Fort Churchill, Nevada by Zina Abbott

 

Nevada has been known for many reasons, but not for having an abundance of frontier forts. It had one notable military fort: Fort Churchill.

First, as part of Utah Territory (Nevada became its own territory on March 2, 1861 and a state on October 31, 1864), much of the California Trail crossed what is now modern-day Nevada.

Second, starting in the 1850s, the mountains just east of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range became a destination in and of themselves due to the discovery of gold and silver. The Comstock Lode in the Virginia Mountains discovered in 1859, the first major discovery of silver in the United States, drew fortune-seekers from all over.

 

Third, the American Civil War, even though most battles took place in the Eastern states, also caused issues in Nevada.

Two battles with the Northern Paiute tribe in May and June of 1860 prompted the federal government to appoint Captain Joseph Stewart to establish a military outpost near the Carson River. It is located east of Carson City and about twenty-five miles southeast of the territory’s largest city at the time, Virginia City. The largest and most elaborate post built in the Nevada Territory, it overlooks the river through the big cottonwood trees ten miles south of Silver Springs.

Buckland Station

The fort was built adjacent to Buckland Station, a stagecoach station established by Samuel Buckland in the 1859. During 1860-61, Buckland Station also served as a Pony Express station.

 Completed in 1861, Fort Churchill—named after Sylvester Churchill, an Inspector General for the Army—was built to provide protection for this section of the Pony Express, protection from Native Americans attempting to reclaim their territory, maintain the telegraph lines, quell any skirmishes resulting from the Civil War, as well as those who either lived in or passed through western Nevada. The fort also doubled as a supply depot for the Union Army.

 

Volunteer soldiers who served at the fort came from Carson City, Lake’s Crossing—which was renamed Reno in 1868, Virginia City, and Dayton. It is believed the fort housed an average of 200 at any given time.

After the fort was abandoned in 1869, the state of Nevada declined to take ownership. The fort’s buildings were auctioned off for $750. Nothing was done with the remaining structures, so they stayed in place, subject to time and weather.

In 1885, the bodies of forty-four soldiers who died and were buried while at Fort Churchill were exhumed and moved to  Carson City’s Lone Mountain Cemetery in the Grand Army of the Republic section. All but two had originally been buried in wooden coffins. The only man identified was the fort’s commanding officer, Charles McDermit. Therefore, the headstones of the other forty-three read U.S. Soldier. Most of the deaths occurred between 1863 and 1866.

Remains of Fort Churchill

In 1932, the National Park Service took control of the property. The NPS began restoration efforts and built a visitors center. In 1957, Fort Churchill became a Nevada State Park.

 

Fort Churchill would have been an active fort during the time in which my Prairie Roses Collection book, Lucy, was set. It would have been all but abandoned at the time of Sue, my most recent book in the series.

To find the book description and purchase options for Sue please CLICK HERE

 

 

 

Sources:

https://www.inkedwithwanderlust.com/nevada/fortchurchill

https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2022/may/04/forgotten-soldiers-tribute-honors-fort-churchills-/

https://mynews4.com/news/knowing-nevada/knowing-nevada-fort-churchill-and-the-battles-of-pyramid-lake

https://www.ancestry.com/historical-insights/war-military/civil-war/nevada-civil-war

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Churchill_State_Historic_Park

 

Chicago Wagons by Zina Abbott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my second chapter of the first wagon train book I wrote for the Prairie Roses Collection,  I introduced my hero as a trader who had purchased three Chicago wagons for transporting freight to California. He chose them over the larger, heavier Murphy wagons often used for hauling cargo. However, at the time, I did not do a lot of research into exactly what constituted a Chicago wagon.

Last month, I came across information about Chicago wagons in a Daughters of Utah Pioneers lesson I taught titled “Down and Back Church Trains.”

Mormon Trail ctsy U.S. National Park Service

To set the stage, between 1847 and 1860, thousands of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled the Mormon Trail to the Great Salt Lake Valley. As time passed, fewer of these immigrants came from other regions of North America and more (like many of my ancestors) came from Europe. With no means to purchase fully-outfitted wagons to make the overland journey, increasingly the church began to send wagons and supplies from Utah Territory to the departure point which, for many years, was Florence (now part of Omaha), Nebraska Territory.

By 1860, on the cusp of the American Civil War, a concerted effort on the part of the church to send wagons and supplies back to Florence to collect the immigrants was put into place. During the years of 1861 through 1865, the American Civil War years when there was such a great demand of wagons (and replacement wagons) for the war effort, the church found it necessary to provide greater aid for those immigrants of their faith to reach their destination.

The following are excerpts from the circular sent from the church president, Brigham Young, to the bishops throughout Utah Territory to introduce this program:

“…There were only twenty-nine wagons sent to Florence last season; this year we wish to send two hundred wagons with four yoke of oxen to each wagon. In addition to said teams we also wish to forward as many loose oxen to Florence as our this year’s immigration may wish to purchase, as that will give us the use of their money before it goes into the hands of strangers [translation: many of them enemies, who overcharged the Mormons], thus saving for our use from about $10 to 30,000 which are yearly paid out in cash for cattle and wagons….

“The wagons sent should be the best Chicago make, 2 inch iron axletree, and be in such condition…Wooden axle Chicago wagons can be sent if there are not enough iron axle wagons of that make. Other good wagons, of similar make, can also be sent, if there are not enough Chicago wagons….”  

Overall, Chicago wagons is not a brand name. Rather, it is a type, and the designation indicates where the wagons were made. The reason Chicago wagons became a generic term was because some of the most legendary wagon makers were originally based in Chicago, Illinois. 

 By the mid 1850’s, the city of Chicago was a little less than twenty years old. The population was almost 80,000. Wagon makers numbered less than one hundred, most of them being Germans who did not speak much English. However, they produced quality wagons. In areas not served by a railroad, wagons were the primary means of transporting goods and people. As buyers saw the craftsmanship, attention to detail, and dependability of certain makes of wagons that came from Chicago, those became the wagons of choice—for farm use, travel, and hauling freight (particularly where the long-distance hauling did not require the heavier Murphy freight wagons). They were given the generic name of Chicago wagons. 

Eventually, Chicago claimed more than two hundred wagon and carriage makers during the heyday of horse-drawn vehicle making. Among the more notable brands besides Peter Schuttler were Weber, Louis Palm, and Columbus. Henry Mitchell, who eventually moved his home to Racine, Wisconsin his home, started his wagon construction business in Chicago.

An example: Weber Wagon Company, after a decade in business, employed eighteen people and produced two hundred wagons a year. (They eventually became the International Harvester Company.) In comparison, by about 1850, after approximately a decade in business, Peter Schuttler employed about one hundred men and produced about one thousand, eight hundred wagons a year. Keep in mind, at this time, wagons were largely hand-built.

In a different article, I learned in the case of Brigham Young’s statement, he referred to Peter Schuttler Company wagons, based in Chicago. Many wagons were sold to Mormons moving west. Because it was such a large company, for many, “Chicago” wagons also became synonymous with Peter Schuttler Company wagons.

Schuttler wagon

Chicago wagons were used for travel across the Great Plains and the western mountain ranges. Although many of the Chicago wagons built for hauling freight had about the same dimensions (3-1/2 to 4 feet wide by 10 feet long) as pioneer travel/prairie schooner wagons, the wooden parts needed to be built sturdier, with metal axles, and more metal reinforcements on the moving parts.

 

Murphy freight wagon. Note where driver sits

All three of the books I have written for the Prairie Roses Collection include freight haulers—private traders rather than regularly employed freighters—along with pioneers traveling the established trails of the day. I first mentioned the distinction between the larger Murphy freight wagons (12 feet in length) and the smaller Chicago freight wagons in the first book I wrote for the Prairie Roses Collection, Pearl. In it, my hero chose Chicago wagons over Murphy wagons. However, after giving the lesson, mentioned above, I decided it was time learn more about Chicago wagons.

In my third book, Lucy, set in 1863, this same trader sent his employees, including my hero in the second book, Clara, as trail boss—back to the Missouri River region of Kansas. The purpose was not only to purchase goods difficult to be found in the West, but to buy four new Chicago wagons to transport them west. The wagons would then to be used to haul trade goods to the gold and silver towns of Virginia City and Gold Hill in Nevada Territory.

To find the book description and purchase options for Lucy, Book 46 in the Prairie Roses Collection, please CLICK HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

https://wheelsthatwonthewest.com/blog/chicago-wagons/

https://alchetron.com/Peter-Schuttler

http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/bridgerd.html

Jeppson, Ellen Taylor, “’Down and Back’ Church Trains”; Tales of Triumph, Volume 6 (Salt Lake City, Utah: International Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 2023), Pages 288-289.  

https://westernmininghistory.com/4127/heavy-freight-wagons-of-the-american-west/

 

Council Bluffs, Iowa--a city at the crossroads

 While researching my latest wagon train story, Jana, part of the 2024 Prairie Roses Collection, I wanted to use a different starting point for the westward journey. Several towns served the purpose of being the gathering spot for lots of pioneers who wanted to head for California, New Mexico, or Oregon. Those families or individuals arrived at these known locations and bought their final supplies while waiting for leaders to step forward and announce the formation of a company.

The history of this city is rich. Lewis and Clark met with the Otoe tribe near a riverside bluff in August 1804. The explorers named it Council Bluff because the location was where they held a council. In the 1830s, the location became a reservation for Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi Indians who were displaced from the Chicago area. The Potawatomi leader, Sauganash meaning “one who speaks English”, was also known by his English name, Billy Caldwell, and the Indian village was called Caldwell’s Camp.

Missionary Pierre-Jean DeSmet founded St. Joseph’s Mission in 1838-39 to minister to the tribes. He did what he could to protect the tribes from the illegal liquor trade while also helping surveyor Joseph Nicollet to create a map of the upper Midwest.

The first emigrant wagon train west departed in 1841 with a Great Migration of 1843 involving between 700 and 1,000 people. Every spring, wagons gathered in varying numbers to travel west through the late 1860s. The town grew because business owners saw the opportunity of steady customers needing items to make the journey across the country for the California and Pikes Peak gold rushes. Across the Missouri River lay the mostly uninhabited wilderness of the Missouri Territory. By 1853, a steam-powered ship ferried people, animals, and wagons of the pioneers across the river to Omaha in what would become Nebraska Territory in 1854.

Mormons, seeking land where they could practice their religion, arrived in the region in 1846, with permission from Washington DC arranged by Thomas Kane to occupy a portion of the Indian land. They named their settlement Kanesville and used it to supply travelers headed west to Utah. This town became the official start of the Mormon Trail. Most of the Mormons had headed west by 1852. The town’s name changed officially to Council Bluffs in the same year.

Not only did Council Bluffs enjoy a robust steamboat trade, the city was directly opposite the starting point for the Transcontinental Railroad with construction starting in 1868. The town, its population expanded from 2,011 in 1860 to 10,220 a decade later, served an important purpose in the development of America, as well as benefited from being at the edge of the frontier.

Rail lines ending in Council Bluffs

My novella, Jana, will soon be up on preorder.

Other wagon train stories in my backlist:

Prairie Rose Collection multi-author series

Cadi, book 11

Amity, book 21

Tilda, book 31

Reluctant Wagon Train Bride multi-author series

Lona

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