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Show StorVfearita"re Trail T - HE Santa Fe Trail was f"!''- tne maker of men aB -f- - well as the maker of u2t ' states. Only real men survived the dangers liLy and hardships of the ij? trail, but real men grew In strength and Jt'L stature because of J hardships and the dan- gers. The sham per- -JiJ lshed in the desert, but the genuine marched march-ed .the trail unhurt. The story of the trail Is the story of great frontiersmen. frontiers-men. There were giants In those days. Strong men and weaklings were attracted by the pot of gold which the rainbow stories of the trail located lo-cated In Santa Fe, the end of the trail, where the rainbow touched the ground. The weaklings fell by the weary wayside way-side or fled back to the silken comforts com-forts of civilization. The strong stayed. stay-ed. Courage was a characteristic. Fear was foreign to the frontiersmen. They knew how to fight, to fight at close range, and to fight hard. They did not know much about books, but they knew of men and the open sky and the trail. They lived out of doors. They were honest "Hide my gold?" Bald one old-timer talking over his yesterdays, "I never hid my gold. No thieves traveled in the caravans." They were hospitable. They would share the last pipeful of tobacco. Dangerous Dan-gerous as was the life the early travelers trav-elers upo nthe trail necesarily led, they found fascination in the very danger. dan-ger. "I would like to go again," said Judge John D. Turley, one of the Indian In-dian fighters of yesterday, rising from his chair and tapping with his cane the elm under which ' we had been seated. He seemed 30 years young instead in-stead of 85 years old. "I certainly would go again if the railroad had not taken away the danger and Bpolled the fun." ; The moBt conspicuous figure among the frontiersmen on the trail was Kit Carson "Gen. Carson," as he is spoken spok-en of, almost with reverence, 'by Daniel L. Taylor, six times mayor of Trinidad, Colo., who has given $5,000 to erect a statue -to Carson in that bustling border town. Kit Carson Car-son lived and died upon the trail and was there buried. The automobile travelers, following the old trail, found reminders of this foremost frontiersman frontiers-man from Franklin, Mo., to Taos, N. M. Ready and willing to talk of Kit Carson were the old-timers who had known him. "Of all the great men on the trail," said Mayor Taylor, who knew him intimately for years, "Gen. Carson was the chief." Not all the old-timers agred with Mayor Taylor. "Kit Carson was not an extraordinary man," said Capt. Smith H. Simpson of Taos. "There were many others who were better and older Indian fighters. It was Gen. John C. Fremont's reports re-ports that made Kit Carson's reputation." reputa-tion." It is not strange that the trail abounds with stories of Kit Carson and his adventures. In Howard county, coun-ty, Missouri, where the trail really began, be-gan, he lived as a lad. At Pawnee Rock he had his first fight with the Indians. At various posts on the trail he was stationed as Indian agent. He married on the trail. His body, burled Lyon on the trail. His body, buried first at Las Animas, on the trail, was and in a cemetery In this quaint Spanish Span-ish town in the mountains now rests. Kit Carson was part and parcel of the old trail and much of the romance of the trail is Interwoven with his name. He was only 17 years old when he left his father's home In Howard county, coun-ty, Missouri, to Join a Santa Fe Caravan. Cara-van. From that time until his death on the Arkansas river in 186S the Santa San-ta Fe trail was his home. Many stories stor-ies are told of Carson, some of which are doubtless apocryphal, but all illustrate il-lustrate the character. At Great Bend, on the Arkansas river, he amputated a man's arm to save his life, using as Instruments all that were available, a razor, a saw and the king bolt of a wagon. At Bent's Fort he was the chief hunter for eight years, providing provid-ing game for food for the 40 men in the fort. He was on intimate terms with the Indians, who admired, respected re-spected and feared him. He could make peace as well as war. "The Sioux, one of the most numerous and warlike tribes," relates Mayor Taylor, Tay-lor, "had encroached upon the hunting hunt-ing grounds of the southern Indians, and the latter had many a skirmish with them on the banks of the Arkansas Arkan-sas river along the trail. Carson, who was in the upper valley of the river, was sent for to come down to help them drive the obnoxious Sioux back to their own stamping ground. He left Fort Bend and went with the party of Comanche messengers to the main camp of that tribe and the Arapahoes, with whom they had united. Upon his arrival he was told Wrcfer )Wlam (f i " i ' ' uv-; ? ViV. -A( f&:&l (41 l .-:?;,:.: ; j was ODe reason for their lack of the , ( r ft V J education which the school gives. BSJSOvk' i 'v Tny had the training of the west, JifF which gave them rough, uncouth ex- GAXttOn teriors and unselfish hearts. Jim or that the Sioux had 1,000 warriors and many rifles, and the Comanches and Arapahoes were afraid of them on account ac-count of their great disparity of numbers, num-bers, but that if he would go with them on the warpath they felt assured as-sured they could overcome their enemies. ene-mies. Carson, however, instead of encouraging en-couraging the Comanches and Arapahoes Arapa-hoes to fight, induced them to negotiate nego-tiate with the Sioux. He was sent as mediator and so successfully did ho accomplish his mission that the intruding in-truding tribe consented to leave the hunting grounds of the Comanches aB soon as the buffalo season was over, which they did, and there was no more trouble. In the adobe dwelling house at Old Fort Lyon, where Kit Carson died now part of the United States Naval hospital near Las Animas Luke Ca-hill, Ca-hill, the only person now living who saw the great frontiersman die, told the story of his death. "It wt on May 22, 1868," said Cahill, "that Gen. Carson died here. His head rested near thlB window and he had been looking out through the window at the world outside. He serried to want to get out of doors. He had been ill across the Arkansas river, where he had been living for a time. As he grew steadily worse the fort physician, Dr. Tilton, and others of his friends had persuaded him to permit himself to be brought to the fort for medical treatment and hospital attendance. He had come very reluctantly. All was done for him that could be done, but it was no use. He grew steadily worse. There was a smile on his face as, with his hand in my hand, he looked out of the window at the glowing sunshine and died. When he died the last page of the last chapter of the heroic days of the Old Trail was finished. He was the great man of the trail." The most memorable military expedition expe-dition up the Old Trail Indeed, the most marvelous military expedition In the memory of the United States was that led by CoL Alexander W. Doniphan, Doni-phan, in 1846. The thousand Mis-sourians, Mis-sourians, under Col. Doniphan's command, com-mand, formed part of the Army of the West, under Gen. Stephen W. Kearney, Kear-ney, which left Fort Leavenworth June 26, 1S46, over the Old Trail for Santa Fe. "This body of men," wrote William Cullen Bryant, "conquered the states of New Mexico and Chihuahua and traversed Durango and New Leon. On this march they traveled more than 6,000 miles, consuming 12 months. During all this time not one word of Information reached them from the government, nor any order whatsoever; they neither received any supplies of any kind nor one cent of pay. They lived exclusively on the country through which they passed pass-ed and supplied themselves with powder pow-der and ball by capturing them from the enemy. From Chihuahua to Mata-moras, Mata-moras, a distance of 900 miles, they marched in 45 days, bringing with them 17 pieces of heavy artillery as trophies." It was this expedition, which decided that New Mexico and Arizona Bhould become states of the American union. Richens Lacy Wooton, "Uncle Dick' Wootton, as all trail travelers knew him, deserves high place In any account ac-count of the historic personages of the trail. Col. Richard Owenby has restored near Trinidad the old Wootton Woot-ton toll house where the frontiersman, having built a road over Raton mountain, moun-tain, levied tribute upon all who traveled trav-eled thereupon. The Trail attracted the young man. Kit Carson went west upon the Trail at the age of 17 years; Doniphan and his soldiers wer mere youths, Wootton was but 18 years of age when he "hit the Trail," and James Bridger, the foremost mountaineer, was only 16 years old when, under the leadership of William H. Ashley, the fur merchant, mer-chant, he went out on the Trail. The early age at which the frontiersmen left home for the wilds of the west was one reason for their lack of the education which the school gives. They had the training of the west, which gave them rough, uncouth exteriors ex-teriors and unselfish hearts. Jim or Maj. Bridger, born in Washington City, left the nation's capital to travel trav-el "out West" and become guide, scout, map maker through the Rocky mountains. Bridgets pass in the Rocky mountains bears his name. Jim Bridger, It 1b claimed, first among the white men of America, saw Salt Lake in the winter of 1824-6. Bridger was In the employ of the United States government for some years and served under Gen. John C. Fremont as a scout. He also gave valuable assistance assist-ance to the surveyors of the Union Pacific railroad. The Bents, St Vraln, Maxwell, Jim Baker, the Coopers, the Gentrys, James P. Beckworth, Bill Williams, Tom To-bin, To-bin, James Hubbs -these are among the famous soldiers, traders, trappers and frontiersmen whose names are Intimately associated with the romance ro-mance and history of the Santa Fe Trail. Near Arrow Rock, Saline county, Missouri, yet resides John D. Turley, 85 years old, who was a famous fa-mous trader on the Trail, as was his father before him. The lifetime of father and son covers the entire period pe-riod of the Old Trail. Judge Turley's last trip was in 1851, when the Trail was yet In large use. "yte fought Indians across the entire en-tire continent and carried on a most profitable trade In merchandise with the Mexicans," said Judge Turley. "We bought whisky from the distilleries distil-leries in Missouri at 16 to 40 cents a gallon, and sold it in Taos at $3 a gallon. It was terrible stuff, too. We diluted it with water, making two gallons gal-lons out of every gallon, but even then It was terrible. The ox teams had six yoke of oxen and the ordinary load for a wagon was 7,200 rounds. A load of 3,000 pounds is a good wagon load now. We took our merchandise to Taos or Santa Fe, opened a regular regu-lar store, and would Bell out our entire en-tire stock in two or three months. The remnants of our last stock my father traded for Mexican sheep at $1 a head, took the Bheep to California, and sold them at $10 a head. I sold sassafras sas-safras root at $4.50 a pound in Taos. We traveled about 25 miles a day. The last trip took 49 days. We met on that trip Rose, said to be the handsomest hand-somest Indian woman in the west. My father made his first trip in 3825, and the Turleys stayed on the Trail until nearly the opening of the Civil war. Various tricks were played on the Mexicans. There was a tariff on every load of goods brought into Mexican territory. The tariff was so much a wagonload. If the wagon was empty, it was admitted duty free. Some traders would load the goods just outside the Mexican territory into half the wagons and drive In with half the caravan made up of empty wagons, wag-ons, thus paying but half the duty. The fandango a kind of public drce was the chief form of social entertainment. entertain-ment. The Spanish girls at the fandangoes fan-dangoes were sometimes treated to Ice cream and whisky. It is a devilish combination." The story of the Old Santa Fe Trail is the story of its Bents, Carsons, Doniphans, Bridges, Woottons, Turleys Tur-leys and the rest. They were men cast In heroic mold. Made by the Trail, they were makers of the west. |