Dangers of the Trail in 1865 A Narrative of Actual Events   By: Charles E. (Charles Edward) Young (1846-)

DANGERS OF THE TRAIL

IN 1865

A Narrative of Actual Events

By CHARLES E. YOUNG

GENEVA, N. Y. 1912

COPYRIGHT, 1912 BY CHARLES E. YOUNG

Press of W. F. Humphrey, Geneva, N. Y. H. DeF. Patterson, Illustrator, Geneva, N. Y.

PREFACE

I present this narrative of actual events on a trip across the plains to Denver, Colorado, in 1865 and of life in the Far West in the later sixties.

An interesting and valuable feature is a map of the country, made in 1865, by Henry Bowles of Boston, showing the old Platte River and Smoky Hill Trails of that day before there was a railroad west of the Missouri River.

Everything is told in a plain but truthful manner, and this little volume is submitted to the reader for approval or criticism.

CHAS. E. YOUNG July, 1912

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I Young Man, Go West

CHAPTER II Arrival at Fort Carney

CHAPTER III An Attack by the Indians

CHAPTER IV Denver in 1865

CHAPTER V A Proof of Marksmanship

CHAPTER VI On to Leavenworth

CHAPTER VII A Plucky German

[Illustration: (decorative)]

CHAPTER I

"YOUNG MAN, GO WEST"

[Illustration: E] Early in 1859 gold was discovered in Colorado, and Horace Greeley, the well known writer and a power throughout the country both before and during the Civil War, made, in the interest of the New York Tribune , of which he was editor, an overland trip to Denver by the first stage line run in that day. He started from Leavenworth, Kansas, and with the exception of Mr. Richardson, of the Boston Journal , was the only passenger in the coach. The trip was not all that could be desired, for they met with numerous hardships and many narrow escapes, as did hundreds of others who had preceded them over that dangerous trail, many never reaching their destination having met death at the hands of the cruel Indians of the plains.

During his stay in Denver Mr. Greeley wrote a number of letters to the New York Tribune , confirming the finding of gold in the territory and advising immigration. The people in the East were skeptical in regard to its discovery and awaited a written statement from him to this effect.

At the close of the war Mr. Greeley's advice to young men, through the columns of his paper, was to go West and grow up with the country, and it became a byword throughout the State of New York and the Nation, "Young man, go West and grow up with the country."

Could Mr. Greeley have foreseen the number of young lives that were to be sacrificed through his advice, I think he would have hesitated before giving it; yet, it was the most valued utterance of any public man of that day for the settlement of the then Far West.

After reading a number of these letters in the New York Tribune , I became very enthusiastic over the opportunities that the West offered for the young man. There was also a loyal friend of mine who became as enthusiastic over it as myself. Thus, while we were still so young as to be called boys, we made up our minds to follow Mr. Greeley's advice, and "Go West and grow up with the country."

[Illustration: MAP OF TRAILS LEADING FROM MISSOURI RIVER TO DENVER, COLORADO 1865 ]

In making our purchases for the trip we were obliged to make our plans known to an acquaintance, who at once expressed a desire to accompany us. After consultation, we consented and at the appointed time, the fore part of July, 1865, just at the close of the Civil War, we boarded a New York Central train at the depot in Geneva, N. Y., with no thought of the hardships and dangers we would be called upon to meet.