1864 Emigration

(Wyoming/Nebraska City – Ft. Kearney – Ft. Laramie – Echo – Golden Pass Variant)
(Wyoming – Julesburg – Lodge Pole Creek Variant – Cherokee/Overland Variant – Golden Pass Variant)

9 companies used the Nebraska City and Golden Pass variants.
4 companies used the Nebraska City, Lodge Pole Creek, Cherokee/Overland, Golden Pass variants.
1 company followed the MPNHT and Golden Pass route.
1 company used the Leavenworth and Golden Pass variants.

From New York, immigrants went by steamer on the Hudson River to Albany, by rail via Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Quincy, and St. Joseph. then by steamer on the Missouri River to Wyoming, Nebraska. Charles William Symons wrote that it was especially slow at bridges and where rails had been torn out by the Confederates. When this occurred, freight had to be carried across the river where train crews waited to convey them. At St. Joseph, they were put on a Missouri river boat and shipped to Wyoming, Nebraska Territory. Soldiers fired on the boat on the Missouri River but no one was hurt. For two weeks they waited in a brush shelter and worked at loading freight for 900 persons which was slow and tedious.
When the H. N. Hansen family arrived, everyone was busy building a camp in the brush–brush piled on poles and called huts. A brush hut protected the people from sun, but in the rain, it was worthless. They were not long encamped when disease struck a good many persons. The exposure to the weather affected all ages. Although some called it cholera, Hansen believed it was a combination of exhaustion, exposure and poor nutrition. Jane Goody claimed that as they went by steamer from St. Joseph to Wyoming, all drinking water was taken from the river and many became sick.

Hansen (who travelled with the Canfield Company) mentioned the cost of $60/person to cross the plains and the documents that persons who could not read English were asked to sign so that money would be repaid with interest to the PEF. He also seemed to resent Joseph W. Young instructing them that they must be obedient to the priesthood as if they were oxen and “Gees and Haws” were to be their command. Death was a frequent occurrence and burials were unceremonious. [Note: Joseph W. Young was the most experienced agent with over a decade of experience.]

The Sioux Indians had become troublesome, and at one time, a company of six wagons were destroyed; all the men killed; one woman taken prisoner; and teams killed. By order of the military, travel was suspended for two weeks at Fort Kearney. When they were permitted to travel again, hundreds of wagons had gathered. (William Adams, Warren Co.)

Charles Fletcher, an out-and-back teamster mentioned how he and 25 other wagons going east followed the Oregon Trail from Ft. Laramie to the South Platte River. After a difficult crossing of the flooded stream, they saw another Mormon company on the other side of the river was going on the same purpose and so Fletcher’s company traveled fast to get there first and get started back. They arrived a day ahead of the other train but the Church Emigration Agent said because the other train had to travel farther they would loaded first. Fletcher’s group waited six weeks and time passed slowly.