Page 89 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

was eventually to be led by Colonel John Coffee
“Jack” Hays, a former Texas Ranger. Two
of the 47-strong association were 19-year-old Robert Eccleston and his brother Edward. They sailed from New York on April 3, 1849, for Port Lavaca, Texas, on th t Benjamin R. Milan, with an intervening stop at Galveston. The cost for the ship passage and guide service was $180 for each member.155
Their overland journey started on the Texas gulf coast. Here they purchased oxen for their wagons andridingstockandsetoutforSanAntonio. They arrived in the Texas hub city on June 8 and had intended to travel west from San Antonio to El Paso in the company of Major Van Horne and his troops but found that the military had pulled out five days earlier. Even after delaying more than a week before moving on, they managed to catch up to the slow moving column and travel under its protection arriving in El Paso del Norte on September 26, 1849, where the unseasonably heavy rains had flooded the streets to a depth of one-half to one foot.
The next leg of the Fremont Association’s journey,
from El Paso del Norte to the river crossing at San
Diego, was quite eventful. They encountered dif-
ficult going because of the continuing rains which
rendered the road almost impassable even for
mounted men. They passed another train, J. R.
Shipman’s small Pine Bluff outfit, composed of 18
men and 4 ox-teams from the Red River country of
east Texas. The Pine Bluff men were 'all full or
half-breed Cherokee Indians. They also en-
countered a large 40-wagon train from Inde-
pendence, Missouri that had been on the road for
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five months.
Between El Paso del Norte and Dona Ana the
Freemonters combined forces with the Pine Bluff outfit and “Jack” Hays’ much larger organization. On October 3 this large train camped at Dona Ana where Hays visited Captain Steen who was recover- ing from his bullet wound. Hays was considerably uncomfortable when he learned the details of Steen’s encounter with “Apache Jack” Gordon and the Indians. Hays had met Gordon at Coons’ store in Franklin and had hired him as a guide.
After surmounting difficulties faced in crossing the Rio Grande at San Diego, the Fremont Association party camped for the night. They found a barrel stave nailed to a tree noting “LaGrange Company crossed here the 11th & 12th of July, 7 wagons & 43 men. 16 miles to Cooke’s route;” the other side of
the stave had the names [John] Murchison and
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James L. Smith inscribed.
On Sunday, October 7, the train (now about 150
men strong) departed the Rio Grande and headed for Cooke’s Spring. After breakfasting on rabbit, Eccleston drove his mess’s wagon and, on the twist- ing road up to the mesa, it overturned. But only the wagonbowswerebrokenasaresult. Shortlythere- after they encountered a steep hill where it took 10 to 15 men with ropes to keep the wagons upright. Fortunately one of the other messes had waited for them. It began to rain again, however, and to add to their troubles, one pair of oxen had lost the ring and staple (an attachment mechanism) out of the yoke, and that team had to be removed from the hitch. Eccleston therefore decided to make camp for the night and await help the next day, the main camp being two miles farther on.
The balance of the way to Cooke’s Spring went smoothly, but there was concern over a report that a party of Missourians with pack mules had engaged in a battle with Indians, killing or capturing 15 war- riors. Eccleston had little to say about the spring area specifically; he was more interested in the potential Indian problems and missing oxen. He did note that the first two miles through Cooke’s Canyon were hilly and stony and that there were two little fortifications (presumably built by Indians for defense) on the hills near their camp just north of some rugged mountains.
The Fremonters spotted some Indians west of the Mimbres River but were unable to get close enough to attempt communication. They later learned the reason when they encountered about 400 troops under General Jose Maria Elias. The Mexican military just previously had an engagement with the Apaches in which at least five (possibly nine) Indians
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and six Mexicans were killed.
Hays previously had determined to seek a more
direct wagon road to Tucson than Cooke’s “Ox Bow” route. At Ojo la Vaca he led the train west, rather than south, and pioneered the trail that be- came the primary road for emigrants, cattle drives, and much later, the Overland Mail route. There was considerable concern about possible Apache at- tacks when traversing “Puerto del Dado” (Doubtful Canyon) but other than the temporary loss of some oxen, they had no difficulties. Indeed, Eccleston
reported no direct confrontations with the Indians
members
Chapter 3
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during his journey to California.
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