1867 Emigration

(Nebraska City Variant – Julesburg – Lodge Pole Creek Variant – Golden Pass Variant)
( Julesburg – Lodge Pole Creek Variant – Golden Pass Variant)

On June 24, 1867, Julesburg (also referred to as Platte Station or North Platte), was the established “end of track” station for the Union Pacific Railroad. The Union Pacific had a fleet of 16 locomotives, 200 platform cars, 12 passenger cars, and the Lincoln Car, converted for business car use. Casement Brothers has a private fleet of 6 locomotives for use in construction.

Only one chartered ship, the Manhattan, with 480 Saints under the direction of returning missionary Archibald N. Hill, made the journey. From New York, some went by river steamer to Albany, then to Buffalo, by train to St. Joseph, and by river steamer to Council Bluffs. Others went by rail to Philadelphia and on to St. Joseph. Train travel continued from Omaha to North Platte. There was no one there.

Brigham Young, Jr., returning from a mission to England, was with them and his brother Joseph A. Young came to meet him. At meeting of the brethren each man put in enough money to buy a few sacks of flour and each adult received a pint of flour a day. The next train brought wagons, oxen and milk cows, but no provisions. Brigham Young, Jr. sent telegrams to Maine where the provisions were to be bought and finally a reply came from the man who was supposed to buy the provisions. He had spent their money for bankrupt goods at a bargain expecting to sell them but had not been able to do so.

It was learned that one man in the company had surplus means, he agreed to loan it to Brigham Young, Jr. who went east and returned in three days with the provisions. Ten children had died and also a lady age 82.

Forts on the Overland Trail
(Heart Throbs of the West, Kate B. Carter, Vol.3, p.184)

Fort Walbach was established on Lodge Pole Creek, near Cheyenne Pass, 85 miles southwest of Fort Laramie, September 20, 1858. Named in honor of Brigadier General John De Walbach, a distinguished soldier of the War of 1812. The post was not intended as a permanent post, therefore only temporary buildings were constructed. It was abandoned April 9, 1859.—Henrietta Slade. (Bartlett’s History of Wyoming, Vol. 1. Bancroft’s Works, Vol. 35.)

Fort Halleck (Wyoming) was established July 20, 1862. It was located near the foot of the Medicine Bow Mountains and was for the time the most important post in the Rocky Mountain region, being the center of Indian disturbances of that period. It was named in honor of General Henry W. Halleck, a noted Union general in the Civil War. The troops stationed here saw hard service guarding mail coaches and immigrant trains. From here the stage route was directly west to Bridger’s Pass and Bridger’s Pass Station to Bitter Creek Station, where the grass was poor and the water bitter and the alkali unbearable; to Green River.

Fort Halleck was one of the centers of the Indian disturbances, being attacked from all the points of the compass. The red men came south from the Oregon Trail, north from the South Platte, east from the Camp Walbach road, and west from the Sweetwater.

In July 1863 Gov. James Duane Doty of Utah and General Connor made a treaty with the Indians at Fort Bridger. As usual, trade goods were distributed, and the tribes agreed to discontinue their depredations along the stage and telegraph routes. In the meantime, the Ute Indians continued to keep the interest of the troops alive by intermittent disturbances in the vicinity of Fort Halleck.

Another attack occurred on the station at Pass Creek, Wyoming; horses were reported stolen from Cooper Creek Station, food and clothing were stolen from Medicine Bow Station, and some 250 head of horses were taken in a raid within fifteen miles of Fort Laramie.

To put a halt to these depredations charged against Ute Indians, on July 7, 1863, Capt. Asaph with his entire command (70 troops), except three men who remained at Fort Halleck, in pursuit of the Utes. The soldiers drove the Indians, 250 in number, steadily through the mountains. The stock could not be recovered. The Indians own to a loss of over 60 killed and wounded; over 20 killed on the field. They were better mounted and armed than the troops, having Hawkens’ rifles, revolvers, bows, and arrows, and spears, and would have killed a great many more of the troops, but in firing down the steep hill-side they invariably fired too high. The battle lasted two. In order to protect the post, all emigrants had been stopped and armed to stand guard against 600 to 1,000 Utes reported to be somewhere between Fort Halleck and the Middle Park in Colorado.

On June 30, 1863, Maj. Edward W. Wynkoop of the First Colorado Cavalry had been ordered, with four companies, “to proceed west, on the Overland Stage Route, as far as Fort Bridger, and chastise any Indians who may have committed depredations on either ranches or emigrants.” There he was to join General Connor. Major Wynkoop was told to “cooperate with him in any way that may be for the good of the service and the safety of settlers and travelers on the overland line, and especially for the security of the mail line to and from the Pacific States.”

Difficulties had existed between the Tabeguache Utes and settlers of the region for some time that now threatened to break out into a Indian war, and in October 1863 a conference was held to try to settle the differences.

In June, 1865, five companies of soldiers were distributed on the road from Fort Collins to Green River, covering about four hundred miles of the Overland Route and the most dangerous part of the road. Over this road, at one time, and for two hundred miles. the Indians had driven off all the stage horses; Colonel Plumb having to use his cavalry horses to haul the coaches, and his soldiers being detailed as drivers. During this period on this section of the road the stages were only run at night, in order to better avoid the Indians.

As the power of the Colorado and California volunteers was asserted, it became apparent that Indian forces could not meet these units in any real show of force. Peace with the Utes, with some intermit tent outbreaks, was established as a result and continued through the Civil War period.

In 1866, when the seat of Indian trouble had shifted to the Big Horn and Powder River basins, Fort Halleck was abandoned.

Kimball, Brigham Willard
LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 3, p.663

Kimball, Brigham Willard, a Latter-day Saint Elder who died while returning from a foreign mission, was born in January, 1845, at Nauvoo, Hancock county, Illinois, the son of Heber C. Kimball and Vilate Murray. He was baptized when about eight years of age and in his boyhood days was an acknowledged leader among the companions of his youth, participating in numerous sports and athletic exercises. In 1864 he was called on a mission to Great Britain and he soon became the leader of men the same as he had formerly been a leader of boys, but the English climate affected his health, in consequence of which he was honorably released to return home. On the plains he was met by his brother, Heber P. Kimball, one of the most prominent freighters of early days, who had gone out to hasten his brother’s return and make his journey more comfortable, but Brigham W. grew worse and finally died July 24, 1867, on Pole Creek, about seventy-five miles west of Julesburg, where his remains were also interred.

Anson V. Call. While in England he labored in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Conference, and subsequently presided over the Bristol Conferences, and later still over the Sheffield Conference, which honorable position he held up to the time of his release. During the latter part of his mission his labors were curtailed by the sickness which, it is supposed, resulted in his death.

The particulars of his sickness are unknown to his parents, and the only news that has been received of his death has been furnished by telegram through President Young, to whom Bro. Call returns his sincere thanks, as also to Bro. Guernsey Brown, who is supposed to have attended his son in his sickness, and to Bro. H. P. Kimball, who attended to his funeral obsequies, and to all others who may have in any way assisted him.