The Upper Crossing of the South Fork of the Platte apparently went by several names including "Laramie Crossing," "Goodale's Crossing," "Morrell's Crossing," and later "Julesburg" or "Overland City," although Julesburg came to…
Alexander Majors of the firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell termed the Fort Kearny route the best natural road on the continent and believed it the best in the world.
In April, 1858, the Postmaster General entered into two new contracts applying to the South Pass route. The first, with George Chorpenning, provided for semi-monthly, twenty-day trips between Salt Lake City and Placerville; the…
Brown's writings indicate that he was interested in this aggressive movement on behalf of the South. Three elements entered into his policy: the question of emigration, the problem of the Pacific railroad, and…
Brown now undertook to justify his action, which seemed unlawful, and which had earned for him the hostility of the Northern press, of the contractors, and of the residents of upper California. He…
With the passage of this act, the matter went to Postmaster General Aaron V. Brown. Brown was a Tennesseean sympathetic with Buchanan's policies, a leader in the councils of the Democrats, and a…
[Benton] had his eye on the Pacific railroad, which he thought he was about to establish on his central route. The overland mail, he said, "will give the Central route a development, a…
Despite all the sound and fury, however, the Post Route Bill enjoyed surprisingly good progress and early in February reached the upper house. In it was a provision for daily mail between California…
On May 11, 1860, the postmaster general annulled George Chorpenning's contract for carrying the mail from Salt Lake City to the west coast, and awarded it to the Central Overland California Pike's Peak…
Washington, Jefferson, and other forward-thinking politicians had wanted to create a system of decent highways to promote settlement as well as postal service and weave the frontier into the fabric of the mother…
South Pass, July 4, 1836. The annual pack train of the American Fur Company, commanded by Thomas Fitzpatrick; a considerable outfit, seventy-odd engages, upwards of four hundred horses and mules.…
He met the Flatheads and Nez Perces at Ham's Fork. There is no way of knowing whether disgust or despair moved him chiefly, there is no way of knowing how…
In order to reach the interior West, the last untouched fur country in the United States, William Ashley had revolutionized the trade when the Arikaras and Blackfeet forced him away from the Missouri.…
“According to our maps, “the Narrows” was the next place of interest. It is mainly notable because, at this point on the Little Blue, the emigrants seemed to forget all…
About nine miles west of Emigrant Gap, the Oregon Trail wound through a narrow gap between two ragged ridges of sandstone and shale rocks, upended strata we now would call…