Joining the Oregon Trail

I hitched my trailer and left my farmer friends to resume the trail of my great grandfather. Before I left the area though, I went to Lakefield, MN to get another perspective about the Massacre from the local museum director. Then, I had lunch with the dairy farmer's son Lee, after he showed me the latest in fiber optic communications at the local phone and digital service provider's office where he now works. It's a far cry from what I saw in two major telecom development labs in the early 1990s. The "cutting edge" fiber technology I was shown then seems almost primitive compared to what Lee is working with today.

It was early afternoon when I finally left Minnesota to head southwest. I passed endless cornfields that were burned by the summer drought. Now trained in the ways to read the condition of the crops by my farmer friends, I soon realized that much of the year's production of corn would be lost to causes beyond mans' control.

My route would take me down the Iowa side of the Missouri River to Omaha, where I would then head west, first on the I-680 bypass, and then on I-80 to my next camp stop in Gretna, NE. Before retiring for the night, I again checked the history of the 10th Regiment.

The next notation regarding Company D of the 10th, places Jerome's unit at Ft, Kearney, NE, one of the early stops on the Oregon trail, in August, 1857.

•  [Company] A left Fort Ripley July 8, and D Fort Ridgely July 21, and at the end of August both companies were in camp near Fort Kearney, Neb., en route to Utah.

Friday, July 27 - Next stop - the U.S. Air Force ?????

I left the campground at Gretna the next morning. Imagine my surprise just ten miles down the road when I crossed the Platte River and saw the signs for the Strategic Air and Space Museum

This was an unplanned stop - but one I couldn't pass it up. The 33 aircraft housed in this remarkable facility all played important roles in the military history of our country during my lifetime, from the B-17, B-25, and B-29 of WW II, to the cold war era planes of the Strategic Air Command of the 1950s, to the U-2 and SR-71 reconnaissance planes of the 1960s, one of which is still flying.

My first picture as I entered the museum is of the SR-71 Blackbird. I had photographed one of these as it flew into Paine Field near my home for an air show in the 1980s. This plane, designed and built by Lockheed in the 1960s was way ahead of its time.

The next plane that brought back memories was the B-36 Bomber. This plane had the distinction of being the first capable of reaching a target on another continent and returning home without requiring refueling.

I remember it as the only aircraft I could identify by the unique sound of its six 28-cylinder radial engines purring smoothly as they passed high over the Nevada home of my youth in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

You can judge the size of this behemoth by this view which I took while standing under the tail of the aircraft. You can see the three starboard prop engines and two of the four jet turbines that power the plane from this angle. When you consider that the wingspan of this plane is over 2/3rds the length of a football field, you can also begin to get an idea of the size of this building, which houses all of its 33 aircraft under cover.

One could easily spend an entire day, or even days in this place. My stop here was all too brief. My parting view of the facility includes my truck and trailer in the foreground.

The story of the Mormon Handcarts on the Oregon Trail

When I made a stop at a roadside rest about two hours later, I realized that I had taken the convenient modern route of I-80 out of Lincoln on my way to Ft. Kearney instead of following the Platte River as the pioneers and my great granddaddy did. My inadvertent detour saved me an extra hour of driving.

In the process, I drove the longest straight stretch of highway in the interstate system; the 72 miles of I-80 between Lincoln and Grand Island in Nebraska.

Mormon Island, one of many in the Platte, is today a Nebraska State Recreational Area near Grand Island, NE. It's history is depicted on several signboards that I read as I stretched my legs.

It was here I learned that the settlers using Conestoga Wagons pulled by oxen weren't the only ones moving west. The remarkable story of the Mormon migration using hand drawn carts was revealed to me.
It was explained that each family using a cart was allowed 17 lbs of possessions per adult and 10 lbs per child. Tents and other provisions for the part were carried in wagons that accompanied each group.

• Ten handcart companies formed, made up of approximately 3,000 people pushing and pulling carts 1,300 miles from Iowa City to Salt Lake City in an average of 125 days.

A poem on one of the signboards tells the story.

Thirty minutes after leaving Mormon Island, with I-80 following the Platte and the historic trail, I arrived at Ft. Kearney State Park. It was near here that Jerome's unit camped.

Ft. Kearney was only 9 years old in 1857, having been constructed in 1848 to support the massive migration to California when gold was discovered there. A Wikipedia entry tells us:

• The fort grew rapidly into an important trail stop. By June 1849, Woodbury noted in his journals that 4,000 wagons had passed the fort so far that year, mostly on their way to California. The fort accumulated large stores of goods for travelers, with the directive of selling them at a beneficial cost to the emigrants. Specifically, the commander of the fort was authorized to sell goods at cost to emigrants, and in some cases of hardship, to give goods to them for free. In 1850, the fort acquired regular once-a-month mail service with the arrival of a stagecoach route between Independence, Missouri and Salt Lake City. It was the first regular mail service established along the trail.

To read the complete Wikipedia story of  Ft. Kearney as we know it today, go here.

My picture of the Nebraska Historical Marker sums up the story of this way station to the west.

I concluded my drive on I-80 at Ogallala, NE, having crossed most of the southern part of the state in a one day 310 mile drive. In the morning, I would follow the settlers' trail along the North Platte using US Highway 26, noting the natural landmarks that emigrants used to mark their progress.

Down on the Farm

The next two days would be all about getting to know my friends of twelve years - face to face. Together, we fought a long battle to cure electrical problems that were affecting their cows - all long distance. In the process, I came to know some details about the family, such as the fact that their names were Chuck and Wanda, with a son, Lee.

So, there was my Wanda and me, and then this pair. It was confusing, so we decided early on that they would be referred to as the Udder Chuck and Wanda. That kept everything straight.

Leaving Ft. Ridgely, it was a relatively short (86 mi.) drive to the dairy farm. I arrived early in the day.
My route was roughly that taken by Jerome's company in 1857 in response to the massacre.

As I arrived, a view from the farmhouse was interesting. I'm told there are over 20 cats helping to control the rodents.

Barnyard Cats

Another convenient coincidence, besides our names, is the fact that the Udder Wanda was raised near the site where the massacre that I wanted to investigate took place, near Spirit Lake, IA.

So, while the Udder Chuck minded the farm, Wanda and I took a 17 mile trip to tour the 1857 massacre site and a nearby museum.

Spirit Lake Massacre, and the story of a survivor

The settlers in this region were, as was often the case, on the edge of a frontier, not always under the protection of a nearby army garrison. Such was the case at Spirit Lake. The natives, displaced from their hunting grounds, were often in dire straights when it came to providing for their families. Such was the case as the harsh winter of 1856-57 took its toll. The history of the Iowa National Guard paints a pretty clear picture of what happened at Spirit Lake.

Confrontations were often the result of misunderstandings between the settlers and the natives. In this case, a settler had killed the brother of a Sioux Chief, Inkpaduta, who then took out his revenge on several settlements.

Abbie Gardner was just 13 years old at the time of the massacre. More than 30 settlers were killed, including her family, but she, with 3 other women from nearby settlements, were taken captive. Abbie was ransomed a few months later, and would live out her life in her reconstructed cabin, retelling her story of the massacre.

The Udder Wanda shows me Abbie Gardner's Cabin

 As I learned when I visited the museum in Lakefield, MN, there were two sides to the story of the massacre, one told by Captain Bee, the commander of Company D of the 10th Infantry, and one by those who responded from Ft. Dodge. One can second guess the motives and actions of the various players, but I prefer to let readers examine stories and draw their own conclusions.

We returned to the farm

 

Wanda and I returned to the farm and I was treated to a fine dinner out with a wonderful family. I look forward to more visits with them, both by email and in person.

I'll be bouncing back and forth between the present and the past for the next few posts as I follow the 10th Regiment on their way west during the balance of 1857.

Next stop for Jerome - Ft. Kearney, Nebraska.