fork. The great difficulty on what was known as the old P.P. road lay in the fact that emigration kept up the north fork and then bore across a divide eighty-five miles without water to the Sandy, lengthening their route. We followed the south fork, finding wood, water and grass all the way. Twenty-eight miles from the forks we came to a bottom extending to within two and a half miles of Big Cottonwood Grove, covered with grass six feet high, and containing some splendid springs. This we called the Meadows, and left a reaper in the grass.
Two and a half miles west of the Meadows, we camped at Big Cottonwood Grove. This is a grove of large cottonwood trees, and used to be a celebrated camping-ground for Indians. Sixteen and a half miles west, we reached the Cheyenne Well, at the head of Smoky Hill. This well was built by our party in 1860, and is one of the finest of wells, yielding sufficient water to supply a heavy emigration. At this point we left the Smoky Hill, bearing south 57 degrees west, across the divide between Smoky Hill and the Sand branch of the Arkansas. At eleven miles erected a mound for a well to be dug, and at twenty-one miles came to Eureka Creek, at the junction with Sandy. Here we found a large living stream of water and good grass; we bore from this point north of west up the Sandy seventy miles, to its most northern bend, finding an abundance of water, grass, and some timber, though the latter is scarce. Fourteen miles east of this point we had our first view of the mountains, which we had been prevented from seeing on account of clouds. This morning the snow-capped mountains burst upon our view, looming far above the clouds. The long-expected view cheered our men and we pushed on with renewed vigor, now that our work seemed almost done and our goal appeared within our reach.
Leaving the Sandy at the bend before mentioned, we bore northwest across the divide, crossing Beaver at nine miles, then the Bijou and Kroway, also other well-watered streams, and struck the old Taos road at Cherry Creek, nine miles
from Denver. This we followed into Denver, where we were received with congratulations.
Our trip lasted after leaving the old road twenty-four days, six of which we rested. We lost but one mule, and one pony that died of colic.
ADVANTAGES OF THE ROUTE.
The advantages of the Smoky Hill route over the Platte or the Arkansas must be apparent to anybody. In the first place, it is one hundred and sixteen miles shorter to Denver, making two hundred and thirty-two miles on the round trip, and emigration, like a ray of light, will not go around unless there are unsurmountable obstacles in the way. In this case the obstructions are altogether on the Platte and Arkansas. Aside from the difference in distance in favor of the new route, you will find no sand on the Smoky Hill route, whilst from Julesburg to Denver, a distance of two hundred miles, the emigrant or freighter has a dead pull of sand without a stick of timber or a drop of living water, save the Platte itself, which is from three to five miles from the road; and when it is taken into consideration that a loaded ox-train makes but from twelve to fourteen miles a day and never exceeds sixteen, it will not pay, and will double the distance to drive to the Platte, the only water in the country, for the purpose of camping; and all will admit that the Platte waters are so strongly impregnated with alkali as to render it dangerous to water stock from it. The carcasses now lining the road along the Platte bear evidence to its distinctive qualities, whilst on the new route not a particle of this bane can be found.
Another advantage of the new route is that on the Platte from the junction to Denver, a distance of eighty-five miles, hardly a spear of grass can be found to help hide the sandy, desert-like appearance of the route, whilst on the new route, an abundance of fine buffalo and grama grass can be found all the way. The near approach to the mountains does not seem to affect it, as all kinds of grass can be found from one end of the route to the other.
On the new route we saw no sign of Indians, or in fact any signs later than last fall. This can be accounted for from the fact that the Platte and Arkansas routes being so heavily garrisoned, Indians, with their natural shrewdness, will not wedge themselves into a strip of country entirely surrounded by Government troops.
In addition to the advantages above enumerated, the new route is located through its entire length along and directly parallel to the Central Pacific R.R., which is now running daily trains as far as Lawrence, forty miles west of the Missouri River, and I have been confidently informed that the cars will be as far as Topeka, the State capital, this fall, which will shorten a stage route over the new line sixty miles, making the distance to be traveled by coach but five hundred and twenty-four miles, or one hundred and seventy-six miles less than by the Platte and two hundred and seventy-six miles shorter than by the Arkansas, as it is seven hundred miles from Leavenworth City or Atchison to Denver by the Platte route and eight hundred by the Arkansas.
Further, should emigration ever increase to such an extent as to cause a scarcity of timber, nature has bountifully supplied the Smoky Hill with an abundance of bois devache, which is always cheerfully chosen by the tried emigration in preference to cutting timber for a fire.
Having been instructed to suggest places suitable for Military Posts on the route, I would state that I deem but two necessary at present, and position can be found for those, – one at a point on Smoky Hill, seventy miles west of Fort Ellsworth, at the mouth of Turkey Creek, and one at the forks of Smoky Hill; at both of those places an abundance of water, wood and grass can be found convenient.
Having also been instructed to find an avenue through which the Santa Fe trade could be directed via the Smoky Hill, I desire to report that at a distance of three hundred and eighty-six miles west of Fort Leavenworth and one hundred and ninety miles west of Fort Ellsworth, a creek bearing northeast empties into Smoky Hill on the south side, which I deem available (from my own personal observation, and from information gained from the Indian tribes in that vicinity in 1860), by following it to its head and crossing the Big Sandy at a point northeast of Fort Lyon and intersecting the Arkansas road at Fort Lyon. Circumstances prevented me from fully testing this, though I think it could be done with advantage to the Government.
Accompanying this report, you will find a copy of my notes, and also a correct map, which I hope will show truly the relative positions of the two routes, as I have tried to describe them in this my report, fairly and impartially; and having first returned by coach over the Platte route, I think I am fully qualified to decide between the two.
I am, Sir,
Very respectfully, Your Obt. Servant,
(Signed) JULIAN R. FITCH,
Second Lt. Signal Corps.
To Major Geo. T. Robinson, Chief Engineer.
Appendix C.
[From Kansas City Star, Feb. 24, 1911.]
JAMES BRIDGER – PIONEER
In Mount Washington Cemetery is the Grave of the Trapper.
In the Missouri Republican of March 20, 1822, appeared a notice advertising for 'enterprising young men' who would engage to 'ascend the Missouri River to its source, there to be employed for one, two or three years.' Among the enterprising young men who responded to this advertisement – which emanated from the Missouri Fur Company – was a young blacksmith apprentice named James Bridger, whose unguessed destiny it was to become almost a legendary figure in the pioneer history of the new West. The bare facts of his story are thus summarized upon a monument to his memory in the Mount Washington Cemetery, Kansas City:
1804-JAMES BRIDGER-1881
Celebrated as a hunter, trapper, fur trader, and guide. Discovered Great Salt Lake, 1824; the South Pass, 1827. Visited Yellowstone Lake and Geysers, 1830. Founded Fort Bridger, 1843. Opened Overland Route by Bridger's Pass to Great Salt Lake. Was guide for United States exploring expeditions, Albert Sidney Johnston's Army in 1857, and G. M. Dodge in U.P. surveys and Indian campaigns, 1865-66.
Piquant glimpses of the man himself, however, are captured for us by Edwin L. Sabin, writing in Recreation, New York. From Mr. Sabin we learn that, while still a young man, Bridger's qualities won him the honorary appellation, 'Old Jim'; that when he discovered Great Salt Lake and tasted its water, he concluded that it was an arm of the Pacific Ocean; and that while not the discoverer of the Yellowstone National Park, he and his companion,
