Appendix I 



1 844. Despite cogent arguments raised by Mary Hurlburt Scott 

 that William Sublette discovered the famous cutoff in 1832 

 and the existence of a map drawn by David Burr in 1840 vaguely 

 depicting the 'Soublette (sic) Route' in the vicinity of the cutoff 

 the consensus among historians is that Caleb Greenvi/ood led 

 the first wagons (the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party) 

 across the route in 1844. It is likely that fur trappers knew 

 of such a route long before the westward migration, but it 

 may be impossible to credit a single individual or establish 

 a date for the blazing of such a trail due to the scant written 

 evidence left by the mountain men. The Bridger Route (main 

 route) of the Oregon Trail turned southwest from South Pass 

 and followed the Big Sandy River to the Green River ferry 

 crossings, and beyond to Fort Bridger located on Blacks Fork. 

 From there the trail turned northwest, followed the Little 

 Muddy, crossed the Bear River Divide to the Bear River and 

 continued westward into what is now a crude 'V with Fort 

 Bridger at the base. The Sublette Cutoff, in effect, closed the 

 top of the V and saved 2.5 to 3 days and 60 to 70 miles. However, 

 the Sublette Cutoff crossed a waterless stretch estimated by 

 guidebooks and journals as 35 to 53 miles (actually about 

 50 miles) before reaching the Green River. The Sublette Cutoff 

 became very popular during the California Gold Rush which 

 was characterized by impatient gold seekers. The Dempsey- 

 Hockaday Trail, a cutoff on a cutoff, was pioneered by John 

 M. Hockaday in 1856 and saved several miles where the 

 Sublette Cutoff dipped southward in the vicinity of the Hams 

 Fork drainage. 



"Several new short cuts discovered in the early 1 850s avoided 

 the 50-mile desert crossing on the Sublette Cutoff and soon 

 reduced the traffic on its eastern portion. The Kinney Cutoff, 

 the Baker and Davis Road, and the Mormon Road (not to 

 be confused with the route out of Fort Bridger), used in 

 conjunction with the Slate Creek Trail west of the Green River, 

 all shortened the waterless stretch. They were located south 

 of the Sublette Cutoff and generally cut across the triangle 

 of land formed by the convergence of the Big Sandy and the 

 Green Rivers. These short variations then converged on the 

 west side of the Green River and followed the Slate Creek 

 drainage westward and once again joined the Sublette Cutoff. 



"East of South Pass, two significant variations were used 

 by emigrants, the Childs Cutoff and the Seminoe Cutoff. 

 Andrew Child pioneered the cutoff which bore his name in 

 1850 and described it in his guidebook published in 1852. 

 His route diverged in a northwesterly direction from the vicinity 

 of Fort Laramie staying on the north side of the North Platte 

 River and today's Guernsey Reservoir. It remained on the north 

 side of the North Platte River and rejoined the main Oregon 

 Trail in the vicinity of present day Casper. The Seminoe Cutoff 

 was probably pioneered by a fur trapper known as Seminoe 

 and received moderate usage by the military and the emigrants 

 after 1850. It began southwest of the Ice Spring Slough and 

 bore southwesterly, staying well south of the Sweetwater River. 

 By taking this route, parties could avoid the numerous 

 crossings of that river. 



"The character of the westward migration on the Oregon 

 Trail gradually changed through its decades of use. In 1849, 

 a detachment of the U.S. Army, known as the Mounted 

 Riflemen, established a number of military posts along the 

 Oregon Trail for the protection and convenience of the 

 emigrants. In Wyoming, Fort Laramie was converted into a 

 military post. The site had long served as a fur trading center, 

 strategically located at the intersection of the established route 

 to the western trapping grounds along the North Platte River 

 and the Trappers Trail south of Taos. Fort William was rebuilt 

 in 1841 and named Fort John but became more popularly 

 known as Fort Laramie. Fort John was purchased by the Army 

 in 1849 and was gradually rebuilt with woodframe buildings. 

 The original adobe fort stood at the south end of the parade 



grounds and was finally demolished in 1860. According to 

 the guidebooks. Fort Laramie was 665 miles west of St. Joseph, 

 about one-third of the way to Sacramento. It represented the 

 beginning of the mountains and the end of the more easily 

 traveled plains. It was also the last outpost of civilization and 

 provided a good 'turning back' place for the emigrant. 



"The regiment of Mounted Riflemen under Colonel William 

 Loring continued westward along the Oregon Trail but 

 bypassed Fort Bridger by taking the Sublette Cutoff. However, 

 Captain Howard Stansbury of the Corps of Topographical 

 Engineers passed through the post in August en route to a 

 survey of the Salt Lake Valley and recommended the location 

 as being ideal for a military post. Fort Bridger had been 

 constructed by Jim Bridger and Louis Vasquez in 1842 and 

 1843 as a trading post which catered to the emigrant traffic. 

 In 1853, the post was seized by the Mormons and occupied 

 until the Mormon War of 1857, when the Mormons abandoned 

 and burned the post. In 1858, the remains of the fort became 

 a U.S. military installation which was in service until 1890. 

 Therefore, wagon-bound emigrants had two major supply 

 points along the Oregon Trail in present-day Wyoming. After 

 1849, in addition to the military installation at Fort Laramie, 

 soldiers patrolled the trail offering additional protection for 

 the emigrants. 



"In 1857, Congress approved the construction of a number 

 of wagon roads across the territories to aid emigrant travel 

 and speed mail delivery to the West Coast. Frederick West 

 Lander was appointed chief engineer of the Fort Kearney, 

 South Pass, and Honey Lake Wagon Road. The existing 

 Oregon Trail was utilized from Fort Kearney to Independence 

 Rock and received limited improvements. The central division 

 of this road crossed South Pass, the Green River Basin, and 

 the Bear River Mountains to City of Rocks. Although Lander 

 sent out a number of survey crews to inspect the various cutoffs 

 already in use west of South Pass, he decided to construct 

 a new road north of the existing variations which became 

 known as the Lander Cutoff. It was opened for emigrant traffic 

 for the 1859 season and was used by an estimated 13,000 

 travelers that year. Lander's crews also made minor 

 improvements to some of the existing trail variations west of 

 South Pass and dug some wells along the waterless stretch 

 of the Sublette Cutoff. The Pacific Wagon Road improvements 

 greatly aided the overland migration with new and shorter 

 routes and the improvements of old ones, and in Wyoming, 

 resulted in the creation of the Lander Cutoff. 



"The Oregon Trail was also used as a major freight route 

 to supply the growing Mormon settlements in Utah. As early 

 as 1849, Ben Holladay had begun serious freighting on the 

 Oregon Trail by taking 50 freight wagons to Salt Lake City, 

 and he extended this effort to California in 1850. During the 

 Mormon War of 1857, William B. Russell, Alexander Majors, 

 and William B. Waddell conducted a large scale freighting 

 operation to supply the U.S. military expedition under Col. 

 Albert Sidney Johnston. The Mormons also developed their 

 own freight lines after 1850 utilizing the Oregon Trail. 



"In 1850, the federal government began mail service to the 

 growing western settlements via the Oregon Trail by awarding 

 a mail contract to Samuel Woodson for monthly mail service 

 from Independence to Salt Lake City. W.M.F. Magraw 

 succeeded Woodson in 1854 and continued mail and 

 passenger service to Salt Lake and California. Both efforts 

 met with mixed success due to harsh weather and Indian 

 problems. In 1856, the Mormons succeeded Magraw and began 

 to systematically develop relay stations using mule teams. 

 However, the Mormon War of 1857 suspended overland mail 

 service for about a year. Overland mail service to California 

 continued on the more southerly Butterfield route. In 1858, 

 John M. Hockaday was awarded the mail contract for the 



47 



