Western Stories

By Burr Cook

This book contains three short stories. Book One Six Wagons to Laramie is a western novel about a family from New York joining a wagon train traveling the Oregon Trail and settling in Laramie where they collide with an outlaw marshal. Book Two Bart of the Badlands is a sequel where Charlie Burton, a New York neighbor of the Hansoms, travels
first to The Dakota Territory where he gets into trouble then moves on to join the Hansom family at Laramie, Wyoming Territory. Book 3 Lawmen of Laramie is A sequel to Bart of the Badlands. Buck and Bart are the law in Laramie City and colide with an outlaw gang. The chase takes them to Cheyenne, Denver and Salt Lake. They return to Laramie only to get involved in another gunfight.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781304541352

Book preview

Western Stories

Western Stories

Copyright 2013 Burr Cook

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-1-304-54135-2

Preface to Book

This book is a saga of three stories. First is Six Wagons to Laramie. Second is Bart of the Badlands. Third is Lawmen of Laramie. Book One Six Wagons to Laramie is a western novel about a family from New York joining a wagon train traveling the Oregon Trail and settling in Laramie where they collide with an outlaw marshal. Book Two Bart of the Badlands is a sequel where Charlie Burton, a New York neighbor of the Hansoms, travels first to The Dakota Territory where he gets into trouble then moves on to join the Hansom family at Laramie, Wyoming Territory. Book 3 Lawmen of Laramie is a sequel to Bart of the Badlands. Buck and Bart are the law in Laramie City and collide with an outlaw gang. The chase takes them to Cheyenne, Denver and Salt Lake. They return to Laramie only to get involved in another gunfight.

Book I Six Wagons to Laramie

Preface to First Story

This Story is almost entirely fictitious. As my readers know I try to write historical novels, so there are some known people mentioned herein. The facts surrounding these historical figures are true to the best of my ability. The names of these folks are as follows: General Sherman Civil War veteran; Kit Carson Indian scout; N. K. Boswell rancher and Sheriff of Albany county, Wyoming Territory; Rollie Hard Luck Harrison, prospector, Big Steve Long, Outlaw Marshal of Laramie City and his two half brothers Ace and Con Moyer; William Pitt for whom the city of Pittsburg was named; George Donner who led the Donner party on a disastrous journey over the Sierras. The Donner party had even resorted to cannibalism so that a few could survive. I, at least twice drove through Donner Pass on my way between Reno and Sacramento on Interstate 80 through Truckee, California. Tire chains were required in order to make it over the Sierras at that point.

Also, historically significant was the Zane family including the famous Elizabeth Betty Zane, Ebenezer Zane, their parents and siblings; The Wetzel family including the man known as Wetzel who loved Betty Zane. Especially interesting is the historical trilogy written by the famous author Zane Grey who was descended from Ebenezer Zane and was related thus as a grand nephew to Betty Zane. The trilogy begins with a book entitled Betty Zane which was Grey’s first published work.

The descriptions of the Overland trails and points of interest along the route are somewhat real.

All other names are strictly fictitious as well as the incidents surrounding them.

Now and then I feel like telling a story. I have always liked telling stories. I shall try to do that on these blank pages in front of me. I am not sure of all the details of the story as yet. It is still being told to me by some outside force. First a gate is opened in the cosmos and lets it come rushing in. I am thinking that this tale will need something in the way of introduction. This will serve to introduce the story to me as well as you the reader.

Back around 1990, just prior to my retirement which started in 1991, my contract computer consulting business took me to Kansas City, Kansas. I lived for several months in a rented apartment in Overland Park, Kansas. The City got its name from the Overland Trail that started there. My business, Cook House Computer Company, took me to all of the fifty states and ten foreign countries. Aside from a several month contract in Riverside California, Kansas City was the longest time I spent in any one place. So I had the opportunity on a few occasions to drive to these locations because I did not want to rent a car for such a long period. The idea for today’s story came from those experiences and will deal with the westward migration following the Civil War.

The westward trails such as the Oregon/California, The Mormon Trail and The Overland Trail were well traveled by the end of the war. The Oregon Trail actually began at Kansas City or more correctly Independence Missouri, a suburb. The gold rush of 1849 was when the routes really took shape. I got to see more of the Oregon Trail when I did some contract work for the Idaho Fish and Game Department at Boise.

Prolog

The Hansom family lived in New York City throughout the Civil War. The parents William and Marilyn lived with their two children a son Jack and a daughter Carla. Jack had recently returned from the war. He served under General Sherman as a ranking officer and was awarded medals. The daughter Carla was barely twenty years of age and had worked as a nurse in an army hospital.

Just why they had decided to leave New York and go west was something they couldn’t tell you but they had made the decision and were pretty much prepared to leave. It was early spring of 1867.

The family was not extremely wealthy but they were considered to be fairly well to do and were more than able to purchase a couple wagons, with canvas covering to keep out the weather, and to buy horses. Their plan was to make those purchases at Kansas City. Although they had heard talk about it they did not know that in a couple short years there would be a railroad completed all the way to the west coast. 

Their journey began with a train ride to Philadelphia. They were leaving in early spring so as to avoid the mistakes made by those who went their own way such as the Donner Party in 1846, which took far too long getting over the mountains. Many of them perished as they were caught in the Sierra winter. It was much wiser to get off to an early start and to stick with the known routes.

The Hansom family detrained at the station in Philadelphia where they stayed at an Inn for two nights while sight seeing and making arrangements and some purchases for the next leg of their journey. At one time this had been the nation’s capitol and among the many sights to see was the liberty bell with its crack. They learned that the Greek meaning of the city’s name, Philadelphia, is "The City of Brotherly Love".

From this famous city they found themselves on a train headed for Pittsburgh over tracks with more ups and downs. This railway followed the path of an old highway that was first used to any great extent during the French and Indian War and also was very useful during the Revolution. They past the famous battle field at Gettysburg where so many perished on both sides in the Civil War. The latter portion of the trip from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was a little more mountainous than the straight path through New Jersey and the three hundred plus miles of Pennsylvania took them over a winding route while avoiding climbing Appellation Mountains. There were even a couple of tunnels to pass through.

At Pittsburgh they encountered many travelers hurrying to secure positions on Steamers heading down the Ohio River. People were arriving in Pittsburgh from several directions. Many came from Virginia by way of the Potomac and the Monongahela River and some arrived by way of the Allegany River from upstate New York. There were also many arriving via previously untraveled overland routes, some with the idea of continuing the journey by boat on the Ohio River.

Some facts they found about the trip were that the steamships and barges traveled from here to Louisville Kentucky before a falls made it necessary to disembark briefly before continuing by connecting with another waiting boat. This falls was the only interruption in the route from Pittsburgh to Cairo where they connected with the Mississippi River. At Cairo Illinois the Mississippi’s size was more than doubled by the convergence. The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi. Including the Allegheny River further upstream it is approximately 981 miles long.

Some of the travelers came by covered wagons and planned to board barges with all of their supplies. The Hansoms planned to purchase what they would need in Kansas City. There were also some who were journeying overland from here.

The indigenous people of the Ohio River valley built major earthwork mounds such as Angel Mounds near Evansville, Indiana. The Osage, Omaha, Ponca and Kaw lived in the Ohio Valley, but under pressure from the Iroquois to the northeast, they migrated west of the Mississippi River to Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma in the 1600s.

The Hansom family found the history of Pittsburgh to be fascinating. Firstly it was founded in 1758 and named in honor of the British statesman William Pitt and was incorporated as a borough in 1794 and chartered as a city in 1816. The Fort Pitt Blockhouse, dating to 1764, is the oldest structure in the City of Pittsburgh. A great fire burned over a thousand buildings in 1845, but the city rebuilt. By 1857, Pittsburgh's 1,000 factories were consuming 22,000,000 bushels of coal yearly. The Civil War boosted the city's economy with increased production of iron and armaments.

Following the Ohio River they actually had to travel to the northwest for a distance before the river nearly made a complete u turn and headed southwest to Wheeling in West Virginia a state that had recently been formed from Virginia. It was formed from that portion of Virginia that sided with the Union during the War Between the States.

At Wheeling the travelers were joined by parties that arrived by way of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) which had connected Wheeling to markets back to the port city of Baltimore, Maryland and stimulated development.

The Hansom family, after visiting the memorial to Betty Zane while stopping in Wheeling, had an uneventful steamboat ride on to Louisville. The falls there made it necessary to travel a short distance over land to join another craft.

At Paducah, Kentucky they were joined by a southern family by the name of Riley who had come partially by land and partially by the Tennessee River which was only navigable some of the way. They came from Atlanta with seven children ages five through seventeen and were quite poor compared to the Hansoms. Their names were Harold and Jill and they soon became good friends with William and Marilyn. Jack Hansom suddenly found himself very much interested in seventeen year old Elizabeth Riley who was called Beth for short.

The two families got well acquainted by the time they navigated up the Mississippi to the Missouri River and on up to Kansas City.

Chapter I The Journey