Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far WestDrannan, William F.
History
Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far West
Drannan, William F.
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Indians of North America -- Wars
There was a man by the name of Brown driving the stage at that
time, and many people believed, in fact it was the general
impression at the time, that the driver was in with the robbers.
This robbery and massacre occurred in what is known as Beaver
canyon.
During my stay at Salt Lake there came in from Virginia City a
young man by the name of Richard Hyde, to buy cattle. Mr. Boone
recommended him to me as being a fine young man and very shrewd
for his age. After having some little acquaintance with him and he
had told me his business, also what profit there was in it, he and
I formed a co-partnership for the purpose of buying cattle and
driving them to Virginia City. We bought one hundred and ninety-
two head of all sizes, and by the help of two other men, we drove
them through, losing only five head, which was considered
excellent luck.
We stopped about ten miles below town, and after setting a price
on our cattle, I remained with them while Mr. Hyde went to look
for buyers. He was gone nearly a week, and when he returned he had
sold nearly all the cattle. We were well pleased with the result
of our venture, and I am told Mr. Hyde kept the business up for
several years until he made an independent fortune, and I am told,
at this writing--1899--that he is somewhere in Iowa doing a large
banking business.
As soon as the cattle were all delivered and we had settled up,
Mr. Hyde and I struck back for Salt Lake City, he to buy more
cattle, and I on my way to California.
Near Ogden I fell in with an emigrant train of twenty-two wagons
bound for California. As soon as they learned who I was, having
heard of me back at Fort Kearney, they insisted on my traveling in
company with them, and there being some fine looking young ladies
in the train, I accepted the invitation and joined them.
These families were from Illinois and Ohio, and I can truthfully
say that I never traveled with or saw a finer crowd of people than
these were, and I never was in a company that I regretted leaving
as I did those people, for they all seemed more like brothers and
sisters to me than strangers.
The majority of them bought small farms in Solano county,
California, and settled down. I remained with them until after the
holidays, then left and struck out for San Francisco. This was the
beginning of the year 1865.
After remaining in the city a few days I concluded one day to take
a ride out to the fort and see if any of my acquaintances were
there. I only found one person that I had been acquainted with
before, and that was Capt. Miller. He showed me a number of
letters from his brother officers out in Arizona, all saying they
were having a great deal of trouble with the Indians in that
country. I returned to the city, bought two more horses and
commenced making preparations to go to Fort Yuma by way of Los
Angeles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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