When we think of freight trains today, this is probably what
comes to mind:
However, back in the 1800s, before the railroads crossed the
Missouri River after the Civil War, a freight train looked more like this:
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| Notice two wagons hooked together-needed fewer bullwhackers or muleskinners that way. |
Freight
trains were pulled across the Great Plains for decades before railroads began
transporting a large portion of trade goods between the East and either the
Pacific Coast states of California and Oregon, or the Mexican-held Southwest. One
of the earliest known cases of freight being taken across the territory claimed
by Mexico, but dominated by the Plains tribes of Native Americans, was the
first venture down the Santa Fe Trail in 1821 by Captain William Becknell.
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| Sante Fe trail's end outside W.J. Rowe Transfer Company |
His
party of traders left Arrow Rock, Missouri, to trade horses and mules with
American Indians and hunt wild game on the plains. The expedition met a troop
of Mexican soldiers in November and traveled with them to Santa Fe. Their trade
goods, including calico and other printed cloth, sold at high prices in the
isolated Spanish town. They returned to Missouri in 1822 after only 48 days of travel. Because
of high profits, the trade route soon became a favorite with other traders—most
of whom used freight wagons pulled by teams of either oxen or mules.
Ben
Holladay became known as the stagecoach king. However, he got his start in
freighting in 1846 during the Mexican-American War when he contracted with
General Stephen W. Kearny to supply the U. S. Army with wagons and provisions. Once
the war was over, he formed a partnership with Theodore W. Warner. They
transported supplies to Salt Lake City, Utah.
One
well-known shipping firm was Russell, Majors and Waddell which came into being
to fill a need that none of the men individually had the means to do on their
own. Until
1854 government freight contracts were awarded to various companies for
relatively small shipments. That year the War Department offered a single,
enormous two-year contract to transport supplies to U.S. Army posts in most of
the West and Southwest. Majors owned a freight company at the time. Russell and
Waddell were partners in a wholesale trading company. The three men joined
forces on December 28, 1854, to form Russell, Majors and Waddell won the
contract. They also competed for and won the next government contract, although
that one did not prove so profitable.
As
a side note, one of my pioneer families crossed the plains in a covered wagon
which, with a few others, was attached to a Russell, Majors and Waddell freight
train.
Along with all the larger freight companies were a multitude of smaller freighters to transport goods from one place to another.
Five of my books, starting with my 2020 Lockets & Lace novel, Hannah’s Handkerchief and ending with Hannah’s Highest Regard, touch on the Kansas trails (Smoky Hill and Santa Fe), the frontier forts, and either freight or passenger service along those trails and between those forts.
The two books about Hannah involve a hero in the Army Quartermaster Corps who uses freight wagons to transport goods from Fort Riley, the supply center for forts farther west. Most freight was hauled by contract labor in freight trains usually pulled by oxen. (U.S. Army freight wagons, often used for delivering ordnance or transporting supplies on individual campaigns, were pulled by teams of six mules—always mules and always six of them.)
In
my three books I’m writing for the Widows, Brides & Secret Babies series, Mail Order Roslyn, Mail Order Lorena, and Mail Order Penelope, I focus on the Butterfield Overland Despatch Stagecoach
Company.
Founder
David Butterfield recognized the Smoky Hill Trail was the shortest and quickest
route between Missouri and Denver, Colorado. He started a freight business at
the same time he started the stagecoach line. His first freight train traveled
that trail a few weeks before the stagecoach. To prepare for freight as well as
stagecoach drivers and travelers along the trail, Butterfield built and stocked
stations every ten to fifteen miles. Along with the home stations that served
food and sometimes provided lodging, and the stock stations that only changed
out teams, he built cattle stations. Cattle stations, in addition to being
home stations for the coaches, allowed freighters to change out their tired
oxen and, in some cases, mules for those freight trains traveling the trail.
These cattle stations were past Fort Ellsworth (later Fort Harker) at Ruthton,
Eaton, Cornell Creek, and Bijou Basin.
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| 1890 Last large bull train from the railroad to the Black Hills |
Even
after the railroads came carrying freight to stations along it tracks, it still
needed to be transported distances to the ultimate customer. Freight trains
made of wagons pulled by oxen, mules, and horses continued to find business
well into the twentieth century until motorized vehicles took over.
Sources:
https://kshs.org/kansapedia/santa-fe-trail/12195
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ben-holladay/
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-russellmajorswaddell/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russell-Majors-and-Waddell
