Chapter 2

Crossing the Platte was entirely different from crossing the Blue. Even in the worst flood, you could still drive your team across the Blue, but not the Platte. The Platte didn't have a ford that was usable the year round, which is why a ferry was justified. But where was that damned ferry?

"Seth, do ya think that ya kin git across without drownin' yerself?

"Yeah, but it ain't gonna be any fun."

"Well, git yerself to Grand Island and find out what happened ta the ferry and ifen we kin git any help gittin' across, ifen ya please?"

Seth was back about 4 hours later and gave Jasper the bad news. "The ferry wuz swept away a week ago by a big surge in the flood and there ain't to tellin' how long it'll be afore it's back in operation. Either we gots to wait 'til it's back in operation or we gots to git across all by our lonesome. It's up ta ya, Jasper."

"How bad is the current?"

"It ain't too bad right now, but that don't mean that it'll be any good tomorrow. With about 400 feet of stout rope and some luck, we kin git the whole train across in one day ifen the current don't git any stronger."

"OK, we'll git the rope ready today an' start across first thin' tomorrow. Let's git to it."

Jasper had 2,000 feet of rope in one of his wagons, so they laid it out on the ground back and forth between two stakes 400 feet apart. They then started twisting the five strands into a single cable which they stretched by pulling on both ends with two teams of oxen. The cable was about 420 feet long when they got all of the stretch out of it.

The next morning they pulled one end of the cable across the river and made it fast to the far side. They tied about 500 feet of rope to the near end of the cable so that they would have a way to pull it back to the near side of the river each time it was used.

When a wagon was ready to cross, they tied the near end of the cable to the wagon tongue and had the oxen pull the wagon out into the river as long as they could get traction. The oxen had to swim across the river, but they could easily manage that. The other end of the cable was hitched to a team of oxen and they also pulled on the wagon. That team provided the forward motion when the team at the wagon lost traction.

The wagon started to drift downstream as soon as it got far enough into the river to start floating, but the drag from the cable helped it to fight the current and it eventually got across the river far enough that the wheels touched and the oxen regained traction. Once the wagon could manage for itself, the cable was unfastened and pulled back across the river for the next wagon to use. It was slow going, but they finally managed to get all the wagons across.

Wonder of wonders, there were no accidents during this river crossing. The people, including most of the children, finally understood how dangerous the crossing was, and they all took it seriously, this time.

Jasper hated to waste the time, but he declared the next day a holiday and let everybody rest up from the grueling work and tension of the crossing. Two families decided that Grand Island was far enough for them. They felt that there was just too much danger in the trip and they were far enough west to escape the ravages of the civil war. Jasper wished them well but refused to refund their money.

They were down to 37 wagons and Jasper hoped that they wouldn't lose any more. He believed that 35 wagons were needed for safety and less than that made them vulnerable to attack. However, there was nothing he could do about it, so he would just make do with whatever he had to work with.

They left Grand Island the next morning with the ruts of the trail clearly marked. One of the boys remarked to a guard, "I don't see why we needs a guide. We gots these ruts to show us the way." The guard just snorted and walked off.

They were two days out of Grand Island when they ran into their first Indian trouble, but it wasn't caused by the Indians. The wagon train stopped at a small stream for lunch and, as usual, had circled the wagons and posted guards, including some of the men from the train. One of these amateur guards saw a group of Indian women approaching the stream to get some water. He panicked and fired at the Indians when they got what he feared was too close to the wagons. His was an unlucky shot; he managed to kill one of the women. The rest of the women ran behind a nearby hill.

The man trotted out to examine his kill just as a dozen warriors rode at him from behind the hill. He was pierced through the belly by two lances before he could get his gun in position to fire. A brave had just finished scalping the still living man when Seth Lawson arrived on the scene.

Seth grasped the situation immediately and tried to make peace. Unfortunately, the irate Indian warriors were in no mood to listen to reason at that point, so they turned on Seth. Fortunately, he managed to escape back toward the wagons before the Sioux could catch him. He was covered by gunfire from the wagons as he dove under the nearest wagon and ran to report to Jasper. The Indians retreated, but dragged the stupid emigrant with them as they rode away.

Shortly thereafter, they heard some blood-curdling screams come from the Indian camp, but they didn't last long. The man had been nearly dead, anyway, when the Indians dragged him off behind their horses.

Jasper thought it prudent to remain in the defensive circle for the rest of the day in hopes that the Sioux would become bored and leave. There was no way that they could survive, unscathed, a running fight with the Indians, and he wanted to avoid that if at all possible.

That night, Jasper pointed out to the assembled people of the wagon train that it was the man's own stupidity that had caused his death, and Jasper had no intention of compounding that stupidity by trying for vengeance against the Indians. The Indians left sometime during the night and the wagon train was able to depart the next morning.

The dead man had left behind a wife and several children old enough to cope with the rigors of continuing the trek. One of the sons took over as teamster and they kept up with the rest of the wagons.

Two days later, they were hit by a very large group of Sioux while they were strung out in their column. They all had their guns this time—no more false sense of security and invincibility. They jumped under the wagons and fired at the horses as the Indians rode by. A few dead horses and the Sioux backed off to preserve their horses, their most valuable property. By doing this, the Indians moved out of effective arrow range and the fight was reduced to a few desultory shots from both sides. However, the Indians were the winners in this kind of standoff.

As long as the Indians had the train pinned down, they were not making the progress they had to make if they were to get over the Sierra Nevada mountains before the snow came. Andrew decided that this was a good time to use his sharpshooters. He gathered them into a group and had them fire their rifles in volleys at collections of Indians. Since the rifles were accurate for 200 yards or more, the Sioux suddenly were at the disadvantage. The only way that they could reach the riflers with their arrows was to move into range of the shotguns. This they wouldn't do because of the danger to their precious horses. The Indians finally left and the wagon train was able to make a couple of more miles before stopping for the night.

Seth was able to examine some of the debris from the battle and determine that this was the same group of Sioux they had encountered in the unfortunate incident a few days earlier. Jasper took the opportunity to remind everybody that the Indians were not to be trifled with.

A few people were wounded in the fight, and the doctor was concerned for their health. He observed that the arrow heads were smeared with shit, possibly human, and recent studies at the Vienna University had shown that human shit was instrumental in spreading disease. He made every effort to clean the wounds thoroughly and warned everybody about the danger from even the most insignificant-looking scratch from an Indian weapon. He was known to be sincere and caring, so a few people actually believed him!

There had been no fatalities among the human component of the wagon train, but there had been three among the oxen. The ground was reasonably flat in this part of Nebraska, so Jasper thought that they could get by until they could purchase replacement oxen. The town of North Platte was sure to have oxen for sale, if they didn't find something sooner. In the meantime, one of his wagons was nearly empty, so that he was able to lend one pair of oxen to the most needy.

The train had run out of the firewood that they had brought with them, so they were reduced to cooking with "buffalo chips," a most unsatisfactory fuel. The women and children had the full time job of collecting chips as they walked beside the wagons. Of course, the people toward the rear of the train had to range the fartherest to find any and were in some danger from attack by stray Indians. Nevertheless, the fuel was so important that men on horseback were detailed to guard these scavengers. Nobody was attacked, but they did see some Indians on occasion.