The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1899-07-12
ORIGIN OF WHISKY GAP.
The waters of Its spring Produced
IntoxicatiOn Among Soldiers
Cnmped There.


Camped There.
One of the historic places in the west
is Whisky Gap, Wyo. The old-time
dweIlers of mountain and plain, the
men who fought Indians and hunted
buffalo out west" during the overland
trail days of the early Cos, have
shrugged their shoulders with satisfac-
ton at the mention of Whisky Gap for
nearly 40 years. This is the place, ac-
cording TO their belief, where real 'hre
water" gushed up out of the rocks IN
beautiful mountain spring to queneh
the thirst of n whole company OF Uncle
Sans trained Indian fighters. 1T was
nothing but pure spring water they
say. "A veritable fountain of youth
Whisky Gap received its name in 1862,
during the building of the overland
stage route from Denver to Salt Lake
City and the Pacific coast.
1t happened in this way: The people
of Denver had long been working to Sc
cure the regular overland stage route,
then connecting the eastand west. In
1862 ben" Holiday, a veteran stage
man, became the proprietor of the great
overland line, and he agreed upon
route running through Denver to the
west. He decided to discontinue that
part of the road running up the North
Platte and the Sweetwater rivers, and
across South Pass, Wyo. The many In
dian difficulties experienced on this
route was the inducement to abandon
it, The new trail led by way of Jules
burg, Col. TO Denver, and on over the
established wagon road TO Fort Lup-
ton and north across the Laramie
plains, then due west through Bridge
water Pass, Wyo., joining the old trail
leading across the country to the Pa
cific coast. The change was made dur
| ing the summer of 1862. All the rolling
stock, horses and other property of
the company were gathered at the sta
ton just above DEVILS Gate, in central
Wyoming. Company A of the Eleventh
Ohio cavalry, with Maj. O'Farrell in
command, was the detailed escort at
the time.
During the first day the long train
of coaches. wagons, horses and mules
made IL miles from the station where
the property had been gathered. The
route chosen was directly south from
the Sweetwater river. The camp Sc
lected was in n gap in the maintains.
where there was a fine spring and plen-
/ ~ of wood for cooking purposes. Short
ly after going into camp the major dis
covered that quite number of his sol
diers were intoxicated. and he at once
sent for Lieut.. w. II. Brown, who was
officer of the day, and informed him of
/ the condition of many of the men, and
! gave it as his opinion that some one
was selling whisky in the camp. The
command was doing escort duty not
only for stage, stock and stores, but also
for a number of emigrants who had
availed themselves of the opportunity
for safe conduct over the plains.
Lieut.. Brown received orders to
search all wagons, and if he should dis
cover whisky to destroy it. Taking a
/ corporal and three or four men, he COM
menced the search for the contraband
article, and found at least a barrel of
whisky in an emigrant wagon. The Of
ficer ordered his men to roll the barrel
out of the wagon, knock in the head
and empty the contents on the ground.
This was done, but it CHANGED that the
spot where the whisky was emptied was
just above the spriRg. and the fiery
liquid went pouring down into the wa
ter supply of the camp. The soldiers
saw what was going on and they rushed
forward with cups, canteens, buckets
and camp kettles to save what they
could of the coveted Spirits" Many a
man stopped over the spring and drank
almost without breathing until he was
drunk. A half hour later the intoxi-
cant was showing it's effect pretty gen.
orally around the camp, and soon but
few sober men could be found. One SOL
der who had succeeded in getting a
full canteen from the spring paid his
respects TO Maj. O'Farrell at the head
quarters tent, assuring his command
ing officer, with maudlin mein and
many n "hic," that that was the finest
spring he had ever seen and the very
best water he had ever tasted.
Maj. O'Farrell was apprehending an
attack from the Indians that night, and
the condition of his men fairly disheart-
ened him. He saw at glance that even
q small band of savages could make
a successful raid on his camp; conse-
quently the sober and less intoxicated
men were kept on the alert that night.
Fortunately no Indians put in an APP
pearanee, and by morning the de-
bauched men had slept on their intoxi-
cation.
Thus the gap in the mountains where
the camp was made received the name
of Whisky Gap. For many years il was
the favorite camping place for the more
credulous of the old freighters and emil
grants of the trail days" but the little
spring was never a fountain of youth"
as il had been in the old days. when
fire water" gushed up out of the rocks
to quench the thirst of a company of
United States soldiers.-Chicago Times
Herald.