Quarterly Publication of the Santa Fe Trail Association volume 34 ♦ number 3 May 2020

Nestor Armijo: The Capitalist from Las Cruces ♦ page 10

Voices from a Disease Frontier: Kansans and Cholera 1867 ♦ page 18

Hell on Wheels: Railhead Towns on the Santa Fe Trail ♦ page 28 On the Cover: All Trails Lead to Santa Fe by Ron Kil

I was commissioned by the Santa Fe Trail Association to pro- vide a painting to promote the Three Trails Conference in Santa Fe in 2015. I chose a Spanish hacendado, a wealthy rancher and landowner, because he best represented the type that would have furnished the trade on all the trails leading from Santa Fe, as well as providing for a thriving market for the Three Trails leading into Santa Fe.

The view is that of old Santa Fe, backed by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, with an atajo from the Old Spanish Trail, carretas from the Camino Real, and conestogas from Missouri, all bound for the trade capital of the Spanish Southwest. 

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” This open- ing sentence in the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens has been never more prophetic than it is in today’s world and the trials we are facing from the coronavirus COVID-19. The mem- bers of the Santa Fe Trail Association understand the historic significance of the trials and tribulations faced by our forefathers as they journeyed west to trade or settle in a new land. Today’s citizens struggle with all that is going on in our economy, our public interaction, and just surviving in the environment that we currently face.

We need to remember that generations before us faced many sig- nificant crises from cholera, typhoid, chicken pox, and scurvy. We need to remember that each generation has its own dilemmas to overcome, just as the travelers on the trail, the American Indians, and the local merchants and residents on our great Santa Fe Na- tional Historic Trail had to overcome.

In time, all will pass and we will be able to once again hold our group meetings. In the meantime, we can utilize modern tech- nology such as the internet and email to continue our goal of protecting, promoting, and preserving our Santa Fe National Historic Trail. SFTA President Larry Short

About the Santa Fe Trail Association The mission of the Santa Fe Trail Association is to protect and preserve the Santa Fe Trail and to promote awareness of the historical legacy associated with it.

Follow us online at www.santafetrail.org, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube

Wagon Tracks, the official publication of the Santa Fe Trail Association (SFTA), publishes well-researched and documented peer-reviewed articles relating to the Santa Fe Trail. Wagon Tracks is published in February, May, August, and November. Deadlines are the 10th of the month prior to publication. Queries are welcome. Complete submission guidelines are posted at www.santafetrail.org. Although the entire issue of Wagon Tracks is copyrighted in the name of the Santa Fe Trail Association, copyright to each article remains in the author’s name. Articles may be edited or abridged at the editor’s discretion.

2 Wagon Tracks May 2020 Quarterly of the Santa Fe Trail Association volume 34 ♦ number 3 May 2020

Contents

2 On the Cover: All Trails Lead to Santa Fe by Ron Kil, Larry Short

4 Insights from your President

5 Joanne’s Jottings

6-7 Rendezvous 2020 and 2021 Symposium

7-9, 16, 32 Trail News

8 In Memoriam: Mary Jean Straw Cook, Willard "Dub" Couch, Louann Jordan, Alma Gregory

17 Lee Kroh Leaves Legacy: USGS Quad Maps

33 Membership Form

33-35 Chapter Reports

36 Recipes from the Trail

The cholera epidemic of 1867 spawned many "remedies." Read more in Dr. Leiker's article.

10-16 18-27 28-32 Nestor Armijo: The Capitalist Voices from a Disease Hell on Wheels: Rail- from Las Cruces Frontier: Kansans and head Towns on the Cholera 1867 Santa Fe Trail

by Dr. Susan Calafate Boyle by Dr. James N. Leiker by Dr. Michael L. Olsen

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 3 Insights from your President by Larry D. Short, President of SFTA

Plans for our 200th Commemora- will be ordered and shipped. Our tion are well underway, led by Deb next major goal will be to complete Goodrich and her team. Many of the the signs located on Kansas Depart- chapters have started plans for com- ment of Transportation rights-of- memoration activities in their local way. We hope that these signs will areas. The key to success for 2021 be installed by the end of 2020. We will be continued support from each are also currently working with the of our 12 chapters along the length National Park Service to complete of our Santa Fe National Historic the sign program in Missouri with Trail. Remember that the 200th is a the directional signs along the Mis- commemoration of the opening of souri Department of Transportation the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. right-of-way. A highlight of the past Please do not use the word “celebra- couple of months has been secur- tion” in any press releases, posters, ing the signed agreement with the flyers, or other modes of advertising New Mexico Highway Department upcoming events. to replace the directional signs on Highway 56 for the Faye Gaines I have created a new DAR Task Point of Rocks historic site in Colfax It has been an exciting and produc- Force led by Pat Traffas, which in- County, New Mexico. Signs have tive time since I assumed the office cludes DAR representatives from been shipped to NMDOT and will of President at our St. Louis Sympo- each of the five states which the Trail be installed this spring. sium. Working together, Association crosses. They will work closely with Manager Joanne VanCoevern, Vice- the National DAR 200th Represen- One critical issue is the preserva- President Chris Day, and I have as- tative, Dee Sadler, to organize events tion and protection of our Santa Fe sembled a group of co-chairs for our across the length of the Trail and on National Historic Trail. Great leader- various committees to help lead us a national level. ship has been provided by our co- as we commemorate our 200th An- chairs of the preservation committee, niversary in 2021. We continue to add new Trail cross- Faye Gaines and Steve Schmidt, but ing and segment signs to our sign we need to provide them with much Thank you to the new board mem- plan. Recently completed are the more support and “eyes and ears on bers and returning board members Barton County, Kansas, plan for the ground” in each of the five states. for stepping forward to provide the the Great Bend area, plans for the I have therefore added new represen- leadership and direction for commit- Larned/Pawnee County sites, and tatives from each of the five states to tees which are the backbone of the the Union County, New Mexico, provide local on-the-ground support. Santa Fe Trail Association. Several crossing plan. The jurisdiction forms A few volunteers have offered to fill chair positions which had been va- have been signed by the City of these positions, and I'd like more cant for some time are now filled Larned and the Pawnee County members to volunteer in this capac- with qualified leaders. Public Works officials, and the signs ity. Please contact me directly if you

4 Wagon Tracks May 2020 have any questions about the position. The protection of our Trail is essential Joanne’s Jottings by Joanne VanCoevern, Association Manager for its future. contact and proceed with work on The months and years ahead will be projects through phone calls, e-mails, both challenging and exciting. We will and teleconferencing. I’m sure that continue to work as a team with the those early Trail travelers could never National Park Service. Their leader- even imagine the speed at which we ship has been, and will continue to are able to communicate along the be, exceptional and a critical part of Santa Fe Trail. our success together. The decisions we make today will most likely have And, what about our SFTA head- a long impact on the preservation, quarters? As you know, the SFTA protection, and promotion of our As- headquarters is located at the Santa sociation and the Santa Fe National Fe Trail Center near Larned, Kansas. Historic Trail. That facility is currently closed as a result of a statewide order resulting Each chapter should continue to en- from the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff, courage ALL of their members to also including SFTA staff, schedule time become members of the national San- For many, the “stay at home” orders to go into the building to perform ta Fe Trail Association. Each SFTA resulting from the COVID-19 pan- necessary tasks such as processing member should set a goal to bring at demic feel like time is standing still, mail, paying bills, and answering cor- least one new member to their chap- with meeting cancellations, social respondence. No one is currently there ters AND to SFTA. As one of our distancing, and maximum numbers full-time to answer the phone, so if respected leaders, Pat Palmer, once for group gatherings as low as five you do call, please leave a message and told me: “You just have to ask them to in some states. I can assure you, the someone will return your call as soon join.” I challenge each of you to just go National Historic Trails communities as possible. In addition, Linda Rev- ask someone to join. continue to work from home offices ello and I continue to work on SFTA to ensure that our goals are moving matters from home, and we can be The Santa Fe Trail has been a promi- forward. reached by phone, e-mail, text, or even nent part of our American history Facebook Messenger. (Contact infor- for nearly 200 years, and we should Currently, all chapter meetings have mation on page 2 of Wagon Tracks.) be extremely proud that we have the been postponed/canceled through Re-opening is unknown at this time, tremendous opportunity to put our April, and all chapters are following and will depend on statewide guide- stamp on our Trail. A very limited their respective state guidelines. The lines. number of people will ever have the spring workshop and board of direc- chance to become stewards of the tors meeting that was scheduled to We are in discussions for the film- Trail. Each of us is a part of ensur- meet in Dodge City on April 16-17 ing of another segment of “A Taste of ing that the Santa Fe National His- was cancelled. Instead, board mem- History” from the Santa Fe Trail, and toric Trail remains a viable part of the bers and chapter presidents attended SFTA is continuing efforts to raise American scene for generations to an online workshop hosted by the funds needed for that. The first seg-  come. National Park Service (NPS) to cover ment was filmed in November 2019 at least a portion of what had been at the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Facing page: In February, Larry Short planned for Dodge City. Farm, Olathe, Kansas, and at Council and Joanne VanCoevern attended a sec- Grove, Kansas, and was covered in the ond “Foundation Documents Workshop,” On April 16, NPS conducted the last issue of Wagon Tracks. That seg- with the focus on “Interpretive Themes.” virtual training workshop on the new ment will be a part of season 11. As That information will be a part of the protocol for “High Potential Sites and soon as we have an air date, we will Foundation Document. The last time the Segments on the Santa Fe National pass that along to the membership. interpretive themes for the Santa Fe Trail Historic Trail.” We are happy to re- were reviewed was for the development of port that 100 percent of our board Planning will continue for Rendez- the interpretive prospectus in 1991. Pic- members and chapter presidents vous, and we hope that limited travel, tured l. to r.: Aaron Mahr, Larry Short, signed up for this online workshop, social distancing, and maximum num- John Carson, Carol Clark, Guy McLellan, showing the dedication of our volun- bers for gatherings will be something Adrianna McLane, Carole Wendler, and teers and the passion we all share for of a memory by that time. SFTA Joanne VanCoevern. the Santa Fe Trail. In addition, com- mittees are continuing to maintain Continued next page

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 5 Joanne, continued from page 5 Attend Rendezvous 2020 in Larned September 24-26

leadership is making plans to hold Army Scout and Plainsman.” Susan the NPS/SFTA Workshop in con- You will not want to miss Rendez- vous 2020! As always, Rendezvous Metzger, State Regent of the Kansas junction with Rendezvous, with the Daughters of the American Revolu- most likely date for the workshop will be held in Larned, Kansas, with the committee setting September tion (DAR) will next present a pro- on Wednesday, September 23, 2020, gram on the goals and plans of the at 9:00 a.m. followed by the SFTA 24-26 for this year’s event. The theme is “Youth on the Santa Fe Trail,” a DAR for the 200th-year commemo- Board of Directors meeting on ration of the Santa Fe Trail in 2021. Thursday, September 24, at 9:00 a.m. topic which has often been over- looked. Presentations will examine Merlene Baird, Regent of the Fort The dates for Rendezvous are Sep- Larned Chapter, DAR, will present tember 24-26, and we are very hope- how the Santa Fe Trail and exposure to the West affected young peoples’ a program on the 105th anniversary ful that the programs can proceed as of the local chapter. Following lunch, scheduled.  lives and often influenced their future careers. They will address both the Dr. Michael Olsen will speak on “El positive and negative impact on the Niño Loco: Miguel Antonio Otero, Junior.” Santa Fe Trail Anthology Anglo, Hispanic, and American In- dian children of the Santa Fe Trail. by Genealogy Society For the remainder of the afternoon Coming This Fall Rendezvous will begin on Thursday the Rendezvous seminar will move evening with dinner and an opening to Fort Larned NHS. The afternoon speaker will be Sienna Cordoba dis- The New Mexico Genealogy So- event at the Santa Fe Trail Center. cussing “The Emergence of Young ciety is publishing an anthology Dr. Michael Olsen will speak on Hispanics Studying in the US: New commemorating 200 years of the “Perceptions of Childhood in 19th- Mexican Teens in St. Louis during Santa Fe Trail. Due to be published Century America: Eastern Experi- the Late Nineteenth Century.” After this fall, the book contains histori- ences versus Western Expectations.” this presentation, attendees can roam cal archival material, some family The attendees will reconvene at the the Fort’s grounds to view living his- history, place names, nuns, soldiers, Larned Community Center on Fri- tory vignettes featuring youth at the burials, Ft. Union, school chil- day morning with John Carson as the Fort. The Fort will present a retreat dren, one diary of sorts, and a vast first speaker. His topic is “A Better ceremony prior to the closing dinner amount of photos. The book will Use for a Saddle: Kit Carson’s First and speaker. Dr. Leo Oliva will give be available on Amazon. Details Ventures on the Santa Fe Trail.” He the final presentation of Rendezvous in the next issue of Wagon Tracks. will be followed by Ron Parks who will speak on “The Only Apparent 2020: “Children of Military Families Path Out of the Darkness.” After a on the Santa Fe Trail.” break the members of the Larned Principal funding for this program is Elementary School will perform a provided by Humanities Kansas. As- Become an medley of Santa Fe Trail songs. SFTA Partner sistance for the 2020 Rendezvous is Following lunch, Joy Poole will pres- also provided by the National Trails System – Intermountain Region of We have a good start on long-term ent “Rebecca Mayer’s Santa Fe Trail fundraising with “Challenges and Honeymoon with 500 Mules and 50 the National Park Service. We are Gateways”. If you have already Men.” Cam Kattell will be the next appreciative of their support. The given, thank you! You’ve made speaker with her talk, “Three Young Rendezvous planning committee is a great difference in the work of Lives Shaped by the Santa Fe Trail made up of members of the three co- the SFTA. There is much more to Experience.” Friday evening activities sponsoring organizations: Santa Fe do, and additional partnerships are will convene at the Community Cen- Trail Center, Fort Larned National available and vital to our goals. ter with dinner and Santa Fe Trail Historic Site, and the Santa Fe Trail Association Hall of Fame inductees Association. Become a partner today and re- and awards. ceive one of only a few remaining All SFTA members will receive a framed, signed Gary Gore prints and Saturday morning will begin with the registration packet in the mail this a Gateway T-shirt to show your sup- SFTA’s annual membership meeting. summer. In the meantime, mark your port as a partner. To learn how, con- All are welcome to attend. After the calendar now for September 24 – 26, tact Rich Lawson at 660-238-4871 meeting there will be a joint program and plan to attend Rendezvous 2020. or email [email protected].  by Dr. Paul Carlson and Dr. Clint Chambers: “Comanche Jack Stilwell:

6 Wagon Tracks May 2020 2021 SFTA Bicentennial Symposium in La Junta, Colorado September 22-26

The wagons are being loaded, the mules to the south to introduce attendees to packed, and your 2021 Symposium planning significant sites along the trail on the committee is proceeding down the trail in Mountain Branch of the Santa Fé Trail in preparation for your unique opportunity to Southeastern Colorado. Additionally, on commemorate the 200 years of commerce Saturday people can actually get on the and the cultural connections which have Trail with wagons, mules, and horses and evolved since William Becknell’s initial trip have but a small taste of what Trail travel down the Santa Fé Trail. Reconnect with would have been like. old acquaintances and make new ones at the Symposium’s receptions, banquets, and vari- Presently, qualified Living Historians are ous ceremonies at Bent's Old Fort near La being sought to demonstrate at Bent’s Junta, Colorado. The Santa Fe Trail Lives On! Old Fort what life would have been like for all of the different types of people who The committee continues to develop a pro- would have been involved in the Trail’s gram which is educational and informative business during its heyday. as well as entertaining, as only a bicentennial commemoration deserves. A series of speakers For additional information, concerns, or will be selected to enhance your understanding questions and to find the Calls for Papers, of as many aspects as possible of the trail, its Living Historians, and Authors/Artists business and its influence on all affected by the and Vendors, visit the 2021 Symposium route, past, present, and in the future. website at www.2021sfts.com or contact [email protected]  Tours are being developed to the east and

Publicity and Santa Fe Trail 200 In March, during Women's History Month, Joanne VanCoevern wrote some excellent biographies of women By Deb Goodrich, Publicity Chair along the Trail that were posted on Facebook. Such topics will translate well to podcast topics. The volumes of Wagon Watch for the launching of a new website by the publica- Tracks will be great resources as well. If you have ideas tions committee, SantaFeTrail200.org, which will house the for the website or podcast, please contact me at author. schedule of events for 2021 as well as other features. [email protected].

We will also be launching a weekly podcast, "The Santa Fe In September, I will be attending the Conference of West- Trail Lives On" in the coming weeks. ern Writers in Rapid City. President Candy Moulton has kindly allowed me time to address the conferees about the 200th. This is the ideal crowd to take our message to the masses.

Many of the talks that I had scheduled this spring have been cancelled, but most will be rescheduled and we will soon be back on track.

Our schedules have been turned upside down, but we can reschedule and change plans. Staying healthy is far more important. Here's hoping we will be safe and congregating in the weeks and months to come. 

July 10 is the submission deadline for the August issue of Wagon Tracks.

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 7 Awards and Hall of Fame Nominations Needed In Memoriam Mary Jean Straw Cook, a founding member of both the Please consider nominating a deserving person for one of End of the Trail chapter and the Santa Fe Trail Association, our Santa Fe Trail awards. Only a few nominations have died on November 7, 2019, in Albuquerque. Mary Jean’s been received to date. many achievements significantly advanced the knowledge This year is a Rendezvous year and we have the following of the southwest and the Santa Fe Trail. Perhaps being a awards available to present: descendent of Josiah Gregg is what motivated Mary Jean to pursue her historical career. • Award of Merit She was the author of Doña Tules: Santa Fe’s Courtesan • David Clapsaddle Memorial Chapter Award and Gambler. She also wrote Loretto Chapel: The Sisters and • Paul Bentrup Ambassador Award Their Santa Fe Chapel, and Of Immortal Summer, A Victorian • Marc Simmons Writing Award Women’s Travels in the Southwest, which chronicled the 1897 letters and photographs of sisters Josephine and Amelia • Educator Award Hollenbeck. She received the SFTA Marc Simmons Writ- • Scholarship Award ing Award, along with Alma Gregory, in 2003. Ten of her • Ralph Hathaway Memorial Heritage Preservation Award articles appear in Wagon Tracks. • Gregory Franzwa Memorial for Lifetime Achievement She researched the death of James S. Calhoun, New Award Mexico's first territorial Governor, who died on the Santa • Louise Barry Writing Award Fe Trail, and spearheaded an effort to fund and erect a The criteria for each award are listed at https://www.santaf- gravestone at his still to-this-day-unknown gravesite in etrail.org/about-us/awards/ Union Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri.

The Santa Fe Trail Association Hall of Fame recognizes Willard “Dub” Couch died January 20, 2020. Dub was a those individuals who were associated with the Santa Fe member of the SFTA Board of Directors from 2000-2007, Trail during its historic period, or in modern times have and a big supporter of the Bent’s Fort Chapter and the San- made a significant contribution to, an impact on, or preser- ta Fe Trail. Many will remember his lively personality and vation of the Santa Fe Trail. Hall of Fame nominations must his providing rides at events with his golf carts. Dub was be made posthumously. There are two categories for nomina- instrumental in efforts to open the lines of communication tions to the Hall of Fame: between the chapters and the national organization and was very helpful in setting up meeting arrangements for SFTA. • Historic Hall of Fame - Individuals who lived prior to 1900 and traveled the Santa Fe Trail and/or made a Louann Jordan died January 22, 2020. She earned a degree significant contribution to or had an impact on history of in graphic design at Ohio State University, which she put the Santa Fe Trail. to good use as a cartographer, geological and archeological illustrator, graphic designer, and museum curator in places • Individuals who lived after 1900 who have been sig- such as Denver, Missoula, Chicago, and Santa Fe. Louann nificant in the study of the Santa Fe Trail, or have made a drew almost all of the Coats of Arms displayed on the Santa significant contribution to preservation, historic informa- Fe Plaza during Fiestas celebrations. tion, artifacts, or remnants related to the Trail. Louann was a long-term member of the End of Trail Chap- Any SFTA member may nominate someone for consider- ter and several civic and professional organizations, and was ation for the Hall of Fame in either category and should the former chairperson of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation. include a 100+ word justification. In 2008, she retired after 35 years of working at El Rancho de las Golondrinas. Please use the website www.santafetrail.org to submit nominations. If you have photos to submit, email them to Alma Gregory died on March 19, 2020, in Santa Fe, of [email protected] and indicate for which nomination they complications from a fall. Her wish was to be cremated and are submitted. Remember that we now require a photo her ashes scattered at her mountain home northwest of release in order to publish a photo supplied as part of a Sapello. She was a longtime member of SFTA and wrote nomination. Include the photo release in your email. the Corazon Chapter newsletter for many years. She was awarded the Marc Simmons Writing Award in 2003. A list of people already in the Hall of Fame is on the SFTA website. 

8 Wagon Tracks May 2020 SFTA Membership News Our loyal Charter members of the Beaver; Ron and Karla French, Tip- Association, who joined in 1987, the ton; and Pamela Parsons, Tulsa. From By Marcia Fox year the SFTA was formed are: From Colorado: Gerald & Marcia Faust, Membership Chair Missouri: Gary Cundiff, Lake St. Pueblo West; John Russell, Parker; Louis; Arrow Rock St. Historical Site, and David Sandoval, Pueblo. From The Santa Fe Trail Association would Arrow Rock; and Anne Mallinson, New Mexico: Charles Hawk, Taos; like to welcome our new members: Center View. From Kansas: Britt and Star Jones, Santa Fe; Susan Richard- From Missouri: D. J. Champagne, Linda Colle, McPherson; Marcia and son, Clayton; Gerald Schulz, Tyrone; Independence; From Kansas: Terry Ron Fox, Wamego; Betsy Crawford Dennis and Gladys Schneider, Cimar- & Dee Saddler, Sharon; Ethel Evans, and Michael Gore, Larned; Linda ron; and Marc Simmons, Albuquer- Ulysses; Jason Green, Lenexa; Steve and Bruce Peters, Lakin; Ruth and que; From other states: Jeff Brans- Hitchcock, Baldwin City; Marti Mi- Reed Peters, Larned; John Stadler, ford, Arlington, MA; Susan Doyle, halyl, Lawrence; Jone Roth, Green; Topeka; Clinton and Delaine Stalker, Pendleton, OR; Arthur Siverling, City of Council Grove, Council Satanta; Alice Clapsaddle, Larned; Youngstown, OH; Les Vilda, Wilber, Grove; and Doug Sharp, Wichita. Christine Day, Wamego; William NE; and Dale Wedel, Laramie, WY. From Oklahoma: Gavin & Van- Drews, Hutchinson; Dorothy Kroh, Thank you to such loyal members! essa Lock, Bixby; and Lynne Harris, Lenexa; Martha Scranton, Larned; Ramona. From Colorado: Colleen John Stratton, Lawrence; Malcolm Sadly, seven members passed away Messersmith, Lamar; Lance Barron, Strom, Dwight; Dave Webb, Protec- throughout the 2019 membership Weston; Rebecca Berner, Broomfield; tion; Santa Fe Trail Center, Larned; year: James Freeman, Wheat Ridge; Dal- Bill and Susan Bunyan, Dodge City; las Powell, Longmont; Brad Sem- Barbara Clark, Liberal; Mary Conrad, Gary Hylton, Las Animas, CO; mens, Wiley; Stuart West, La Junta; Kansas City; Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Louann Jordan, Santa Fe, NM; Ger- and Elizabeth Lindquist, Colorado Hall, Shawnee Mission; Leo and ald Moore, Evergreen, CO; Robert Springs. From New Mexico: Kath- Bonita Oliva, Woodston; Kearney Van Dyke, Marshall, MO; Mary Jean leen Matta and Peggy Poling, Santa County Historical Society, Lakin; and Cook, Santa Fe, NM; Henry Trau- ernicht, Lincoln, NE; and Vernon Fe; Will Steinsiek, Albuquerque; and Mary Cottom, Manhattan. From Col-  Eric Tyler, Los Alamos. And from orado: Phil and Carolyn Virden, Lake Lohrentz, North Newton, KS. other states: Ralph Bruce, Roxana, IL; City; and Larry Black, Woodland Jane Allen, Basking Ridge, NJ; James Park. From Oklahoma: Tim and Ann Lindstrom, Memphis, TN; and Don- Zwink, Piedmont; Harold Kachel, ald Owen, Round Hill, VA.

Notes from the Junior Wagon Master Program

By Janet Armstead, Program Director

We are gearing up for a (hopefully) busy summer. We are out of Freighter booklets, but the funds have been raised and the project submitted to a printer. We will soon have to print the Bullwhacker booklets, and I believe we have the funds for them as well. Restocking of our 21 sites will begin as soon as moving around in public is al- lowed again.

I have applied for a grant. If that should happen to work out, we will have all four booklets in good quantity for our 200th Commemoration year.

Pictured is the Muller family from Colo- rado who traveled the trail and all earned patches.

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 9 Nestor Armijo: The Capitalist from Las Cruces

By Susan Calafate Boyle fondness:

[Dr. Boyle received the SFTA scholarly If any man ranked with the top research grant for 2019.1] charitable persons of the age it was Don Nestor. It seemed God Nestor Armijo personified the second had blessed Don Nestor so abun- generation of wealthy New Mexican dantly in wealth and family life. merchants associated with the Santa Whenever the people of the valley Fe Trade. From his Las Cruces head- were in need, the cry was, “Vaya quarters, he operated south into Mex- con Don Nestor!” Don Nestor’s ico and west to California, and bought charity did not begin or stop with goods in Missouri and New York City. these persons in need. The Armijo household had standing instruc- At the time of his death (May 7, tions: every Saturday there will be 1911), Las Cruces newspapers de- prepared a feast and all ancianos, scribed him as a millionaire and the viejitos – old people – men, women richest man in New Mexico; it was and children are invited to eat!7 not much of an exaggeration. Born to wealth and privilege, Nestor Armijo Figure 1: Nestor Armijo. Image courtesy of Documentation on his early years is managed to maintain his family for- Rio Grande Historical Collections at New scant, yet we know that at the age tune through much effort and hard Mexico State University of 12 Nestor attended the Christian work. His family’s commercial opera- Brother’s School in St. Louis.8 After tions entailed a lot of risk, and diversi- and greying hair.5 In the Twelfth completing his education he returned fying economic activities helped them Census of the United States (1900) to Albuquerque and, like others of to minimize the hazards inherent in Nestor identified himself as a “capital- his generation, worked for the family a system where uncertainty was the ist” (see Figure 2).6 However, at 68 business running stores, freighting, norm. Nestor was also instrumental in years of age, he had lost some of his and overseeing cattle and large herds the development of newly-established fortune, partially as a result of the eco- of sheep. communities like Las Cruces and nomic upheaval in nineteenth-century In 1853 Nestor made his first trip to Tularosa. A thoughtful man of action, Northern Mexico where he lived and California, following the Gila and the he embodied the merchant class that worked for a number of years. was essential to the development of Colorado Rivers and eventually cross- pioneer societies.2 Nestor Armijo acquired the reputation ing the Mojave Desert. He was part of being a kind and generous man, of a team driving 55,000 sheep owned Nestor Armijo was born on February characteristics emphasized in obituar- by three leading New Mexico families, 28, 1831, in Los Padillas, south of Al- ies and eulogies after his death. His Armijo, Otero, and Chávez, to gold buquerque, New Mexico. He was the contemporaries thought very highly mining communities and the San eldest son of Juan Cristóbal Armijo of him. Some of the Las Cruces -Tu- Francisco market. John B. Colligan, and Juana M. Chávez, both members larosa settlers remembered him with Nestor’s great-grandson who had ac- of the wealthiest and most influential families in the territory.3 Nestor had seven siblings, but only three, Manu- ela, Nicolás, and Justo, reached adult- hood.4

What was Nestor Armijo like? Sur- viving images convey an impression of seriousness (see Figure 1), but Nestor was not a physically imposing man. A description from December 1874 survives: at 41 years of age he was described as white, 5 feet 8 inches tall with gray eyes, Roman nose, no beard, Figure 2. Armijo Family entry from the 12th Census of the United States, Schedule 1, Population, Precinct #3, Las Cruces, June 15, 1900.

10 Wagon Tracks May 2020 cess to documents no longer available, ing their wealth. Indian depredations, asserts that the trip took almost two robberies, droughts, epidemics, price years and that Nestor went back to fluctuations, debtors’ inability to pay, California the following year.9 and other factors were frequent and impacted the value of their holdings. In 1855 Nestor married Josefa Yrisarri, As wise entrepreneurs, they knew that the daughter of Mariano Yrisarri and they had to diversify their operations his first wife, Juanita Otero, also mem- and could not rely completely on any bers of the New Mexican mercantile one business activity to make a suc- elite. Josefa (see Figure 3) was edu- cessful living.13 cated and refined. Nestor’s obituary described her as “a woman who had Nestor’s surviving personal corre- much culture acquired by association spondence from the 1850s through with the best people of the east where the 1870s is limited. Testimony from she was well known and spent much men hired by Nestor and his father time, also in wide circles of travel in indicate that in the 1850s and 1860s Europe and in the United States.” She Nestor worked as merchant, freighter, was described as “the noble wife of and manager of the large herds of Nestor Armijo was constantly by his sheep and cattle the Armijo family side. She too was of the heroic mold. owned. Depredation claims submitted She shared with him the many hard- in December 1887 as a result of losses ships and dangers of those days and Nestor and his father experienced many a time it devolved upon her to from Indian attacks in 1860, 1862, have sole charge of expeditions and to and 1865 include sworn testimony guard and watch the great caravans by from men in charge of the Armijo day and by night.”10 Nestor and Josefa herds. The details in the report are had only one son, Charles H. Armijo. Figure 3: Josefa Yrisarri de Armijo. Courtesy quite valuable as they describe some of Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe, New Mexico Nestor’s activities during this period.14 The first generation of wealthy New Francisco Lucero, one of the men who Mexico merchants appears to have 1830s and 1840s. They intermarried witnessed the 1865 attack, stated that: successfully groomed their children to and developed business connections follow their trajectory. They sent them both in the Midwest and the Eastern “Don Nestor Armijo has always away to boarding school to receive an United States as well as in Mexico, been a man of means… in the 1850 adequate education. Nicolás Tolen- particularly the provinces of Chihua- and 1860s engaged in stock raising, tino Armijo, Nestor’s brother, went hua, Durango, and Sonora. One of the merchandising, and freighting. His to school in Chihuahua and learned most successful was Nestor’s father, freighting was entirely overland by German and French; Felipe Chávez, Juan Cristóbal Armijo, a colonel in the means of mule trains. In the year their cousin, went to the Guadalajara Mexican army. Nestor wrote a one- A.D. 1865 I was in his employ Seminario. They all became fluent in page summary of the life of his father as majordomo of his mule train. English, and their travels, sometimes for his nephew Nicolás in which he In September of that year he was accompanying their fathers, would stressed that his father started going moving a quantity of merchandise help them to establish connections to the United States in 1840 to buy from one of his houses at Albu- and learn how the trade business op- merchandise, “being one of the first New querque to a store he had at Las erated. Mexicans to do so.”12 Cruces in Doña Ana County… I had charge of that mule train, Who were the Armijos? Nestor’s fam- Both the first and second genera- which consisted of some 10 mule 15 ily was among the wealthiest and most tion of New Mexico’s mercantile elite freighting wagons…” influential in the province. Together made their fortunes raising sheep with the Oteros, Yrisarris, Pereas, and and, to lesser extent, cattle. Freight- Lucero was again interrogated in Chávez, they constituted the New 1893 regarding the claim and added 11 ing, supplying U.S. Army posts, and Mexican mercantile elite. The first operating mercantile stores were other that …” They had been en route from generation of New Mexico merchants activities that contributed to their suc- Albuquerque in the later part of Sep- who participated in the Santa Fe cess. However, minimizing risk was tember 1865, and had been on the Trade was born early in the nine- always one of their goals, and very road for about twelve days when the teenth century. They began traveling seldom did families rely completely attack occurred. The train consisted of east to the United States in the late on one way of increasing or shelter- ten wagons with ten mules per wagon,

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 11 plus the fourteen teamsters. The payment) to be remitted to Glasgow letter included information about an- train was hauling groceries and some Brothers, mostly involving U.S. Army other libranza to be paid in St. Louis. freight from the states.”16 personnel. Through 1866 he continued A month later Nestor wrote to Am- to act as a conduit for payments and brosio again about arrangements for Another witness, David Sisneros y credits to Fort Craig. In June 22, 1866, the payment of the libranzas that were Ruiz, concurred with the previous tes- he arranged for covering expenditures sent to St. Louis and reported on the timony and added that Nestor’s family through the Paymaster of the United fluctuations of the price of gold and (his wife and child) were along in an States Army, Assistant Treasurer of cotton.21 ambulance that he was driving. He re- the United States at New York. On membered the exact number of mules Jan 21, 1867, he fulfilled a contract Trips to the eastern United States the Apache had stolen in 1865 – 55 with the U.S. Army Chief Quarter- would continue even after he moved freighting mules, which were valued master of the District of New Mexico to Chihuahua. The picture of his wife, at $125.00 per head. Another witness, for 28,000 pounds of corn for a total Josefa (figure 3), taken in Philadelphia 22 Rufino Zamora, testified that in 1857 of $550 to be delivered to Fort Selden in 1870, documents one such trip. or 1858 Nestor had brought 300 head on October 20, 1867.20 of cattle from the state of Sonora, In 1868 he went to Chihuahua to Mexico. 17 Nestor traveled regularly from Albu- sell American goods wholesale and querque south to Las Cruces, to El eventually resettled and purchased 23 By 1862 Nestor moved to Las Cruces Paso, Tucson, Arizona, California, and property there. Two years later, where he operated a supply store on Chihuahua, Mexico. He also jour- still in Chihuahua, he collected vari- North Main Street, part of a chain of neyed east to Missouri and beyond to ous drafts payable to the account of similar enterprises that Nestor and his Philadelphia and New York where he James F. Hickman of San Antonio brother Nicolás Tolentino would run made major purchases of merchandise. for $17,150.32. However, soon after, in Albuquerque, El Paso, and Chi- In 1864 Nestor took wool to Westport conditions began to deteriorate. In a 18 huahua. Surviving ledgers illustrate Landing with other sheep owners. June 1872 letter to Hickman, Nestor some of Nestor’s activities at this time. described the situation in Chihuahua. An October 1, 1863 entry (prob- That same year he traveled to New One of the armies was near Parral ably from one of the Armijo stores in York from where he wrote to his uncle and was expected to attack the city Albuquerque) identifies the sums re- Ambrosio. The letter dated October soon. The governor was raising men to ceived “since Nestor left for Las Cru- 21, 1864, acknowledged receipt of a defend the city and another military ces.”19 Other entries reveal that during communication from August 23 in force was nearby. He concluded by the 1860s Nestor supplied grains and which Ambrosio informed Nestor saying, “God knows what will become arranged disbursements on behalf of that the family’s merchandise train of us. Business is dull; the Aduanas officers stationed at U.S. Army posts, had been attacked by Indians, who full duty. If I should run away from such as Fort Craig and Fort Selden. stole 40,000 pesos in mules. Nestor here I will deposit your money….”24 At Las Cruces in 1864 he facilitated countered that Ambrosio had been Four month later a letter from his payment to soldiers at Fort Craig. In fortunate because he was able to keep brother Nicolás who was still in Ber- 1865 he handled libranzas (orders of all the carts and the merchandise. The lin, Germany, gave Nestor the author-

Figure 4: North Elevation Nestor Armijo’s house in Las Cruces ca. Figure 5: West Elevation Nestor Armijo’s house 1910 shortly before his death. Image courtesy of Rio Grande Histori- ca. 1972. Image courtesy of Rio Grande Historical cal Collections at New Mexico State University Collections at New Mexico State University

12 Wagon Tracks May 2020 ity to liquidate a lot of their mer- death in 1911. and Mexicans, including Archbishop of Santa Fe Jean Baptiste Lamy, chandise and possibly some property, His commitment to Las Cruces de- New Mexico Governor L. Brad- since they estimated that unrest velopment became evident in 1879. ford Prince, Chihuahua banker and would produce a devaluation of about At that time the Santa Fe Railroad 25 entrepreneur Guadalupe Azcárate, 90 percent. Co. planned to build a spur to Me- industrialist and Governor Enrique silla, the Doña Ana County seat. Nestor was still in Chihuahua in Creel, Chihuahua entrepreneur and However, Mesilla leaders could not December 1876 when he paid his Governor Luis Terrazas, Gaspar agree on a price for a 100-acre parcel monthly contribution for the state Horcasitas, Felipe Maceyra, shipping the railroad needed as a right-of-way. security forces known as “Guardia and consignment firms, like Chick 26 Nestor Armijo and Martín Amador, de Iturbide.” Later he would in- and Armijo, Brown and Manzanares, another important Las Cruces mer- sure his Chihuahua store, located the Glasgow Brothers, and others. in the center of the city in the main chant, jumped at the opportunity as Cathedral Square, with the British they could see the economic benefits Close to 1,000 letters survive, some firm Northern Assurance Company that would result and donated the in Spanish, others in English; how- (1888-1889) and the London As- 100 acres for the land. Both Nestor ever, many of these documents have surance (1889-90). In April 1892 he and Martin were influential commu- bled and are very difficult to read. purchased land in Chihuahua from nity merchants who understood the These notebooks are important be- Nestor and Helena Ascárate and in important role that merchants played cause Nestor’s letters highlight what in the development of pioneer com- June of that year additional property 27 long-distance trade merchants did and cattle from Hugo Stephenson munities like Las Cruces. to reduce risk: 1) obtain the best information available about market and his wife. He also acquired shares As were other second-generation conditions and the competence and in the Banco Minero de Chihuahua. New Mexican merchants, he was an reliability of other merchants; 2) rely He continued to travel frequently to excellent record keeper. The ledgers on agents to act on their behalf and Chihuahua to manage his holdings from his stores were meticulously to obtain information; and 3) rely on and made investments in that prov- kept and he appears to have system- family networks to avoid issues with ince mostly via Don Luis Terrazas, atically recorded most commercial trust.28 who controlled much of Chihuahua’s transactions – what he sold, to whom, land and financial resources. Al- how much of it was paid back. His though nothing survives to document Nestor carefully documented loans, attention to detail is evident after payments, expenses, and made a when he moved back to the United 1882 when he began to record all States, by 1877 Nestor had purchased special effort to avoid future claims his business and some personal cor- against his estate. A number of such a house in Las Cruces. Although respondence in letterpress notebooks. he was forced to leave valuable real documents survive. In one of them Two of these volumes, covering the he clarified the background for a estate in Mexico and lost funds that period from 1882 to 1892, survive. he had invested, he continued to con- claim concerning 300 head of sheep They include letters to many promi- and stated that: duct businesses in Mexico until his nent and influential New Mexicans “This paper proves that they have no right to claim as they were sat- isfied the sheep were turned over to Rafael Aguilar of Tularosa. If any lawsuit it is out of limitations. According to their own letters they became satisfied of having delivered them to Aguilar. They have no right to the claim. They have to go after Aguilar and not me.”29

Second-generation merchants were intent in diversifying their commer- cial operations to minimize risk in- herent in the Santa Fe trade. Nestor’s 30 Figure 6: Restored Nestor Armijo house, Las Cruces, New Mexico, January 2019. main focus was real estate. At vari- Image courtesy of the author ous time he owned more than 100 different pieces of property around

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 13 Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Tularosa, the land were badly damaged as were percent for the period the money was Sabinal, El Paso, and in several loca- “personal property, provisions, stores, outstanding. Armijo’s personal papers 33 tions in Mexico. In 1869 he acquired wares, and merchandise. confirm that lending continued over a house on the main street in Las the years. Various notes from a num- Cruces from his uncle Ambrosio He also acquired two major ranches ber of individuals survive that indi- Armijo, for which he paid $1,000, at Tres Ritos (Three Rivers) near cate that Nestor charged from 8-12 but it seems that he moved to Chi- Tularosa, and at Janos, Chihuahua. percent interest on his loans. huahua shortly after this purchase. The Tres Ritos Ranch land was sub- In the 1880s he acquired substantial stantial and purchased incrementally Unlike his father who was elected holdings in Albuquerque during in the 1880s. It would finally include several times to the New Mexico the boom associated with the com- close to 15,000 acres. Nestor’s son, Territorial Legislature, Nestor never ing of the railroad. He also rented Charles H. Armijo, managed the overtly participated in politics at the several properties in Albuquerque, property, but was not a very success- local or state levels. He could have Las Cruces, and even in Chihuahua, ful administrator. Correspondence had plenty of political influence in Mexico.31 indicates that he was in almost Doña Ana politics because of his constant need of financial assistance economic standing and sterling repu- 34 In 1877 he purchased the Las Cruces from his father. The ranch was tation. J. Francisco Chávez, acting as home of Maricita Daily (Mrs. D. B. eventually purchased by Secretary of President of the Constitutional Con- Rey) for $4,050. He soon enlarged it the Interior Albert F. Fall of Teapot vention, appointed Nestor Armijo on 32 and added a second floor. The finely Dome fame. Nestor bought “La Pa- November 7, 1889, to be one of the restored house, listed in the National totada,” the ranch near Janos, Mex- 25 representatives of the Territory, Register of Historic Places (Decem- ico, jointly with one of his Mexican but no evidence survives to suggest ber 12, 1976), has been described as partners, Guadalupe Azcárate, in the that Nestor participated.35 the finest nineteenth-century house mid-1880s, but problems in getting in southern New Mexico. (Figures confirmation of the transaction from Nestor cared greatly about educa- 4-6) the Mexican government continued tion and made sure that his son and at least through 1900. his grandchildren received proper Another important property was in schooling. Charles attended school Sabinal, Socorro County. It is not Armijo also served the banking needs at Germantown, Pennsylvania, and clear when Nestor purchased this of the community. He functioned as Heidelburg, Germany. An 1896 property, but in November 1882 an investor, lender, and speculator. receipt from St. Mary’s College in he filed a claim with the Second He made it possible for small busi- Oakland, California, shows that he Judicial District of the Territory nessmen to put money in his huge paid for his grandson’s tuition as of New Mexico against the New safe, a common practice in commu- well as for his violin lessons and in- Mexico and Southern Pacific Rail- nities where banks were not yet es- cidental expenses.36 That same year road Company. According to Nestor tablished. Although the major focus tuition receipts from Loretto Acad- the property had been a source of of his activities later in life was the emy in Denver, Colorado, show that great profit because he was able to purchase and administration of real his granddaughters Gertrude and raise large crops of corn, wheat, bar- estate as well as the sale of merchan- Dolores were receiving high quality ley, rye, oats, peas, beans, potatoes, dise, he continued to lend money and instruction.37 and other vegetables and cereals. He financially support family members also grew a variety of fruits, such as and acquaintances. For example, on The last decades of Nestor’s life grapes, apples, plums, pears, peaches, April 17, 1867, he loaned $7,000 to brought him a lot of sorrow. His and other fruits. Nestor had made Henry Warren of Concordia, in El brother Nicolás, who had been his major improvement to the property Paso County, and took as security a close business partner and friend, erecting dwelling houses, outhouses, mule train consisting of six wagons, committed suicide in 1890. Nestor's barns, stables, corrals, fences, and en- harnesses, and 60 mules. Armijo was son Charles (Carlos) and his wife closures. His claim asserted that the to hold the mule train for 30 days Beatriz died within weeks of each railroad had constructed the bed and and then Warren could reclaim the other. Nestor’s wife died of cancer in track through the property’s premises train by paying back the $7,000 plus 1905 in Rochester, Minnesota, where and had closed up and obstructed the feed for the mules and the actual she was being treated for cancer. At the waterway and acequia (ditch), so expense of the men who cared for this time, Nestor began to liquidate that the land flooded and became the train and the animals. Armijo several of his holdings in the Tu- totally unfit for cultivation, depriving was not to be held responsible for larosa area, probably because with the the owner of the possiblity of sow- any risks or deaths concerning the death of his son he did not have any- ing, reaping, and/or using the land in mules, and when reclaimed he was to one to manage them. He did suffer any profitable way. The structures on receive payment plus interest at 12 financially from the Mexican Revo- 14 Wagon Tracks May 2020 1936) and Manuela Armijo de Yrisarri show little change with Perea, Otero, and lution upheaval. Armies and guerillas (1840-1926) were his surviving siblings. Juan Cristóbal and his brother Ambrosio butchered his cattle and sheep and joining Felipe Chávez as the wealthiest confiscated his horses. Banks’s stock, 5. Colligan, “Nestor Armijo,” 23. Original document is not available. New Mexicans; Ninth Census of the both in Mexico City and Chihua- United States. Original Returns of the hua, lost most of their value. El Paso 6. 1900 Census report for Doña Ana Assistant Marshall, Microfilm Edition, County (Precinct 3. June 15, 1900). The 12/7, rolls 893-97. Mortgage and Investment Company entry records the members of the Nestor failed, and the value of real estate and Armijo household: Josefa, his wife, Charles, 12. Armijo and Gallagher, n.d. The title rents dropped dramatically. He died his son, and grandchildren Nestor, Dolores, of the document is Lo que sé de mi padre at his home on May 7, 1911. and Josephine. By this time his only son, (What I know about my father). It was Charles, was living with his parents and probably written in the early 1890s after Nestor was not the only successful was already estranged from his wife Beatriz. the death of Juan Cristóbal in 1884. Surviving manifests and guías indicate second generation Santa Fe trade 7. Colligan, “Nestor Armijo,” 15. New Mexican merchants began going merchant. Others, like Felipe Chávez Unfortunately Colligan does not provide east in earnest in the mid and late 1830s. and José Leandro Perea, equalled a source for this quote. Nestor Armijo was Both Juan Cristóbal and his brother him in weath and accomplishments. instrumental in assisting the settlement of Ambrosio were very active not only None of them went into politics, but Tularosa. bringing foreign merchandise into New they contributed to the growth of 8. Cook, Mary Jean, “New Mexico Students Mexico, but also carrying it south to their communities. Their influence in Travel the Trail, 1832-1880,” (Wagon Tracks, Chihuahua and Sonora. They also hauled No. 4, November 1995, 9-15). many shipments of domestic manufactures the development of the trade and the to Mexican provinces. Between 1838 and 9. Colligan, Armijo and Gallagher, 2-3. territory of New Mexico should no 1844 Ambrosio was issued 8 guías; Juan The reliability of some of this information longer be ignored. Cristóbal received 11 guías; MANM, roll might be questionable. For example, John 21 frames 305, 316, 325, 349, 351, 354, 356, O. Baxter’s Las Carneradas: Sheep Trade in 358; roll 34, frame 1206, 1208, 1211, 1215; Endnotes New Mexico, 1700-1860 (Albuquerque: roll 37 frames 395, 398, 399; roll 40 frames 1. The author acknowledges support from University of New Mexico Press, 1987), 283, 318. the Santa Fe Trail Association Research mentions that a party of New Mexicans Grant program that made the study testing the California market went west 13. For an excellent contemporary possible. She wants to thank the staff in 1853 with 25,000 sheep, the largest discussion of the promissory note as the at the Archives and Special Collection flock of the season. The group included most convenient, rapid and effective mode Department, University Library, New Antonio José Luna, his brother Rafael as of payment, see Stephen Colwell’s, The Ways Mexico State University, particularly well as Ambrosio Armijo (Nestor’s uncle). and Means of Payment: Full Analysis of the Jennifer Olguín and Teddie Moreno, for According to Baxter the expedition ran Credit System (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott their assistance in conducting this research. into trouble west of the Colorado when & Co., 1859), 205-210. 2. Lewis E. Atherton, The Pioneer Merchant 1,100 sheep sank down in sandy terrain 14. The original claim only refers to them in Mid-America (New York: Da Capo Press, and were trampled to death by the ones as “Indians.” However, from the depositions 1969), 7, 10-23 described in great detail the who were coming behind, 121. Katherine it appears that the Navajo were at fault in significant role that merchants played in D. Stoes’s series of articles on the Armijo 1860 and 1862 and the Apache in 1865, pioneer communities. Enough documents family published in Las Cruces Citizen after Armijo and Gallagher, December 14, 1887. survive to write a comprehensive biography Nestor’s death might be the source for the Although many of these claims were of Nestor Armijo, but such a document is information on Armijo’s trip to California. exaggerated and denied, the information beyond the scope of the current study. 10. Las Cruces Citizen obituary was from the depositions helps to document Armijo’s activities during this period. 3. The Nestor Armijo papers are part of published on December 15, 1911. Nestor the Armijo and Gallagher families’ papers and Josefa at least had one daughter María 15. Armijo and Gallagher, December 12, (hereafter Armijo and Gallagher) at the Carolina. She was baptized in 1856; she 1887. apparently died when she was 3 or 4 years Archives and Special Collections at New 16. Colligan, “Nestor Armijo,” 12. Mexico State University. Additional old. records on deeds and a lawsuit against 11. Fray Angélico Chavez’s genealogical 17. Colligan, “Nestor Armijo,” 8-9. the Southern Pacific Railroad Company work on New Mexico families indicates 18. Colligan, “Nestor Armijo,” 15. Jack are at the New Mexico State Records that Nestor’s family was not related to that Colligan speculates that possibly Nestor Center and Archives at Santa Fe. The of Governor Manuel Armijo, Origins of moved to Las Cruces to manage Mariano Armijo documents are both in Spanish New Mexico Families: A Genealogy of the Yrisarri’s store. Mariano was his father- and English. John B. Colligan wrote an Spanish Colonial Period (Santa Fe: Museum in-law and also had various economic unpublished manuscript on the Armijo of New Mexico Press, 1992), 136-38, 318- enterprises in the Albuquerque area, While family history in 1991 (Armijo and 19, 344. Census data for 1860 indicate in Las Cruces he befriended the people Gallagher), “Nestor Armijo ( José, Vicente, that José Leandro Perea, Mariano Yrisarri, who would settle in Tularosa, New Mexico. Salvador Manuel 'El Segundo,' Vicente Manuel A. Otero, and Juan Cristóbal He helped finance and outfit their caravan. Ferrer, Juan, Juan Cristóbal).” The Armijo Armijo were the richest New Mexicans, Later these settlers and their children and Gallagher documents are listed by date. Population Schedules, Eighth Census of would work at Nestor’s Three Rivers ranch. 4. Feliciana, Rafaela, Juan, Pedro died the United States. Original Returns of the 19. Armijo and Gallagher, October 1, 1863. before reaching adulthood. Nicolás Assistant Marshalls, Microfilm Edition, 14/6. Rolls 712-16. The 1870 Census data 20. Armijo and Gallagher, January 21, 1867; Tolentino (1835-1890), Justo R. (1852- October 23, 1863. May 2020 Wagon Tracks 15 Commercial Maritime Systems (London: Archives. Civil Case #00642, Nestor Armijo 21. Armijo and Gallagher, October 21, 1864; Routledge, 2017), 40-49. For an excellent vs. New Mexico and Southern Pacific November 14, 1864. discussion of trust in commercial relations, Railroad. 22. Armijo and Gallagher, December 5, see David Sunderland’s Social Capital, Trust 34. Armijo and Gallagher, May 5, 1900. 1874. References to his trip are scattered and the Industrial Revolution, 1780-1880 throughout his correspondence. For example, (New York: Routledge, 2007), 5-14. See 35. Katherine Stoes published a series of in January 13, 1890, he wrote to Brown also Frank A. G. den Butter and Robert four articles about Nestor Armijo and his & Manzanares that he had not answered H. J. Mosch, “Trade, Trust and Transaction family in the Las Cruces Citizen in July sooner because he had just returned Costs,” Department of Economic, Vrije 1954; Colligan “Nestor Armijo,” 31. from Philadelphia; Armijo and Gallagher, Universiteit Amsterdam and Tinbergen 36. Armijo and Gallagher, January 9, 1896. December 13, 1890. Institute, Discussion paper, 1-26. 37. Armijo and Gallagher, May 11, 1896. 23. Colligan, “Nestor Armijo,” 19-20. 29.Armijo and Gallagher, n.d. 24. Armijo and Gallagher, June 25, 1872. 30. Armijo and Gallagher, January 31, 1867; Dr. Susan Calafate Boyle is retired from 25. Armijo and Gallagher, November 28, February 22, 1867. Mining was another the National Park Service where she 1872. activity of interest to Nestor. In March worked as historian and planner. She 1867 he deeded a mining claim to Carrasco 26. Armijo and Gallagher, November 29, also taught at Westminster College, Mining Company for $100. The claim 1872. was situated in “the gorge of the ravine the University of Missouri-Columbia, 27. Las Cruces was established by the U. S. on the Western slope of the Loma Alta” and at Colorado State University. She Army after the end of Mexican-American in the Organ Mountains and was likely is a Fullbright Scholar and has worked War in 1849; Gordon R. Owen, “The part of the land owned by the Stephenson extensively in Latin America as a Mesilla Valley’s Pioneer Settlements,” Bennett Mining Company, Robert Eveleth, UNESCO cultural landscape expert. Southern New Mexico Historical Review, vol. “Stephenson-Bennett Mine,” New Mexico Dr. Boyle is currently an independent VI ( Jan. 1999), 6-11; P. Baldwin, “A Short Geology (February 1983), 9-14. scholar researching socioeconomic History of the Mesilla Valley,” New Mexico 31. Armijo and Gallagher, November 30, developments in New Mexico during Historical Review, vol. 13 (July 1938), 314- 1869. It is not clear when and if that the nineteenth century as well as the 324. property was sold. history of El Rito, a small community in 28. Lamikiz Xabier, “Social capital, networks  32. Bainbridge Bunting, “The Nestor Armijo northern New Mexico. and trust in early modern long-distance House: Las Cruces, New Mexico,” New trade: A critical approach,” in M. Herrero Mexico Architecture ( July-August, 1972), Sánchez and K. Kars (eds.), Merchants 11-19. and Trade Networks in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, 1550-1800: Connectors of 33. New Mexico State Records Center &

Ruts, Trails and Swales: Now You See Them, Now You Don’t?

By Rich Lawson, Fundraising Chair preserving, protecting, and promoting 2 x 2 x 2 the SFNHT will never get cheaper— As we begin to round up wagons for we no longer have our grandfathers’ The committee would like to enlist our 200-year commemoration of the budget. many members and friends by intro- Santa Fe National Historic Trail, we ducing a way to become a PARTNER have much to be thankful for. Thanks Thanks to our members who have before 2021. to a group of enthusiasts who had the already participated in our early fund- vision in 1986 to form an organization raisers. However, WE NEED PART- If 200 members and friends contrib- with the goals to preserve, protect, and NERS. If you have already become a ute $200 each before our 200-year promote the SFNHT. From that time partner, thank you. commemoration, the SFTA will raise forward the SFTA has been busy do- $40,000 to use for the many expenses ing just that. of the commemoration and continue to preserve, protect, and promote our Help monetarily and with boots on important history. Help us to AL- the ground has come from our mem- WAYS be able to see the ruts, trails, bers, friends, and the National Park and swales. Services. This has been the support system which has served the Associa- Write your check and mail it to the tion well for 35 years—but times have SFTA at 1349 K-156 Hwy, Larned, changed. KS, 67550, ATTN: Linda Revello. The costs of administering the SFTA, the expenses of functions across the span of the trail, in short, the costs of

16 Wagon Tracks May 2020 Lee Kroh Leaves Legacy of USGS Quad Maps to be Digitized

By Gary L. Hicks Courtney (Chair, KCAHTA Archives Committee), Craig Lifetime SFTA Member Voorhees, and Gary Hicks, President, KCAHTA.

Lee Kroh, named to the Five new additional contemporary U.S.G.S. 1:24,000 scale Santa Fe Trail Associa- ‘State Quad index maps’ (Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New tion’s Hall of Fame in Mexico, Oklahoma) have been added to the collection by 2019, has left a legacy KCAHTA for reference to guide researchers, scholars, stu- that will soon be acces- dents, and public-at-large to effectively associate the location sible to all. of an individual 7.5-minute Quad with the same named location indicated on the United States State Quad index He mapped and maps. marked the original historic trail align- With the passing of Mr. Kroh in February of 2019, materials ments in the Kansas of his personal estate were gifted to KCAHTA by the Kroh City area, using Gov- family and subsequently transferred to the newly established ernment Land Office Lee and Dorothy Kroh Collection of the KCAHTA (GLO) 1850s surveys Archives contained at the Mabee Learning Commons of a new Kansas Ter- Lee Kroh of MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas. ritory (housed at the Through the professional photographic services provided Kansas Historical Society). This initiative evolved into the by Kansas Historical Society, the digitized Quad files and Kansas City Area Historic Trails Association (KCAHTA)’s associated materials will be incorporated online at www. popular Historic Frontier Trails Map. Lee Kroh and his wife KansasMemory.org for continuous storage, hosting, and Dorothy were among the founders of the Kansas City Area public access. Historic Trails Association. The Quads have not yet been digitized. However, As his interest grew, Kroh collected 342 U.S.G.S. maps (also preparations are being finalized to transfer them from known as 7.5-minute quadrangles or Quads). (https://www. the KCAHTA archives in Olathe, Kansas, to the Kansas usgs.gov/core-science-systems/national-geospatial-program/ Historical Society (KSHS) in Topeka which will do the topographic-maps). He used the Quads to reference and photographic digitization and subsequent upload to the map the historical trails and roads of the 1800s era as noted: www.kansasmemory.org website. 

• complete historic route of the Santa Fe Trail between Old Franklin, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, including alignments of the optional ‘Mountain Route’ and ‘Cimarron Routes’

• segments of the congruent Oregon-California Trails in the Kansas City region

• historic Ft. Leavenworth-to-Ft. Scott Military Road (including portions of which traversed through John- son County-Wyandotte County-Leavenworth County, Kansas regions of the general Kansas City area.)

• Miscellaneous territorial roads in the Kansas City area

All 342 of the Quads have been grouped by historic trail routes according to associated trails and state Quad index- ing. Each Quad has been numbered sequentially from (001) through (342) to correspond to the sequential pattern of a trail’s routing and state Quad indexing. A complete master listing of the Quads has been developed which correlates to the Quad trail route groups, by state. These tasks were Lee Kroh with a closet full of maps at his home in undertaken by KCAHTA members Ross Marshall, Robert Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Photos: Ruth Friesen

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 17 Voices from a Disease Frontier: Kansans and Cholera 1867

By James N. Leiker tions about cholera’s spread and health westward-moving railroad and mili- officials’ confusion regarding its treat- tary camps. To this day no one has [Reprinted from Kansas History, A ment aided the disease’s prevalence in determined how the disease entered Journal of the Central Plains,Winter eastern U.S. cities as well. But Kansas Kansas or how many lives it claimed. 1994, with permission by the Kansas at this time differed from eastern areas But cholera’s dependence on new Historical Society. Dr. Leiker present- in that the coarseness of life on the places of primitive living conditions ed this topic at the SFTA Rendezvous expanding frontier provided a compat- was proved by its prevalence in areas in Larned, Kansas, in September ible atmosphere for cholera, producing of the state that experienced sharp 2018.] death rates high in proportion to its increases in settlement. While a mea- meager yet growing population. sure of the epidemic’s causal impact In the summer of 1867 as the Union on medical thinking and other social Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, Studies of disease on the frontier are attitudes may not be tenable, the 1867 pushed westward to establish a trans- relatively rare compared with studies outbreak clearly was part of a larger portation link between Kansas City of urban areas, primarily because rural pattern of poor health that added to and the Colorado gold fields, the Kan- epidemics generally were less destruc- fears about contagious travelers and sas Plains filled with railroad workers, tive due to lower population density. physical uncleanliness. Both of these settlers, soldiers, and camp followers. Although dis­ease claimed far fewer concerns became targets of progressive With their weaponry and adaptive lives in places such as Wyoming and reformers at the turn of the century. farming techniques, the new arrivals Montana than in Pittsburgh or New sought to extend their version of “civ- York City, the study of disease in the A disease frontier, as it applies to ilization” to the area west of Fort Riley, West offers a valuable opportunity for the 1867 epidemic, can be defined as known colloquially as “no man’s land.” examining what happens when set- the relationship be­tween migrating These voyagers transported more than tlers carry new organisms into unfa- humans and the organisms they carry their technology and their cultural and miliar areas, bereft of institutions and into new environments. Understand- social values; they also carried in their mores that could encourage hygienic ing this relationship necessitates a bowels thousands of tiny, invisible, practices found farther east. Locked thorough description of cholera’s epi- swirling organisms known to a later in debates about definitions of “fron- demiology. Symptomatically, cholera age as Vibrio Comma or Vibrio cholera, tier” or “the West,” western historians in its earliest stages bears great re- the comma-shaped bacilli that trans- have not explored such phenomena semblance to gastrointestinal ailments mit cholera. Under normal healthy sufficiently, perhaps due to a lack of such as common diarrhea, a similar- conditions, the bacillus poses little alternate meanings for what consti- ity that frustrated the diagnoses of threat to humans, yet when it comes tutes a frontier. For examining medi- nineteenth­-century doctors. The chol- in contact with decaying matter, usu- cal history through a social approach, era bacillus is a water-borne organ- ally found in contaminated food or a useful model could be the “disease ism—one of dozens of parasite-types water, the cholera becomes deadly. frontier,” a region of social disorder or that re­side in the human body—that rapid population growth that allows cannot live for long periods of time ln 1866-1867 Kansas was the site disease to thrive. without a human host. Once activated of a devastating cholera epidemic by unsanitary conditions, the bacillus that killed hundreds of persons, the The disease frontier model will be goes through an incubation period total of which is still debated. Dur- applied here to the Kansas cholera that lasts from a few hours to several ing its first year the disease struck epidemic of 1867. Documented nearly days. It then begins releasing a toxin at the older, established communi- exclusively through military records, that expels bodily fluids via massive ties of eastern Kansas, sending their the epidemic’s chronology has been vomiting and diarrhea, resulting in citizens into dreadful anticipation well developed by earlier historians. rapid loss of fluid as high as one liter of a renewed outbreak in 1867. But However, the scarcity of civilian ac­ per hour. As tissues dry out, the blood people transport part of the environ- counts has led to speculation that it becomes thick and concentrated, man- ment with them in their travels, and was an aberration producing few or ifested in the victim’s gaunt, whitish 1 in that year Kansans traveled west. no social effects. By interpreting the appearance and cold, shriveled outer The advancing railroad camps and epidemic through a social history ap- extremities such as the fingers. The rugged military outposts practiced the proach, it can be seen that the chol- heavy fluid expulsion overburdens the worst of hygiene, allowing conditions era epidemic was a natural result of kidneys to a point where they cease that rarely would have been tolerated confusion about the disease’s spread, functioning, and the victim expires in the filthiest of nineteenth-century manifested in the poor sanitation and either from dehydration or kidney 2 communities. Common mispercep- hygienic procedures that ac­companied failure.

18 Wagon Tracks May 2020 Modern physicians treat cholera with connected cholera with unsanitary veloped sophisticated methods for 6 tetracycline antibiotics, which effec- conditions. handling, removing, and disinfecting tively kill the bacterium. If lost body choleraic discharges. Prior to that, few fluid is replaced intravenously, the To some extent, the range of popular physicians on either side of the argu- disease rarely becomes fatal. In the opinions reflected the educated theo- ment saw the need for such measures, nineteenth century, however, cholera ries of medical professionals. English although some professionals did sug- was feared widely as a killer. Although physician John Snow established in gest combining the two approaches. it afflicted less than 1 percent of the the 1850s that cholera is transmitted Just a few months before the 1866 total populations of Great Britain and through water, but he never discovered outbreak, an author for The Nation in- the comma-shaped Vibrio cholerae the United States, the disease, once 7 sisted that cholera was indeed spread contracted, had a mortality rate of organism that causes it. Lacking this by humans but required filth to acti- about 50 percent. The sudden, explo- key scientific knowledge, the medical vate it, demanding both sanitation and sive nature of cholera struck rich and profession polarized in subsequent quarantine for its prevention: poor alike seemingly at random.3 years as to cholera’s spread and the proper means of treating it. One With this help it is not difficult to As medical historian Charles Rosen- school emphasized the dis­ease’s con- explain why the cholera selects the berg stated, “Cholera was the classic tagion, maintaining its spread through great routes of travel; why its ad- epidemic disease of the nineteenth casual contact with infected carriers. vance from place to place is no faster century, as plague had been of the Most field doctors during the Kansas than a man may journey the same fourteenth.”4 Like the Black Death epidemic held this belief and recom- distance ... why its pace has been that swept Europe in 1348, an epi- mended quarantine as the primary quickened since the introduction of demiological chart of cholera’s path means of prevention. railroads; why the common atmo- in the 1800s roughly corresponds to sphere of a ship does not ensure the major routes of world travel, particu- The second school, proved in retro- sickness of all the passengers; and larly along roads leading into areas not spect as closer to the truth, minimized other similar problems. Quarantine, developed previously by Europeans. the impact of carriers, stressing that an therefore, has its uses, but, of course, Commonly believed to have originat- unhealthy environment sustained the entire dependence cannot be placed ed in India (hence its synonym, asiatic disease. The miasmatic theory claimed upon it; ... for scientific and pru- cholera), the disease first appeared in that cholera fermented itself in con- dential reasons, it is advantageous western civilization in British garri- taminated atmospheres of filth and to consider the cholera contagious, sons of the East India Company dur- putrid matter. Such an approach, hav- and, as much as possible, to isolate ing the late eighteenth century. Chol- ing little regard for the effectiveness patients afflicted with it.9 era spread through Arabia and Europe of quarantines, instead recommended in the 1820s, first infecting New York careful disposal of waste and protec- Placing blame on the doorsteps of residents in 1832. The poor sanitary tion of food and drinking water from 1860s physicians is not the task of the facilities of most American cities per­ contaminants. historian, but confusion over cholera’s mitted numerous epidemics over the nature did contribute to its prevalence. 5 Although both theories had strong Contemporary theories viewed the next few decades. Cholera’s high level evidentiary support, the truth actually of natural portability along routes of disease either as mobile- or place- lay somewhere in be­tween. Unsani- oriented when in fact it was both. A expansion proves significant for study tary conditions could and did create of the American West. contaminated pond could not generate cholera epidemics, but only if the an epidemic by itself, nor did an in- Aiding cholera’s spread was popular bacillus was pre­sent in a human host. fected carrier necessarily pose a public confusion over how exactly it trans- Advocates of the quarantine school hazard. But when brought together, mitted. Some people believed that struggled for years to determine pre- the probability for cholera ran high. high humidity or intense summer cisely how infected carriers transmit- heat caused a spontaneous genera- ted the germ. In his early observations, A frequently overlooked issue in tion; others thought digging in the Dr. Snow correctly surmised that the western history has been the extent earth allowed the disease to “escape.” disease spread through the patient’s of safe health practices in the begin- A common theory during the 1867 diarrheal evacuations. The painful and ning stages of land occupation. As epidemic held that dust churned by violent discharge of a cholera victim’s white settlers penetrated undeveloped railroad construction caused the dis- feces ejected a watery spray that could areas, safety precautions with regard infect material as far as three to four to potable water supply and proper ease’s spread. Those of a puritanical 8 bent even claimed the disease indi- feet away. food preservation received low prior- ity. Distance from medical care and cated God’s displeasure with the lowly After discovering the cholera organ- and the dirty. Most people, however, government health authorities hin- ism in the 1880s, researchers de- dered treatment of sick, rendering an

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 19 epidemic’s disastrous effects on the the disease claimed 1,269 lives in the gressional legislation of 1866 admitted frontier proportionately greater than army alone during 1866, only about newly-freed blacks into the regular those in urban areas. While supersti- thirty of those at Fort Leavenworth army for the first time, albeit in racially tions of the day explained cholera’s and Fort Riley. 12 The 1867 epidemic, segregated units. Known in the West westward migration as its natural ten- by contrast, inflicted far less total dam- as Buffalo Soldiers, regiments of black dency to return to the Orient, a more age, killing an estimated 230 in the cavalry and infantry comprised a large basic explanation exists: the organism army, but more than half of those fa- proportion of the troops dispatched accompanied Americans on their jour- talities occurred in Kansas.13 to Kansas forts. Cholera first appeared neys westward, and as the first arrivals at Fort Riley on August 30, 1866, five altered their new environment ever What factors account for Kansas’s high days after the arrival of nearly four so slightly, they inadvertently opened losses in 1867, after emerging from hundred black cavalrymen from Carl- a “disease frontier,” an area extremely the previous year relatively unscathed? isle Barracks, Pennsylvania, the site of a 14 conducive to the rampaging onslaught The answer lies in troop migration known epidemic. Over the course of of disease. to forts farther west during the later the following year, a prevalent opinion year. As the Union Pacific Railway, in Kansas, one shared by most doctors, The persistence of cholera and other Eastern Division, expanded construc- held that Buffalo Soldiers carried the diseases has been well documented in tion westward along the Smoky Hill disease into the area. western history. Ramon Powers and River, new military bases such as Fort Gene Younger examined its presence Harker and Fort Hays became more Even though blaming blacks for social on overland trails from 1832 to 1869 important for guarding the advancing problems usually resulted from nine- and illustrated its adhesion to railroad railroad. Army regulations concerning teenth-century racial attitudes, the spe- and military routes.10 Treatment by proper sanitation were quite clear, but cific theory concerning their transport army doctors was based sufficiently on implementing safe policies usually took of cholera into Kansas had some scien- sound medical knowledge of the time. low priority during a new fort’s first tific basis. In the spring of 1867 black Most remedies merely provided relief few months when buildings were under troops of the Thirty-eighth Infantry from the horrifying abdominal cramps, construction. Railroad officials’ high entered Kansas en route from Jefferson producing little curative effect.11 Pre- demand for remaining on schedule and Barracks, Missouri, to Fort Union, ventive medicine proved more success- the need for military protection from New Mexico. Jefferson Barracks’ s loca- ful when physicians isolated cholera hostile Indians meant that procuring tion near St. Louis, a virulent cholera patients. But even when doctors prac- adequate foodstuffs and safely remov- site, left the troops there vulnerable ticed quarantine, the possibility of epi- ing waste received little attention. to infection. Cholera’s advance across demic still existed as long as food and western Kansas in the summer and fall water sup­plies remained contaminated. Worsening the situation were the new of 1867 followed almost precisely the civilian communities that emerged route taken by the Thirty-eighth Infan- Kansas's central position as a major along the route to provide supplies and try in its march to the Southwest. avenue of transport ensured its vulner- labor to the railroad and military. Usu- ability as a disease frontier. The state ally in close proximity to one another, Nevertheless, identifying with cer- shared in a huge epidemic that afflicted the raw new towns, forts, and railroad tainty the bacilli’s carriers remains a the eastern United States in 1866. Be- camps lacked adequate facilities for nearly impossible task. Black troops lieved to have entered the country on a waste disposal and often were poorly may indeed have transported the dis- ship from England to New York City, located so that drainage from one site ease across the state, but the original the disease spread throughout the East flowed into the water supply of an- germ could have been transmitted just and then into the Ohio and Mississippi other. In their haste, the newcomers as easily via civilian laborers or white valley regions. Evidence of cholera’s abandoned careful sanitary precautions soldiers. Powers and Younger’s study strong connection to political and so- and created a recipe for disaster that minimizes the Buffalo Soldiers’ influ- cial events can be seen in the increased firmly established Kansas as a disease ence on the epidemic. Racial segrega- movement of army troops westward. frontier in 1867. tion at Jefferson Barracks kept the With the end of the Civil War, mili- Thirty-eighth in relative isolation from tary authorities could more easily ad- Although conditions for an epidemic white troops and civilians, lessening the dress the needs of western settlers and certainly existed, an outbreak still re- likelihood that they became infected. railroad developers, who increasingly quired infected carriers. The organism’s While cholera did follow the arrival of demanded protection from Indian source of entry into Kansas became a blacks at each Kansas fort, most first attacks. As military forces were redis- matter of contention both for medical cases were reported in the civilian com- tributed to forts farther west, the new authorities at the time and for twenti- munities. Since it was unlikely that the strain of cholera accompanied them. eth-century historians. Complicating Thirty-eighth could infect others with- Spreading as far as southwest Texas, the question is the issue of race. Con- out first contracting the illness among

20 Wagon Tracks May 2020 themselves, Powers and Younger con- been quite confident, either about Sternberg’s position as chief surgeon clude that cholera may well have been at Fort Harker makes him the central 15 their product or the inability of chol- imported by white civilians. era victims to collect their rebate. figure in the crisis of the summer of 1867. A young man in his late twen- A contributing factor to antipathy The mobility of the cholera bacillus ties during the epidemic, George toward the black units was that most aided its “search” for an environment Miller Sternberg probably welcomed army medical personnel adhered to favorable to an epidemic, such as the his transfer to Fort Harker in April the contagion theory, which recog- West’s sprawling frontier conditions. 1866 as a permanent assignment, nized contact with carriers as cholera’s The area around Fort Harker, located evidenced by his purchase of a six- primary cause rather than poor sanita- on the Smoky Hill River bank and a hundred-acre ranch along the Smoky tion. The extreme isolation of the new crossing of the Santa Fe Trail stage Hill. Enamored of the rolling Kansas forts may have created overconfidence route, provided such an environment. Plains, Sternberg convinced his father that cholera would not spread west. The Smoky Hill at this time was and brothers to relocate there from Public health authorities in eastern known for its pollution. Farther up- New York state. His wife, childhood Kansas, by contrast, accepted the mi- stream the river flowed through bogs sweetheart Maria, joined him at their asmatic theory that cholera fermented of quicksand, where animals became new home in May, shortly before the itself in conditions of filth. Although trapped and the water washed their epidemic that would change both 20 proponents of the miasmatic theory decaying carcasses downstream. Hark- their lives. minimized the influence of carriers, er’s supply of potable water derived their responses to the disease ulti- from a spring about fifteen feet above As chief medical officer, Sternberg mately proved more successful at pre- the surface of a creek bank. Water held primary responsibility for the venting outbreaks. testing later proved the spring actually garrison’s health. His attitude about the proper treatment of cholera re- As news of cholera’s prevalence on the was contaminated surface water. After a twenty-four hour exposure to sun- mains unclear from his correspon- Atlantic Coast reached the Midwest dence. Apparently he never adhered in 1866, citizens of eastern Kansas light, the water emitted an unpleasant odor and left a trail of organic slime completely to either approach, main- adopted sanitation procedures that taining the innocence of the black helped curtail the disease. Leaven- on the sides of the pail holding it. An unusually heavy rainy season left most soldiers accused of transporting the worth especially survived with few disease. But Sternberg evidently also casualties. Residents burned refuse, of the low-lying areas covered with water. The hot, humid atmosphere placed little value in the miasmatic drained stagnant pools, and disinfect- theory. While he possessed ample au- ed their belongings with carbolic acid quickened the decomposition of car- casses and food supplies.18 thority for enforcing better sanitation, or chloride of lime. Not all precautions Sternberg permitted unhealthy condi- were clinically wise; waste and manure The soldiers’ and laborers’ poor person- tions to flourish. His reports after the were thrown into the Missouri River, al hygiene increased the area’s disease start of the epidemic describe his fran- used by some as a source of drinking vulnerability. Major George Sternberg, tic clean-up efforts, yet he offered no 16 water. Still, Leavenworth’s low afflic- assistant surgeon at Fort Harker, wrote defense for the accumulated filth that tion and fatality rate, only five dead in early reports on sanitary conditions prompted the outbreak. 1866, testifies to the success of proper during the epidemic. Railroad workers sanitation. frequently defecated in nearby springs Although a case could be made and then used the water for drinking against Sternberg for failing to en- Local capitalists managed to exploit force stringent hygiene, the disease the new concern for cleanliness to and bathing. The fort also built stables on sloping ground that drained horse remained beyond his direct control. their economic advantage. In the early Quartermaster food provisions con- weeks of the summer of 1867, adver- manure [and liquid] into the water supply.19 These conditions, in violation sisted of typical army fare: sour, moldy tisements in the Leavenworth Daily bread and decaying meat.21 More- Conservative reminded fearful readers of army health policy, resulted from the lack of enforcement by health of- over, since the influx of laborers and that cholera season approached and camp followers into the area occurred Dr. Renaud’s French Cholera Specific, ficials at Fort Harker, as well as the haste with which sanitary facilities outside of usual military jurisdiction, acclaimed by the greatest physicians of Sternberg would have had little suc- Europe, sold for one dollar per bottle were established. Indian raids along the Union Pacific route had increased cess at enforcing hygienic measures in at Egersdorff ’s drug store. Likewise, that social atmosphere. Mrs. Broad’s disinfectants were guar- during the summer, requiring units anteed to prevent cholera, yellow fever, to remain on guard duty. This left few The first diagnosed case of the dis- and smallpox, or consumers would troops available for sanitation polic- ease struck a civilian beef contractor, receive a cash rebate of one thousand ing and constructing better located George Keeton, early on Friday morn- dollars.17 Merchandisers must have latrines. ing, June 28. Keeton died about twelve

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 21 hours after the symptoms first ap- As panic over the epidemic set in, 22 will volunteer from our city? peared. Soldiers then began exhib- hordes of residents fled the area. A iting symptoms over the weekend of popular story tells how Ellsworth The truth is, death has occurred, June 29-30. Captain George Armes, declined in population from over a from all we can learn, in seven cases a white company commander in the thousand to about forty within two out of ten in Ellsworth for want Tenth Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers), weeks.25 While that version may be of good nursing and good physi- received a visit from his younger exaggerated, reliable sources indicate cians. This has created a panic, and brother William, who planned to that Ellsworth was almost deserted caused a fearful loss of life. begin fall classes at West Point. Cap- during this time. A Leavenworth tain Armes’ diary described the tragic Times correspondent wrote that all Who then, we ask again, will vol- 29 surprise and rapidity with which the the city’s councilmen and the local unteer? disease moved: postmaster had departed the town.26 A correspondent from Ellsworth I returned this evening from my One of the few recorded accounts of later corrected this account by stat- scout, and after making my re- the Fort Harker epidemic by a non- ing that one of the "volunteers" from port to Gen. A. J. Smith, he broke physician was provided by Elizabeth Topeka insisted on receiving pay to me the sad news of the death Custer, whose famous husband was for his services. Even so, the appeal of my brother, whom I had left patrolling with the Seventh Cavalry produced a favorable response. Two yesterday morning in the best of in the vicinity of Fort Wallace. Trav- Catholic priests and four nuns of the spirits and apparently in excellent eling through Harker in late July, Sisters of Charity from Leavenworth health. He was taken with cholera Elizabeth recalled it as "the most donated their help to the Ellsworth 30 and died before three o’clock that absolutely dismal and melancholy victims. afternoon... I reached his camp just spot I remember ever to have seen."27 Various personalized accounts de- in time to see his dear face again She described corpses lined up await- scribe the terrible summer at Fort before they took him to his grave, ing burial since lumber was unavail- Harker. George Sternberg, who had but was unable to see him buried, able for coffins. Undertakers simply battled the epidemic tirelessly but being overcome with grief and wrapped bodies in army blankets be- 23 had done little to prevent it, expe- completely prostrated. fore interment, followed by a hurried rienced personal tragedy when his service since all available people were 28 wife, Maria, contracted cholera and Armes was not alone in his grief. needed as nurses. Sternberg’s official report confirmed died suddenly on the afternoon of 46 cases and 31 dead that summer, As the epidemic wore on through July 15. When relief surgeons arrived but these figures included only army July, Sternberg and other medical at Harker a week later, they noted personnel, not civilian employees personnel could do little more than that Sternberg remained in a state or nearby townspeople. As civilian administer tinctures that lessened of grief and fatigue, and again had communities along the route lacked the cholera's severe cramping pain. allowed sanitary and medical condi- newspapers, most reports on civilian Regular policing action began, in- tions at the fort to deteriorate. Short- cases came from the eastern Kansas cluding disinfecting sinks and priv- ly thereafter, Sternberg requested a press, which lacked substantiated ies and burning rubbish. Choleraic leave of absence from the army. The eyewitness accounts. Thus, the pre- victims were quarantined from other replacement surgeon, J.W. Brewer, cise number of dead remains open to patients, and fecal matter was dis- ordered new procedures for disinfect- speculation. infected and buried in a safe loca- ing privies, boiling water, and han- tion. As in most cases where cholera dling choleraic excretions. Brewer's While accurate statistics are not struck, the biggest problem lay in inspection report details the extent­ to available, little doubt exists about the finding enough help to tend the which Sternberg's incapacity allowed cholera’s destructive force. Ellsworth, sick. As volunteers from Topeka and sanitation to lapse: established in January 1867 about a Manhattan traveled west to assist in As soon as evening settled in, a mile west of Fort Harker, suffered the epidemic, the Leavenworth Times horrid stench settled down on the more than any civilian community. made this appeal: Located on bottomland that received fort. The source of this for a time drainage from Harker’s waste water, Now is the time for physicians to was veiled in obscurity; it could not the town was extremely vulnerable. show heroism and win honor. They be accounted for by the emanations Following a flood in June, residents are wanted in Ellsworth; wanted from the sinks and privies, (though were relocating the town when the probably at other cities near it. these last were not in a cleanly epidemic began. One report estimat- Two—honor to them! from Topeka condition,) for the same odor con- ed that from June 28 to July 16, six have gone up to Ellsworth. Who tinued after disinfection had been Ellsworth citizens perished daily.24 practiced. The Medical Director

22 Wagon Tracks May 2020 soon discovered the source of this albeit one generated out of defensive- without incident. Locales west of impurity, which was a large pit, situ- ness toward easterners. An article in Ellsworth were not so fortunate. As ated directly in the quarter whence the Boston Journal attributed the epi- the Harker epidemic abated in late came the prevailing wind, from one- demic to the rough demeanor of Kan- July and people began returning to quarter to half a mile from the post; sas citizens. Like most westerners, the their homes, the Union Pacific's ad- this was and had been (for how long newspaper maintained, Kansans had vance ensured the continued westward a time is not known) the receptacle little knowledge of personal hygiene, movement of military and civilian of every kind of filth, decomposing rarely engaged in exercise, and allowed workers. Although none matched Fort meats, offals, & c. This hot-bed of their prairies to become strewn with Harker in terms of poor hygiene, con- disease swarmed with large mag- rotting carcasses. Their nonsensi- ditions at the westernmost forts and gots, and the stench emanating there­ cal aversion to fruits and vegetables camps proved sufficiently conducive from was intolerable.31 prompted consumption of meat that for the epidemic's geographical expan- was buried in fat and burned to a sion. As Brewer and other physicians initi- crisp. The Journal claimed that filthy ated new sanitation procedures, citi- clothes and premises also were com- Fort Hays, for example, located about zens throughout the state reacted to mon among frontier people. The Leav- sixty miles west on the Smoky Hill the news from Ellsworth. Originally enworth Daily Conservative answered River, experienced a devastating eastern newspapers regarded the early with the following reply: outbreak beginning about mid-July. re­ports with skepticism. During the A civilian teamster became the first height of the epidemic in mid-July, Poor Bostonians!... Don't you think casualty on July 11, followed by exten- the Leavenworth Times expressed its you had better go to Braman's and sive affliction among black troops of belief that fatalities had been exag- take a bath, before our western the Tenth Cavalry and Thirty-eighth gerated and condemned a competitor winds blow this dreadful state of Infantry. Health officers at Fort Hays newspaper, the St. Louis De­mocrat, things into the midst of your nice, permitted civilians to receive treat- for erroneous reporting.32 Part of this clean, vegetable-eating communi- ment at the post hospital, which at skepticism originated from the obvi- ty?... The writer of that article knows that time consisted of several tents ously wild reports of panic-stricken less about Kansas than swine do of that offered little protection from the refugees fleeing the area. By the last paradise, and we advise him to get strong Kansas wind. A shortage of week of July, however, it became dear his mamma to furnish him a clean medical attendants ensued once the that a major catastrophe was develop- pinafore.... As for the "carcasses" quarantine ward began filling in late ing out west. Newspapers advised all which this truthful Bohemian de- July. Local volunteers aided in the persons to remain calm and continue scribed, we occasionally find the work, even though surgeons often remains of an eastern loafer on the boiling their drinking water. The state 35 complained that inexperienced atten- board of health warned that all mate- plains. dants hurt patients more than helped rial coming in contact with choleraic While accounts such as this certainly them. Simon Motz, an early resident excretions should be thoroughly dis- testify to the opinion of journalists of Hays City, expressed surprise over infected, indicating a new awareness and boosters, discovering the epi- the charitable efforts of some fellow among health officials about how the demic's effects on the general popu- volunteers: disease actually spread.33 lation remains much more difficult. Few, indeed, that possessed the for- While genuine insights might have Virtually no records exist about the titude equal to the demand of the been gained by a few physicians, most reception refugees found in distant calamitous occasion. The work of laymen remained confused about the communities. Since most information these few will stand in commenda- disease's basic epidemiology. One on the frontier still traveled by word- tion of the inherent, inner, better self writer expressed bewilderment over of-mouth, news of the epidemic usu- when contrasted with outward of a why Kansas, with its fresh air and ally spread no farther than the cholera dual life. As strange and surprising open spaces, suffered cholera to the itself. as it was unexpected, the charitable same extent as the tenements of big Settlers fleeing the Fort Harker region work was rendered by those from cities: "Its grim secret seems past generally sought refuge farther east, whom it was least and last expected. finding out.... About all we know of many presumably carrying the organ- All day long they did their utmost cholera is that it is a great circumnavi- ism. For all the fears of residents in to assuage and com­fort the sick. gator; and that it seems to be ravaging towns like Leavenworth and Topeka, At night the flickering rays of light the plains now because it has got that however, the 1867 epidemic spared could be seen moving from place to far on its dreadful journey back to the place as these women ministered to 34 eastern Kansas, largely because ad- Orient." In some respects cholera equate sanitary precautions had been the wants of those afflicted. Surely even injected a sense of state pride, taken that allowed the bacilli to pass the higher and better attributes of

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 23 noble womanhood had withstood, had a case among the soldiers but extensive precautions. Colonel George and, for the time, absolved the deg- several citizens brought to hospital McGill, a surgeon traveling with those radation of their outward life.36 with it, and our medical people are companies of the Thirty-eighth In- confident of more if these people are fantry, had chief responsibility for the Presumably, the women to whom permitted to hover around as I have unit's health. McGill con­ducted rigid Motz referred were prostitutes, a siz- mentioned:38 troop inspections and left all suspi- able number of whom accompanied cious cases behind at Fort Harker. the railroad camps through western The workers that so aroused Corbin's Departing on July 10, the command Kansas. ire congregated in the small village of included more than two hundred en- Rome on the outskirts of Hays City. listed men, a dozen officers, and nearly Personal accounts also reveal the di- There they remained in an almost a hundred wives, children, and as- versity of popular myths about the na- constant state of intoxication by pa- sorted quartermaster employees.40 ture of disease. Although nineteenth- tronizing local whiskey stands and century beliefs sometimes held that al- relieving themselves in Big Creek, McGill's strenuous efforts minimized cohol weakened the body's resistance, which flowed less than a quarter of cholera's impact en route to New Motz recalled Hays City residents' a mile into Fort Hays' water supply. Mexico but failed in halting it com- conviction that stimulation with alco- Corbin claimed he had evidence that pletely. As troops and civilians began hol served as an efficient preventive to the whiskey merchants planted ru- contracting the disease, McGill di- illness. Motz maintained that during mors about vicious Indians preparing rected the command in dis­infecting all the height of the epidemic, local mer- to attack the construction camps. The patients' discharges with carbolic acid chants placed kegs on the street, with fearful crews, some possibly carrying and emptying them into pits covered signs reading, "free, help yourself "— cholera, then fled to the relative safety with fresh earth. All soiled bedding part of saloon­ keepers' contribution to of the fort vicinity where they imbibed and articles were burned. To prevent better public health in the Hays area. at the whisky stands to the delight and spread into forts and civilian commu- Even so, Motz stated that few locals profit of the merchants. nities, the command camped two to actually imbibed to excess: three miles from each settlement and When two more civilian workers and limited direct contact with other mili- Strange as the statement may seem, one black infantryman contracted tary personnel to medical officers and there was not a drunken man in the cholera, Corbin decided he had quartermasters.41 Nevertheless, the town. This was before prohibition enough. On August 12 he ordered a epidemic still extended into new areas. in Kansas, but it was unqualified small party of Buffalo Soldiers from Fort Larned experienced a mild out- temperance in defiance of every in- the Thirty-eighth Infantry to confis- break that inspectors attributed to the ducement. The universal feeling was, cate all liquor that belonged to any Thirty-eighth's poor location choice "if my time has come, I want to go merchant without a civilian or military upriver from the post's water source. 37 sober." trading license. The troops seized all McGill expressed his regret for the liquor held by the illegal traders, one error but stated that he had been in a Captain Henry Corbin, post com- of whom was a young scout and buf- hurry to select a campsite and provide mander at Fort Hays, had a much falo hunter named William F. Cody, the troops some rest.42 different view about the sobriety level who later gained fame under the so- in the Hays City area. As an officer briquet Buffalo Bill.39 As the command moved west along in one of the black units, Corbin held the Arkansas toward Fort Lyon, Colo- his men blameless for the cholera, Corbin's raid produced the desired rado, McGill himself became a victim. believing that drunken railroad work- effect of dissipating the congregation The surgeon's wife contracted cholera ers carried the disease. Corbin com- of railroad workers and serves as an on the morning of July 17, west of plained in August that Union Pacific example of the drastic actions that Dodge City. Sending the rest of the employees, all of them in dire need frequently were taken as fear of the troops ahead, McGill set up a solitary of baths, loitered about Fort Hays cholera spread. Other such instances camp and remained behind to care for when they should have been at their occurred after the epidemic ex­tended his wife, who died later that evening. camps. By August 9, the cholera had to areas farther south in late July and Riding alone the next day, McGill at- abated somewhat, but Corbin feared a early August. While confusion still tempted to catch up with the rest of renewed outbreak if the workers were exists as to precisely how cholera was the group but eventually succumbed permitted to stay: transmitted along the Union Pacific to the disease. His body later was dis- route between Hays and Fort Harker, covered about eighteen miles west of They cannot but contract the chol- little doubt re­mains that Buffalo the crude marker he had posted on his era and thereby lay the post liable Soldiers did transport the organ­ism wife's grave.43 to another siege from that terrible south along the Arkansas River on disease. For ten days we have not their journey to New Mexico, despite As the infected infantry units neared

24 Wagon Tracks May 2020 the vicinity of Fort Lyon, near Bent's epidemic's effect on Native Ameri- question about the epidemic's influ- Fort in southeastern Colorado, an can groups. One undocumented ac- ence on racial attitudes. Like many angry reception awaited them. A buf- count claimed that emigrants passing western states, Kansas experienced falo hunting party from Kansas had through the state in 1869 viewed its share of race conflict during the brought news of the epidemic and scores of unburied corpses. Guides late 1860s and the 1870s, especially the approach of its infected carri- supposedly informed the travelers in communities near forts with a 50 ers. William Bell, a geographer and that the bodies were those of Wichi- high number of black troops. But surveyor for the Southern Pacific ta Indians killed by cholera.46 the specific extent to which cholera Railroad, described the events. Fort strengthened white prejudice remains Lyon's commander, Colonel William Unlike the previous year's epidemic a subject for speculation. Examina- H. Penrose, sent a messenger order- that concentrated in the more popu- tion of newspapers and personal cor- ing the units to proceed no farther. lous eastern part of the state, the respondence reveals no evidence that The troops' commanding officer re- 1867 outbreak thrived as a frontier the epidemic reinforced racist views sponded that daily changes of camp phenomenon, inseparable from the about black inferiority. The Leaven- were necessary for preserving the crude hygiene of the developing worth Daily Conservative never con- men, and that the disease was abat- West. The military physicians re- nected the Buffalo Soldiers' presence ing. Penrose eventually relented, but sponsible for the public health at that with cholera; rather it complimented for convenience's sake he insisted on time worked diligently in tending the black settlers during the height of the quartering the party near the fort's sick but, either out of neglect or mis- crisis, praising them as hard-working burial ground to eliminate unneces- understanding about cholera's cause, farmers and good soldiers, and it wel- 51 sary work in hauling the dead.44 failed in implementing sanitary comed their migration to the state. precautions that might have allowed Although it seems reasonable to as- From all indications the companies the cholerae bacilli to pass without sume that the blacks' purported role of the Thirty-eight Infantry travel- harm. The new forts and towns under increased white resentment in some ing through Kansas in the summer construction attracted people faster instances, explicit cases of prejudice of 1867 took reasonable precautions than improvised waste disposal facili- linked directly to cholera have not to prevent cholera's spread. Upon ties could accommodate. Cholera’s been recorded. arrival at their final destination of dual nature both as a mobile- and Fort Union, New Mexico, in mid- a locale-oriented disease permitted The epidemic's impact on individual August, the regiment camped at a it to find a destructive niche on the lives remains too immense to mea- quarantined location for two weeks disease frontier that opened briefly in sure, but its impact on one individual before entering the garrison on Au- western Kansas during 1867. bears mention. Dr. George Sternberg, gust 31.45 By that time the epidemic the military surgeon whose negli- had dissipated. Some mild cases oc- Besides its impact on hundreds of gence aided the outbreak at Fort curred after the command crossed grieving families, the cholera epi- Harker, experienced drastic changes the Kansas border but none proved demic left significant legacies for the in his personal and professional life fatal. Sanitation conditions gradu- state and the country. Most notice- as a result of that summer. After ally improved once the troops left able was the concern it generated for his wife's death and his subsequent Fort Harker. Lacking a contaminated improved sanitation in the western near-breakdown, Sternberg returned environment, the cholera organism's forts. An 1870 War Department east for a few months before being disastrous effects diminished along study reported that Fort Harker assigned to Fort Riley in December the cleaner waters of the Arkansas practiced daily disinfection of con- 1867. The principles of sanitation and Santa Fe Trail. taminated material. A permanent he learned at Fort Harker served his police sergeant stationed at the post medical career well in later years. As As stated previously, more than half oversaw regular waste and manure a consultant at a New York immigra- the recorded deaths in the 1867 epi- removal and conducted frequent wa- tion quarantine station, he imple- 47 demic occurred in Kansas alone. The ter inspections. The same study re- mented sanitary procedures credited rest died in areas farther south, such ported that Fort Hays received ship- with preventing the import of a chol- as Indian Territory, Texas, and east- ments of spoiled beef and bread, and era strain from Hamburg in 1891. ern Louisiana. Of the 146 who per- that soldiers continued urinating in Sternberg's recognition as a disease 48 ished in Kansas, nearly all contracted the drinking water. A similar study prevention expert led to his appoint- the disease in the forts and outlying five years later stated that conditions ment as surgeon-general of the Unit- camps along the Union Pacific route. at Fort Hays had improved greatly, ed States from 1893 to 1902. During Army records reveal no definitive with refuse transported to and this term he published a bacteriology 49 statistics on numbers of civilian dead. burned in a ravine one mile west. textbook and worked closely with Even less remains known about the physicians such as Walter Reed on The Buffalo Soldiers' role raises a

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 25 yellow fever research. Remarried in action during the 1890s. Fascinating the cholera dead arrived at Fort Leav- enworth on December 20, 1905, and his later years, Sternberg occasion- research awaits investigation about the 56 ally visited his relatives in Kansas but connection between disease conditions were reinterred with military honors. never permanently returned to the on the expanding frontier and the Despite the fears of Hays residents, area where he had planned a future as Populist and Progressive ideologies at the epidemic did not recur. The chol- a young man, and where his lifelong the turn of the century. erae bacilli required the presence both work in eliminating disease had be- of infected carriers and filthy sanita- gun. When he died in 1915, he was After medical research in the 1880s tion conditions, a combination that recognized as a pioneer in American revealed the existence of the Vibrio existed only during the pell-mell early medicine.52 cholerae organism and its transport- months of settlement. ability through fecal matter, measures The epidemic's most useful clinical were adopted to maintain the purity The 1867 epidemic can only be under- legacy was its vivid illustration of the of culinary water. In 1893 the Kansas stood within its relationship to social need for synthesis between old ap- State Board of Health issued new conditions and the circumstances of proaches. By the 1870s most doctors rules not only regulating the loca- time and place. A detached scientific no longer believed that cholera could tion and maintenance of privies and approach does not explain its viru- generate itself in a filthy atmosphere cesspools, but also prohibiting the sale lence since medical knowledge was without a human carrier. This revela- and use of diseased animal flesh. The advanced sufficiently to prevent major tion produced a call for inspection circular also demanded that all cases outbreaks, as it did in eastern Kansas. of persons entering the state and in of cholera be reported immediately to Social history offers an opportunity to some cases limitations on what groups local authorities under the supervision explain the epidemic and other similar could enter. Medical professionals of the board of health.54 outbreaks in frontier conditions. demanded stringent health standards The medical knowledge in the late for public buildings. W.F. Troughton, While medical professionals gradu- nineteenth-century, which empha- in an article for the Kansas Medical ally grew more aware of how cholera sized hygiene and inspection, helped Journal in 1893, advocated attacking was transmitted, great confusion produce a sterile environment that de- cholera at its source through vigorous still existed among laymen. In 1886 prived cholera and other water-borne enforcement of cleanliness: the army began exhuming bodies of cholera victims from a Fort Hays diseases of their destructive potential. Cholera, then, must be treated cemetery with the intent of reburying But, as scientists sometimes forget, prophylactically. Garbage systems, these soldiers in the official military such advances never occur in a social sewerages, flushings, lime washers, cemetery at Fort Leavenworth. The vacuum. Discovery and implementa- pure water and a general clean-up U.S. surgeon general halted the work tion of safe medical practices require is all right so far as they go, but the after protests by local residents who the order and efficiency of established true breeder of pathogenic disease feared that moving the bodies would institutions, which often cease func- germs are the social quagmires. reactivate the cholera germ and ignite tioning in times of chaos. For a brief Clean out the human rookeries, another epidemic. When the military duration in the 1860s, the routes of the moral and physical hot-beds of advertised a few years later for a con- passage along the Smoky Hill River crime and disease. Let in Nature's tract to move the graves, Hays City witnessed a vast wave of newcom- sunlight, change the atmosphere residents appealed to the board of ers who, in their haste to control the with Nature's scavenger ozone. Bath health, which upheld the first decision. region, lost control of themselves. For- houses, soup kitchen and general Fort Leavenworth authorities cited getting the fragility of human life in contentment are as essential as gar- numerous instances where bodies had closed surroundings, they created an bage systems or general clean-ups. been moved from other locations with environment conducive to the worst Lift the dull and soul-depressing no recurrences of cholera.55 scourge of their time, one they car- care from off the brain and heart of ried with them in their very stomachs. the people. This is your work and my Finally in 1905 the state board of Western Kansas in that year became a work. Don't be afraid of being called health resisted pressure from Hays disease frontier, one that attests to the a political doctor; assume your full citizens and authorized removal of the important relationship between health duty or honor your profession by bodies to Leavenworth. The corpses of and history, between people and their leaving it.53 more than one hundred soldiers and environment. civilians were exhumed, most buried at Troughton's activist philosophy of an average depth of only about three Endnotes clean body and soul, representative of feet, an indication of the haste with progressive reform attitudes, illustrates which funerals had been conducted 1. Ramon Powers and Gene Younger, “Cholera on the Plains: The Epidemic of the extent to which preventive medi- during the epidemic. Individually 1867 in Kansas,” Kansas Historical Quarterly cine became aligned with political sealed in air-tight, zinc-lined caskets,

26 Wagon Tracks May 2020 37 (Winter 1971): 351-93. American Medical Association, 1920). A America (London: Chapman and Hall, 2. Professional Guide to Diseases, 3d. ed. similar laudatory work is John M. Gibson, 1869), 77-78. (Springhouse, Pa.: 1989), 177-79; Powers Soldier in White: The Life of George Miller 45. Wendt, Treatise on Asiatic Cholera, 106. and Younger, “Cholera and the Army in the Sternberg (Durham, N.C.: Duke University 46. Raine, William MacLeod, and Will West: Treatment and Control in 1866 and Press, 1958). George was mentioned briefly C. Barnes, Cattle (Garden City, N.Y.: 1867,” Military Affairs 39 (April 1975): 49. in a recent history of the Sternberg family Doubleday, Doren, and Co., 1930), 93-94. 3. Robert P. Hudson, Disease and Its by Katherine Rogers, The Sternberg Fossil Hunters: a Dinosaur Dynasty (Missoula, 47. War Department, Surgeon General’s Control: the Shaping of Modern Thought Office, A Report on Barracks and Hospitals, (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, Mont.: Mountain Press Publishing Co., 1991), 10-23. with Descriptions of Military Posts, circular 1983), 178. no. 4 (1870). 21. Woodward, Report on Epidemic Cholera, 4 Charles E. Rosenberg. The Cholera Years: 48. Ibid. The United States in 1832, 1849, and 1866 v. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 22. Ibid. 49. War Department, Surgeon General’s 1962), 1-5. Office, A Report on Barracks and Hospitals, 23. George A. Armes, Ups and Downs of an with Descriptions of Military Posts, circular 5. Frederick F. Cartwright, Disease and Army Officer (Washington, D.C.: Library of no. 8 (1875). History (New York: Dorset Press, 1972), Congress, 1900), 232-33. 154-62. 50. James D. Drees, “The Hays City 24. Powers and Younger, “Cholera on the Vigilante Period, 1868-1869” (master’s 6. Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Tenting on the Plains,” 368-69. thesis, Fort Hays State University, 1983); Plains, or General Custer in Kansas and Texas 25. “Kansas Portraits” (typescript, Kansas James Leiker, “The Buffalo Soldiers at Fort (New York: Charles L. Webster and Co., State Historical Society, 1985), 38-40. Hays” (master’s thesis, Fort Hays State 1887), JS2-403; Charles E. Rosenberg, University, 1992). The Care of Strangers: The Rise of America’s 26. Leavenworth Times, July 31, 1867. Hospital System (New York: Basic Books, 27. Custer, Tenting on the Plains, 381-82. 51. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, July 1987), 184. 28, 1867. 28. Ibid. 7. Cartwright, Disease and History, 154-62. 52. Rogers, Sternberg Fossil Hunters, 10-23; 29. Leavenworth Times, July 27, 1867. Jerome Schneck, “Sternberg and the Fort 8. Ibid. 30. Ibid., July 28, 1867. Harker Cholera Epidemic of 1867,” Journal 9. “Facts and Opinions about the Cholera,” of the Kansas Medical Society 45 (May 1944), 31. Woodward, Report on Epidemic Cholera, The Nation 2 (April 26, 1866): 520. 161-63. 37. 10. Ramon Powers and Gene Younger, 53. W. F. Troughton, “Cholera and Its 32. Leavenworth Times, July 16, 1867. “Cholera on the Overland Trails, 1832- Treatment,” Kansas Medical Journal 5 ( July 1869, Kansas Quarterly 5 (Spring 1973): 33. Ibid., July 26, 1867. 1893): 205-7. 32-49. 34. Ibid., July 25, 1867. 54. Kansas State Board of Health, Rules of 11. Powers and Younger,”Cholera and the 35. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, August the State Board of Health of Kansas, for the Army in the West,” 51. 12, 17, 1867. Preservation of the Public Health Against Epidemic Cholera and Other Infectious and 12. J.J. Woodward, U.S. Surgeon General’s 36. Kansas City Journal, January 26, 1901. Office, Report on Epidemic Cholera and Contagious Diseases (Topeka: Hamilton 37. S. Motz, Historical and Biographical Yellow Fever in the Army of the United Printing Co., August 1893). Sketches. Volume One (Hays City: Old States, During the Year 1867, circular no. 1 55. Topeka Daily Capital, October 1, 1905. Settlers’ Association of Ellis County, (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Kansas, 1900), 20. 56. Ibid., December 21, 1905. Office, 1868), viii. 38. Henry Corbin to T.B. Weir, August 5, 9, 13. Ibid., vi. 1867, Letters Sent, Fort Hays, T-713, roll James N. Leiker is professor of His- 14. Powers and Younger, “Cholera on the 1, National Archives, Washington, D.C. Plains,” 356. tory and Chair of the History and 39. Mirand W. Saxton to J. Milton Political Science Department at 15. Ibid., 357-60. Thompson, August 12, 1867, Letters Johnson County Community Col- 16. Thomas Neville Bonner, The Kansas Received, Fort Hays, T-713, roll 5, National lege in Overland Park, Kansas. He Doctor: A Century of Pioneering (Lawrence: Archives. is the author of several articles and University of Kansas Press, 1959), 32-36. 40. Edmund Charles Wendt, ed., A Treatise books on race relations and the 17. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, July on Asiatic Cholera (New York: Willaim 17, 1867. Wood and Co., 1885), 105. American West, including Racial Borders: Black Soldiers along the Rio 18. Woodward, Report on Epidemic Cholera, 41. Ibid., 106. Grande and with Ramon Powers, The v. 42. Woodward, Report on Epidemic Cholera, Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History 39. 19. Ibid. and Memory. He is currently co-au- 20. Several biographies exist on Sternberg, 43. Wendt, Treatise on Asiatic Cholera, 88- thoring with Kristen Epps An Ameri- 108; John Sharpe Chambers, The Conquest none of which explore his role in the can Crossroads: Kansans and Their Fort Harker epidemic in any great detail. of Cholera: America’s Greatest Scourge (New Histories, a college-level textbook for The earliest biography was written by his York: The Macmillan Co., 1938), 287-88. Kansas History courses.  second wife, Martha L. Sternberg, George 44. William A. Bell, New Tracks in North Miller Sternberg: A Biography (Chicago:

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 27 Hell on Wheels - Railhead Towns on the Santa Fe Trail: Introduction

This series of articles is a project submit- from Chesapeake Bay. Even most traveled the Trail summer after sum- ted to the National Trails Intermoun- of the wagons were sold in New mer, visiting parents and other rela- tain Region (Santa Fe Trail NHT) Mexico. Those that did return in the tives in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2019. Be- early years carried Mexican pesos and or even Maine. sides documenting the impact of these silver bullion, Rocky Mountain furs, towns on the demise of the Santa Fe and buffalo hides. Numerous herds As already mentioned, westward Trail, the project included highlighting of mules, the progenitor of the iconic building railroads ended this colorful the “rowdy” Wild West aspect of each “Missouri Mule,” also were trailed era in American history. This study railhead, hence “Hell on Wheels." east. In later years, New Mexican covers three of those railroads and wool - sometimes approaching as twelve railhead, or “end-of-the-track” By Dr. Michael L. Olsen much as 1,000,000 pounds a year - towns along them. For purposes of Project Historian eventually reached Boston, destined clarification, these rail companies for the woolen mills of New England and the towns are listed here; their Contextual Summary and the British Isles. general history and characteristics are briefly highlighted. The old Santa Fe Trail [Santa Fe The Santa Fe Trail, it should be National Historic Trail] “opened” on emphasized, was a multicultural Establishing dates for the arrival November 16, 1821, when William “trail.” By the 1830s roughly half of a railroad in a specific town is Becknell, a frontier Missouri trader, of the trail trade was conducted by frustrating, even when consulting and five companions arrived in the Hispanos with deep historical ties contemporary newspapers. Besides northern New Mexico town of Santa in New Mexico, such as the Otero, misinformation and lax reporting, a Fe, their pack horses laden with Chávez, Armijo, and Perea families. date might reference when railroad various trade items. The Republic of A bit later, men like Miguel Antonio tracks reached a town, when the first Mexico had won its independence Otero, Sr., would found mercantile locomotive steamed in, when the first from Spain that year and had opened houses that followed the railroads passenger cars arrived, when the first its borders to trade, which had been west and came to dominate trade in freight went east, or when freight prohibited by Spain. New Mexico. being warehoused for shipment west came in. The Trail “ended” on February 8, After the United States’s conquest 1880, when the Atchison, Topeka & and annexation of the Southwest The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) com- during the Mexican War in 1846, Railway can be considered the most pleted an 18-mile branch line from government freight trains swelled important of the three lines that Lamy, New Mexico, to Santa Fe, traffic on the Trail. These trains sup- “shortened” the old Santa Fe Trail. thus connecting that centuries-old plied forts in West Texas, New Mex- President Abraham Lincoln signed capital with Kansas City and the U.S. ico, and Arizona, with Fort Union, congressional legislation authoriz- Atlantic coast. The AT&SF then established on the Trail in 1851 in ing the construction of a rail line built on to Albuquerque and con- northeastern New Mexico specifi- from Atchison, Kansas, to Topeka, tinued westward, reaching Needles, cally to guard the Trail, as the major Kansas, on March 3, 1863. This was California, on the Colorado River in supply depot. the humble origin of the Atchison, 1883, San Francisco in 1884, and San Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. As with Diego and Los Angeles in 1885. The Concerning the Trail, it must also most western railways, unforeseen AT&SF, along with other railroads, be noted that it was never a route construction delays and complicated had conquered the Southwest. for settlers seeking a new liveli- financial restructuring often ham- hood. New Mexico was not Oregon. pered the AT&SF. By the mid-1830s, the value of trade Families did travel the Trail, but in on the Santa Fe Trail sometimes negligible numbers compared to “Hell on Wheels” towns along the topped $1 million annually. The freighters, bullwhackers, herders, and AT&SF included in this study - and number of wagons departing Inde- merchants. Wealthy Hispanic New each approximate arrival date are: pendence, Westport, or Kansas City, Mexican families sent their children, Missouri, might exceed 6,000 per boys and girls, to be educated in • Granada, Colorado. Just east of year. A manifest for one wagon train Catholic schools in St. Louis. Some the Colorado-Kansas border. of James Josiah Webb, a prominent even maintained homes there. Army Arrival, July 4, 1873. merchant-trader, could list textiles wives and their children, such as • Las Animas, Colorado. In the from Manchester, England, wines Lydia Spencer Lane, whose husband Arkansas River Valley, south- from France, and canned oysters commanded Fort Union for a time, eastern Colorado. Arrival, fall of

28 Wagon Tracks May 2020 1875. 27, 1870, it ranged south from Denver, there are almost no contemporary ac- • La Junta, Colorado. In the Arkan- Colorado, through Colorado Springs counts of these camps, though a few sas Valley, southeastern Colorado. and Pueblo, to the railhead town of turn up for some towns in contempo- Arrival early in 1876. El Moro. Freight and passengers used rary newspapers or in the accounts of the Pueblo-El Moro connection but prairie travelers such as William Bell, • Trinidad, Colorado. Southeastern switched to the AT&SF for conti- who went to the Kansas plains to hunt Colorado, on the border with nental connections after the AT&SF buffalo, and Elizabeth Custer, who New Mexico. Arrival, September reached Pueblo in March 1876. The with her husband General George 1878. AT&SF bypassed El Moro when it Custer, visited various Kansas mili- • Otero, New Mexico. Northeastern laid its tracks across Raton Pass and tary posts. One inclusive view of such New Mexico. Arrival, February into New Mexico. camps is provided by Miguel Otero, 1879. Jr., in his delightful memoir My Life El Moro, then, was the only “Hell on on the Frontier, 1864-1882. He noted: • Las Vegas, New Mexico. North- Wheels” town on the Denver & Rio eastern New Mexico. Arrival, July Grande. It was/is located five miles “While the grading of the railroad 4, 1879. northeast of Trinidad, Colorado, in the bed was continuing south of Las The Kansas Pacific Railway, as it came southeastern quarter of the state, near Vegas, [New Mexico c. 1879] many to be known, was incorporated as the the border with New Mexico. The camps were established along the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western D&RG arrived April 10, 1876. route, especially through Glorieta Railroad in 1855. It became the Union Pass, and practically every camp Pacific Eastern Division (UPED) Given the focus of this research - had its saloon and gambling tent. in 1863, and was refinanced as the “Hell on Wheels” - each of the 12 Frequently, three or four soiled Kansas Pacific in 1869. Its main line towns covered, as might be expected, ‘doves’ or camp followers, would connected Kansas City with Denver, had almost stereotypical “wild west” have a tent or two at the rear of the Colorado. Service between these two elements in its day. For some the con- saloon and assist the bartender in cities began on September 1, 1870. temporary evidence is scant, for others entertaining the patrons all dur- it is abundant. But nearly all of them ing the night. Of course bad men “Hell on Wheels” towns along the boasted saloons, dance halls, “fancies” and confidence men followed Kansas Pacific included in this study (prostitutes), vigilance committees, these camps and many an innocent and each approximate arrival date are: crooked sheriffs, card sharks, “despera- wandering boy was relieved of all dos,” drunken brawls, “shoot-outs,” his belongings by running against • Junction City, Kansas. Northeast- murders, and lynching. them.” He also recalled, “In the case ern Kansas. Arrival, fall of 1866. of killings, usually the right man Behind these stories, though, are other got killed, and when that happened, • Ellsworth, Kansas. Northcentral more complex developments, which Kansas. Arrival, fall of 1867. rejoicing took the place of grief and are also considered. With the excep- the drinks were freely ordered.” • Hays City, Kansas. Name changed tion of Sheridan, Kansas, and Otero, later to Hays. Northcentral Kan- New Mexico, these towns are still Two further items need to be high- sas. Arrival, fall of 1867. functioning communities. So each lighted in this “Contextual Summery” • Sheridan, Kansas. Northwestern profile touches briefly on economic, before concluding. The first, somewhat Kansas; the town no long exists. social, and sometimes political aspects lengthy, comes from the columns of Arrival, late spring or early sum- of their history while they were “hell the New York Tribune for October 14, mer, 1868. on wheels” towns. The same format is 1867. There New Yorkers, and in a way followed for each community. After the nation, could read: • Kit Carson, Colorado. Eastcentral a short general introduction, the two Colorado. Arrival, fall of 1869. main sections are a summary of the “Just as fast as the Pacific Railway • Las Animas, Colorado. In the Ar- arrival and impact of the railroad, and passes the great military posts upon kansas River Valley, southeastern the commercial and “hell on wheels” its line, these become unneces- Colorado. Arrival, October 1873. activity during the town’s heyday. sary, and are, in effect, abandoned. Where appropriate, there is special Fort Leavenworth, which was of • La Junta, Colorado. In the Arkan- emphasis on major mercantile houses such magnitude as to be a little sas River Valley, southeastern Col- such as Otero, Sellar & Co. city of itself, is reduced to a vast orado. Arrival, December 1875. storehouse of war materials, and a The Denver & Rio Grande Railway One aspect of this research which pleasant place of call for army of- (D&RG) had less impact on the Santa might seem to be missing involves ficers on their way to, or returning Fe Trail than the AT&SF or the Kan- life in the “rough and tumble” railroad from the Plains. The Road went to sas Pacific. Incorporated on October construction crew “camps.” However, Fort [Riley] and three miles beyond

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 29 created Junction City. The frontier Hell On Wheels: Junction City, Kansas was changed in a day. Immediately the large military work at [Riley] A few years ago the freight wagons and Ourselves to No Party That Does ceased to be an outpost and the oxen passing through Council Grove Not Carry the Flag, and Keep Step troops quartered there went to the were counted by the thousands, the to the Music of the Union." West. This very month Fort Hays value of merchandise by millions. But will also cease to be an outpost the shriek of the iron horse has silenced The military post at Fort Riley was and became an inpost. So will Fort the lowing of the panting ox and the old another factor in the pre-railroad Wallace by the middle of May Trail looks desolate. days of Junction City and pre-dated next. The Kansas Pacific Railway it. Established in 1853, the fort was pushes “the Plains” further and The Junction City Union, named after Major General Bennet further West, saves the Govern- August 1867 C. Riley, who led the first military ment the necessity of expense of Location: Geary County, northeast- escort along the Santa Fe Trail. permanent forts, and narrows the ern Kansas, 125 miles west of Kansas After the Civil War it became the field of operations against the In- City. dians.” major military installation provid- Approximate distance remaining on ing protection to the construction of The second item, which can serve as the Old Santa Fe Trail: Via Cimar- the Kansas Pacific, sending various an epitaph, comes from the pen of ron Route - 620 miles; via Mountain expeditions west to the Kansas prai- the prominent Kansas historian Leo Route - 675 miles. [In an article, ries to encounter indigenous Indian Oliva. In his book Fort Hays - Keep- "The End of the Trail: Rail-Roads, peoples. General George Custer for ing Peace on the Plains, he writes: Commission Houses, and Inde- a time was headquartered at Fort Ri- pendent Freighters," Santa Fe Trail ley. Junction City itself lay just three "The advance of the railroad was miles west of the fort. possibly the most significant event scholar David Clapsaddle notes of in the opening of the West. That this first of the railhead towns which For a year, however, from the fall of transportation system made pos- shortened the Santa Fe Trail, "Leav- 1866 until the fall of 1867 when the sible such developments as the ing Junction City, the road (now Kansas Pacific reached Ellsworth, 85 buffalo slaughter, the large-scale joining Junction City with the Santa miles further west, Junction City was cattle industry, successful pioneer Fe Trail) replicated the route of the the eastern terminus of the Santa Fe farming, the end of Indian re- Butterfield Overland Despatch west- Trail. Freight moving to the distant sistance, the rise of urban oases, ward along the north bank of the southwest and goods arriving from and other aspects of settlement of Smoky Hill River to Salina and on to there and the Great Plains, notably the plains and mountains in the Fort Ellsworth. There, it crossed the wool and hides, passed through the region west of the Missouri River. river and continued on to strike the warehouses and mercantile establish- The army protected the construc- original route of the Santa Fe Trail at ments of the city. tion and operation of early rail Walnut Creek." Wagon Tracks, 23:2, lines, and in return the railroads (February 2009), p. 22] THE RAILROAD increased the efficiency and effec- It is difficult to evaluate Junction In 1855, the Territorial Legislature of tiveness of the frontier army." City as an "end-of-the-track" rail- Kansas chartered the Leavenworth, The following profiles of Junction head "hell on wheels" town because Pawnee and Western Railroad, which City, Ellsworth, Hays City, Sheridan, its founding and development was to run from Atchison, Kansas, to Kit Carson, Granada, Las Animas, pre-dated the arrival of the Union Fort Riley. Given financial troubles La Junta, El Moro, Trinidad, Otero, Pacific Eastern Division (UPED, and the looming Civil War, it was and Las Vegas demonstrate the im- later - 1869 - known as the Kansas eventually re-chartered as the Union portance of the westward progression Pacific) by a decade. It was platted Pacific Eastern Division in 1863 and of the Kansas Pacific, the Atchison, and settled in 1858 and became the construction west now commenced Topeka & Santa Fe, and the Denver county seat of then Davis County in also in Kansas City. Another corpo- & Rio Grande.  1860. The UPED arrived in 1866. rate reorganization came in 1869, Furthermore, Junction City was a when it became the Kansas Pacific, regional center for anti-slavery senti- which reached Denver, Colorado ment in "Bloody Kansas," drawing a Territory, in 1870. population committed to the Union cause. Notably, the first newspaper in William G. Cutler, writing his His- the city, The Smoky Hill and Republi- tory of the State of Kansas in 1883, just can Union, had as its motto, "We Join 17 years after the UPED reached

30 Wagon Tracks May 2020 Junction City, captured the immediate your paper to inform the people of the first of their numerous warehouses impact of the railroad on the town - Western Kansas that we now have and stores in Ellsworth. and its brief importance. He reported, and will be constantly receiving, a "As the Kansas Pacific Railway neared large and well selected stock of Dry Hell on Wheels the city, new-comers crowded in by Goods, Ready Made Clothing, Boots the score, until there were neither & Shoes, Hats and Caps, Hardware, The police force in Junction City had hotel accommodations nor house- Queensware, etc. etc.." The notice its share of thefts, murders, robberies, room for them. This was an exceed- went on to include a bewildering and general drunken altercations to ingly prosperous year for the town, variety of goods, such as the list of deal with in the 1860s, but it is impos- and houses sprang up as if by magic, "Ladies' Goods"—"We have a beau- sible to say whether these were caused and still the cry was, 'More, more'." tiful selection of Prints–de laines, by the usual town riff-raff, soldiers off- He further recorded that the UPED scotch plaids, ladies' cloth, plain and duty from Fort Riley, freighters on a marked off its depot grounds and in- printed flannel, plaid linseys, etc. Also spree, railroad construction workers, or stalled a turn-table in October 1866, ladies hoods, nubias and sontags in "card sharks" just off the train. Crime and the first train from Fort Leaven- profusion; cassimeres, satinetts, heavy in Junction City did reach the pages of worth arrived in November. However, twills for pants, bleached and brown the New York Tribune on February 8, just three years later the railroad sold sheeting, and drills, cotton flannel, 1867, however: its roundhouse, workshops, depot, and white bed blankets, gray blankets, etc." "A few weeks since a notorious thirty acres of ground to the Union What some of these items might have desperado named Jack McDowell, Pacific Southern Branch, which been is something of a mystery. hired a span of horses at Council moved its division headquarters from Grove to go to Junction City. As he Junction City to Wamego, Kansas. By On the other hand, the UPED did boost the community. Six months did not return, the owners of the that time the Kansas Pacific, as noted horses traced him to Omaha and above, was approaching Denver. after it arrived, a local correspondent for the Emporia News visited and re- brought him back on Friday last. THE TOWN ported, "Junction City especially is a He was very defiant, threatening to regular bee-hive, in which the resident fire the town and kill 38 of the citi- Established: 1858. It was named for insects, with characteristic assiduity, zens whom he had marked. He fur- the local junction—the confluence— are rapidly storing vast quantities of ther stated that he was a Rebel and of the Smoky Hill and Republican honey typified by greenbacks. Indeed, had been in Quantrill's raid. The rivers. From this point it is known as one might travel far to find a busier, citizens took him from the Sheriff the Kansas River, flowing east to the more prosperous or more muddy on Sunday night and hung him." Missouri River. town." And it did serve as the destina- Soon there would be similar incidents, Post Office: June 30, 1858 tion for freight wagons arriving from more directly connected with "end-of- New Mexico and the Southwest—for the-track" towns all the way to Den- Population: 1870, 2278; 1880, 2684; a year. The same reporter mentioned, 1890, 4502 (U.S. Census reports) ver and Santa Fe—in Ellsworth, Hays "Crowds of people from all the West- City, and Sheridan, Kansas; Kit Car- Commercial Activity ern Territories may be found there any son, Las Animas, La Junta, El Moro, day, and oxen and mules, 'bullwhack- and Trinidad, Colorado; and Otero As already mentioned, Junction City ers' and 'greasers,' wide-brimmed hats and Las Vegas, New Mexico. was a regional trade center for nearly and meerschaum pipes form a medley a decade before it became the railhead as curious as pleasing." (April 26, On to Ellsworth for the UPED. Its stores, hotels, sa- 1867) loons, dance halls, and other amuse- Junction City's role in the Santa Fe ments were well established. It had Interestingly, none of the merchants in trade ended within a year after it be- churches, schools, fraternal lodges, Junction City seems to have extended gan, when the Union Pacific Eastern substantial brick buildings, and a their businesses farther west along Division steamed into Ellsworth on newspaper. the line of the railroad. The day of the October 1, 1867. Unlike other rail- dominant mercantile houses along the head towns further down the line, A column touting the stock of one Kansas Pacific and the Atchison, To- though, Junction City continued to mercantile house, Blakely & Martin, peka & Santa Fe was yet to come. For flourish as a commercial, educational, in the November 19, 1867, issue of The example, Miguel Antonio Otero, Sr., and governmental hub. As of 2010 its Junction City Union newspaper serves and his partner John Sellar, did not population topped 25,000. Its neigh- as a reminder of the volume of trade incorporate as Otero, Sellar & Com- bor, Fort Riley, also remains vital to its even before the railroad came. The pany until 1867, when they opened economic health. Fort Riley today is a proprietors wrote: "We wish through major U.S. Army installation covering

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 31 over 100,000 acres and with a day- Partnership for the National Trails System time population of 25,000. By Marcia Will-Clifton Junction City Specific Bibliography Hike the Hill Leadership Changes in PNTS Anderson, George L. Kansas West- An Epic Gary Werner, longtime PNTS Ex- of Western Railroad Building (San Marino, Another successful, shorter trip to California: Golden West Books, 1963). Washington, D.C., on February 9-12. ecutive Director, retired on February This year I focused on Oklahoma 9, 2020. I contributed a SFNHT Charlton, John. "'Westward the Course t-shirt from Bent’s Old Fort to the of Empire Takes Its Way': Alexander legislators and meeting Sharice Gardner's 1867 Across the Continent on the Davids (Kansas Third District) and trail quilt that was presented to him Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division Ron Estes (Kansas Fourth District). at the reception. The search commit- Photographic Series," Kansas History 20:2 I finally met Senator Jerry Moran, tee is looking for a new ED. (Summer 1997), 116-128. Kansas, in the hallway of the Dirksen Clapsaddle, David K. "The End of the Building and got a picture with him PNTS has an interim ED, Karen Trail: Roads, Commission Houses, and and the bison in his office. My indi- Crossley in Madison, Wisconsin, and Independent Freighters," Wagon Tracks 23:2 vidual meetings were focused on the an interim Advocacy and Policy Di- (February 2009), 22-24. commemoration of the 200th anni- rector, Kathy DeCoster, in Washing- Cutler, William G. History of the State of versary of the SFNHT in 2021. ton, D.C. Kathy is very well-connect- Kansas (Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1883) Full ed in D.C., having just retired from text at https://www.kancoll.org/books/ We also discussed the permanent the Trust for Public Lands. cutler. funding of the Land and Water Con- Hults, Jan, and Sondra McCoy. 1001 servation Fund (LWCF), Restore our I am in support of the move of Kansas Place Names (Lawrence: University Parks, and the gold sheet of volunteer PNTS leadership from Madison, Press of Kansas, 1989). contributions. Happily, the two bills Wisconsin, to Washington, D.C. McKale, William, and William D. Young. have been packaged together as the Having a presence in D.C. closer to Fort Riley, Citadel of the Frontier West Great American Outdoors Act on our non-profit partners, The Ameri- (Topeka: Kansas State Historical Society, can Hiking Society and American 2000). the Senate side, and parallel bills on the House side are being advocated Trails among others, is critical for our Otero, Miguel Antonio. My Life on by PNTS. The Senate seat held by shared goals for the future. There is a the Frontier, 1864-1882 (Albuquerque: lot of transition in personnel on the University of New Mexico Press, 1987). Tom Udall in New Mexico will be vacated due to his retirement. Repre- Federal agencies side, including NPS Snell, Joseph W. , and Robert W. and BLM leadership.  Richmond, "When the Union and Kansas sentative Ben Lujan (New Mexico’s Pacific Built Through Kansas," Kansas Third District) will be running for Historical Quarterly 36:2 (Autumn 1966), this seat. 334-337. Newspapers Junction City Union New York Tribune The Smoky Hill and Republican Union

Dr. Michael L. Olsen holds a B.A. from St. Olaf College, and the M.A. and Ph.D. in American History from the University of Washington. He taught for 30 years at New Mexico Highlands University and for four years full-time at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs. He has published extensively on the Santa Fe Trail and has consulted with the National Park Service on projects related to the old Santa Fe Trail.  Sen. Jerry Moran, KS, with Marcia Will-Clifton, and bison head in his office.

32 Wagon Tracks May 2020 SFTA Annual Membership January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020

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Chapter Reports

Chapters are listed in order from the beginning of appointed as Chairperson of the Speaker’s Committee. She the Trail in Missouri westward. has chaired many such committees so we are confident she will choose an excellent array of subjects and presentations. TO CONTACT CHAPTER PRESIDENTS, PLEASE EMAIL THEM AT [email protected]. Douglas County

Missouri River Outfitters Baldwin City, KS President Roger Boyd Independence, MO President Anne Mallinson We were disappointed not to have the opportunity to catch up with everyone at the SFTA board meeting in Dodge City. We The MRO chapter and board meetings scheduled for March have been able to keep our projects moving along through email 15 at the National Historic Trails Museum in Independence and texting. were canceled. Nominating Committee Chair Mary Conrad has created the following slate of officers for consideration for the For the 200th anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail we continue to next term: President, Anne Mallinson; Vice President, Sarah work closely with Douglas County, Freedom’s Frontier National Tucker-Poff; Secretary, Mary Conrad; Treasurer, Rich Lawson; Heritage Area, Kansas Department of Transportation, National Historian, Sandy Slusher; board members John Atkinson, Dick Park Service, and Santa Fe Trail Association to improve visitor Nelson, Larry Short, and Ross Marshall. Nominations from the access to the Black Jack Ruts and the Log Cabin Museum. floor are always welcome. Bylaw revisions have been submit- ted to board members and chapter members, but we will have The first portion of trail will be ADA accessible, 350 feet long, to discuss and ratify those at the next meeting to be scheduled composed of compacted fine gravel, and end at the first swale. when shelter-in-place guidelines are eased. The rest of swales will be accessed along a 1,500-ft loop trail that will be compacted native soil. This portion of the trail, con- SFTA President Larry Short was part of a team of National structed by a team of volunteers, winds through native prairie Historic Trail partners (Trails Head/OCTA, Missouri River with over 250 species of grasses and wildflowers. As I write this, Outfitters/SFTA, Kansas City Area Historic Trails Association) we anticipate the local township fire department will burn the who met with NPS staff and the 106 Design group to assess prairie in the next few days. If not, we will mow the area where area sites for new or replacement wayside exhibit signage. The the trail will be constructed. So either way work will begin sites range from Independence to Olathe to Prairie Village. The sometime in April. We expect the formal dedication of the trail NPS will review information submitted. Of special interest are in June 2021. plans for the 200th anniversary of the Sibley Survey in 2025. Baldwin City was incorporated in 1870, so this year is the Plans continue for the 2023 symposium. Mary Conrad has been sesquicentennial, and we are heavily involved in planning

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 33 activities, if we can ever have any of those activities actually inside. However, that was the most popular area as there was occur. Our next big event will be our fall covered dish dinner discussion and examples of arrowheads. The wagon rides with on September 27. We anticipate the program will be about the draft horses were fun even though the city setting wasn’t like early development of Baldwin and Palmyra. Stay tuned. the prairie setting.

Heart of the Flint Hills Our chapter president had total knee replacement in October Council Grove, KS and has spent most of her time in therapy and recovery. And President Sharon Haun now, as this article is written in March, we are keeping mostly to ourselves as the coronavirus now affects Kansas. The “new Planning continues, by email and phone, for SFT 200th- normal” is not getting together much. year events. The local committee members have great ideas and plans for a number of events, but everything is on hold, The chapter hopes to develop some kind of activity for the because of the COVID-19 national emergency. 2021 Commemoration of the opening of the Santa Fe Trail. Cottonwood Crossing Cimarron Cutoff Hillsboro, KS Elkhart, KS President Doug Sharp President Jay Williams

Everything is cancelled. With the COVID-19 Virus, our chapter is not doing anything right now. We are hoping to be able to replace Santa Fe Trail Quivira signs that are missing on the Cimarron National Grasslands. McPherson, KS President Linda Colle I’d like to promote three of the museums that are located with- in our chapter area. At the time of this writing they are closed The Quivira Chapter April 28th joint program with the Inman to the public. When everything gets back to normal please Museum Association is canceled. Our next program isn't until plan to stop by and take a tour. July so we'll see how things go before we make any decisions for that one! Victoria Baker retired from the Herzstein Memorial Museum Wet/Dry Routes in Clayton, New Mexico. Elisa Townsend is the new Director. They have been doing some rearranging at the museum. The Great Bend, KS museum phone number is 575-374-2977. President George Elmore The Cimarron Heritage Center in Boise City, Oklahoma, Everything is cancelled for now for the Wet/Dry Chapter. has been receiving some new items. The Mineral City School Dodge City/Fort Dodge/Cimarron house will be moved to the museum grounds. Road construc- tion will have the road to the museum closed for a while, but Dodge City, KS the staff will give private tours to some interesting locations in President Bill Bunyan the area. Please call the museum at 580-544-3479 for infor- mation. Like everyone else we are at a standstill here. We were getting ready for the national board meeting, and Mike Rogers and I At the Morton County Historical Society Museum in Elkhart, had planned a meet and greet for the board on Wednesday the Kansas, employees and board members are working on plans 15th of April. Now everything has been canceled including to build a new shop and do some rearranging in the museum. our April 19th chapter meeting. Chris Day and Janet Arm- They are also planning to add a Dirty Thirties exhibit. As I stead were to be our speakers and talk about the Junior Wagon write this report in early April, I can hear the wind howl- Masters. ing, giving us a reminder of those days. I am sure some of the wheat fields are being blown out with this 35-mph wind this Our winter meeting was chapter member Carrol Burnett talk- afternoon! ing about a trunk and its contents that a family would have taken on the trail. Our summer meeting is tentatively a trip to On May 2, SFTA President Larry Short and Vice-President Larned to tour the Santa Fe Trail Center and Fort Larned. Chris Day plan to have a booth at the renaming of Clayton Wagon Bed Spring Lake to Clayton Lake State Park and Dinosaur Tracks. Some of our chapter members plan to attend and help in the booth. Lakin, KS I am hoping to have a chapter meeting at the lake that day. President Linda Peters We have not received any official word if the ceremony will be canceled. The August 24, 2019, event for Wagon Bed Spring was moved to the Historic Adobe Museum in Ulysses due to inclement Bent’s Fort weather and a muddy road. It rained enough for water to be Lamar, CO standing across the road and out into the fields on either side President Kevin Lindahl at one area. The day was cool and windy, as a smaller group enjoyed the activities at the Museum, but missed being at the The Bent's Fort Chapter annual meeting was held January 11 Springs. Our usual displays and demonstrations were set up in at the J. W. Rawlings Heritage Center in Las Animas. In addi- the museum. A new activity, flint knapping, couldn’t be done tion to election of 2020 officers, two members were recognized

34 Wagon Tracks May 2020 for all their hard work. Recipients of the Member(s) of the Year made to begin planning a complete 2021 event schedule for the Award were Verna Ruddick and Shannon Venturri. Due to chapter. We will seek to arrange events in as many northeastern inclement weather in Kansas, our speakers, Joanne VanCoevern New Mexico communities as possible. Already we have some and Deb Goodrich, were not able to travel. Thanks to technol- commitments: Fort Union National Monument will dedicate ogy, the ladies sent their presentations via email and Kevin its Fort Union Days Program, June 19-20, 2021, in com- Lindahl and LaDonna Hutton were able to share the presenta- memoration of the Fort’s SFT role; Wagon Mound’s Bean Day tion with members. program, September 6, will feature SFT topics and memories; September 22-26, Raton and Trinidad (Bent’s Fort Chapter) February 15 found members at our annual “Love to Read along are planning events involving both communities; Philmont the Santa Fe Trail” in Lamar with several members sharing Scout Ranch near Cimarron is planning for summer-long SFT book reviews of fiction and non-fiction books relating to the programming; Clayton is beginning planning. Our chapter Santa Fe Trail. By March 21, we were all under “house arrest” and the End of the Trail Chapter are in discussions concerning but several of our members chose to enjoy a day out in the fresh a joint program for November 13-15, to be held in both Las air heeding strict social distancing rules by attending Doc Jones Vegas and Santa Fe. The program will note the beginning of the Farm Days in North La Junta. Activities included harnessing SFT by the meeting of William Becknell and Pedro Gallegos draft horses and a demonstration of trimming draft horse hoofs near Las Vegas on November 13, 1821. while the horse is held in a stand. There were four different two-horse teams pulling single bottom plows, a four-horse Owing to the corona virus outbreak, our planned March 14, team pulling a tandem disc, and a two-horse team pulling a April 11, and May 9 meetings were canceled. Subject to more single disc. Those in attendance were able to take lots of great cancellations, upcoming meetings are: photos and videos. June 13: Joint with Bent’s Fort Chapter, All-day Tour, Folsom, At this writing, the April 11 Bent’s Fort Chapter archive meet- NM, along the Dry Cimarron to Kenton, OK, details pending. ing has been postponed. The May 9 Higbee Valley tour is on July 25: Folsom: Sheep History Tour; meet at the Folsom hold—we are all praying the virus will be waning by then and Museum at 7 a.m. Early bird tour of the sheep folds of the restrictions can be relaxed somewhat. Folsom stockyards. Latecomers can join the group at 9 a.m. for a drive to the Cornay Ranch, where BeBe and Dino Cornay While you are sitting at home on your computers, this might be will describe the sheep history of their family. Then we will go a great time to register for the 2021 Symposium—the registra- to the Archuleta Ranch where Dr. Andrew Guilford will talk tion form is now available on the Last Chance Store and on the about the history of sheep in the southwest from 1500 to date. 2021sfts.com website. He will then sign copies of his book, The Wooly West: Colorado’s Hidden History of Sheepscapes. Lunch will be provided by the In the midst of all of this, we need to take time to remember Archuletas (about $10). Then we will tour the Archuleta Ranch two of our members who made the “trek” to heaven this winter. and visit the remains of the sheepherder’s town on the TO Sadly, longtime members Dub Couch and Ron Darcey passed Ranch. away. Even though they are no longer in our midst, they will always be remembered and missed. End of the Trail Santa Fe, NM Like all of you, Bent’s Fort Chapter members are “faunching President Joy Poole (sp) at the bit” ready to get boots on the trail. We all know though, the better we heed the guidelines, the sooner we all will I’m tempted to simply say COVID-19—and end the chapter be able to enjoy our treks and activities. Please, everyone, stay report there since all of our chapter members are self-isolating home, stay safe, stay well, and stay calm and pray on! per the orders from our NM Governor Michele Lujan-Grish- Corazon de los Caminos am, who happens to have an extensive background in health. Cimarron, NM Our 2020 NM Legislation session was a short thirty-day ses- President Doyle Daves sion. By working with Brian Moore of the NM Association of Counties, Peggy Poling and Sharon Calahan, who are new Our last meeting was at Springer, February 8, where we focused EoT members, along with Elizabeth West, were able to secure on plans for the SFT Bicentennial in 2021. A decision was a $40K legislative appropriation to the Department of Cultural Affairs for exhibitions and programs on the Santa Fe Trail. These ladies were organized, engaged the trail communities, and were effective in securing an appropriation by working with Sen. Pete Campos.

Joy Poole received an SFTA Scholarly Research Grant to tran- scribe the William Baskerville diary. Baskerville was a Wagon Boss for Francis X. Aubry. After Aubry was murdered, Basker- ville made one final trip from New Mexico across the trail and settled in Bates County, Missouri.

The remainder of this year's End of the Trail programs are tentative due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

May 2020 Wagon Tracks 35 Santa Fe Trail Association 1046 Red Oaks NE Albuquerque, NM 87122 www.santafetrail.org

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Recipes from the Trail

These recipes were prepared and served during the filming of "A Taste of History" along the Santa Fe Trail and will appear on the PBS show, hosted by Chef Walter Staib, this season.

Dried Peach Pie in butter, line them with pie-paste, put in the stewed apple Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm, Olathe, Kansas half an inch thick, thinning it towards the edge; roll an up- Submitted by Katie Lange per crust rather thin, cut three or four small slits each side of the middle and put it over the pie; trim them neatly with The specific instructions for dried peach pie are “prepare the a sharp knife, and bake in a quick oven for three-quarters of fruit and finish the same as dried apple pie”—so the dried an hour. apple pie recipe is below. This is from American Lady’s Sys- tem of Cookery by Mrs. T.J. Crowen, 1860. Shirley McClintock's Iron Kettle Soup Cut out all imperfections from tart dried apples (a sharp Trail Days Cafe, Council Grove, Kansas pair of scissors is best for this purpose), then rinse them in cold water, put them in a vessel and pour water over three In a big cast iron kettle, place 1 1/2 lb bison stew meat inches more than to cover them; let them stand one night, chopped small and that has been rolled in about 1/2 cup then put them over a gentle fire with the water in which flour. Brown in 2 T. butter and 2 T. sunflower seed oil along they were soaked, cover them and let them stew gently; boil with 1 garlic clove, chopped. Add about 6 cups water. Add a lemon in water until a straw will pierce the skin; cut it in 1 cup each of chopped turnips, carrots, onion, and 3 cups thin slices, or smaller, and put it to the apples with the juice chopped cabbage. Add 1/2 cup each of wild rice, steel cut from it; add half a pound of clean brown sugar for each oats, and hard red winter wheat berries. Add 1/2 tsp. dried quart of apples, let them stew until they are soft, then turn thyme, 2 T. dried parsley, 1/8 tsp. pepper, 2 tsp. salt, 1/2 them into dishes to become cold. tsp. paprika. Bring pot to a boil and then cook on low for 2 hours or more, until grains and vegetables are tender. Add Rub the pie dishes over with a small bit of sponge, dipped one 28 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes, then heat and eat.

36 Wagon Tracks May 2020