1 The blood of America is the blood of pioneers - the blood of lion-hearted men and women who carved a splendid civilization out of an uncharted wilderness. 2 With dauntless courage, facing unknown perils, the men and women of the 'forties flung the boundaries of the nation westward, and still westward, beyond the Mississippi, beyond the prairies, beyond the Rockies, - until they bounded the United States of America with two Oceans. 3 Westport Landing - 1848 - since called Kansas City. 4 In May of that year a great covered wagon caravan gathered there from every section of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, eager to brave the two thousand miles of hardship that lay between Westport and Oregon. 5 "Them wagons from Liberty is liable never t' git here - why don't we start without 'em?" 6 "Jesse Wingate over thar is the captain of th' hull shootin'-match - ask him." 7 "Jesse, everybody's losin' patience waitin' fer a lot of crazy Missourians - we ought to start." 8 "I know - it's aggravatin'. I'm just as anxious to git my plow in Oregon soil as anybody." 9 Far out on the Westward trail stands another plow that bravely started for Oregon. 10 "The Pale Face again crosses the River of Misty Water - always advancing towards the setting sun -" 11 "With him he brings this monster weapon that will bury the buffalo - uproot the forest - and level the mountain." 12 "The Pale Face who comes with this evil medicine must be slain - or the Red Man perishes!" 13 "Here's yer mule, Pap." 14 "Molly, you've kept me waiting a long time. Can't we be mar- ried here at Westport? You know your father and mother would be mighty well pleased -" 15 "I don't know - somehow - I'd rather wait, Sam." 16 "The Liberty boys! The Liberty train's a-comin'!" 17 Will Banion, a veteran of the Mexican War - captain and leader of the Liberty boys. 18 "My name is Will Banion - head of the Liberty train." 19 "This is Sam Woodhull, my first lieutenant." 20 "Banion? Oh, yes - I remember - with Doniphan in Mexico. Lost your commission in the army - didn't you?" 21 "- and this is our daughter, Molly." 22 "Chaw?" 23 "Folks, this is William Jackson - who knows every foot of the trail between here and Oregon." 24 "An' as sech, I'd say from th' way this outfit is jumbled up that ye ought t' git Will Banion t' captain ye." 25 "Mr. Wingate is captain over all of our trains, Bill." 26 "I'll appoint you to herd the loose stock in the rear, Mr. Banion -" 27 "- and the Liberty wagons will go in with Mr. Woodhull's command." 28 "Very well, Captain." 29 "More important to get these babies across than it is the grown folks - they'll be the real Empire builders." 30 On the 24th day of May, 1848, the mightiest caravan that was ever to crawl across the Valley of the Platte awaited the bugle call of "Westward Ho!" 31 "You've got your wish, Jed. You kin crack th' first whip for th' big jump-off." 32 Two weeks out - two hundred weary miles behind - leagues of unknown danger ahead - Already crushing hardship, discontent and homesickness breaking many a pioneer spirit - Day after day disheartened ones gave up the struggle, turning their wagons back. 33 "We're goin' back home!" 34 "May I ride your horse, Mr. Banion?" 35 "No, he's not safe for a woman." 36 "Go ahead - show him you can ride any horse." 37 "Who gave you the right to take my horse? I can ride a little, myself." 38 "Then why didn't you?" 39 "Maybe you took the horse you ride in the same way - and forgot to return it." 40 "Seein' Will ain't got his gun, let's you and me argue, eh?" 41 "You two roosters kin git all th' fight ye want when we ferry th' Platte." 42 "A fight now would disorganate this hull train." 43 "They're buryin' that ol' Mrs. Wattles that come all th' way from Pennsylvany!" 44 "Ye'd best throw some ashes an' burned sticks over th' grave an' then run th' wagons over it -" 45 "Why? Injuns!" 46 "It's a boy! 'Bout nine pounds, I judge." 47 Day after day - week after week of grinding toil to cover twelve pitiful miles a day. And each night - huddled around campfires that feebly pierce the encircling gloom. 48 "Buck up, Jess - you've got us 'most half-way - and I guess you've done as well as anybody could." 49 "Wall, they shipped this here dead man back t' Californy, an' th' climate revived him -" 50 "It's a fact - the old feller's livin' yit - and his heirs never got a smell o' the estate." 51 "Boys, they're pretty blue over in the Wingate section - let's cheer 'em up." 52 "Choose yer pardners fer th' Verginny Reel!" 53 "I don't think Molly ought to make so free with a man like Banion." 54 "Banion was kicked out of the army for stealing cattle." 55 "Banion - I've just heard some things about you and I want you to stay away from my daughter." 56 "Well - Banion's a military renegade and a cattle thief to boot." 57 "I don't believe it!" 58 The North Fork of the Platte at last! A broad stream rolling its way to the Big Missouri - forming a tremendous barrier to the lumbering train and forcing a halt on its southern bank. 59 The only means of crossing - a crude log ferry, run by a small band of friendly Indians. 60 "They want ten dollars a wagon - it's too much - besides, it would take two months to get us all across." 61 "These Indians take advantage of people who don't know. I'll show you we can cross right here, Mr. Wingate." 62 "Wingate here thinks these wagons kin swim acrost." 63 "Even with your wagons fixed so they would float, it's too wide to cross here, Mr. Wingate." 64 "Wait a minute - before you drown those horses!" 65 "You see how deep it is? Think what would happen to your wagons!" 66 "What would you propose, Major Banion?" 67 "Keep on up the river until you strike the cottonwoods - then calk and timber your wagons and they will float." 68 "Let him go - he's not a coward." 69 "Gentlemen, this is the Platte. We'll have time to settle a little argument." 70 "How would knuckle and skull do fer you young roosters?" 71 "Better let me have your gun, Sam - it might go off accident like an' hurt somebody." 72 "I'll make it free if Banion dares!" 73 "Ye mean, ye'll bar nothin' - anythin' goes?" 74 "I don't like it, but if you want to go back a hundred years, I'm agreeable - I bar nothing." 75 "Gouge 'im, Will! Gouge his eyes out!" 76 "Go ahead! Give 'im some o' his own medicine - he said t' bar nothin' -" 77 "No, I won't maim you, free or no free. Get up!" 78 "You poor, big-hearted worm!" 79 "You brute! You'd gouge out a man's eyes!" 80 "Sam made it free, an' Will wouldn't take advantage. Will's turrible foolish at times." 81 "Which one really whipped?" 82 "Why, Will - o' course!" 83 "It looks like one fight after another - I guess we'd better split these two trains, Banion." 84 "Banion's wagons are leavin' us - we can spare all such." 85 "Get my two wagons and we'll ferry over. I'll settle Banion properly when he gets across." 86 "I'm going to ferry across and scout for grass and buffalo." 87 "Jesse, we've decided this train's goin' to follow Banion and cross where he does. We think he knows what he's doin' -" 88 "You're a lot of thieving savages - I'll not pay a cent!" 89 After reaching the place where Banion had already crossed, the Wingate train halted for days while wagon boxes were caulked and logs were chained to the sides - then the plunge into the treacherous flood. 90 "We've got to dump out all this useless stuff an' leave it here." 91 "Don't you call my mother's walnut bureau useless! Put it right back in the wagon!" 92 "I've got rose cuttin's an' flower seeds in there! - to say nothin' of other things that I need to make a home." 93 The river was conquered; but with a staggering loss of wagons and stock - and then appeared the silent messenger of another tragedy. 94 "Let me finish 'im off now - they'll think th' Injuns has done it." 95 "They - got - all the - others -" 96 "Go back and tell Wingate about this. I'll look after Woodhull." 97 "Will, don't put off fer tomorrer what ye kin do t'day - ye'll never have this chance at Woodhull agin." 98 "Pawnees done it - an' Woodhull must o' done somethin' purty tricky, or Bill Jackson can't read Injun signs." 99 "Meantime, our wagons won't be far ahead - case there's any further trouble." 100 "Will didn't say so but I'll give you his regards - and you don't say nothin', so I'll take yours back to him." 101 The next day came a trader - that lone nomad of the prairie with his small caravan - travel- ing between the new frontier and civilization - unmolested because he carried no plow and sought no land. 102 "Jim Bridger, you ol' jack-rabbit!" 103 "Take a look at 'im, Will - here's th' best scout in th' Rockies -" 104 "I'm freightin' some stuff from Council Bluffs to my Fort, an' I wouldn't mind joinin' on with ye." 105 Early Autumn. Separated by a few meager miles as effectively as though an ocean rolled between them, the two crawling trains entered that vast territory which was later to become the State of Wyoming. 106 "Jesse, I've just scraped the bottom of my last flour barrel - an' I don't see no meat, either, unless it's horseflesh - what are we-all goin' to do?" 107 "Look! There's signs of meat, anyway - plenty of it!" 108 "Brigham Young, the Mormon leader, left this here bulletin of the plains. If he could get his wives across, I can get my wagons." 109 Soon the cry of "Buffalo!" rang throughout both trains, and every able man armed himself for the biggest hunt in human experience - the hunt for meat to fill hungry mouths. 110 "Fer buffler, th' bow's th' best." 111 "I'm goin' t' throw him back into this bog." 112 "Will Banion, ye're a natural- born, ingrain fool - Proverdence planted this critter here fer us t' throw back in agin!" 113 Across Wyoming and over the first range of the Rockies - chilled by early October frosts - the Banion train pulled in at old Fort Bridger a few miles ahead of Wingate. 114 "Well - here's my home, Will." 115 "An' here's my wives!" 116 "This un I calls Blast Yore Hide -" 117 "- an' this un, bein' younger and purtier, I calls Dang Yore Eyes." 118 "Well, Joe Dunstan, you poor ol' polecat! Still working fer th' U. S. Army?" 119 "The Hudson's Bay sheep- ment, he's delay - she's onlee four bottle lef'." 120 "Kin you hold yore tongue, Jim?" 121 "As sure as this here bad licker has hit my empty stomick!" 122 "I'm takin' important news east - they've discovered gold in Californy!" 123 "You and Jim had better do your drinking today - we move on by noon tomorrow." 124 "Now, another thing - do you remember that Will Banion case?" 125 "I'm carryin' dispatches about that, too. A lawyer by th' name of Abe Lincoln back at Banion's home has been stirrin' things up a bit." 126 "Banion was dropped from th' army for cattle stealin'." 127 "Well - there's been an investi- gation since the war and Banion's been reinstated - they've found he commandeered them cattle to save his detachment from starvin' to death!" 128 "Leave me tell Banion - he'll be plumb tickled to hear it - on account of a mighty nice gal." 129 "Jim, I'll have to be goin' - I aim to make Mousseau's cabin by nightfall." 130 "Can't - got 'portant - 'ic - news t' d'liver." 131 "Bill, thar ain't much licker left - but sech as there is - is your'n." 132 "Would ye trust me, Bill - for the sake o' old times - when friends was friends?" 133 "I've got important news for ye, Will - soon as we do a little old time shootin'." 134 "That's onreasonable shootin', Jim - willful waste makes woe- ful want." 135 "To th' ol' days that's gone, when a friend could trust a friend!" 136 "Joe Dunstan was here an' left a message about ye." 137 "Now ain't that cur'ous, I can't recollec' what it was since that shootin' sobered me up!" 138 "It might o' been about the gold discovery in Californy - an' yet I ain't sure -" 139 "Why don't ye try yore luck out there 'stead o' Oregon?" 140 "Meantime, I'll get lickered agin an' see if I kin recollec' that message." 141 "Fort Bridger, Molly - here's where we're to be married." 142 "I'm goin' to move out right away - for California." 143 "You're still thinking of Banion!" 144 "I've promised never to see him again -" 145 "But, I'll make another promise - now - if I ever find that I've misjudged him, I'll crawl on my knees to ask his forgiveness!" 146 The whispered secret of Gold flashed like magic through the Liberty camp - California became the promised land. But Banion thought only of Molly's wedding as he gave the order that separated the two trains forever. 147 "Sure thar's no licker left some'eres?" 148 "I ought t' have some - there's somethin' I've got t' tell Banion -" 149 That night a holiday spirit pervaded the Wingate camp. Everybody put on his "best bib and tucker" for Molly Wingate was to be married. 150 "Ye mustn't marry Sam Woodhull - leastways not until I git drunk enough t' recollec' what I've got t' tell ye." 151 "Joe Dunstan give me some good news fer Banion an' it's locked up here waitin' fer th' right amount o' liquor t' let it loose." 152 "Aren't you afraid you'll go beyond the remembering point?" 153 "Now I've got it!" 154 "Will Banion never stole them cattle - just took 'em to save a detachment from starvin' t' death - an' now he's been exon'rated an' re-instated!" 155 "Can you get horses - will you take me to him?" 156 "Sam, we've misjudged Banion -" 157 "I'm going to him - now!" 158 "Put out them fires! Barricade!" 159 "I jedge they'll attack at daybreak - they allus do." 160 "Send for Banion!" 161 "By Gad, no man could get through. We're surrounded." 162 No man could get through. 163 After a night of tense watchfulness, the dawn came - swift, sudden and ominous. 164 "Why didn't someone try to get through to Banion?" 165 "Is that you, Will Banion - have you come back?" 166 "How's Molly - could I see her?" 167 "I'm sorry, Banion, but Molly has promised Sam Woodhull never to see you again." 168 "Will Banion!" 169 "Will, I guess I'll have to stay here, till Jim gits well, anyway." 170 Delayed for weeks by the loss of men and wagons, Wingate moved on in the face of a new obstacle - the first fall of snow. 171 "Wish I could get some good licker! I forgit if I remembered t' tell you what I forgot t' tell Banion when I was too sober to remember." 172 "I'm startin' across th' mount'n - t'morrer - fer Californy -" 173 "Got any message fer - anybody?" 174 "Just tell Will I'll be waiting for him - in Oregon." 175 Hundreds of miles to the west past Fort Hall, third and last outpost along those two thousand miles of toil, danger and exhaustion, stands a famous sign-post splitting the trail - and here Wingate met his greatest obstacle - GREED! 176 "I've just come from thar - the gold's stickin' out o' every rock. Throw away yer plows and take yer picks." 177 "Don't listen to him! Suppose there is gold - how many'll find it? You're sure of a section of free land in Oregon." 178 "The pick and the shovel never built up a country - you've got to have a plow." 179 "Oregon's got to be settled - and that's where my wagon, my plow an' my family is goin' now!" 180 "I'm taking a lot of the boys to California - goodbye." 181 "I know you'll never marry me - and, if I can find Banion, you'll never marry him, either!" 182 Month after month, over the Western Rockies, Northwest across the thirsty land of the Shoshones and the mighty Snake, the Men of the Plow held to their purpose. 183 "How far is it to Oregon?" 184 "Why, you're in Oregon right now - an' welcome to the greatest territory on this here Footstool!" 185 "Let us pray." 186 The spring of '49. And what of those who made up the mammoth wagon train that bravely started from Westport? Some found only bitter disap- pointment and defeat - and some found the end of the rainbow. 187 "Banion? His cabin is just around the bend - funny, you're the second stranger that's asked about him today." 188 "I been lookin' fer ye so long, Will, I plum lost track o' time." 189 "Wanted to tell ye that Molly said she'd be waitin' fer ye in Oregon." 190 "Oh, then Suzanna, Don't ye cry fer me, I'm goin' back to Oregon With my gold dust on my knee." 191 "Sorry, Will - knowed ye was sot on sparin' that critter - but some bacon grease got on my finger an' it slipped." 192 The home of an early settler in Oregon. 193 "Oh, then Susannah, Don't ye cry fer me -" THE ENDHome