The Vieux Crossing & The Military Road

The Vieux Crossing and The Military Road. . , The Native Americans called the Oregon Trail The Great Medicine Road of the Whites as they watched countless thousands of white-topped wagons and seemingly endless moving of troops. Here at the Vieux Crossing was the first major campground west of St. Marys Mission-about one day's travel. Campgrounds were places to rest, graze livestock, repair equipment and bury the dead. , Crossing the Red Vermillion just to the east, with its steep banks and swift flowing river, was a major and dangerous undertaking, requiring wagons to be lowered down the unstable bank by ropes, ferried across the river, then hauled up the other side. Meanwhile, livestock also had to make their way down the bank and up the other side. A large train might take up to two days to cross this river resulting in travelers camping on both sides of the river while the task was accomplished. , Besides the dangers associated with the wagon crossing, the river itself bore an insidious, invisible and lethal threat cholera. This dreadful disease was carried from waterhole to waterhole by sick travelers and struck particularly hard in May of 1849 when more than 50 individuals died within a week at this campground and are buried in the cholera cemetery on the east side of the creek. These travelers may have been healthy in the morning and dead by mid-afternoon or may have lingered for day or two., "The heart has a thousand misgivings, and the mind is tortured with anxiety, and often as I passed the fresh made graves have glanced at the side boards of the wagons, not knowing how soon it would serve as a coffin for some of us. , -Lucy R. Cooke, California emigration of 1852, No wonder people were willing to pay Vieux, a nearby resident and provisioner to the emigrants, a dollar a wagon to use the toll bridge he built across the river. Vieux reportedly made up to $300 a day in his enterprise. It was a bargain for the travelers, who were able to continue on their 2,000 mile journey, knowing full well that other streams, rivers and gullies would have to be crossed the hard way all along the route. Delays were inevitable but gaining a day or two heading into the Rocky Mountains might mean the difference between a safe passage and the terrible face of the Donner Party in 1846, who entered the mountains late in the year and were trapped there in the snow. This story was foremost in every traveler's mind as they moved west and watched the calendar and the skies ahead. , This was also the location where the military road between Fort Leavenworth, and Fort Riley turned southwest while the Oregon Trail turned north Fort Riley was established as an outpost for defence of the Oregon and Santa fe trails. The establishment of the Oregon Trail as a major emigrant route result of John C. Fremont's expedition and subsequent writings in 1842, the Mormon migration of 1847, the gold rush of 1849 and the opening of the Oregon Territory to settlement, and often required the protection and assistance of troops. Col Thomas T. Fauntleroy, commander of the First Dragoons (mounted riflemen) at Fort Leavenworth urged the establishment of a military station in the west. Brev. Maj. Edmund A. Ogden was appointed to locate the new post near the fork of the Kansas River. A camp was established by a detachment of the First Dragoons and was called Camp Center because it was believed that its location was close to the geographical center of the United States and its territories. It was later named Fort Riley in honor of Maj. Gen. Bennet Riley who, in 1829, commanded the first wagon train escort on the Santa Fe Trail. Riley never saw the post, as he died in 1853, the year Fort Riley was officially established. , The connection between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley was more than just a road. Replacement troops, command and assistance of all kinds were sent from Fort Leavenworth to support the outpost This military road followed an established Indian trail and was eventually used by Russell, Majors and Waddell in their freighting trade and later in their Pony Express enterprise. While most of the initial building materials and supplies were shipped by riverboat up the Kansas River to the new fort, much of the food for the men and animals as fort Riley was purchased from the nearest settlement, St. Marys Mission, 42 miles east along the road. , On August 1, 1855, cholers broke out at Fort Riley while most of the troops and senior medical staff were on campaign. It rapidly developed into an epidemic and a rider was sent to Fort Leavenworth asking for help. Though the epidemic was brought under control in a week, 75-100 persons died and are buried at the fort. The establishment of Fort Riley allowed cities and towns to grow and prosper and the Oregon Trail/Military Road continued to be used by the military, traders, merchants, and businessmen, as well as the emigrants heading even further west, Rachel Vieux Thurber, youngest daughter of Louis Vieux, who lived with her father on his Potawatomi allotment next to the toll bridge recalled seeing stagecoaches traveling between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley and changing horses at their farm., "Here we were, without law, without order, and without restraint; in a state of nature amid the confused, revolving fragments of elementary society! Some were sad while others were merry; and while the brave doubted, the timid trembled." , Landford W. Hastings, Oregon emigration of 1842: The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California.