St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1891-07-11
A FRElGHTER'S LIFE.
Dangers Incurred by Tenderfoot Travellers
S. In Early Days.

scribed," remarked Reuben Wood. a
well-known plains man, as he tilted
back in a soft-bottomed chair at the
Markham yesterday. 81 have been or
the frontier thirty three years and have
passed through about every hardship
that falls to the lot of the pioneer, but
the greatest hardships l ever expert
enced were encountered while driving
mule teams from the Missouri river tc
distributing points along the mount
ains''
Being pressed to speak more fully
upon subject of which the present
generation knows but little, the pioneer
proceeded:
THE wagons were loaded at Omaha,
Nebraska City, Atchison, Leavenworth
or Kansas City for long journey OF
several months duration, and embrac-
ing 1,200 to 1000 miles of travel. Some
freighters preferred oxen for the work.
but always preferred the mule on ac-
count of his greater endurance and
ability to keep on his feet without
water Why, I've seen six-mule team
revived so much by being turned loose
to roll over in the hot sand that the
mules imagined that they had been
treated to a square meal. My outfit
usually consisted of twenty-five teams
and thirty men armed with Spencer
rifles and revolvers as a protection
against the redskins. There were
bad Indians in those days. They
lurked behind rocks and hills.
and were likely to dash down
upon the unsuspecting traveller at any
moment. l never knew an Indian at
tack to be made in the night but at
daylight, just as the fist reflection of
the suns rays began to appear. the red
devils were in full bloom, and woe to
the camp that was not then carefully
guarded.
''But Indians were not the only dam.
ger which the freighter was called upo1
to face. The intense heat of summer
and the fierce storms of winter beat
upon him, and it required man of
strong constitution to withstand the
strain. Sand storms sweep across the
plains for days in succession. and the
snow-storms in the colder months were
sometimes terrible. AS the freighter's
capital was invested in his outfit, he
kept it moving all the year round, and
no sooner was one trip completed than
another was commenced. The big
wagons were covered with white sail
cloth, and each wagon was loaded with
about six thousand pounds of freight.
This included provisions of all
kinds, such as flour, sugar, ba-5
con, salt and liberal sup
ply OF whisky and tobacco, which
were always in strong demand in
the frontier settlements. We Travelled
about twenty-five smiles a sday, and If
the day was too hot or the Indians m
usually pesky, we often made the id pr
ney by night. The route from Om1 ha
to Denver across the prairies and and
hills covered a distance of six hundred
miles, whose western end was mile
higher than the Missouri river. The
round trip usually occupied about sixty
days, and the profits sometimes reached
ten thousand dollars.
'.The first time saw Denver" con-
tinued Mr.. Wood, sit was little col
lection of log huts, and the nearest set
tlement was another log-hut town along
the placers of Clear Creek canyon. Flour
then sold at sixteen cents a pound and
other kinds of provisions in proportion.
We always aimed to strike the best
market, and when we learned that any
point was well supplied with the neces-
saries of life we steered in some
other direction, landing in Montana
or even Salt Lake City, which is
LOCO miles from the Missouri. Buffalo
were usually in sight, and it was not |
necessary to leave the main trail to Sc
cure a supply of fresh meat. AS time
passed, the great trains of wagons ex-
tended hundreds of miles in almost un-
broken line and dense cloud of dust
could be traced as far as the eve could
reach. / have seen thousands of Nor
mons on their way to Utah and great
trains Of settlers bound for Oregon and
California. At night their camp fires
formed an almost unbroken chain from
the mountains to the Missouri river.
Mr.. Wood passed through many hair
breadth escapes from the savages, but
retired from the service unscarred. At
one time while riding on top of a
coach five miles from Plum creek, in
the Valley of the Platte, he became
target for seventyfive Indian devils
who were out for scalps The driver
whipped up his horses and the race
for life began. The pursuers, with hor-
rid whoops, darted on their horses as
closely as they dared to the stage coach, |
and poured volley of bullets into the
coach. The frightened passengers re-
turned similar compliment, while the
whip of the driver kept circling in the
air and alighting with terrible effect on
the back of the horses At this critical |
moment one of the lead horses dropped |
dead. A daring passenger jumped to |
the ground. released the horse, and the /
remaining horses carried the party be- |
yond danger.
ssOnce upon leaving Atchison," con-
tinued he, "a party of tenderfeet with |
five wagons asked permission to cross
the plains with u.s." There were eleven |
men in the party and ten of them lie
buried under pile of stones in a rayine
about seven miles from Plum creek. |
When we reached the ravine the leader |
OF the tenderfeet said: Wood, let's
stou and feed here / refused, on the |
grounds that the Indians were danger
ous and the spot was not safe one for
n camp. The man replied: /
ssh. we're not afraid. Why, we've
not seen an Indian on the way ont
Here's good grass, and well take q rest. |
GOODBYE And with that the teams
stopped and the men began to turn the |
horses loose to Craze.