Page 84 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

tune to get enmeshed in the two-pronged field exer- cise initiated out of Forts Craig and Thorn in early March 1856. His band was camped on the Mimbres when Captain (Brevet Lieutenant Colonel) Daniel T. Chandler, returning to the Rio Grande, crossed their stock trail. Chandler attacked the camp and felled several Indians before sounding recall at the Indian’s presentation of a white flag. The Apaches convinced Steck, who had accompanied the expedi- tion, that they were waiting to confer with him, and he responded by unleashing an attack on Chandler
that resulted in a flurry of inter- and intrabureauracy
119 correspondence over the incident.
The Apaches, despite their mistrust of treaties and government representatives, would have to learn to deal with the American Government and its repre- sentatives, because the final installment for the Gadsden Purchase was paid in February 1856 and the completed boundary maps exchanged in June, legally transferring “ownership” from Mexico to the UnitedStates. TheMexicangarrisoninTucsonwas recalled sometime between the two dates leaving the
area and the emigrant road temporarily un- protected. Despite the fact that General Winfield Scott had issued orders on June 17, 1856, it was not until mid-October that Major Steen, assembled suf- ficient men and supplies at Fort Thorn to initiate the reestablishment of a military presence at or near Tucson.120
When Steen’s troops finally pulled out of Fort Thorn,onOctober19,theyhadawagontrainloaded with a six-month’s supply of stores and were driving a large herd of cattle. They proceeded west by way of Cooke’s Spring and the route explored by Parke in his surveys for a railroad. Steen first established his military headquarters not in Tucson, as directed, but in Calabasas, about 60 miles south of Tucson. Once in Calabasas, Steen quickly instituted a
monthly military mail (carried by express riders) between that site (Camp Moore) and Fort Thorn, where the express connected with the regular
121
government mail service to Santa Fe.
In November 1856, Navajo Agent Henry L. Dodge
disappeared while deer hunting near the Zuni Pueblo and the blame fell on the Mogollon Apaches whohadbeenstealingsheepalongtheRioGrande. Agent Steck attempted to ransom Dodge, assuming he was still alive, and enlisted Mangas Coloradas’s efforts and influence. Their exertions proved fruit- less, however, as Dodge was already dead, but his
body would not be discovered until early the follow-
122
mg year.
The presence of the military in the Southwest had
other impacts on the civilian sector. In 1856 Simeon Hart agreed to deliver 700 bushels of beans from Santa Cruz, south of the border, to Fort Thorn, Tucson, or other military installations, all at the same price: $1.60 per bushel plus the transportation
123
The army undoubted- ly stimulated local economies but apparently was not directly responsible for the establishment of any permanent new settlements. And, for the army, most of its time was still spent at assorted routine activities, building and repairing installations, es- corting government and civilian parties, tending gar- dens, marching out on mostly uneventful scouting
Civilian Use of the Southern Route
70
charge of $2.90 per bushel.
expeditions, and processing paper. change dramatically in a few years.
Civilian Use of the Southern Route
It is difficult to determine whether the emigrants or the forty-niners came first, because in many cases they were the same people or at least were traveling west in the same groups. Therefore it was purely an arbitrary decision to examine first the record left by those who were more clearly interested in gold, at leastwhentheystartedwest. Manyoftheearlygold seekers went by way of the sea, either around Cape Horn of South America, or in two sea stages that sandwiched crossing the Isthmus of Panama by mule-back. Others first sailed to Brownsville, Texas, then up the Rio Grande to some jumping-off place and traveled overland the rest of the way. In the summer of 1849 more than 400 wagons passed through El Paso del Norte on the latter route. The docking of the steamer California of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company line on February 28, 1849,
marked the official date of the arrival of the first
forty-niners’ in California.
Nearly all Southerners seeking the golden glory of
California used part or all of Cooke’s Wagon Road,
orasitwasfrequentlycalled,theGilaTrail. Even
many midwesterners used the route, after coming to
New Mexico from Missouri by way of the Santa Fe 126
-1
'JC
Many of the forty-niners using the Santa Fe
Trail.
Trail joined one of the caravans of veteran traders
124
This would