By Al Bates

This article is one of a series that will appear in this space during this year and the next on historic events relating to the Arizona Territory’s Sesquicentennial.

Two weeks ago this series of articles continued narrating events of the first weeks of travel for Arizona Governor John Goodwin, his party of territorial officials, and their military escort, bringing them to Fort Larned, Kansas.

They departed from Fort Larned after three days, proceeding to the Cimarron Crossing of the Arkansas River where they took the Santa Fe Trail’s north fork, on the way to Fort Lyon, Colorado, choosing the longer route for its better water availability.

There was a gradual rise in elevation and they began to encounter early snowstorms.  Obtaining water required new procedures; instead of free flowing streams they were forced to dig into apparently dry stream beds to find water for man and beast.  They found the result of sand filtering to be pleasant.

A more serious issue was providing proper feed for their horses and mules as summarized by Judge Allyn in one of his letters to the Harford newspaper, “…want of grass begins to tell upon our animals, or rather too much corn, for it requires rough feed, as they call it, that is—grass, hay, corn-stalks, &c, to digest corn—especially with mules.”

Wood for fires became scarce, and they were forced to rely on dry buffalo chips for fuel.  Jonathan Richards, the would-be court clerk, wrote home, “Being out of the wood district, were obliged to use, as a substitute, buffalo ‘chips,’ which, to our surprise, made a better fire than the wood we had been using.”  He added,  “It is amusing … to see all, from the Governor down, out on the prairie, bag in hand, collecting ‘chips.’”

On the other hand, Richards noted that spirits were high:  “Our party, the escort, the teamsters, and all attached to the party, have enjoyed excellent health and are in fine spirits.  The killing of one of the teamsters by the assistant wagon-master striking him over the head with a spade, is the only thing that has happened to mar the pleasure of the journey, thus far.”

Photo: This map illustrates the route traveled by the Governor’s Party in 1863 (Map Courtesy of Author).

Sunday, October 25, 1863, they arrived at Fort Lyon and two days later Richards wrote a letter that started with a routine description of the fort and the nearby Indian encampments.  Then came exciting news: “The governor has a Santa Fe paper of the 17th of October, from which I have been reading an official report of Capt. N. J. Pishon, U. S. A., concerning the recent mining discoveries among the San Francisco mountains.”(Capt. Pishon had led the military escort for Surveyor-General John A. Clark, to the newly discovered central Arizona gold fields.)

He continued, “Pishon says in his report that the mines are far richer than any previously discovered.  He was there twelve days, traveling and prospecting.  Gold was found everywhere.  … Many of the men of our train intend going into the mines on our arrival.”

Judge Allyn’s next letter did not mention the gold discoveries, but wrote of his concern about the weather and the 8000-foot Raton Pass: “We were detained there [Fort Lyon] four days, first for repairs and the necessity of rest, and last by a severe snow storm, the most severe known here since the post was established.  We passed the time comfortably enough in camp, barring a few frozen toes and some things of that sort, but it was difficult to avoid gloomy anticipation and forebodings with regard to the passage of the mountains as one looked at the shivering animals picketed around.”

Raton Pass was noted for sudden, severe storms that often trapped travelers, some times fatally.  This time the weather cooperated, passage over the pass would be easier than feared but still hard on their suffering livestock.  They left Lyon in a heavy snowstorm, and subsequently found no grass for mules and horses in four days of travel.  When they did come to an area with forage it was too late to prevent the deaths of several animals.

Their next passage would take them over the pass and on to Fort Union, New Mexico, where they would hear more news of the gold rush and where a historic decision would be made.

(Days Past is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners, International (www.prescottcorral.org).The public is encouraged to submit articles for Days Past consideration. Please contact SHM Library & Archives Reference Desk at 928-445-3122 Ext. 14 or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information.)