Chapter 13

April 30, 1845

Today was an interesting day for two reasons. First, I killed a buffalo. Second, we reached the Platte River. The buffalo was easy. I think I could have ridden right up to them. It was in a very small herd, I was to find out later. There were probably a couple of hundred animals. Ab told me they were probably stragglers from a much larger herd.

We camped within sight of the Platte River. The area around the river was marshy, so we couldn't camp right next to it. The little stream we camped on emptied into the Platte though and it provided water for the animals and for refilling our water barrels.

John came over to visit right after supper. The four of us had a nice talk. I noticed that John and Tess seemed to be doing a lot of talking and I teased her about it later.

May 1, 1845

Today, we headed west along the south shore of the Platte. The trail I scouted kept us far enough away from the river that we avoided the marshy and swampy areas close to the river.

It wasn't too much more difficult traveling that way and it insured we weren't going to get bogged down in the soft ground along the river. I was probably five or six miles in front of the wagons when I saw three beef cattle, contentedly grazing near the trail I was laying out.

I rode up until I was fairly close to them and saw they were branded with the letters "FC". "Frank Calvin," I thought. I knew that the Calvins had hitched up with the train that had passed us in St Jo and I figured they were about a day ahead of us.

I rode to the top of the next rise and looked in all directions. I didn't see anyone, but there were signs that a wagon train had passed this way closer down to the river when I rode down that way. This was the first sign I'd seen of them since we'd left St Jo, so they must have taken a different route to get to this point.

I figured there was nothing I could do but take the cattle back and mix them with our herd until we ran into Calvin again. I helped Sin get them started, then relaxed while he drove them.

When I got back to the wagons, I turned the cattle over to Caleb and told him where I'd found them, then I went off to find Ab.

Ab had been near the back of the train when I got there, and I met him as he was riding toward the front. "Howdy, Ab," I said as I turned and fell in beside him.

"Howdy, Jase. Is anything wrong?"

"Not that I know of. I was five or six miles out when I ran into three cattle grazing beside the trail. I looked around but didn't see anyone or any wagons. There had been a lot of wagons go through the area within the last couple of days though."

"It's probably that train we saw in St Jo. The one Frank Calvin joined up with."

"Yeah, that's what I figure. The cattle have an FC brand. I mixed them in with mine and I'll give them back to Calvin when we see him again."

"You know, legally those cattle are yours. They were turned loose or abandoned on the open range. You really don't have to give them back."

"Legal or not, that wouldn't seem right. When we see him I'll turn them over to him."

Ab just smiled and nodded. I explained to Ab what I was doing about sticking to higher ground and he agreed. "The wagons that passed closer to the river were sinking in at least three inches deep," I told him.

"Yeah, and that makes it harder on the animals that are pulling them. You're doing the smart thing, Jase. If anyone says anything, I'll back you up."

John came over after supper and we all talked about the cattle I'd found. "The only thing I can figure," I said, "Is that they just got to be too much for the hired man and he just let them go."

"Calvin would have had a fit," Tess said. "He didn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd just let his cattle go."

"Yeah, there is that. I guess we'll never know for sure unless we catch up with them."

"I talked with the guy who drove their cattle a few times," John said. "His name was Sal Washington. He said Calvin was driving him crazy and that he had a mind to just ride off some night after they were passed the point where Calvin could hire anyone else."

"Maybe that's what happened. Did he say anything else about Calvin?"

"There's a lot of what he said that I couldn't repeat in front of these ladies. He did say that Mrs. Calvin is a very nice young woman. He said Calvin is almost as mean to her as he is to the hired men."

"Do they have any kids?" Millie asked.

"He didn't say."

May 2, 1845

Okay, something is wrong, but I don't know what it is. I found two more cattle and three hogs today. All of them had Calvin's brand on them. I brought them back and mixed them with our herd, then I went to talk with Ab.

I told him about finding the animals then he said, "This isn't good, Jase. Something is happening with Calvin. Something bad. There's not much we can do about it except keep our eyes open."

"I expect you're right. John told me one of Calvin's men was thinking of lighting a shuck when they were out where Calvin couldn't find anyone to replace him. That may be what's happened."

"Could be. If Calvin was having to drive his own critters, he just might be losing some and not even know it."

May 3, 1845

Well, I didn't find any animals today, but I found something that was even more ominous. The last couple of days, when I headed back for our wagons, I'd ridden back along the trail the other wagon train had left.

Just after I started back, I saw a wagon bogged down in the marshy ground close to the river. It had sunk until the bottom of the wagon was on the ground. I pulled up and went over to it. I was sinking in even just walking on the ground, but I did make it to the wagon.

It looked like someone had tried to get some stuff out, but it was still loaded to the gills. There were barrels of flour, corn meal, sugar, and molasses. There were also some tools and even an anvil.

The wagon was never gonna come out of there. All of the undercarriage was under what passed for the ground. If the wagon hadn't been water tight, it'd have probably sunk as well.

I rode on back to the wagon train and when I got there, I fell in beside Ab. "Well, I didn't find any critters, Ab, but I found one of Calvin's wagons."

"What?"

"It was down by the river, sunk in the muck all the way to the bed. There's no way it could ever be pulled out."

"Where is it?"

"It's almost to where we're gonna camp, but like I said, it's down by the river. It's a shame. It has a lot of stuff left in it that Millie and I could have used."

"What's the place like where we're going to camp?"

"It's on a creek. There's good grazing and plenty of firewood."

"It's been over a week since we've taken a day to rest and work on the wagons. If we lay over for a day, do you think you could salvage anything from the wagon?"

I know I must have been grinning from ear to ear when I said, "Sure could. There may be some wagon parts that could be salvaged too. Might have to dig down for them, but if anyone needs anything it wouldn't hurt for us to try to get it for them."

I rode back and told Caleb, Millie, and Tess about what was going on. I think they were as excited as I was.

May 4, 1845

Ab must have talked to everyone in camp about what we were going to do. I had so many volunteers to help that I didn't know what to do with them all.

We all got dressed in our oldest clothes and had a good breakfast before we started down to where the wagon was. We took our wagon and an extra pair of oxen.

John Simpson made us a kind of a sled out of a couple of planks and some cross pieces. We hitched the oxen to that, then we backed them down as close to the soft area as we dared. We would carry the sled over to the sunken wagon and load a barrel onto it, then we's have the oxen pull it out to firm ground.

We ended up emptying the entire wagon that way. Then, we stripped off the canvas cover and removed the bows. John Simpson drilled some holes down through the bottom of the wagon on the side away from, us. We threaded ropes through the holes then hooked them up to the six oxen that pulled our wagon.

We ended up pulling the wagon over on its top and then dragging the whole thing out. The axles were ruined, but we saved two wheels, the tongue, the singletree and the doubletree. I don't know who ended up with what from what we salvaged, but I think everyone who helped got something.

All in all, it was a worthwhile day.

May 5, 1845

We got an early start this morning. I think everyone was anxious to get moving again after a day in camp. I was twelve or thirteen miles ahead of the wagons when I saw a rider coming toward me. At first I thought it was an Indian, but as he got closer I could see he was wearing white man's clothes.

I pulled up and waited for him when he got within yelling distance. When he reined in I said, Howdy. I'm Jase Tackett. You work for Frank Calvin, don't you?"

"Howdy, I'm Jeb Howe. I did work for Calvin, but I quit yesterday. I'm heading back to St Jo."

"It looks like Calvin has been having some bad luck. We've found some of his animals and we found a wagon he'd abandoned."

"Yep. I'd call it stupidity instead of bad luck though."

"What happened?"

"Well, first off, Sal quit. Sal was the guy who had been driving Calvin's herd. Calvin had been jawing at him since we left St Louis and Sal finally decided he didn't want to take any more of it."

"Yeah, John Ware said Sal had been talking about quitting."

"John's a good man. Anyway, after Sal quit, it slowed us down considerable. The wagon master told Calvin that if we didn't keep up he was going to leave us. Calvin told him he could go straight to hell and that we didn't need his damned wagon train anyway."

"That sounds like Calvin."

"Anyway, the next morning, the wagon train took off without us. Calvin was trying to drive the stock, but he kept losing animals. Somehow, he blamed that on me and the other driver. Then Wes got his wagon bogged down in the mud. We tried everything we could do, but we couldn't get it out."

"We found the wagon. There was nothing anyone could have done to have gotten it out in one piece."

"After that, he told me he wanted me to start driving the livestock. I wasn't about to have him jawing on me like he had on Sal, so I told him to go to hell and I left."

"Are his wife and kids okay?"

"His wife is just fine, but they don't have no kids. She's such a pretty young thing and she has the sweetest disposition of any woman I've ever met. I don't know how she ever got hooked up with someone like Calvin."

"I've never met her. I don't think I've ever even seen her."

"Well, she's a real trooper. I've never heard her complain about anything. I just hope that jackass doesn't get her killed."

"So, what's he gonna do now?"

"I don't know and I don't care. I imagine Calvin is gonna be driving the livestock again and Wes will be driving his wagon. I'm gonna head on out, Jase. It was nice meeting you."

"It was nice meeting you too, Jeb. Good luck to you."

When I got back to our wagon train, I filled Ab in on what I'd learned then went to find Millie and Tess. They were riding beside our wagon talking with John so I told them all at the same time.