The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-15
OLD FORT LEAVENWORT
It's Past and Present, and why 1t Was
EcIipsed by NeiShbOring Rivals.

Occasional Correspondence of the Journal.
LEAVENWORTH, Kan, Aug. 13.-Your
correspondent has spent ten days upon the
historic banks of the Big Muddy. where
were enacted some of the thrilling scenes
IN the conquest of the plains A few even
ings since, while in the twilight hour l
sat on the grassy esplanade, just north of
the now vacant, dismantled old Planters
Hotel and watched one little stern-vvheel
gasoline craft blowing the waters the
past thrust itself into contrast with the
present Back in the thirties and forties,
upon those deserted waters, steamboats, car
rted men and supplies three miles farther
north to Fort Leavenworth the OUTPOST of
our military power and far beyond pioneer
settlements. In those days the mountains
and the Pacific coast were unexplored for
eign regions, and a portion of southwest
ern Kansas was the territory of the Lone
Star" Then the results of the Mexican war
and the discovery of gold in California
changed our geography and civilization.
New York and Panama 1sthmus or Cape
Horn furnished too long a route for the
eager seeker after the yellow metal. An
overland trail must be found, and old Fort
Leavenworth became the starting point of
the fortune hunters wearsome Journey
across thousands of miles of treeless
trackless plains and rugged mountains
Those who are now wrought into fever of
excitement over the golden glories of Alas
ka might well pause Ior an instant and re-
call the cold, emotionless history of the
vast trains of men, wagons, cattle and
mules that were in those days of adven-
ture and exploration organized at this place
and turned toward the setting sun Those
left hero wi 10th
their days in ease and luxury. Rhey ex
pected to escape the redskn and heroicallv
endure all privations along the road But
the per cent of that vast throng that failed
to see the mountains, that failed to see the
coast, that failed TO grasp a fortune was
appallingly great. The great wagons with
their numerous yokes of cattle dwindled
into oX-carts and then vanished beneath the
brassy sky of the American desert If the
men, the mules and the oxen that fell by
the wayside on the old California, the Santa
re and the Platte trails could suddenly
stand forth in the flesh upon the spots
where they persisted, what an army would
they present, Would any of the men or ami
mails be out Of sight of each other? How
many fell no mortal can know. In the mad
rush for wealth they were forgotten even
by their companions. In western Kansas
along the Arkansas and Cimarron rivers,
the writer has viewed the deep cuts of those
old trails on the level prairie and thought
of the blighted hopes and blasted fortunes
along their desolate paths 1t is not one
wagon track that greets the eve. but in
many places as If a dozen teams had driven
abreast. The fact that in some places these
roads are three and four feet deep. after
the winds have been blowing over them for
forty years, indicates their extensive use
in early times.
For many years this place was the great
gateway to the West. AS the writer passed
along the walks and drives of the mapni6-
cent Fort Leavenworth of to-day it's mimi
tive condition could scarcely be imagined
The wooden stockade is but misty MON,
Dry OF the vanished. There remain ONLY, q
few rods of the old stone wall with its
musket portfolios, to tell the visitor tba+
once The place was prepared to resist tba
assaults of a treacherous foe. AS if To SHIN,
that its defensive days are past tbero
stands just in front of this grim old wau
the statue of the immortal warrior who
said Let us have peace" Less than one
thousand soldiers are present TO indicate bv
their uniforms drills and target practice
that the place contains men ready TO defend
their country's flag. AS the headquarters Of
the Army of the Missouri, this old fort has
been occupied by some of Americas BRAY
est soldiers. Avenues named Hancock ana
Custer link Gettysburg, the civil war and
redskin deviltry. Go a little farther to the
southwest on the ten thousand acre reser-
walton and view the cemetery where the
white marble slabs mark the resting place