque valley. The mission has been in operation twelveyears.

In the school-room we saw sixty Indian boys at theirlessons. [145]

STATION 6.-Manhattan. At this point Greeley joined Richardson, both bound forthe gold mines. Because of high water their express coach was delayed a day atManhattan.

Richardson:

     Beyond the three houses which composethe town of Pittsburg, we crossed the Big Blue river and reached Manhattan-aflourishing Yankee settlement of two or three hundred people in a smooth andbeautiful valley.
Thus far I had been the solitary passenger. But at Manhattan Horace Greeley aftera tour through the interior to gratify the clamorous settlers with speeches,joined me for the rest of the journey. . . [146]

Villard:

     The high, well timbered bluffs of the Kaw Riverbegan to serve as a background to the scenery as we approachedManhattan. . . . A short distance this side of Fort Riley we came upon the ruinsof Pawnee and Riley cities, consisting of two or three storehouses on both banksof the Kaw, which were considered but a few years ago as the beginning of surelygreat cities. It was here that Gov. Reeder wanted to locate the state capital,for the purpose of subserving the land interest he owned in this vicinity. But inthis, as is well known, he signally failed, and the aforementioned edifices willstand as monuments of a speculation that overleaped itself.
Fort Riley is the best military post I have seen upon my extensive travelsthrough the West. Officers' quarters, sutlers' establishments, stables, etc., allhave an appearance of solidity and cleanliness which differ greatly, andpleasingly to the eye, from the rudely constructed cabins of which the towns wehad passed consisted. [147]

STATION 7.-Junction City. In 1859 the "jumping off" place on the frontierwhere travelers for the West bade good bye to most of the remaining amenities ofcivilization.

Richardson:

     "We stopped for the night at Junction City,(Station Seven) the frontier post-office and settlement of Kansas.[148]

Villard:

     Junction City, which is a combination of about twodozen frame and log houses, which derives its name from being at the Junction ofthe Kaw [Smoky Hill] and Republican rivers, . . During my stay at Junction City Ipaid a visit to the "Sentinel" office, the most westerly located newspaperestablishment of eastern Kansas. Its office is a most original institution. Itserves the purposes of a printing house, law office,land agency, and tailor shop, and the followers of these different avocationsappear to live, and sometimes to starve together in unbroken harmony.
From Leavenworth to Junction City, which represents Station No. 7, the expressroute is in the very best working order. I came through in 22 riding hours, whichis better time than even the oldest stage lines are able to make, and fared aswell on the way as though I was making a pleasure excursion along a highway ofeastern travel.
After leaving Junction City we at once entered upon the unmodified wilderness ofthe seemingly endless prairies that intervene between the waters of the Missouriand the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. [149]

Villard also wrote a good description of the express route from this pointwestward:

     From Junction City to the last mentioned place[Denver] the route is divided into four divisions of five stations each, so thatDenver City figures as Station No. 27. The distance between the several stationsaverages 25 miles. Care has been taken to locate the stations on creeks, in orderto furnish the necessary supply of wood and water. From 18 to 24 mules, under thecharge of a stationkeeper, his assistant and four drivers, are kept at each ofthem, to furnish relays for the coaches from the East as well as the West. Fromtwo to three stages are made a day by the latter. Passengers obtain three meals aday and plenty of sleep in tents, which will soon give away to log and framehouses.
The road is an excellent one. . . . Water, grass and timber, the indispensablenecessities of the navigators . . . [of the plains] are plentiful throughout withthe exception of the valley of the Republican, the extremely sandy character ofwhich renders it destitute of timber. For the 125 miles that the road follows itscourse, grass and water is, however, ample. . . [150]

STATION 8.-Located on the west side of Chapman's creek near the presentClay-Dickinson county line.

Richardson:

     Dined at Chapman's creek, in a station of polescovered with sail cloth, but where the host superior to daily drenchings, gave usan admirable meal upon a snowy table-cloth." [151]

Greeley

     Our road bore hence north of west, up the left bankof Chapman's Creek, on which, twenty-three miles from Junction, we halted at"Station 8," at 11 A. M., to change mules and dine. . . . There is of course, nohouse here, but two small tents and a brush arbor furnish accommodations for sixto fifteen persons, as the case may be. A score of mules are picketed about onthe rich grass; there is a rail-pen for the two cows. . . . She [thestation-keeper's wife] gave us an excellent dinner of bacon and greens, goodbread, applesauce and pie, . . . The water was too muddy . . . [to] permit me todrink it. . . [152]

STATION 9.-On Pipe creek, probably northeastof present Minneapolis, Ottawa county.

Richardson:

     Stopped for the night at Station Nine, consistingof two tents. In the evening wrote newspaper letters in the coach by a lantern.At ten o'clock composed ourselves to sleep in the carriage to the music ofhowling wolves and heavy thunder: Days' travel sixty-eight miles [Greeleyestimated it as 58 miles] [153]

Greeley:

     We rose early from our wagon-bed this morning, hadbreakfast at six, and soon bade adieu to Pipe Creek, with its fringe of low elmsand cotton-woods, such as thinly streak all the streams we have passed to-day. .. . We have crossed many streams to-day, all making south for Solomon's Fork,which has throughout been from two to six miles from us on our left. . . . Theroute has been from fifty to two hundred feet above the bed of the Fork, keepingout of all bottoms and marshes, but continually cut bywater.

courses . . . in one of which . . . we stalled until an extra span of muleswas sent from the other wagon to our aid. [154]

STATION 10.-Near the Solomon river and close to or a littlewest of present Glasco, Cloud county.

Richardson:

     Dined at Station Ten sitting upon billets ofwood, carpet-sacks, and nail-kegs, while the meal was served upon a box. Itconsisted of fresh buffalo meat, which tastes like ordinary beef though ofcoarser fiber, and sometimes with a strong, unpleasant flavor. When cut fromcalves or young cows it is tender and toothsome. Six weeks ago not a track hadbeen made upon this route. Now it resembles a long-used turnpike. We meet manyreturning emigrants, who declare the mines a humbug; but pass hundreds ofundismayed gold-seekers still pressing on." [155]

STATION 11.-Located on Limestone creek, Jewell county, probably a little southofthe present village of Ionia. At this place the "Parallel Road" west fromAtchison joined the express road, at a point 172 miles west of that city, atlatitude 39° 42' north and longitude 98° 12' west. From this point ofintersection, which seems to have been a branch of Limestone creek (termed "Dogcreek" by Boyd), the Parallel road made use of the "right of way" of theLeavenworth and Pike's Peak express. The field notes of E. D. Boyd give a tableof distances from the crossing of the Republican (near Scandia, Republic county),and provide a more exact picture of much of the route of the express company.[156]

Boyd's Notes

     From the crossing [of] the Republican the course isdue west, crossing five branches of Dog [probably Limestone] creek at inter-

vals of three to six miles until we reach Station No. 11, 31 miles beyond theRepublican, from which point the distances set down hereafter are computed. [157]Station No. 11 is 172 miles west from Atchison and ten miles north. Latitude 39deg. 42 min., Longitude 98 deg. 12 min.

Creek ten ft. wide, runs south; oak and elm	32½
Creek ten ft. wide, runs S. Oak and elm	35½
Creek ten ft. wide, runs S. scattering burr oak andelm	38½
Creek ten ft. W. runs S. E. oak andelm	39½
Creek six ft. W. runs S. W. scattering	45½
Creek eight ft. W. runs S. timber	46½
Creek ten ft. W. runs S. timber	48½
Creek ten ft. W. runs S. timber, outcrop of whitelimestone	49½
Creek eight ft. W. runs south-east; scattering timber andlimestone	50
Creek ten ft. W. runs south-east; scattering timber; chalkcliffs	53
Creek 10 ft. W. runs S. scatteringtimber	59

Richardson:

     Spent the night at Station Eleven, occupied by twomen who gave us bread and buffalo meat like granite.-Day's travel fifty-sixmiles. [158]

STATION 12.-In Smith county, probably a little south of the forks of Beavercreek, about seven miles southwest of present Smith Center.

Boyd's Notes:

Station No. 12-creek 20 ft. W. runs S. elm, &c; forks into three partsabove	63½
Creek 10 ft. W. runs south; scattering elm andcottonwood	71
Creek 10 ft. W. runs south-east; abundance of timber,principallyelm	74½
Creek 10 ft. W. runs south-east; elm, high, steep bank oneastside	76½
Small creek runs south; no timber	79
Creek 8 ft. W. runs south; scattering cottonwood andelm	81½
Delaware creek, 10 ft. W. runs south-east; cottonwood andelm	84

Richardson:

     At Station Twelve where we dined, the carcasses ofseven buffaloes were half submerged in the creek. Yesterday a herd of threethousand crossed the stream, leaping down the steep banks. A few broke theirnecks by the fall; others were trampled to death by those pressing on frombehind. [159]

STATION 13.-Located close to Kirwin, Phillips county, near the junction ofDeer creek and the Solomon.

Boyd's Notes:

Richardson:

     After being mired in the same creek [probably abranch of Cedar creek] for two hours, our own vehicle was drawn out by the oxenof friendly emigrants. Spent the night at Station Thirteen. Day's travel,fifty-six miles. [161]

Greeley:

[Dated at Station 13, on "Reisinger's Creek."] I write in the station-tent(having been driven from our wagon by the operation of greasing its wheels, whichwas found to interfere with the steadiness of my hastily-improvised table), withthe buffalo visible on the ridges south and every way but north of us.[162]

STATION 14.-About 12 miles southeast of present Norton and about four milesnorth of the North Fork of the Solomon river.

Boyd's Notes:

Greeley

     As we left Station 14 this morning, and rosefrom the creek-bottom to the high prairie, a great herd of buffalo were seen inand around our road. . . [163]

Richardson did not mention this station, but remarked:

     To-day we have been among prairie-dog towns,passing one more than a mile long.
Some of their settlements are said to be twenty miles in length, containing alarger population than any metropolis on the globe. . . . This evening we suppedon his flesh, and found it very palatable, resembling that of the squirrel."[164]

Boyd's Notes:

Richardson:

     We spent the night at Station Fifteen, kept by anex-Cincinnati lawyer, who with his wife, formerly an actress at the BoweryTheater, is now cooking meals and making beds for stage passengers on the greatdesert three hundred miles beyond civilization.
Our road, following the valley of the Republican river, is here two thousandthree hundred feet above sea-level. . . . Day's travel fifty-six miles.[166]

Greeley:

[Dated Station 15, Prairie Dog creek.] We have made fifty-six miles since westarted about nine this morning, and our present encampment is on a creek runningto the Republican, so that we have bidden a final adieu to Solomon's Fork, andall other affluents of the Smoky Hill branch of the Kansas. We traveled on the"divide" between this and the northern branch of the Kansas for some miles today,and finally came over to the waters of that stream (the Republican), which we areto strike some eighty miles further on. We

are now just half way from Leavenworth to Denver, and our coach has been aweek making this distance; so that with equal good fortune we may expect to reachthe land of gold in another week. [167]

STATION 16.-Probably northeast of present Oberlin. [168]

Boyd's Notes:

     Dined at Station Sixteen, kept by a Vermont boy whohas roamed over twenty-seven States of the Union. Near it was encamped a party ofArapahoes, with thirty or forty children playing upon the grass. Those under fouror five years were entirely naked. The older boys wore breech-clouts of buffaloskin, and the girls were wrapped in robes or blankets. All were muscular and welldeveloped. [169]

STATION 17.-Probably on Beaver creek, near present Ludell, Rawlins county.170A less probable location is on Driftwood creek, north of Ludell, near the presentKansas Nebraska boundary. (See the map accompanying this installment.)

Boyd's Notes:

Richardson:

     Descending an abrupt hill, our mules, terrified bymeeting three savages, broke a line, ran down a precipitous bank, upsetting thecoach. . . . He [Greeley] was soon rescued from his cage, and taken to StationSeventeen, a few yards beyond, where the good woman dressed his galling wounds [172]

Greeley:

     We left this morning Station 17, on a little creekentitled Gouler, [173] at least thirty miles back [from Station 181, and did notsee a tree and but one bunch of low shrubs in a dry water-course throughout ourdreary morning ride, till we came in sight of the Republican, which has alittle-a very little-scrubby cotton-wood nested in and along its bluffs justhere. . . . Of grass there is little, and that little of miserable quality. . . .Soil there is none but an inch or so of intermittent grass-root tangle.
The dearth of water is fearful. Although the whole region is deeply seamed andgullied by water-courses-now dry, but in rainy weather mill streams-no springsburst from their steep sides. We have not passed a drop of living water in allour morning's ride. Even the animals have deserted us.[174]

STATION 18.-Probably just below the forks of the Republicanriver, near present Benkelman, Neb. [175]

     Boyd's letter of May 31, 1859 (Freedom'sChampion, Atchison, June 18, quoted in first installment):

     From that camp (49 miles from our ferry over theRepublican) our course was nearly due west for 73 miles, at which distance wecrossed the "divide" between Solomon's Fork and Republican Fork; latitude39° 48'; longitude 99° 47' [southeast of present Norton]. Thence ourcourse was North of West till we reached station 18 on the Republican, 221 milesfrom Republican ferry-latitude 40° 8'; longitude 101° 17'. . . .176Thence the road runs in a south-west direction, parallel with the Republican to366 miles, in latitude 39° 8', longitude 103° 27', eight miles east ofstation 24 [a few miles east of present Hugo, Colo.]

Boyd's Notes:

dated Denver, May 9, 1859, in Leavenworth Herald, May 28, 1859:

     Leaving the waters of the Solomon, we struckover to those of the Republican, and struck Prairie Dog, Sappa, and Cranmer'screek, near their head, then traveling a long divide of twenty-six miles wereached the main Republican, just above the mouth of Rock Creek, and made StationNo. 18 in a beautiful grove of cotton-woods. . . [178] After leaving No. 18 wekept up on the southern side of the Republican to near its head.

Greeley (dated Station 18, June 2):

     For more than a hundred miles back, the soil hasbeen steadily degenerating, until here, where we strike the Republican, which hasbeen far to the north of us since we left it at Fort Riley, three hundred milesback, we seem to have reached the acme of barrenness and desolation.
I would match this station and its surroundings against any other scene on ourcontinent for desolation. From the high prairie over which we approach it, youoverlook a grand sweep of treeless desert, through . . . which flows theRepublican. . . . [179]

The same author, dated Station 21:

     Since I wrote the foregoing [quoted above], we havetraveled ninety miles up the south branch of the Republican (which forks justabove Station 18) and have thus pursued a course somewhat south of west. In allthese ninety miles, we have passed just two live streams making in from thesouth-both together running scarcely water enough to turn a grind-stone. In allthese ninety miles, we have not seen wood enough to make a decent pigpen [180]

STATION 19.-On the South Fork of the Republican in Cheyenne county, probably afew miles northeast of present St. Francis. [181]

Boyd's Notes:

Richardson (entry of June 2)

we continued on by the sandy valley of the Republican, destitute of tree andshrub and barren as Sahara. Spent the night at Station Nineteen. Day's travelsixty-four miles. [183]

Greeley:

     A large Cheyenne village is encamped aroundStation 19, where we stopped last night; and we have been meeting squads of theseand other tribes several times a day. The Kioways are camped some eight milesfrom this spot. They all profess to be friendly, though the Cheyennes have twicestopped and delayed the express-wagons on pretence of claiming payment for theinjury done them in cutting wood, eating grass, scaring away game, etc. Theywould all like to beg, and many of them are deemed not disinclined tosteal. [184]

STATION 20.-On the South Fork of the Republican in Cheyenne county, probablynear the present Colorado line and

some eight miles northeast of what is now Hale, Colo. Neither Greeley norRichardson mentions this station although the former describes this semi-desertregion in his account of Station 21.

Boyd's Notes:

STATION 21.-On the South Fork of the Republican, near present Tuttle, KitCarson county, Colo. (Probably below the Tuttle ranch.)

Boyd's Notes:

Greeley:

     The bottom of the river is perhaps half a milein average width. Water is obtained from the apology for a river, or bydigging

in the sand by its side; in default of wood, corrals(cattle-pens) are formed at, the stations by laying up a heavy wall of clayeyearth flanked by sods, and thus excavating a deep ditch on the inner side, exceptat the portal, which is closed at night by running a wagon into it. The tents aresodded at their bases; houses of sods are to be constructed so soon as may be.Such are the shifts of human ingenuity in a country which has probably not a cordof growing wood to each township of land. [188]
Six miles farther up, the stream disappears in the deep, thirsty sands of itswide bed, and is not seen again for twenty-five miles. [189]

Richardson

     At Station Twenty-one where we spent the night, wefirst encountered fresh fish upon our table. Here the enormous cat-fish ofMissouri and Kansas has dwindled to the little horned-pout of New England, lostits strong taste and regained its legitimate flavor. Day's travel fifty-ninemiles.
June 4.-We still follow the Republican which at one point, sinksabruptly into the earth, running under ground for twenty miles and then gushingup again. We saw one thirsty emigrant digging in the dry bed for water. At thedepth of four or five feet he found it. [190]

STATION 22.-About 5ú miles northwest of Seibert, Colo., at thejunction of the express road and a branch of the Smoky Hill trail to Denver (byway of the Platte river). [191]

Boyd's Notes:

Richardson:

     After riding twenty-five miles without seeing adrop of water, at Station Twenty-two we crossed the Smoky Hill route which from apoint far south of ours, abruptly turns northward across the Republican to thePlatte. Emigrants who have come by the Smoky Hill tell us they have sufferedintensely, one traveling seventy-five miles without water. Some burned theirwagons, killed their famishing cattle and continued on foot.
     We are still on the desert with its soil white withalkali, its stunted shrubs, withered grass, and brackish waters often poisonousto both cattle and men. Day's travel forty-eight miles.[194]

Greeley:
After describing the subterranean course of the Republican, above Station211-

     At the head of this "sink," the stream disappearsin like manner to that of its emergence. Here is Station 22, and here are aso-called spring, and one or two considerable pools, not visibly connected withthe sinking river, but doubtless sustained by it. And here the thirsty men andteams which have been twentyfive miles without water on the Express Company'sroad, are met by those which have come up the longer and more southerly route bythe Smoky Hill, and which have traveled sixty miles since they last found wateror shade. . . . The Pike's Peakers from the Smoky Hill whom I met here, haddriven their ox-teams through the sixty miles at one stretch, the time requiredbeing two days and the intervening night. From this point westward, the originalSmoky Hill route is abandoned for that we had been traveling, which follows theRepublican some twenty-five miles further.
The bluffs are usually low, and the dry creeks which separate them are often widereaches of heavy sand. . . . There is little grass on the rolling prairie abovethe bluffs. . . . Some of the dry-creek valleys have a little that is green butthin, while the river bottom-often half a mile wide-is sometimes tolerablygrassed, and sometimes sandy and sterile. Of wood, there is none for stretches offorty or fifty miles: the corrals are made of earth, and consist of a trench anda mud or turf wall; one or two stationhouses are to be built of turf if everbuilt at all; and at one station the fuel is brought sixty miles from thepineries further west. [195]

Extract from special correspondence of the St. Louis MissouriRepublican,June 7, 1859:

Denver City, May 20, 1859.

     At the latter point [Station 221 a branch of theSmoky Hill route crosses the Express route, and I found a whole city of canvass,inhabited by weary emigrants who wanted to give them

and stock a few day's rest, at and aboutthe junction of the two roads. I conversed freely with such as had come via theSmoky Hill route, and they were all unanimous in their denunciations of the same.The Indians had burned off all the early grass, and were themselves congregatedin large numbers along the road and very overbearing and troublesome.
The travelers had an absolute desert of one hundred and fifty miles to cross. ..

[Details of the suffering on this route follow.]

     I found every one of the western stations of theExpress company beset by gangs of half-starved men-mostly of the handcart andwalking gentry-that had consumed their last, days ago, and were now driven toappeal to the feelings of compassion of the employes of the Express company. Andheartily and humanely was this appeal responded to in most cases. Otherwise, theroad would be covered with the bleaching bones of such as had breathed their lastin the merciless wilderness, for want of the means of physical subsistence.[196]

STATION 23.-On the South Fork of the Republican, about 16 miles east and alittle north of present Hugo, Colo.197 Neither Greeley nor Richardson mentionsthis station.

Boyd's Notes:

Villard:

and last, but not least, a full aspect of the veritable snow-browed Pike's Peak,which becomes already visible at station 13 [231-a distance of 100 miles. Itfirst looks like a cloud, but, as one comes nearer, assumes clearer and greaterdimensions, and when arriving on the last ridge before running down into theCherry

Creek valley, its eastern front is completely revealed to the eye, togetherwith a long chain of peaks, partly covered with snow and partly with pine, andextending in a northward direction as far as Long's Peak. I have seen the Alps ofSwitzerland and Tyrol, the Pyrenees and Appenines, yet their attractions appearto dwindle into nothing when compared with the at once grotesque and sublimebeauty of the mountain scenery upon which my eyes feasted before descending intothe valley above referred to. [199]

STATION 24.-About seven miles northwest of Hugo, Colo., on the Big Sandy (notthe South Fork of the Republican, as claimed by Boyd and B. D. Williams).

Boyd's Notes:

Greeley:

     A ride over a rolling "divide" of some twentymiles, brought us to the "Big Sandy," running south-west to become tributary(when it has anything to contribute) to the Arkansas. Like the Republican, it issometimes a running stream, sometimes a succession of shallow pools, sometimes awaste of deep, scorching sand. A few paltry cotton-woods, a few bunches of lowwillow, may have graced its banks or those of some dry creek running into it, inthe course of the twenty miles or so that we followed up its northern bank.I recollect only that the grass at intervals along its narrow bottoms seemed alittle better than on the upper course of the Republican. One peculiarity of theBig Sandy I had not before observed-that of a thin, alkaline incrustration-mainlyof soda, I believe-covering many acres of the smoother sands in its dry bed. [201]

STATION 25-Located on the west bank of East Bijou creekabout five miles southwest of Godfrey, Elbert county, Colo.

Boyd's Notes:

Richardson:

     At our dining station, Twenty-five, I met severalold Kansas acquaintances, so dust-covered and sunburnt that for several minutes Idid not know them. . . . Toward evening, Pike's Peak loomed up grandly in thesouthwest, wrapt in its ghostly mantle of snow and streaked by deep-cut gorgesshining in the rays of a blazing sunset

'The seal of God
Upon the close of day.'

     In the northwest Long's Peak was sharply definedagainst a mass of ominous black clouds which rising slowly left behind then ascattered trail, dark and wild as the locks of the storm-god.[203]

Greeley

     At length we crossed its deep, trying sand and leftit behind us [Big Sandy], passing over a high "divide" much cut up by gulliesthrough which the water of the wet seasons tears its way to the Arkansas on thesouth or the Platte on the north, until we struck,

at five last evening, the first living tributary to the Platte-a little creekcalled Beaver (probably East Bijoul, which I have not seen on any map. It isabout ten miles east of the Bijou, with which it probably unites before reachingthe Platte.
After leaving the valley of Big Sandy, the grass of the uplands becomes better,and is no longer confined to the water-courses.
At Beaver Creek we saw, for the first time in many weary daysfor more than twohundred miles at the least-a clump of low but sturdy cotton-woods, thirty orforty in number. . . . And, six or seven miles further, just as night wasfalling, we came in sight of pines, giving double assurance that the mountainswere at hand. [204]

STATION 26-Probably on Kiowa creek about ten miles north.of present Kiowa, Colo. [205]

Boyd's Notes:

Richardson:

     Supping at Station Twenty-six we made a comfortablebed in the coach, and rolling on at the rate of seven miles an hour, sleptquietly through the night. [209]

STATION 27.-Denver.

Boyd's Notes:

Richardson (entry of June 6, 1859)

     Woke at five, still in motion, and obtained aglorious view of the mountains, their hoary peaks covered with snow and theirbase, thirty miles across the valley into which we were descending, seeming notmore than two miles away. At last we struck the old trail from Santa Fe to SaltLake, rode a mile along the dry bed of Cherry Creek, and at eight this eleventhmorning reached Denver City. . . . During our journey from Leavenworth we havedoubtless passed ten thousandemigrants.

Greeley:

     From the Bijou to Cherry Creek-some forty miles-Ican say little of the country, save that it is high rolling prairie, deeply cutby several streams, which run north-easterly to join the Platte, or one of itstributaries just named. We passed it in the night, hurrying on to reach Denver,and at sunrise this morning stopped to change mules on the bank of CherryCreek.
As to gold, Denver is crazy. She has been low in the valley ofhumiliation, and is suddenly exalted to the summit of glory.[212]

     The following Denver Dispatch (dated June4) of the St. Louis Missouri Republican gives an account of the Denveroffice of the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express Company.

     For the first two weeks after the opening of theexpress office in this place, it occupied a log cabin of a rather primevaldescription. A few days ago, however, the headquarters were removed, to a morecivilized abode, consisting of frame, and affording a plentiful supply of light,of which the former windowless haunt had been entirelydestitute.

     The express company carries, as you areundoubtedly already aware, the United States mail, and their mail department is abranch of their business, of great importance, extent and profit. It is under thesuperintendency of Mr. Martin Field, formerly of the St. Louis, and lately of theLeavenworth City post office. Although but recently arrived, he has alreadysucceeded in systematizing the discharge of his onerous duties, and his officenow presents that perfect mechanism that alone is apt to secure satisfaction tothe public in mail matters. The post office is, of course, a place of generalrendezvous, crowds of emigrants and immigrants, diggers, traders, mountaineers,etc., can always be seen in and about it, retelling their hopes anddisappointments. . . [214]