Chapter 18: Travel Plans and New Friends

The next day I thought about what Thomas said and what I heard. They were completely different. I realized I had not paid attention to what Thomas was saying when I thought about how long it would take going by horse, which was about 10 days, wagons loaded with medium to heavy cargo would take about 20 days or less depending on weather and breakdowns. Wet muddy weather would be slower, hot, and dry weather also slow down travel as the animals needed to be watered more often.

Going by riverboat would eliminate the weather and breakdown delays.

After breakfast I decided to go talk and listen to Thomas again. All my wives agreed to look things over once more to see if they had missed anything we might need.

Thomas had said it was a day by wagon to Kansas City. Then half a day down the Missouri River where it met the Mississippi River in St. Louis Missouri. Offloading one boat and loading another would take the rest of the day, however, it was not uncommon for riverboats to depart late in the day and even in the early evening.

4-6 days traveling down the Mississippi depending on how many stops there are in order to offload and pickup loads. Then at least one day in New Orleans for us to sell our goods and buying whatever we desired. There are plenty of riverboats leaving at all times of day, the trick is to find one that has room for your cargo.

The trip back up the Mississippi River would be ten days give or take since you have to fight the current. Again, it also depended on how many stops were made to offload and pickup loads going back upriver. It is best to wait and find a riverboat that is going directly back to St. Louis. That would ensure the trip was ten days or less.

Then it was more than a day but usually less than a day and a half going back up the Missouri River to Kansas City. It was still a day by wagon from Kansas City to our home with wagons. So, the entire trip would take 18-20 days, maybe if everything went our way we could make the trip in 16 days. That would be about two and a half weeks.

Thomas restated that he would pay a silver eagle for every guard we provided up to ten guards. I agreed with this and added a gold eagle for his assistance in converting our gold to the mint every time. Thomas readily agreed and we quickly wrote up a contract stating all these facts and both signed.

We then loaded up and departed to the fort. After being greeted warmly at the gate I was directed to COL McBride’s office. I spoke with COL McBride about the weapons. After again explaining that with the increase in Indians joining our tribe and more possibly coming, we needed to move to an area that could handle the growing numbers.

COL McBride understood and asked to be invited for a visit as soon as we were established. I told him we would do that and to make sure that everyone that wanted to visit could do so, wives included. Laughing he said that it would be unpleasant and quite painful to visit without his wife and daughter. Then he asked if anyone else could come out and visit.

I said to let us know how many were coming and when and we would have a great feast among friends.

Smiling COL McBride thanked me and said to be sure and thank both Golden Hawk and Chief White Eagle. I smiled at the fact that he mentioned Golden Hawk first.

Then I mentioned wanting to move the weapons, saying that moving farther away and more Indians expected soon, it made it necessary to have the weapons on hand.

COL McBride made a face, grunted, shook his head, and then said, “It is better for you to take the weapons as soon as you can secure a place to keep them.” He was afraid that if his higher command found out he was storing them he would be ordered to commandeer them, or worse, destroy them.”

There was growing trouble out west from the Indians there. The government was of the bad mindset of grouping all the Indians together. Instead of trying to build friendships they were creating more enemies. COL McBride wanted to make friends.

I said we would dig a cellar to secure the weapons and as soon as we completed it, I would come for them. I added that, if he felt it was necessary, to have one of his patrols bring the weapons to us and we would deal with that then.

Sadly, he suggested I come and get the weapons as soon as possible so he could give me the excess ammo that matched up to the weapons and could not be used by the current weapons being used by all his troopers. He had a bill of sale with no names, just 75 carbines and 90 revolvers sold for $600. Showing where the money came from and why he no longer had the weapons. It had been long enough that he could claim not being able to recall the name of the people he sold them too.

I nodded my understanding and made a mental note to get as many travois and squaws as possible to come remove the weapons and ammo.

Two days later White Eagle sent almost every squaw leading a horse pulling a travois under the guidance of Golden Hawk and Little Deer. Butterfly and White Elk Woman stayed back with the rest of the squaws to keep the camp running.

There were a total of twenty squaws riding a horse and guiding a second pulling a travois.