p127  Second Journey Across the Plains

Arrived in St. Louis, I found that those whom I owed felt somewhat encouraged by receiving a part of what I owed, and on hearing an account of the condition of trade, were willing to trust me again on the hope which we all entertained of better luck next time. I settled with Colonel Owens for my outfit and got the promise of another if I wanted it. [I] commenced buying all I could, and wherever I could get credit (by getting my life insured and assigning the policy as security), from one hundred and fifty to six hundred dollars in a place, of such goods as were suited to the market. and with cheek and brass finally succeeded in buying about eighteen hundred dollars' worth of goods, and had them neatly packed.

I had asked Messrs. Doan, King and Company​168 for credit and [had] been refused. They very kindly offered to trust me a reasonable amount to do business in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, or Arkansas, but they declined selling goods on credit to that trade. When nearly ready to ship the goods bought, Mr. Smith, of Smith and Blackwood,​169 told me that Mr. Doan's son, George,  p128 had arrived from the plains, and he had met Mr. Doan on the street that morning, who asked him [Smith] to have me call at their store. Mr. Smith said he thought the invitation meant business, and I went immediately — wondering, guessing, doubting, yet hoping something would turn up to my advantage. On entering the store, I was met by Mr. King, who informed me that Mr. Doan would like to see me in the counting-room upstairs. I was there met by Mr. Doan, who said that he had sent for me to talk about business. George had come home from Mexico and wanted to go into the trade but was not conversant with commercial business, and he had talked the matter over with Mr. King, and if I would form a copartner­ship with George under the firm name of Webb and Doan, they would give the firm credit for an equal amount of goods to what I had bought, thus doubling the amount of the adventure. I immediately assented to the proposition, and Mr. Doan said he would have the articles of copartner­ship drawn up for our signatures that afternoon, and we could immediately go to selecting goods.​170

This was a very advantageous arrangement for me, as I had been compelled to get credit wherever I could,  p129 and not always for such goods as I desired or at prices as low as I could have bought with a better credit. The goods bought of Doan, King and Company were fresh and in all respects desirable — as good and as well adapted to the trade as I could have bought for cash. At that time and ever since I have felt the deepest gratitude and respect for the confidence then manifested, and always [manifested] during my continuance in that trade.

It was but a few days before we were ready to leave St. Louis on my second trip, and under circumstances far more encouraging than I had any reason to hope or expect when I left Santa Fé. Arriving at Independence, we commenced buying our outfit, and bought fifteen yoke of oxen (two teams of six yoke each and three yoke for [the] kitchen wagon), and sufficient goods to make two good loads to pay duties on. We bought three new wagons, loading the large wagons [with] •5,500 pounds and the small one with •about 1,500, besides provisions, etc. Solomon Houck​171 had bought a lot of wagons in Pittsburg,​172 and among them were two heavy wagons with iron axles — a new experiment for freight wagons and one looked upon as  p130 quite hazardous. What if an axle should break or get badly sprung on the plains? No chance of fitting a wooden axle to the box for an iron one, or straightening the iron one if badly bent. Wagons were scarce, and Houck proposed selling one of these; and after due consideration I made up my mind to take the risk. This, I believe, was the first freight wagon with iron axles that ever went over the plains, and Mr. Houck followed some weeks after with the second — the mate to it. Gradually they came into use for the Santa Fé trade, but not for the low country.

As near as I remember, it was about the middle of June before we were ready to start for the plains. And we concluded to start when ready, and on reaching Council Grove wait for enough to make up a train. The first night from the state line we camped at the Lone Elm; and there came up a violent storm in the night, and being [too] short-handed to form a guard to herd the cattle, [we] concluded to go to bed, keep dry, and trust to luck. Awaking in the morning, we found every animal gone, and on hunting the tracks found they had started for "the States." There was no way but to follow them on foot, and I started alone, leaving Mr. Doan to look after things in camp and see that the men did not leave, taking [an] outfit for which they owed and as much more as they might be able to carry. Arriving at the [state] line, I found the oxen had been taken up and corralled by Mr. Magoffin's​173 major domo at his camp, and the mules yarded at French's.

There had been a great deal of rain, and the roads  p131 were very muddy, and the prairie very soft. I went to the camp of Mr. Noland,​174 who had hitched up to start, and found him putting a new tongue to one of his wagons. [It had been] the first [wagon] to make the start over the prairie and [had] mired down. And doubling teams to pull [it] out, the cattle took a short turn [and] brought the wagon "on the lock" and broke off the tongue. I was expecting him to join us, and we would travel together, and expressed my sorrow at his bad luck on the start, when he made a very philosophical reply which I have often repeated when under discouraging circumstances:

"Well, don't despair! Keep a good heart! 'Twill all come right in the spring."

I got the cattle under way for camp, and about half way met one of the men come to assist me. We did not arrive in time to start that evening, but managed to secure the cattle; so the experience was not repeated the next morning.

 p132  We hoped to reach Council Grove in fifteen days at farthest, but the rains continued almost daily, and the roads were almost impassable. [We] would have to unload and double teams almost every day, and frequently two or three times a day; and several days [we] would move one wagon at a time with double teams, and then sometimes mire down and have to unload. We were thirty days to Council Grove, rain almost every day, sleeping on the wet ground, clothes hardly dry and blankets wet, and so little chance to dry them that they two or three times became flyblown and maggoty. At Willow springs​175 we mired down a wagon and broke a pair of hounds, and were unable to get out before dark [and] left the wagon standing in the mud and water. In the night it rained and raised the water so it came very near running into the wagon. In the morning we unloaded the kitchen wagon and ran it alongside, and by taking out a few goods at a time and drawing them to the high ground, succeeded in getting out.

While thus engaged, who should come up but Uncle Nick. He had gone to Chihuahua with Colonel Owens, and getting into some difficulty was arrested and kept in the calaboose for some time; but through the influence of friends [he] succeeded in getting allowed the freedom of the city, with the understanding that if he was smart and willing to take his chances he might run away and get out the country. So the old man started with one man and came to New Mexico, [and] thence by way of Bent's Fort to "the States." His first inquiry was for whiskey and something to eat, and while breakfasting, gave us an account of his trip and adventures. When he left, in crossing the slough, his mule mired  p133 down, and in her efforts to get out threw the old man over her head into the mud and water; so we had to assist both in getting ashore. Mounting, he bade us good‑bye, and with advice to keep up our courage, as we would find plenty of the same sort ahead, rode off. We found the advice good and the assurance true.

After much labor and difficulty we arrived at the Grove, and found a few wagons there waiting for enough more to come up to make up a train. In three or four days Mr. Hicks, of the old firm of Hicks and Marney, came up with, I think eight wagons loaded for a cousin of his, Bethel Hicks, who was doing business at •about 150 miles below Chihuahua. In two or three days enough wagons arrived to make up a train, and we organized by electing Mr. Hicks captain, and arranged the usual four guards, all hands standing guard two hours every night and the morning guard of each day standing day guard. Leaving Council Grove, we revealed on, the roads improving as we began to get to the high buffalo grass prairie, and I recollect but little of interest or adventure except a little excitement not far from the Little Arkansas.

Three men went from camp hunting, as we were approaching the buffalo range: Mr. Barclay, of Barclay and Doyle,​176 Indian traders; and John Sims, a young man from Georgia; and another whose name I don't recollect. They had not been out more than two or three hours when we saw three men, one on horseback in the lead and two on mules following at  p134 the best rate of speed they could make under the circumstances. And on their arriving near enough to identify them, [we saw that they] were our friends the hunters. On inquiring the reason for so much hurry, they said they had discovered a party of Indians stealthily endeavoring to approach them, and thought it the safest policy to make the best time they could to the train. The Indians finding they were discovered, gave chase, and our men finding them gaining upon them, began to think a fight unavoidable. But Barclay said he took command, and called Sims to the lead on his horse, and the other two on their mules found they (their mules) would run much faster. But Sims did not know the country, and in the excitement had lost the direction of the trail from where they were. So Barclay gave the word of command by hallooing "Right! Left! Ahead! Faster!" according to the urgency of the case. When they came up, both men and animals were pretty well fagged by the excitement and the race.

Mr. Barclay took them to be Osage; and I have no doubt they were, as they were frequently met in that section. And if the party was strong they were good Indians, but a weak party or one or two hunters would be treated pretty roughly if caught and allowed to escape with their lives. I have heard of two or three parties being stopped by them, and robbed of nearly everything worth taking, and thankful to get off with their lives. These were, of course, good Indians under missionary instruction, and receiving annuities from our government.

Before arriving at the crossing of [the] Arkansas, we had concluded to take the Bent's Fort route instead  p135 of the Cimarrón, thinking we might possibly encounter Texans on the Cimarrón, and began making preparations to go ahead and arrange for duties. Mr. Colburn, Bethel Hicks, Mr. Noland, Tom Otobus,​a myself, and one other started ahead and traveled at the rate of •forty to fifty miles a day, and spending one night at the fort took the same route of the year before by way of [the] Huérfano and [the] Sangre de Cristo pass. We learned that Governor Martínez had agreed to allow the Americans to retail goods, and [that] the prospects of a good trade were more encouraging than we had found them last year, but that the danger from Indians was greater, as the Ute had visited the governor to learn what he intended to do, whether to allow trade and friendly intercourse or not. During the interview the Indians made some demands which the governor saw fit to resent, and a row occurred, and the Indians left, declaring war against Mexicans as well as Americans. So we traveled cautiously on approaching the mountains, and from there on Tom Otobus was the guide and captain of the company and generally rode ahead, the rest following, Indian file.

We had got to within half a day's ride of Río Colorado, and passing through a grove of piñones to the open plain and thence a mile or so to the cottonwood timber skirting the Río Culebra, when all at once Tom stooped in his saddle and looking earnestly towards the timber, called out, "People! Indians!" and turned his mule around, taking the path for the grove which we had just left. We all followed in order, getting our arms in hand ready for use, and soon heard a volley of musketry from the grove behind us, and saw a good many people dodging among the trees; but [they] soon  p136 came out and saluted us with another volley and a yell of all sorts of sounds and voices. Tom took another look and commenced laughing.

"They are Mexicans," [he said], "and will have a good laugh at us for running."

We turned and met them, and the first to salute him with a shake of the hand was his brother-in‑law.​b The Ute had run off some stock from Río Colorado and killed one or two herders, and these men had been out all night in pursuit, but concluded they had got as far as was prudent, or they had any chance of proceeding safely.

We left Tom at Turley's and proceeded direct to Santa Fé, only staying in Taos over night. Arriving in Santa Fé, [we] called on the governor​177 and found we would have to pay the same duties as last year, but would be permitted to retail, and there would be some unusual restrictions in regard to contraband goods.​178 Candlewick, powder, and some other goods would be stored and held subject to the decisions of the authorities in Mexico. There were some merchants from El  p137 Paso in town, waiting the arrival of the train, and some were expected from Chihuahua; and things looked fair for a brisk trade. We remained some two weeks, rented stores, and made arrangements for business on the arrival of the train. Mr. Colburn formed a copartner­ship with W. T. Smith, which he considered a good arrangement, as Smith had spent several years in the country and had an extensive acquaintance.

When we learned the train was passed Las Vegas,º Colburn and myself left one afternoon, intending to meet it at San Miguel sometime the next day. When we got beyond the Arroyo Hondo, Colburn began to talk about business prospects, and about dark asked me if I would sell out if I had a chance and return in the fall ready to bring out another stock in the spring. I replied I would, if I could do so on terms to suit. He wanted me to make him a proposition, and after reflecting a few moments, I told him how I would sell. He should pay all expenses of freight, insurance, and passage for myself and partner to Independence, take the outfit, teams, and everything at cost, pay all wages and expenses to Santa Fé, and we would turn everything over to him; and [he was to] give us three thousand dollars net profit. He thought the proposition preposterous, as it was too much. We talked and dickered, and camped in the woods •some four or five miles beyond Pecos. [We] picketed our mules and talked till near twelve o'clock and finally went to sleep.

In the morning we started pretty early, and Colburn again began to talk trade. Finally, he offered twenty-eight hundred dollars on my terms, the cost of adventure to be paid in cash, so Mr. Doan could return with the wagons going back, and the profit to be paid in gold  p138 dust, so I could return with the men coming out with Wethered and Caldwell. This proposition I accepted, and on arrival at San Miguel met the train and advised my partner, Mr. Doan, what I had done; and he was satisfied and delighted.

Colburn bought out another man with two wagons, on what terms I never knew. [He] also [bought] goods from other parties, and made some quite large sales to low country merchants, and had a very good retail stock on hand. He did very well, and I thought we had. The wagons entered Santa Fé the eighty-third day from Independence.

Messrs. Colburn and Smith took possession of the goods and wagons at San Miguel and entered them and passed through the custom-house without any trouble beyond the usual small annoyances from the custom-house officers, which were usually satisfied by small loans of money which were never paid or expected to be, and small presents of some kind to which they would take a fancy, generally amounting to twenty-five to one hundred dollars according to circumstances and number of wagons entered.​179

About two weeks after our arrival Mr. Doan took an opportunity to return with a return train, and was paid the amount of the adventure and expenses according to contract, and paying export duties on [the] amount, leaving me to collect the profits and follow about the middle of October. I made my headquarters at E. Leitensdorfer  p139 and Company and had a settlement with them of the last year's adventure, which, when closed up, varied but little from [the] estimate made in the spring — profits: mule (Dolly Spanker), saddle, bridle, blankets, etc., and rifle gun ("Old Blackfoot").

About October 10, I received the balance due from C. and S., and began preparations for leaving. B. Pruett​180 had sold out his goods and wanted to return; and [Pruett] having a small wagon and six sets of harness, I agreed to join him and bear an equal share of the expense of mules and outfit and leave as soon as we could get a sufficient company. Wethered and Caldwell's train was expected, and we calculated on a few of the drivers wishing to return.

While getting ready, Uncle Nick came ahead from the train and proposed returning, and told me what day we might expect to meet them at the Río Moro. I had heard that Smith had been bragging a good deal about his business. And from his habit of telling everything he knew and his intimacy with the officers of the customs, [I] thought (as the exportation of gold dust was forbidden by law and subject to confiscation if found)​181 it would be well to get it to the frontier in some way without taking it with me. So I got Uncle Nick to take it out and deliver it to me when we met. Pruett also had some gold dust, but also had some specie on which he paid export duty​182 and would consequently not be suspected as a contrabandist.

 p140  The afternoon before I intended to start, Don Agustín Durán came in and began talking with Eugene, and from the expression and manner I judged they were talking about me. Very soon Eugene told me that the officers of [the] customs were after me, as we had suspected they would be. As a cover, Colburn had given me a draft on St. Louis, which I produced, and Eugene translated [it] to Don Agustín. And the old man very blandly replied that the cover was well intended and would ordinarily work well, but [that] Smith had inadvertently (while bragging about his business) told the whole story of the trade, and that Colburn had been to the Placer, procured the gold dust, and paid it over; and now here was a bill for the export duties (according to my recollection, two per cent) on twenty-eight hundred dollars, amounting to fifty‑six dollars.

"Ask him," [I replied], "how I can be made to pay export duties on a specie which I have not got or on gold dust which is contraband, and which I show plainly is not in my possession by producing a draft on St. Louis for the whole amount claimed that I am taking out of the country."

"Tell the young man, Don Eugenio, that he has made his diligencia very ingenuously, and indeed I think you must have had a hand in it. The gold dust is but a small package, and we probably could not find it if we hunted ever so earnestly. But the young man is a much larger package, and we shall be very careful that he does not leave town until he pays the $56. And even if he should [leave town], it would be [the] worse for him, as we should denounce him and have all the people  p141 on the lookout for him, so he could not get out of the country without being arrested. We don't want to make any fuss, but we want the money. Our salary and perquisites are small, and we don't propose to allow this opportunity to get a little ready cash, to pass. So pay the money, take the paper, and do what you please with it, and go in peace."

I paid the money, took the paper, and the next morning left for "the States."

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The Author's Notes:

168 J. Parker Doan and Wyllys King were the principal members of the firm of Doan, King & Co., then located at 131 Main street, St. Louis. They were wholesale dealers in English, French, German, and American dry goods. St. Louis Directory, 1845, p51; St. Louis Directory, 1848, pp72, 132; Daily Missouri Republican, June 18, 1844.

169 Charles L. Smith and J. H. P. Blackwood constituted the firm of Smith & Blackwood, then located at 69 Main street, St. Louis. They were wholesale dealers in English, French, German, and American dry goods. Smith & Blackwood, Invoice, July 8, 1844, Webb mss: St. Louis Directory, 1845, pp25, 161.

170 The merchandise purchased by Webb & Doan cost $6267.22, and consisted mainly of dry goods, clothing, notions, hardware, and jewelry. The following is a partial list of the goods bought: fancy, black, white, pink, and mourning prints; brown, and bleached sheeting; striped, and checked muslins; blue, and linen drillings; scarlet, and zebra cloth; blue, black, and green alpaca; red, and white flannel; black cambric; striped, plaid, and black cashmere; bleached domestics; French lawns; Irish linens; white, and fancy edgings; cotton flags; bandana, black silk, cotton, and red pongee handkerchiefs; German shawls; white cotton hose; hickory shirts; blue denims; buck gloves; black silk ties; suspenders; green shoe thread; fine ivory combs; beads; necklaces; gold rings; fancy, and gilt hair pins; pearl shirt buttons; gilded vest buttons; gilded coat buttons; needles; scissors; razors; strops; coffee mills; sadirons; log chains; shovels; spades; hoes; axes; percussion caps; cork inkstands; shaving soap; and candlewick. Webb & Doan, Account of Goods as Baled, 1845, Webb MSS.

171 Solomon Houck, of Boonville, Missouri, began his career as a Santa Fé trader in the early twenties. By 1849 he had made sixteen journeys across the plains to New Mexico. He was still engaged in this trade in 1852. Benjamin Hayes, Emigrant Notes, 410‑412, MS., Bancroft Library; Daily Missouri Republican, Aug. 17, Sept. 27, 1852.

172 At this time most of the wagons used by Santa Fé traders were manufactured in Pittsburg. A number of prairie schooners were also made in Independence, Missouri, where, by 1845, there were seven wagonwright's establishments. Daily Evening Gazette, Mar. 24, 1840; Weston Journal, Mar. 1, 1845; Daily Missouri Republican, Apr. 9, 1846.

173 James Wiley Magoffin was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in 1799. In March, 1825, he was appointed United States consul at Saltillo, Mexico. Later he removed to Chihuahua, where he was in business until the Mexican war. In August, 1845, according to his own statement, he "went into Santa Fé ahead of Genl. Kearny and smoothed the way to his bloodless conquest of New Mexico." Susan Shelby Magoffin, Down the Santa Fé Trail and into Mexico (Stella M. Drumm, ed.), xviii‑xix; Ralph E. Twitchell, The Story of the Conquest of Santa Fé, New Mexico, and the Building of Old Fort Marcy, A.D. 1846, Historical Society of New Mexico, Publications, no. 24, pp16, 46, 51.

174 Probably Smallwood V. Noland, of Independence, Missouri. Noland was one of the pioneer settlers in Jackson county, Missouri, and for a number of years was a representative from that district to the State legislature. In 1838 he became proprietor of the Washington Hotel in Independence. This building was destroyed by fire on the night of February 19, 1845; but he soon erected another and larger structure and called it the Noland House. Noland's hotel, or tavern, was widely known throughout the West and was patronized by Santa Fé traders. James Aull, Independence Ledger, 1827‑1828, Aull MSS., Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, Mo.; Waugh, Desultory Wanderings, 1845‑1846, pp47, 120, MS., Missouri Historical Society; Weston Journal, Mar. 1, 1845; Weekly Reveille, May 26, 1845; Daily Missouri Republican, July 3, 1846; History of Jackson County, Missouri (Kansas City, 1881), 181, 643‑644.

175 Willow springs is •about ten miles southwest of Lawrence, Kansas.

176 Alexander Barclay and Joseph B. Doyle. In 1849 Barclay & Doyle built an adobe trading post on the south bank of the Mora river near the present village of Watrous, Mora county, New Mexico. This post, which was still standing in 1857, was known as Barclay's Fort. The firm of Barclay & Doyle was dissolved in 1856. House Reports, 36 cong., 1 sess., no. 321, pp175‑176; Santa Fé Weekly Gazette, Feb. 9, 1856; Davis, El Gringo, 52.

177 José Chávez y Castillo. Mariano Martínez de Lejanza was removed from office early in 1845. His successor was José Chávez y Castillo, who served as provisional-governor from May 1 to November 16, 1845. On the latter date Manuel Armijo again became governor, though his appointment was dated, July 24, 1845. Bloom, "New Mexico under Mexican Administration," Old Santa Fé, II.235, 239, 249.

178 Chávez, the provisional-governor, probably stated that the import duties would not be changed and that the merchants would be permitted to retail. But this policy was altered when General Francisco García Conde came to New Mexico. Appointed military head of the Fifth division of the Federal army, General Conde arrived in Santa Fé in August or September, 1845, and for a time superseded the provisional-governor as actual ruler of New Mexico. Conde prohibited the introduction of contraband, increased the import duties to about nine hundred and fifty dollars a wagon load, and enforced the non‑retail decree of September 23, 1845. Daily Missouri Republican, Sept. 4, Nov. 3, 1845; Bloom, "New Mexico under Mexican Administration," Old Santa Fé, II.241.

179 The Santa Fé correspondent of the Daily Missouri Republican stated that in 1845 the total cost of merchandise transported from Independence to Santa Fé was $342,530, and that the import duties amounted to $105,757. He asserted that caravans which transported these goods consisted of one hundred and forty‑one wagons, twenty‑one carriages, two hundred and three men, one thousand seventy-eight oxen, seven hundred and sixteen mules, and thirty-nine horses. Daily Missouri Republican, Mar. 19, 1846.

180 Benjamin Pruett, of Jackson county, Missouri. In 1846 Pruett returned to Santa Fé and settled there. During the Taos Revolt of the following year he was killed at Mora, New Mexico, about January 20. Weekly Reveille, Apr. 12, 1847.

181 See the Mexican tariff of April 30, 1842. House Ex. Docs., 27 cong., 3 sess., no. 29, p251.

182 The Mexican tariff of September 26, 1843, provided for a duty of six per cent upon all gold and silver coins exported from the country. House Ex. Docs., 28 cong., 1 sess., no. 24, p113.

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Thayer's Notes:

a Bieber has no footnote, having no doubt been stumped by the spelling of the name; but this is Tom Autobees (1823‑1904) — sometimes Autubees, "Audeby, Autebees, Ortibi, Otterby, Oterbie, Ortubiz, and many other variations" — a Taos-Arkansas River mountain man, half-brother of the better-known Colorado mountain man Charles Autobees, whose life is told by Janet Lecompte in a nine-part article in Colorado Magazine, July 1957 thru July 1959. Being the son of Bartholomew Tobin, Tom Autobees is also often more properly referred to as Tom Tobin.

b Tom Tobin (Autobees) had married into a family of Arroyo Hondo. His wife Pascuala Bernal (1829‑1887?) appears to have had only one male sibling, Juan de Jesus Bernal, b. about 1824, who must therefore be the brother-in‑law mentioned in our text.

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