Freighting...

[St. George]

St. George's Notes XXX - 'Freighting'

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The Army did little of its own freight hauling.

Virtually all military freighting was performed under contract by civilian companies, and waste and
inefficiency had characterized the Quartermaster Department's logistical support of Kearny's Army of the West.

In 1848 the Government turned to the Contract system.

In 1853, William Russell and William Waddell formed a partnership and won a contract to freight supplies to Fort Union in the New Mexico Territory and Fort Riley in the Kansas Territory.

Their strongest competitor was Alexander Majors.

Majors, a man with deep religious convictions, had begun his freighting venture in 1848 with six wagons and sufficient oxen.
Six years later, he had become the largest freight company in western Missouri with a net worth of over $100,000.

In 1854, Quartermaster General Thomas Jesup eliminated awarding yearly contracts to freighters in favor of two-year contracts.
Whoever was granted the contract would be required to freight supplies from Fort Leavenworth to all military posts in the West and Southwest.

Fort Leavenworth's strategic location made it the logical logistical supply center to support the U.S. Army throughout the west, but the Army did not have the capability to transport the volume of supplies needed.

Russell and Waddell merged with Majors...

On March 27, 1855, the new firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell signed a contract with the Quartermaster Department to freight supplies for two years.

It was the largest freighting contract in history at the time...

In April of 1855 - they located a field headquarters in the newly-established Leavenworth, Kansas - investing $400,000 in a blacksmith shop, wagon repair shop, lumberyard, meat processing plant and dry goods/outfitting warehouses and grocery stores - hiring 1,700 men as teamsters, purchasing 7,500 head of oxen and 500 wagons - thus helping the nascent Army
town to become firmly established in the Kansas Territory.

Their headquarters building still stands at 4th and Delaware.

They turned huge profits from 1855-1857 - but their luck was about to run out.

Their government contract in June 1857 required the company to haul three million pounds of supplies to Utah - an amount over that agreed upon in their contract.

Flushed with success - and having never suffered serious losses - they signed...

In the Utah Territory, Mormons attacked the huge caravan.

The company's loss of $494,762.61 exceeded two years' worth of profits.

The firm scrambled to attain credit and signed contracts with the government that would run into 1859.

Adding to their misfortune, the growth of Leavenworth crowded their huge enterprise.

In agreement with the government, the freighting firm moved its headquarters one hundred seventy miles north of Leavenworth to Nebraska City.

Though the company freighted supplies to the western forts and to Santa Fe, they continued to sink into debt, and by 1862, the most prosperous freighting company in the west was bankrupt.

Large-scale military freighting, as dominated by Russell, Majors, and Waddell, continued until 1866,
when the railroad moved west into Kansas, and each railhead town served briefly as the port of
embarkation for freighters.

After the rails reached Denver in 1870, wagons continued to move supplies over the Mountain Branch of the trail between Pueblo and Fort Union, but after 1879, the great freight wagons ceased to creep across the rutted plains, and rail was the preferred method of operations.

However - in amidst all of this - they established the short-lived Pony Express in 1860, to provide weekly mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California.

"Buffalo Bill" Cody, who as a 12 year old boy had tended the oxen for the wagon trains, was one of the firm's riders, and would trade on the experiences later on in his life as a showman.

The very name 'Pony Express' evokes images of courageous young men crossing long stretches of country, frequently under harsh conditions, facing the constant threat of death.
Like so many legendary events of the 'Old West', there have been wild exaggerations of the facts, but braggadocio aside, these young horsemen faced numerous dangers, such as thieves, deserts, or blizzards - continuing even at night when the only illumination came from the moon or flashes of lightning.

In 1860 - their employment advertisment read:

"Wanted: Young, skinny, wirey fellows not over 18.
Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily.
Orphans preferred.
Wages $25 per week."

In existence for only 18 months - they made 308 runs in each direction carrying almost 35,000 pieces of mail.

The firm - probably in deference to Major's religious convictions - required an oath of the Pony Express riders:

"I, ____________, do hereby swear, before the great
and Living God - that during my engagement, and while
I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Wadell. I
will under no circumstances, use profane language; I
will drink no intoxicating liquors; that I will not
quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm,
and that in every respect I will I conduct myself
honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct my
acts as to win the confidence of my employers,
So help me God.

This pledge was severe for the time and place, but it had long been required of all Russell, Majors and Waddell employees and apparently with good results.

Upon ascribing to the oath - the rider was given a Bible - embossed with the firm's name.

It was said that they rode 'with a Bible in one hand and a Colt in the other'...

As an aside - Colt made a Pony Express Commemorative Single Action Army in 1960.

There was also a facsimile Bible...

Bound in embossed leather with some pertinent 'Colt' information and 'The Oath' inside, and featuring:
'Presented By Russell, Majors and Waddell 1860' in gold on the front cover.

Anyone who's doing the Impression of a Freighter, Bullwhacker or Pony Express employee should keep their eyes open for a stray copy.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!


Source/Suggested Reading:

'The Great West' - Lavender
'The Expressmen' - Time-Life
'Entrepreneurs of the Old West' - Dary
'Empire on Wheels - Settle and Settle
'Pony Express - The Great Gamble' - Bloss
'They Carried the Mail: A Survey of Postal History' - Bowyer
'The Story of the Pony Express' - Bradley
'The Pony Express: The Record of a Romantic Adventure in Business' - Chapman
'The Pony Express: Hoofbeats in the Wilderness' - DiCerto
'Orphans Preferred' - Corbett

Are there more?

Of course there are...

[Will Ketchum]

I second what Joss says.   Thanks.

Will Ketchum

[St. George]

De nada...

I've done around thirty 'Notes' - and a host of other stuff on the 'Historical Society Forum' - all dealing with the authentic side of the Old West.

Every so often - I'll dual-post.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!