Trails and tracks

TL;DR -- Trekking on the Santa Fe Trail started in 1821 at St. Louis MO. The traffic grew during the years up to the Civil War. Post the conflict, the railroad made its incursion which ended the majority of the traffic. Some still had this as their only recourse. However, the terminus of the Santa Fe Trail was on another trail that had been in operation since 1598 and was in New Spain that will be a continuing topic in our look at the long reach of New England. Too, going forward lots of effort by conservation groups has saved artifacts from the earlier periods. This focus will continue to be necessary.  

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For awhile, we have been looking at the many commemorations that are in progress or will happen. The Cape Ann crew's arrival will be next up for the 400th. But, we have the 250th to consider, and even more, such as the 200th which is a few generations post the Revolution (250th). 

Last year was the 200th of the first trek by the eastern culture from St. Louis MO to Santa Fe NM along what became the popular trail. The trail went from the U.S., which had grown post Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana Territory, to New Spain.  

To quote the Santa Fe Trail Association: "In 1821, the Santa Fe Trail became America's first great international commercial highway, and for nearly sixty years thereafter was one of the nation's great routes of adventure and western expansion." This association formed a few decades ago and has collected an astounding mixture of technology with which to tell the story of the times and the people who were involved. 

In terms of the later, they have been nominations for a Hall of Fame. On our review of the list, today, we saw many familiar names, some of whom are well-known characters of the American West, such as Kit Carson, Zebulon Pike, and more. The Bent family and others have been mentioned in this blog in the context of the long reach of New England. 

Also, the Association publishes a newsletter which is available online: Wagon Tracks (online list of issues). They have published since 1986. The latest issue (Wagon Tracks, Aug 2022) included an article on measuring distance traveled which looked at one invented by Ben Franklin. This article is an example of a technology focus which we will keep to the fore. In this case, miles were the enemy more so than others that are known, such as weather. We have looked at rivers and other waters as a means for travel as well as being a barrier.  

May 2021 issue of
Wagon Tracks

The image comes from an issue from 2021 (Wagon Tracks, May 2021). 

Another source for information is the Kansas Historical Society whose state is crossed diagonally by the trial. We have referenced this source before; an example was our earlier look at Col. Thomas W. Higginson who was from New England and was out in Kansas supporting abolitionism and John Brown.  

There are many persons to look at. Right now, let's consider Isaac Bowen and his wife Katie. He was in the military and brought his wife with him as he did his duties in several locations. She kept a diary and wrote to her mother on a regular basis. This is the KSH Overview of Santa Fe Trail Diaries - Katie Bowen. In 1996, the KHS published the diaries which is available for public reading: A Faithful Account of Everything. 

Their first visit out west was pre-Civil War and about the time of Col. Higginson. Post the conflict, there was another dynamic related to technology, the railroad. The National Park Service provides a timeline from 1866-1873 which is interactive and provide information by time and place with respect to the trail. As the railroad came in, people road the train to the endpoint of its rails and then continued in the mode of laborious travel. 

Unto this point, we have looked at New England and flow from east to west toward the southwest. We will be looking further at the northern route, too, as we take a deeper look at Oregon. Even up there, we will be considering New Spain as the extent of the U.S. was not the west coast until later. 

The Santa Fe Trail ended at a terminus of Camino Real in New Mexico whose existence needs more attention since it gets us more aware of European activity in Texas and points west. The trail used by Butterfield and others ran along those southern routes that were pioneered by New Spain and before them, the American Indians. The Camino Real is traversed today in a north-south direction from El Paso TX to Albuquerque NM. 

Just like we can see wagon wheel ruts today along the route of the Santa Fe Trail in areas where development has not blotted out the past, the same is true for those earlier travelers along the Spanish trails. An example can be see at Fort Selden with tracks along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro still visible.  

Our interest is primarily New England but with scope large enough to cover the prior periods thoroughly. Our southern border, from TX to CA, has a lot of history still to be told, where generalization does not trump truth.  

The southern trail ran from 1820s to the 1880s. Putting this into the context of generations, that was post Jefferson's purchase and during the start of the push to the west where we had a century of frontier experiences in many places with results such as lost generations. 

Remarks: Modified: 11/12/2022

11/12/2022 --  We need to add New France into the triad in order to know how the U .S. is a phenomenal experiment in the experience of being, inner and outer. In other words, our focus will be on the long reach of New England but with a context filled in as only the internet will allow. 

US Territory

TL;DR - Military man. Went up the Mississippi to its start. Then, went out to see the Rockies. Found the source for the  Arkansas River. Had a run in with the Spaniards. So, was taken to Mexico. Sent back. The War of 1812 came up, and Zebulon Pike died. Young man. He, of several, helped us map out the western U.S. where the states can be huge.

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Having been looking at families as they moved west, we have learned a lot with respect to history, genealogy, and life, in general. For one thing, there are people who need to be recognized for their lineage, albeit some of the genealogical bent have this bias (it's the paper that counts, silly). On the other hand, people had lives and left others behind. One consequence of the forever shift is that things get lost, like who was where.

As an aside, we know of Zebulon Pike's life. He wrote of it. After looking at Daniel Boone, we figured that we need to move further west, as Daniel stopped not far west of the Mississippi. Hence this post, as those who went west did it with labor. We'll get there in a continuation of the western movement series that started a few years ago. So, let's stop to look at the US States and some of their attributes.

After a brief pause, though. One thing that stood out in looking at early Massachusetts and New Hampshire is that someone could move, even two counties over, and be forgotten in the sense of not being included in some write up. So, it was understandable when someone went further west. Say, the Mayflower descendant out in the lonely prairie grave - see Bayes post - more coming. In his case, a book on his family starting with the 17th century arrivals just noted that he was out west. In another case, some abolitionist was hanged in Texas (pre-Civil War) for being there. We found this out by digging. Lots and lots of stories to tell; fortunately, the internet will allow a more full fleshing of history through time. So, people will be a common focus; we will set up a proof process for descendants of Thomas and Margaret; however, friends will be allowed, to boot.

So, there was a comment about Boone being known for migration on land. After all, his party went by foot from NC to TN and west out to MO. The old guy (in his 80s) is said to have taken a party out to the Yellowstone area. Pike, on the other hand, was young. He mapped the source of the Mississippi. He did the same for the Arkansas River, poorly equipped in late fall (snow of the Rockies). Then, he was taken down by the Spanish to Mexico and brought back. His travels were after Lewis & Clark and before the Santa Fe trail.

Note: we got on this theme with Jedediah Strong Smith and Judge Thompson of Massachusetts, in part.

Looking at the U.S., all of the larger states are out west. For instance, KS is 81K sq mi. This is mentioned since Col. Higginson went there explicitly to show support for John Brown. Too, it was traversed, in part, by the trails, with almost 6/8ths of the trail in KS (Santa Fe Trail). But, Pike went through the area, too, earlier (The White Man's Foot in Kansas). Lots have been written about Pike.

The largest state is Alaska with over 1/2 million sq mi. Texas is next (it'll be featured due to several connections with the East Coast, including New England). This comparison is not for bragging rights; rather, the amount of effort to go across an area relates to the distance. However, terrain was a larger factor. Drive across WV, sometime, and note the absence of any flat area. Or, what they call flat is not really.

Size of States, U.S.

The tales of the Sante Fe Trail mention that parties, sometimes, took the harder route in order to avoid conflict with the American Indian population. From a commercial view, that makes sense. We will look at that. Usually, the path of lesser resistance was taken. Say, moving from Gardner KS to above St. Joe MO in order to save a few days (the gold in CA was calling); besides, going up the MO river was easier than sloughing out west by land. Even if for a few days. Choices.

Remarks: Modified: 02/27/2021

02/27/2021 -- Changed to using American Indian. 

19th Century details

TL;DR -- Earlier we took a look at transcontinental travel in the early 19th century and its ardors. There was nothing easy about the ordeals, but people took up the gauntlet. Here we look at one site where travelers made their presence known and link to a map that has local details of interest. 

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We have had several posts on trails. Recently, we looked at a well-known trail (to Santa Fe) as it was the terminus of another trail in New Spain which provided other trails such as that which provided a route used by the Butterfield Overland Mail Company in carrying mail, freight, and passengers from the east coast, through St. Louis and to San Francisco. This was pre-Civil War and was interrupted. Further north, the Pony Express went from St. Joseph, MO to California carrying mail. Butterfield established a new route up north using coaches. Mark Twain wrote of his journey on this route. 

There was another Butterfield in that area who was not related and who had a  Butterfield Overland Dispatch (using a post at the Legends of America site) through Kansas. Both of these Butterfield gents had investors back east. The amount of stations, equipment, horses and people required to have regular routes was tremendous. As we know, the rails of steel were going to play havoc with these routes. But, that was enough later for history to be made. 

As a reminder, at the same time, there was regular traffic from New England which moved south by sail to the area of Panama which involved going across land from ship to ship and then sailing back north. Of course, one could go around South America. We looked at this briefly when writing of the Bostonian (barque) that wrecked along the Oregon coast in 1850. The barque left Boston in July and arrived at San Francisco the following January. It was later seen in New Zealand and, evidently, carried goods to San Francisco before venturing north to its fate. Gardiner, OR resulted from that incident. The overland trails had as many dangers; but, even without those happenstances, the travel was arduous. 

Besides looking further at the specifics of these overland efforts where we find the two Butterfields, we want to bring in more detail as is required for doing history of the events better and for considering the people involved in a more respectful light. Also, the area in the center of the U.S. was very busy. For comparison, we looked at a railroad town and its specifics from the early 1900s (see KATY - western railroad). 

Let's start with a map that comes from KDOT (see 19th Century Kansas Trails). Notice that the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails come into the area in the northeast corner. The Oregon Trail splits off and heads northwest. Another trail in that area is the Butterfield Overland Dispatch which terminated in Denver, CO. The other Butterfield route would have been north of this area. 

Click for detailed 
map from KDOT

The map includes other trails of interest including those used by indigents and that related to the cattle trade where heads were brought as herds to a rail terminus for loading. As one looks at images, the wild west was in this area (see Dodge City). "Hell on the plains" might apply to our few decades of the web. 

Looking at some of the details, there was a military road (double green) that went from Ft. Leavenworth to Ft. Scott and further south. This was there early. We mentioned a Mission in the southeast corner (see Memorial Day 2022). Nathaniel Boone (son of Daniel) was in the area. Col. T.W. Higginson was in Lawrence and Topeka. Lawrence was founded as part of the abolitionists' interest in keeping Kansas free. Take a close look and note a trail (blue dashes) from Leavenworth which was originally for supplying Army posts as they expanded westward but ended up with a California connection. 

In a recent post, we looked at how Ipswich MA got Ohio going. That was not long after the Revolution and was similar many ways with what happened later out west. In fact, we included a graphic (map) showing both areas. So, we could look at this type of detail across the whole of the region. 

One of our interests is the long reach of New England. Both Butterfields were from New England (their relationship, if any, needs to be researched). For the most part, we will be taking time to link with both genealogical and historical information (see Lorenzo and Peggy). As well, we have a technology interest and want to include specifics of the reality of the earlier times. After all, everyone here had forebears who were alive then. The particulars of the American west are such that we can see the transitions clearly over the frontier century's span. We mentioned it before, but this map brings up the fact: going from the northeast (Kansas City) to Ft. Larned (south central, look for Great Bend) took three weeks of daily work on the Santa Fe Trail. 

One more detail, Jedediah Strong Smith was last seen in the area of Point of Rocks (lower left - southwest). He was killed by an indigent part. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/12/2022

12/11/2022 -- 

3 trails

We have had several posts looking at places with the Gardner name. One of these is Gardner, KS near which is Gardner Junction which was on the three trails: Santa Fe, Oregon, California. This is unique, to be where the travelers all were at the same place. The research query was in regard to some particular places, but we know that we need to get a more full list (pending).

Recently, we were in the area where the Trails were going toward Gardner. As well, we thought to look at more details (below). This same route was taken by the New England party (men and women) that left via a port in New York and sailed to Chicago before traveling over to St. Louis and west to Kansas City. They got to an area and established Lawrence, KS (Final migration, Lawrence and Kansas).

On looking deeper, we found the 3-Trails Corridor (defunct link). This was funded by a school initiative that looked to be associated with the Lewis and Clark celebration: 3-Trails Village Community Improvement District. We will look at this further. But, here are a couple of maps. One is from our earlier post. The other depicts points along the route.

Gardner, KS

We have had several posts on this theme and will be adding more. It's about time for a summary look which will appear in the next issue of The Gardner Annals, Vol. V, No. 1. The trails played a major role in the western movement. Too, we need to add in the Mormon experience.

As mentioned in an early post, there were to sea routes to California: around the Cape, two  voyages linked by a trek across Central America.

The gist is that this type of detail work is what one expects from a location. Same goes for a family. There may be major overviews, but a lot of the grunt work needs to be done by the family. Dr. Frank showed us one example. We still have lots of work to do.

So, there are several pending bits of work with Gardner Junction which is the southern trek out of the Kansas City area. This route was fine for the folks going to Santa Fe. But, it was out of the way for the California (gold rush) and Oregon trekkers. It went too far south. Young bucks figured out that they could continue north by water to St. Joseph, MO. This area became last stopping point where dry goods and other merchants had supplies at hand. The travelers still had to cross the Missouri river.

As an aside, some earlier posts looked at the trek from New England to Lawrence, KS. The movement was by foot, for the most part, in the last part of the journey. And, there was a river to be forded prior to arriving at Lawrence. So, this was practice for something that would be a continual source of grief all of the way across the country.

Far cry, one might say, from the easy of rushing down the Interstate. BTW, that subject is of interest, too, since many of those merchants were Yankees.

Perspective: From the KC area to Fort Larned (see the Kansas part of the Santa Fe trail - about 2/3 across the State), the experience was a daily grind for three weeks (makes "are we there yet?" which is known from another perspective to be quite tame). At least, at some point, those same persons saw the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. We have a post on that, too.

This image shows the area near Gardner KS where one finds a kiosk with information about the 3 Trails and Gardner Junction.

Remarks: Modified: 06/24/2022

08/07/2020 -- In this post, we are looking at two disparate spots that share a name, however there are many points in-between. Like Eudora, KS. Where "The Wakarusa meets the Kaw" is on their history site and is an example of local lore getting some attention. See "Along the Western Trails."

08/27/2020 -- Removed stale pointer to 3TrailsCorridor which dealt with the portion in MO: The 3-Trails Corridor follows the traveled way of the Santa Fe,  Oregon, and California national historic trails. It extends from Wayne City Landing on the Missouri River in Sugar Creek, Missouri, where the river boats off-loaded onto wagons and pack animals, southwesterly to Gardner Junction in Gardner, Kansas.

06/24/2022 -- Updated links to Eudora's website as topic continues to be of interest: A Ride to Kansas. 

Gardner, KS

Earlier, we looked at places with the Gard[i]ner name. Then, we took Gardiner, OR and wrote about the person for whom the town was named, Henry Dearborn Gardiner (pg 31, v 35, no 1, TEG; pg 6, v II,n I, The Gardner Annals). That same family was the inspiration for Gardiner, ME.

So, talking of Oregon, there is a town on the trails (see next) in Kansas, named Gardner. It may have been named for Henry Joseph Gardner, Governor of Massachusetts (1855-1858) as there were many pioneers from Massachusetts in the area.

First, about the town. It was where three trails split into two: Santa Fe Trail, Oregon/California Trails. The Santa Fe Trail ended up in a city in one of the oldest areas of the U.S. The other two trails were coincident until much further west where the California Trail headed south; after going west out of Gardner for awhile, they headed up to Nebraska then west to what is now called Wyoming.

Now the Gardner was Henry Joseph Gardner who was a descendant of Richard Gardner of Woburn who is on the list provided by Dr. Frank (the Gardners and Gardners post is the most popular all time).

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The mid-west and central parts of the country are full of displaced New Englanders. A little up the road from Gardner is Lawrence whose main drag is named Massachusetts.

Remarks:  Modified: 06/24/2022

04/02/2016 -- Map showing Gardner Junction and the split of the trails west of Gardner, KS.

08/13/2017 -- Posts on Lawrence (and surrounds): Trails West, Westward Ho, Blogging and such, Final Migration, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Kansas and Lawrence. 

10/26/2018 -- Map of Gardner Junction. 

08/07/2020 -- In this post, we are looking at two disparate spots that share a name, however there are many points in-between. Like Eudora, KS. Where "The Wakarusa meets the Kaw" is on their history site and is an example of local lore getting some attention. See "Along the Western Trails."

06/24/2022 -- Updated links to Eudora's website as topic continues to be of interest: A Ride to Kansas. 

Gardner, CO

Context: Gardners and Gardners.

Two years ago, we received a query about Gardiner, OR. The question was: for whom was the town named? While getting information about the town in Oregon, we went through a list of places in the U.S. with the Gardner (Gardiner) name.

Turned out that Henry D. Gardiner was the namesake of the Oregon town near where his ship (barque Bostonian) wrecked in 1850. This Henry was a descendant of George of Rhode Island.

Lately, I have been following trails west in terms of the long reach of New England (both north and south). Travelers going west who left from Independence all went by Gardner, KS after which the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails split (Gardner Junction).  The town was named for the Governor of Massachusetts, Henry Joseph Gardner. This Henry was a descendant of Richard of Woburn.

Today, we go to the region of the Sangre de Cristo range. This impressive range was visible to those who took the northern part of the Santa Fe Trail. Rather than cut down toward Las Vegas, NM, the travelers went west and joined up with traffic coming south from Denver and other northern points.

On their way south, the wagon went through what is now Walensburg on their way to tackle the Raton Pass. A mere 30 miles or so to the northwest of the Walensburg area, we find Gardner, CO.

The area has a long Spanish history. The Spanish Conquistadors visited. Settlement from the east began in the 1850s. The Post Office had the Gardner name in 1871. The town is named for Herbert Gardner who was the son of Governor Gardner (MA). So, Herbert was a descendant of Richard of Woburn.

The below list is of interesting reads about the area. Some have photos of the area, including a landmark named Gardner Butte.

Colorado: A Guide to the Highest State (1941 - a Works Project Administration publication)
Gardner (Huerfano County Government)
Colorado's Hispanic Towns: Real or Ghosts? (blog by CU-Denver Professor)

This site brought together two old cultures. Santa Fe, which is south of Gardner, was the mainstay of northern Mexico from the 1500s. The trails carried travelers from the east on their way west. As such, the trail travelers had covered more miles.

There are a few more Gardner locations in Northern America for us to mention.

Remarks: Modified: 12/03/2019

08/07/2016 -- Gardner, CO is at the entry of the Wet Mountain Valley. Herbert Gardner introduced agriculture into the area early.

12/03/2019 -- Updated link to image of agricultural field.

Trapper, trader, rancher

TL;DR -- Movement to the west started early, hence the conflict with American Indians ensued which resulted in attempts at treaties. One of these attempts was at a meeting near the Little Arkansas River in 1865. The major tribes of the Plains were represented. The foremost negotiator for the U.S. was of New England. Also present was Kit Carson and William S. Bent who had an Indian wife and had spent several years in the west.  Like early treaties, this one did not take. Subsequent treaties resulted in a lessening of land available to the Tribes. 

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Recently, we wrote of the frontier century that began after the trek of Lewis & Clark and continued until the early 1900s. The early part of the century gave us Jedediah Strong Smith and his peers. They interfaced out west with American Indians and people from New France. In this case, the movement west had been across the middle of the country. A couple decades later, there was more area covered, and we saw settlement taking hold. Some were already old, such as St. Louis MO. Others sprang up along the way and over time. For all of these periods we have identified families to research noting location and routes which included rivers. 

However, we also have looked at the time before the interest of New England changed the west. Turns out that Wikipedia is thinking along the same lines: American Frontier (article was started in 2016). 

This post looks at William S. Bent (1808-1869) who was a trapper, trader, and rancher. He built several posts along the Santa Fe trail. William was born in St. Louis, however his father, Silas Bent (1768-1827) was born in Rutland MA which is in Worcester County. Silas is of the generation too young to be a Patriot but his father was one. We will look at Silas later as he was educated in Wheeling WVA (at the time, VA) and became a surveyor of the Louisiana Territory. As can be seen, Silas shows an interesting part of the migration patterns out of New England where he had a deep pedigree. 

Missouri saw European influence early on but became a State in 1820. The image shows the Santa Fe Trial going across the middle region. William S. Bent built a fort along the northern route of the Trail in southeastern CO in 1833. The southern route of the Trail continued in KS in OK and then NM. It was along this route that Jedediah was killed. 

William was out in CO for several years and had a ranch. He bought land near Kansas City MO in 1858. He married the daughter of Cheyenne leader. There will be a lot more to look at as that whole area boomed over the next decade and one-half. 

In 1865 as the Civil War was dying down, the U.S. government developed a Peace Treaty with the American Indians and organized a signing ceremony. The tribes involved were the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa. This meeting took place near current day Wichita KS. 

William Bent was there for the signing of the Little Arkansas Treaty which is named for a tributary of the Arkansas River that originates in CO. William had been involved with the American Indians for several treaties: 1840, 1848, and 1861. There were many more in succeeding years. 

The treaty's text is available via Yale's Avalon Project: Treaty with the Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho; October 17, 1865. The Daughters of the American Revolution placed a marker in 1925 to honor the event (more details later). 

We wanted to mention a few of the others who were there representing the U.S. due to their connection with New England, both north and south. As we read of this, we saw a Sanborn name pop up, so that got our interest. 

• John B. Sanborn - born in New Hampshire. John went to Dartmouth and ventured out to Minnesota in 1854. He served with a Minnesota military unit during the Civil War. After that, he got involved with the western frontier. 
  
• Kit Carson - was born in Kentucky to a Patriot of the Revolution and 1812. His family moved out to MO and were friends with Daniel Boone. By 1826, Kit had gone west on the Trail and was all over the west. Even a summary would be too long for now. So, we'll look at him from time to time. 
• William S. Harney - served in the U.S. Army from 1818 to 1863. President Johnson appointed him to the Indian Peace Commission. He was born in Tennessee in 1800, but his father was an officer in the U.S. Army.
• Jesse Henry Leavenworth - born in Danville VT, he was the son of General Henry Leavenworth who was born in New Haven CT. 

 American Indian leaders who were there are: 

• Little Raven (Arapaho)
  
• Black Kettle (Cheyenne) 
• and others

Remarks: Modified: 06/19/2021

06/03/2021 -- Added the TL;DR. 

06/19/2021 -- Very old St. Louis in the State of Missouri. 

Jedediah Strong Smith

We commented on the wonderful job that is being done for the Mayflower events and mentioned the work being done by the NEHGS. That will be something to watch. Of late, after reading of Judge Thompson spending time out west, we have been paying attention to events of the past 200 years. As, we have the opportunity to celebrate those while the 400th stream of fetes rages for several decades.

The Judge's sojourn to the left coast and back, plus Col. Higginson's travels out to the wild west, are examples from a long period of history leading to now. We were just digging yesterday into the 'Sooner' events that were associated with the 1893 Land Rush where the Cherokee Territory was parceled out to a greedy bunch of people. There are tales to tell; fortunately, the www allows people to publish what they know. The usual caveats are in order, albeit that the Thomas Gardner Society would like to be involved with efforts a providing a 'clean, safe' web source.

You see, from the research mode, there are many things to discuss. However, a triad of culture, history, and genetics/genealogy rises to fore, in our opinion. These will be discussed further, as we go along. Culture is a human trait of long-standing interest. So, in a sense, memes trump genes? Well, lots to look at, however history does have a huge role. Actually, it deals with people and their dealings. People, of course, are the major players, but each generation comes and goes. We have to look at the broader scope of things. Humans have many cultures, most of which are age-old.

Both Thompson and Higginson were late, comparatively, to the subject guy. They were around during the pre-Civil War times. And, both were heavily New England in pedigree. One thing to remember is that after the Revolution, we had lots of people coming here. In fact, D.A.R. has many members whose patriot ancestors came sometime in the 18th century prior to the uproar. But, we also had the Spanish here for a few centuries by that time. And, people came from all over.

Just like now. And, given some of the discussions that we see, we really need educational thrusts related to the hidden history of the U.S. So, let's go back a few decades prior to these two guys. One of the early explorers, a mountain man, was out west in the 1820s. He started in St. Louis working in the fur trade business. Then, he went west and covered a whole lot of territory. He took notes, drew maps, and even wrote letters. And, he has a New England pedigree which needs to be researched further. We looked at some reports and provide a brief list of families: Smith, Strong, Partridge, Mather, Ingersoll, Langley, Adams, Kilborne, Foote, Eddy. Like many, he has oodles of cousins.

Jedediah did not have descendants, but his siblings did.

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Now, let's switch to an example society that is doing very good work. In 1957, a group in California decided to found a group to research this guy and others like him and more. This is their website.

• Jedediah Strong Smith, Society

It's partly based in Berkeley (CA). They use WordPress nicely. But, their research work is real nice. There is some discussion, below. But, they have a Rendevouz that is planned and allows people to walk in Jedediah's steps, if you would. And, he covered a whole lot of western states, as an early traveler. We will look at one, below, a little.  

Being brief, just like the NEHGS helps lead the way, the JSS shines, too. Jedediah Smith

Area where Jedediah
was killed, 1831

 was born in 1799, so he's a post-Revolution baby. His parents were in New York. They both have New England pedigree. By 1822, he was in St. Louis. Mind you, this was before the trails kicked in (see Gardner, KS at the split). After that, he went many places. He helped establish the Oregon Trail's route.

As we look at the filling in of the middle of the U.S., we can look at what was going on in New England. Like we know of Higginson, that he was one of the secret supporters of John Brown. By that time, there was regular publishing in eastern papers of articles sent from the west. Jedediah was before any of that.

His death was in 1831, in Kansas. There is a river that runs out of New Mexico into Colorado and then wanders east until it meets with the Arkansas River that comes out of Colorado, too. He was killed while drinking water from the Cimarron River during a parched time. His body was never found, however reports of his death traveled back quickly. In that area, they were laying out the Santa Fe trail.

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It might be of interest to mention, now, that Jedediah and his crew were the first U.S. citizens to cross the Mojave Desert. And, this was in the summer.

After being detained and questioned by the New Spain Governor, Jedediah went north.

Jedediah maps out
the Interstates

We had to include this map, which came from the JSS website. For those who may be familiar with the area, the long south to north line is, essentially, today's I5. Then, in the lower area, we see what is now I15. And that northern line is I80 which goes across the whole continent ending up in New York City.

There are similar maps of other areas created by researchers who have been studying Jedediah and his times.

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As an aside, the JSS still uses checks for their membership payment and contributions. They have a nice newsletter, too, and published papers.

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Jedediah was forgotten for a long while. One article is noted as having been written in 1922 by a grand-nephew who lived in Kansas not far from where Jedediah was slain. But, once the JSS was formed, it has been in action to get Jedediah recognized.

---

We see a similar role with regard to Thomas Gardner and the Cape Ann crew, especially with regard to the Old Planters Society. That is, do not let the world forget early New England. Lots of research has been done the past 100 years or so. Too, there is a huge stack of pending research. Using the www for coordination goes along with its purpose and facilities. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/11/2022

07/17/2018 -- Continuation of the theme: culture | history | technology.

02/26/2019 -- A couple of decades later, in the same area: Lost '49ers.

11/05/2020 -- The Wikipedia page has some additions, such as the image. 

02/13/2021 -- We will use Jedediah as representative of this time (see Gardner River about things of this time). We always thought coming this way, but we need to step back and look at New France. And, the Joliet/Marquette journey (1673 venture to the Mississippi from the Great Lakes region) will be key, representing the time of Thomas's death.  

04/09/2021 -- We continue to research Jedediah. So do others. His Wikipedia page has a lot more information than it did three years ago. 

06/24/2022 -- Wagon Bed Spring, KS is a well-known waterhole in the area where Jedediah disappeared. Legends of American has collected facts and created stories about the west and some of its characters. They add material constantly as this graphic shows. The Daughters of the American Revolution recognized the site in 1906, placing a marker in 1961. The Santa Fe Trail Research site provides research articles such as DAR Marker Locations in the State of Kansas. 

12/11/2022 -- We have a nice map (PDF) which can zoom provided by KDOT titled "19th Century Kansas Trails" (Point of Rocks is shown). 

A trillion cuts by GenAI

TL;DR -- We saw a Chrome report which featured Gemini with respect to Gardner KS and its role in the trails west, one of which was the Oregon Trail. And, the report was not right. "Who cares?" has been my response to having Gemini spout off. I ignored it like I am very good at doing with ads. But, today, I read and saw errors. Okay. What to do? There is no method now. People are training these things. I say, you will not train out the crap. Okay. I wrote this post as an intro and was going to snap the Gemini report and mark it like a teacher would do an exercise. Oh, Gemini, my sweets, you left without telling me. What?  

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Our purposes are several. An important one we have named as All Things Gardner. There are lots of families with the name Gardner. "What's in a name?", we asked once: Amelia Earhart. 

We have been at this genealogy and history work since 2010, learning as we go. On the other hand, we have decades of advanced computing experience under our belt (mainly, situations requiring precision). So, our work here has been largely abetted by computing which has changed in so many ways in the past 20 years (2 decades of decline in some areas). 

We have striven to be correct as to former work. But, we know that is not sufficient. Technology has aided in the digitizing of old records which have been analyzed via human effort and mechanical means such as OCR. A case in point is that we do not know the origins of Thomas Gardner about whose progeny we know a lot due to records over the past 400 years. So, that is an issue to resolve. 

As we work the solution, we have adopted a category: OpEd (category). That will be used to label any of the former posts that touch upon the subject. The information will not be entirely wrong. So, when we figure out the corrections we will make them. Until then, someone can still follow our approach and analysis as we looked at new material. 

Aside: the genealogy crowd split Thomas Gardner into two guys, one who was at Cape Ann with the Dorchester Company and one who is the ancestor of a whole lot of folks. Myself? I think that they are the same guy or were father and son. Both of those alternatives have some basis. The intent will be to find the truth: A Thomas here and a Thomas there. 

And, we would like technology to be of assistance. And, it can. See Bosworth and Gardner, with new revelations coming about of late through use of the facilities of Grok. How well this will stand up though remains to be determined. The battle settled the 100-year war (some use, War of the Roses - I say, cousin war - needless bickering). 

Anyway, this post will look at Gemini which we have liked. But, it is now on the top of a search report. And, I was trying to look at Gardner, KS being right this minute not far from that place. We have had many posts on the little town which we have buzzed by on I35 for countless times. 

• Independence and Kansas City - this post reported on a recent talk about the trails that split at Gardner KS. For more information, see this search on Gardner KS. 

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Now, that was an intro. Here is the gist of the post. This image was snapped from a Chrome query today. ... Wait, did not snap the earlier search. Now, Gemini has disappeared from its featured position. 

Inserted as placeholder 4/11/25 0457 AM CDT

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Note (04/11/25 0458 AM CDT): the absence stopped the flow. "How to handle?" was the question. The following text is from the post from last night. The image was to show what Chrome was presenting. 

---  

Actually, earlier, when I read the Gemini summary, I scrolled and found this first on the list which is from the National Park Service. Gardner was a stop on the earlier Santa Fe trail which was largely commercial going from St. Louis as the gateway to New Spain. 

That trail passed through Independence MO. So, Oregon traffic followed that same route to Gardner and then turned to the north and west going by Lawrence KS which is the site of the University of Kansas which was founded by a group of New Englanders who came out, including women, by that same trail through Gardner KS.

Later, young bucks in a hurry figured that they could take the Missouri River north from Independence past St. Joseph MO into Nebraska and head west from there. Guess what? They eventually met up with the travelers who had come up through Gardner. What did the folks in a hurry gain? Maybe, two days, perhaps a little more. 

But, gold gets the blood boiling. Like? Things easily hyped. 

Note (04/10/2025 2100 CDT) - On going to the Google development mode, I see that there is a new button ("Vibe") which I have been reading about. Sometimes, I might add as it sounded like the usual affair of misdirected enthusiasm. Whatever is going on in the background with this problem will settle down. Then, I'll use this topic for a deeper look. In any case, running into a "tantrum" however invoked does not make for stable knowledge processing. 

Remarks: Modified: 04/11/2025

04/11/2025 (about 0500 CDT) -- Put in proxy of the expected image and a note to explain. Something related to "Who moved my cheese?" (when did that become normal?). 

04/11/2025 (0738 CDT) -- It's back, AI Overview. But, buried under a label. The only quibble is the use of intersection for a split. I dealt with precision in highly technical engineering support work (computational modeling). 

Kudos, somewhat. Let's talk.

Three weeks

TL;DR -- We take modern travel for granted. To wit, the Delta recoil from the Microsoft fail just a week ago. Now, we can look at the details, and ought to. As well, let's ponder three weeks of travel back in the good old days.  

--

Having just written on Los Angeles and then finding more information on the California Trail to which travelers on the Oregon Trail switched if they were headed to the Great State of California. Per usual, everywhere we look in the US, we seek out connections to New England. 

A recent focus on Bunker Hill West brought to fore lots of information about people from the east coast and their activities on the left coast. For the record, this area in downtown LA is where we now find the skyscrapers. But, under many of those are destroyed records of, at least, two cultural developments. Fortunately, there is an association in LA that has photos and records about the different eras and areas. 

That will be a regular theme along with technology which comes into play due to the potential for mischief. Already, we have seen photos that seem to have been generated by methods other than a human with photoshop or the like. We're not paying close attention, yet, as there are plenty of photos for study from the repositories that are available. 

On the other hand, tales of people abound and mostly are not known. Technology, you see, can be a boon as it will help document the past better than we have ever seen. 

Case in point, in the graphic on the left, I made the connection between a middle piece of the US with a Gardner name. It was on the Oregon/California and Santa Fe Trails. At the same time, I knew of Butterfield for a long while but only paid attention of late as the researching of New England's diaspora came to be aided by technology. Butterfield's stage line went from St Louis MO down through TX into NM and AZ and onto CA and arrived in LA after three weeks. From there, it was another week plus to SF. Nowadays, that is a little more than a five-hour drive.  

In the graphic below, the bottom middle view has two lines in red on the left. Both represent three weeks. Nowadays, that's not so long. But, if you worked 21 days without a break, you would feel it. 

The shorter line goes back to the top of the graphic which is the route from Independence Mo to Ft Larned KS. Nowadays, that's less than a five-hour drive. Earlier, we had a tale of the founders of Lawrence KS, including women, from Massassachuets who traversed that same route in 1854. The trip was to found the town and the University at Lawrence. Most returned to New England after the al fresco meeting leaving a hearty crew to carry on with the settlement. 

And, it was in the summer. They only had to do one fording of a river which is not large (the Wakarusa). Now, following the route to Santa Fe through Ft Larned has lots of these.

Now, on the right, one sees a line from Boston to London. Three weeks. When on things of that time span, what could one do? Well, that voyage took a bit of time in the past. But, nowadays, a week is sufficient for a modern cruise liner to make the trip. So, three weeks would be three trips from Boston to London, a return trip, and then back to London. Let's say after that, one would spend 7 hours or so flying back to New England. We need to think of other examples. 

As the modern analysis show, One can drive the same route from St. Louis MO to San Franciscso CA in about 39 hours. Most of that would be on the U.S. Interstate system. I have driven that a lot. 

That brings up another three weeks. This Butterfield route tied in with one from San Antonio TX. From there to El Paso took about the same amount of time. See, Pre-Civil War, San Antonio to San Diego (2021). This was a combination of two routes. 

Now, the top part of the image is of a wagon train pulled mostly by oxen. In the bottom part is of a coach pulled by horses. Consider the logistic for this, as horses needed to be replaced and cared for while they recovered for their next trip. People had to be fed, and other supplies would have been essential. 

Supposedly, this is a photo of a Butterfield stage arriving in LA. On the first trip. a report rode the whole way. We need to find that article. See this post: Mirror Building (2023). 

Remarks: Modified: 07/27/2024

07/27/2024 --    

Oregon, by land

 TL;DR -- Getting to Oregon, however done, was arduous. Today, we look at the land routes and note that the ordeals are subject of studies and have been for over a century. 

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Oregon is in the west, nestled above California. They respect their history ought there so preservation of material is a common theme. Recently, the Oregon-California Trails Association had their meeting. 

There were several ways to get to the west coast and Oregon from New England. We covered the water route in several posts and articles: The Gardiner that was (2018). Gardiner's barque left Boston in July of 1849 and got to San Francisco in January of 1850. It had passengers and sold its freight at the harbor. There was a subsequent voyage to New Zealand. In October of 1850, the barque (Bostonian) wrecked along the Oregon Coast. 

Family members went out another route which was descent to Panama, getting across to the Pacific, and taking another ship north. The return trip was as arduous. We'll look at that further at some point. 

We have written a lot about the land route. As, for a while, the trail went through Gardner, KS (3 Trails, 2019) where it split with the Santa Fe Trail. Over time, as people got familiar with the Kansas City area, they ventured north on the Missouri River to where they could cut out KS and go through NE. This saved a few days. 

Young bucks in high fever were in a hurry to get to the gold field. 

On the journey through Nebraska, the traffic went by Scotts Bluff (Facebook). For now, we put in a photo of the new and the old way which is apropos. People still ride the trail; one of the east-west Interstate Highways runs through the area. So, a brief nod to technology. 

Eagle Rock and a solar car, 2022

Now, let's go further west and look at another split. In Wyoming, the US Government sponsored work to shorten the trip to California. Lander Road was the cutoff that was made. This bypass saved 60 miles for those going to California via the southern route through Idaho. 

Lots of trails crossed the countrry. We appreciate that folks keep up attention on these routes and work to preserve the historical aspects. We expect that the coming 250th of the country will see a surge of interest. At the same time, we need to keep technology on the beneficial side of things, especially with regard to its potential for aiding historical work. 

Remarks: Modified: 07/25/2024

07/25/2024 --    

Map and territory

TL;DR -- Concrete isn't something thought about with computers, except we know of one software package that used the name. But, we need to use concrete language and examples to hone intelligent approaches toward something that represents maturity. How to do that? We expect that New England and the US over time have plenty of examples. Real people doing real thngs. That will continue to be the case even as we see technology continue to expand and play havoc with stability, if we  let it. 

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Last year, we had a post (Three weeks) that looked at early travel across pieces of the U.S. This was in the vein of our recent report on Knox's movement of tons of cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston. His crew had to go two directions across New York and Massachusetts during winter months. And, this feat was accomplished during the time of the Siege of Boston which was part of the American Revolution that occurred 250 years ago. 

So, we are dealing with historic events which are of time and space. As a reminder, 100 years ago or so, Albert Einstein proposed a model of space and time that was confirmed and has been at the core of our model of the physical world. For the most part, that focus deals with cosmology though the science of physics has its quantum theory that has to deal with Einstein's equations of relativity. We can ignore all of the technical details and focus on some local events (explained below). 

The considerations technically handled by Einstein apply across the board which is part of the complexity of life. Another bit of adjustment, though, came with computing. We have written a lot about that and will continue. Of late (the past three years), lots and lots of attention (perhaps, too much) has been put upon GenAI/LLM. "AI" has been around since the '50s. The "Gen" part is 21st Century as is "LLM" which is the latest approach to handling language for input, control of the computer, and specifying output. 

For instance, there are ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Gemini (Google) and many others. We have sampled a few of these but kept it brief. Why? The approach is heavily dependent upon using resources by design. This did not have to be. There have been more efficient methods demonstrated. From our experience, there was not much new offered by this approach as we will see, eventually. 

Right now, consider this post and its graphics: Deadly consequences. In this post, there is an appealing image with respect to our work. The first reaction concerns what can be learned. Did someone do new research and find a gem? Nope, in looking at the image with a critical eye, things pop out. The raft is wrong. Some of the horses are badly modeled. How many errors are there? 

The point is that with this type of bad output, people can be fooled. On FB, one of the groups dealing with early LA (where our interest is DTLA and its Bunker Hill neighborhood) has had many images that were obviously fake but not identified as such. One rule needed? Anything done by algorithm needs to be identified with respect to what we need for verifying provenance. 

Note: Bunker Hill west in DTLA was named for the Bostonian mound of much fame. But, our interest is in the long reach of New England where LA provides us lots of examples. We like Bunker Hill since from the time of New Spain/Mexico to now, New England had a heavy influence. Several generations of buildings are represented in this area that pertain to a proper study of the history of the U.S. 

So, now to the point of the post. This image I put together for the "Three weeks" post. The gist of the matter is that a group traveling along the Sante Fe trail across Kansas would have taken three weeks to go from Indpendence MO to Fort Larnerd KS with the grind of daily travel.

Now, we will discuss each of the pieces of this image in terms of map and territory. Nowadays, advanced computing likes to demonstrate its prowess in modeling nature. Then, if that model is good, the computer can control something in the world. Take autopilot. This software can take off and land a plane. Now remember, involved is a lot more involved with this. We use "map" for the digital model in the computer and "territory" applies to the outside world. So, a control item on the wing of a plane would have means to feed back to the computer about its status and then take instructions from the computer to make some movement, say for a turn. 

 

The recent visible demonstration of this is the auto-car that can drive itself. Some do not even have a steering wheel. In the case that human input is needed, it can be handled by interfaces common with computer games, such as joy sticks. 

There is something called the map-territory problem (Wikipedia; John's Truth Engineering site). In the auto-car, too much reliance on interpolation between points on the computer could result in it not knowing the proper position of the car. There are many ways to discuss this, but, in general, when people are dealing with "smart" systems, it is very easy to forget where some data originates. Handling critical conditions in the world would put more emphasis on the local condition. But, what if a person is not there or incapitated? 

That is why the discussion is always in scope. Fortunately, most software development processes run through these types of things and determine how to handle, before the fact. People in the world do this but also have to think on their feet. The computer cannot do that, in general, despite the claims that we hear. Some reports might come from someone who does not know that they're engaging in a fallacy. It's not so much a matter of "truth" as it is of verification and all that such entails. 

John also has a site that discusses complex systems and the computational problems faced with these. It's called "7 'oops 7" and considers map-territory from a different angle which relates to abstraction and generalization. Frankly, this site pertains to GenAI/LLM's problems more than truth engineering given the present situation.  

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Now, let's look at the top, middle and botttom of the image. All images are from Google maps with annotations. 

• Top - The blue line represents a current bit of highways from the Kansas City area to Fort Larnerd. The post on KC provides another map and details This follows the Sante Fe Trail which went from the KC area to Sante Fe NM and was followed by thousands of wagon trains going in both directions. Too, the travelers could have come from the east coast or from overseas. Many came though St. Louis MO. This blue line represent three weeks of hard, daily travel. Even at this point, one still had hundreds of miles to go to get to Santa Fe. The modern trip planner says that one might expect to spend about 5 hours doing this journey. 
• The topic? In this time, there was no map beyond hand-written sketches. There were models. The guides and wagon masters knew the route. Choices had to be made during the travel. As we know, weather changes and can do so drastically. Many water ways had to be forded. Along part of some trails, there were ferries that were basically flat barges that could carry weight across the water. 
• With respect to territory, as well, energy was expended by people and their animals to do the traveling. After hours of travel, one had to set up camp for the night, feed ones self, handle maintenance task related to the living or the inanimate. Most wagon trains had guides and hunters who could acquire game for food if such was available. But, in those hundreds of miles along the blue line, the territory changed drastically. In terms of gear, wheels broke. One thing about crossing a water way, many times there was a need to tear the wagon down, cross the waters (bringing the gear in the wagon - several trips) and then put things back together in order to continue. One modern term related to this is logistics. We see semis running down the road touting their expertise and efficiency.  
• Bottom - The blue line this time shows the trip from St. Louis MO to San Francisco CA. Quite a jaunt? The modern estimate is 39 hours as it is mostly on higher speed Interstates. But, this was also several weeks of travel covering a larger territory as the vehicles were stage coaches. We will be looking further at this line as there were several others. But, this one was three weeks from St Louis to DTLA. We mentioned Bunker Hill west above. The stage line came into LA in that area, where people could tidy themselves and such. Then, the trip continued up the coast to SF. At that point, there was then a return trip covering the same territory. 
• Middle - The two images set up the condition of three weeks of constant travel across the US. The slower on never left one State. The faster one went from the middle of the country to the coast. That's pointed out with the red lines on the left. The trail to Fort Larnerd was three weeks of grind and danger. The STL to LA to SF trip was no joke either. We will go into that later. Passengers bounced on hard springs, the carriage was open to the weather (unlike the modern car), and people had to keep hold of their belongings which could go flying out the window. The horses and drivers were doing the work. 
• Again, the territory reigns here. The drivers need to know their way which is a map issue. In many cases, the coaches even traveled at night as the trails were marked. Yet, there was nothing like modern pavement. Too, even KS has hills, creeks, and rivers. This is more pronounced with the western route across the country which had to pass through mountain passes which are more benign than one would have found in CO (which even today has many areas closed over the winter season). 
• We added in the black line which crosses the waters back to the source of New England's population at the time of its start. We can speak of two ways to go. A cruise line of a modern type can travel that route in a week. Mind you, back in the 1600s, this could be months even if only a few generally. But, nowadays, in three weeks, one could take three of these trips. Granted, modern travel brings in more interesting issues of map-territory. Mainly, the cabin crew would know where the ship was and its heading. Passengers would have to know the "lay of the land" of the ship in order to get around and enjoy the cruise.  

This was to emphasize the reality of the ordeals of our ancestors which we can easily forget about with the ease of life brought by technology. But again, someone keeps those technical efficiencies going. That's a map-territory issue, as well. The purpose for this post is to explain why we are using the TGS, Inc. framework to discuss technology and its issues. Well, the map-territory mismatches are prime examples and can be used to explain how problems arise. 

Take vibe coding or prompt engineering. The human has the maps (knowledge) and, for the most part, the territory. Robotics with change this dynamic but has its own issues which we'll get to. The interchange by language or other input is part of the system. But, the computer has no notion of the territory in other than the "map" sense, using the word loosely. In fact, with respect to coding, there are issues of how pulling together fragments from the past being coupled with tests as the evaluation scheme can do more than a gross approximation. 

Frankly, I see this with increasing frequency as GenAI/LLM's influence grows. Take website. They look good. The semantics is way off, to say the least. The hard partt? There is no one to talk to about this and the interchange with people has been cut off with bots being asked to take over. I see it operationally, as well, as logic is not quite up to snuff as it was released using other than mature and quality-fluent methods. 

One final bit would be to add in aerospace to the middle image. Where the cruise takes days, a modern jet of capacity can traverse the spanse in part of a day. One can expect that a good airplane could go one way in the morning and return in the afternoon (notice we're talking NY to London which can range around 7 to 8 hours plus or minus two or three hours - fuzzy math - Zadeh's, so being serious). Then consider the map-territory issues of flying which again range widely with respect to the crew and the passengers. 

This example uses something real in the context of Kant's emphasis on experience for knowing. Human life is full of real territory examples and the map examples prior to GenAI//LLM. The computer has been complicating things with that accelerating in the past three years. Concrete examples are going to be important. Meaning, in part, that some of our work now will be to explain errors that crop up and to use examples to explain. 

That is, appealing to "black box" issues cannot be taken at face value. That is a copout. I see lots of discussion now about the mathematics of GenAI/LLM with some of it ex post facto. That means that people have taken the initiative to build an analyzer to do comparative analysis after the fact. Some of this is very encouraging as this could have been done before.

You will hear me argue that the past three years would not have happened had the "knowledge" processing work been allowed to continue. And, my example will be KBE and its contributions to engineering. At the same time, there were many other examples. These, incorporated into the model framework, will settle down that which is fueling the hype so that we can get real work done. 

Remarks: Modified: 08/31/2025

08/31/2025 -

Trails west

In 2014, we did some research related to the origins of Gardner, OR. An article in The Essex Genealogist (TEG, v 35, no 2) and The Gardner Annals (TGA, Vol II, No 1) provided details about the ship (barque Bostonian) that wrecked at that site, its owner (Henry D. Gardiner), and some genealogical information. Henry was a descendant of George of Rhode Island, but his wives were descendants of Thomas of Salem.

Prior to the time that the ship left Boston, it had run up and down the east coast and points further. In the same year of the shipwreck, the Bostonian had been New Zealand.

Last year, Philbrick's book about the whaling ship, Essex, that was out of Nantucket, was made into a movie. Recently, I read the book (only saw the preview of the movie). I don't know if the movie went into the cannibalistic events, however they are described in Philbrick's book. This gives one pause or ought to. But, we'll not go further into the subject. The book is exemplary due to its attention to detail plus to its copious notes.

However, there are some humorous notes. Philbrick talked about the loading process that preceded the voyage. Too, the crew had to be put together. Of course, Nantucket'ers were preferred but scarce. So, they had to cast a wide net to get the manpower. As you would expect, many on the crew would be newbies (tenderfoot out west - see below). Philbrick writes about the Captain having to be out on deck during departure so as to direct the crew. And, it sounded like it could be like Keystone Kops. So, embarrassing to the old salt.

You see, everyone on Nantucket would know when a ship was leaving. And, they would all be down to watch the spectacle. Now, a ship in full sail and under control is a sight to behold. Yet, that would not be the case. And, Philbrick wrote about the Captain being aware that those with long-glasses could watch the going-ons for a long while until the ship was out of sight.

The book is a good read.

Now, on another subject, the Bostonian went from Boston to San Francisco in 1849. It left in July and arrived in January 1850. That was the long way to S.F. by sea (if it were the only one open to the flower children, 1967 would not have happened). Another sea method was to go down by ship to Central American, cross over, and then back up the left coast by ship. That required two ships, at least. The journey across Central America was arduous. Also, there were things of concern, such as diseases, thieves, and other perils. Many lost their fortune on the way back after having found success in California's gold mines. Some disappeared.        

Henry D. Gardiner (and, Gardiner, OR)

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But, there was another way to the west coast: moving oneself over land. Last year, we looked at Gardner, KS. Some say that it got its name from the Governor of Massachusetts (Henry Joseph Gardner - descendant of Richard of Woburn) at the time that a group of New Englanders came to the area. They founded Lawrence, home of KU.

Gardner is not far out of Independence which was the starting point for the trails. They were together until west of Gardner. Then, the Oregon (California) bound wagons went by Lawrence on their way west. The Santa Fe trail headed southwest.

One thing to note is that from Independence, MO to Fort Larned, KS, nowadays, can be done by car in the matter of hours. It is a little less than 300 miles. A lot of it can be done by Interstate Highway. Back in the days, the wagons took three weeks (as in, 21 days) to do that trip. And, it was constant work every day.

On the trails west were Thomas Gardner descendants. Many people stayed at locations that they passed. That was how some cities grew. All along the trails, we find little cities where people decided to stop and grow roots. The advent of the transcontinental railroad (1869 - last spike) saw the same sort of phenomenon.

There was another trail, though. That one was related the western movement of the Mormons from the area of Nauvoo, IL to Utah. Again, many of these travelers were from New England.

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Why the interest? I have run across several diaries (published) from the time that we can look at in more detail. Many of the diary writers have ties back to New England and its roots. We have had an interest for some time to map out movements west. Some families have described movement to the south, first (Carolinas), before the western thrust.

Too, though, there are always reminders. New Mexico, as a State, was 100 years old just four years ago. It is one of the late comers in terms of statehood. But, it is a very old culture.

Coronado was there and in area of present-day Kansas, in 1541. That was long before there was New England activity. As we get toward the 400th, we will see lots of interest in regard to all of the different places and cultures that make up the current populace's history.  

Remarks: Modified: 06/24/2022

04/02/2016 -- Map showing Gardner Junction and the split of the trails west of Gardner, KS.

06/17/2016 -- More on trails.

07/16/2016 --Gardner's Beacon, Vol. VI, No. 1

08/13/2017 -- Posts on Lawrence (and surrounds): Trails West, Westward Ho, Blogging and such, Final Migration, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Kansas and Lawrence.

08/07/2020 -- In this post, we are looking at two disparate spots that share a name, however there are many points in-between. Like Eudora, KS. Where "The Wakarusa meets the Kaw" is on their history site and is an example of local lore getting some attention. See "Along the Western Trails."

06/24/2022 -- Updated links to Eudora's website as topic continues to be of interest: A Ride to Kansas.