A Letter from the Arkansas Valley, 1875

Annie Brigham Mitchell

INTRODUCTION

This is a version of the “Arkansas Mining Association” by a participant in that wagon train. The party was led by Anson W. (Grizzly) Callen from Junction City, Kansas, to Prescott, Arizona Territory. It is told in a column in the Junction City Union, in its issue of August 7, 1875, telling of events experienced up to that date. The writer of the letter was a young school teacher, Angie Brigham Mitchell.

We first saw the letter in the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott. The clipping had neither date nor place. These facts were supplied for us by the staff of the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka.

Angie Mitchell was born on October 5, 1854, which means she was 21 years old at the time of the overland journey. Her father, Daniel F. Mitchell was a civil engineer and a surveyor. His first task upon arrival in Prescott was to survey the new town. Angie went to work as a school teacher, some say the first in Arizona. She had anticipated teaching in the new territory and had brought with her a collection of books and maps. She had attended the college in Manhattan, Kansas, now Western Kansas State College.

Prescott was a rip-roaring mining town at an altitude of 5346 feet, in Yavapai County. There is a note in the Sharlot Hall Museum that when Angie Mitchell began to sing at the Union Sunday Church, all the gambling houses closed up “tight shut” for that hour and the miners and gamblers put on their best clothes and attended church, often putting a generous handful of money in the contribution box “and went back to open up the most prosperous and lucky games of the week.”

It was on April 20, 1881, that Angie Mitchell was married to a prominent citizen, a member of the legislature named George E. Brown. She moved to his large ranch on the Agua Fria (Cold Water) River. There they ranched and farmed for many years. Brown also served as a deputy sheriff, and deputy United States Marshall. In his late years he was Superintendant of Irrigation for the Pima and Maricopa Indians.

Angie Mitchell Brown died on December 23, 1909.

We are grateful to the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona, for use of the Angie Mitchell/Brown papers in their collection as references for the life of this interesting lady.

ANGIE BRIGHAM MITCHELL’S LETTER

Camp on the Plains, July 28, 1875

To the Editor of the Union:1

Knowing the interest you take in the Argonauts, I send you a few lines from headquarters. We are camped about four miles from Sargent.2 Came here Monday p.m.; expect to remain till Friday, the 30th, to recruit the stock previous to hard traveling. Yesterday being a bright, sunny day, the wagons were unloaded, everything inspected, aired and repacked. Our camping ground is on a high prairie, smooth and level, covered with the short buffalo grass. Grass and water for the stock are abundant and excellent at this point, but good drinking water was not to be found, so a party turned out to dig a well. Struck water at about five feet. This proved to be too strong with alkali. Another was dug; this did not prove satisfactory, but a third yielded an abundance of good water.

For several days we have been traveling through the valley of the Arkansas with the river on the one hand and the A., T. & Santa Fe R.R., 3 on the other. Though for days we have not seen a house, except when we passed through the railroad station, we have felt that we were not entirely removed from civilization, for twice a day the railroad train has passed us.

The Arkansas valley certainly does not deserve the title of “drouthy, ” forever since we entered it we have had one or two showers every twenty-four hours, many of them accompanied with high wind, and with vivid lightening and loud peals of thunder. The greater part of the showers come in the night, and sometimes catch us unprepared. At such times there is a general gathering up of beds that have been spread in the open air, and a hasty retreating to the “big tent.” The camp resounds with calls of “Turn out boys, make the tents fast!” “Cover the wagons!” etc., and then echoes of mattocks and tent-pins, and shouts can be heard for a long distance. Last night we had three showers, but our canvas houses afforded an excellent protection, as the wind was not high. To-day is very warm, little air stirring, and the clouds warn us that to-night we may look out for our usual shower.

We have been expecting to go to Las Animas, 4 but the leaders of the party have decided to cross the river at Grenada [Granada], 5 Col., taking a route that has been laid out within a couple of years, thus saving fifty miles of travel, and getting better grass and more water, though less wood. We shall strike the old route again about four miles from Fort Union, 6 New Mexico. It is said there is a little more danger from Indians on this route, but we have no fear of them, as our train is large and well-armed, and we do not propose to be caught napping.

We are about 2, 600 higher than Junction City, and find at this early day quite a difference in the atmosphere, it being clearer. Sounds can be heard at a greater distance, and one becomes sooner wearied by exercise.

Last Sabbath we camped near Old Fort Aubry, 7 now in ruins. This consisted of a few adobe houses, situated on one side of a spring of clear, cold water, and upon the other a roofless one-story house 20x30 feet, the walls of which are perforated with loop-holes. It is situated so as to command an extensive country, and probably was the stronghold against the Indians.

Much of the scenery has been fine. The Arkansas river is full of small islands and these with the dancing, rippling waters in the sunshine, the deep blue of the sky, and the distant hills all go towards making a pretty picture. We have seen a few new and beautiful flowers, and a variety of snakes, among them, some good-sized rattle-snakes, several having been killed that had from seven to twelve rattles. Abundance of antelopes have been seen, but our hunting parties have not been successful in obtaining any, for they have been hunted so much by the emigrants passing along this route that they are very shy and watchful.

On the morning of the 15th there was great excitement in camp. About sunrise a buffalo made its appearance near camp, and a general “hurrah boys” ensued. Shouts of “Buffalo! Buffalo!” resounded, and there was running to and fro. When the call was first made it was not generally believed, for we had so often been called out to see the game, but after a little there was a general stir, not a few reaching the spot just in time to see the dark object rolling off over the hill. Hunters, both horse and footmen, were soon in motion, but the footmen after a two miles’ chase returned to breakfast. Mr. Callen and three others followed the game four or five miles before killing it, then returned, triumphantly bearing the tongue to convince the skeptical. A wagon was unloaded and sent for it, and for a few meals we luxuriated on fresh meat. At Dodge City8 we learned that this was the first buffalo of the season.

We are camped near Spirit Mound.9 This is a terraced, oval mound, of shale rock, a hundred feet or more in length by Sixty or eighty feet in width, and is at present about twenty feet in height. It is supposed to be at least a hundred years old, and at one time it must have been and extensive mound, as the prairie about it for quite a distance is thickly covered washings from it. Originally there must have been five terraces, as they are now distinctly marked, though only three are perfect. It is called Spirit Mound because the Indians came here at the full of the moon to consult the spirits of departed braves, hold their war dances, and perform various ceremonies. It is an open question whether this mound is artificial or natural. Public opinion is about equally divided upon it. One thing is certain—it is composed of entirely different material from anything about it, and if natural is one of nature’s singular freaks. The bluffs back of it seem to be of sand, intermixed with clay and a variety of stone, while the tops are thickly strewn with all shades of quartz, from milky white to a rose so deep that it is almost black; and spar, flint, such as the Indians use for arrow heads, small sand-stones, nice [gneiss], mica, and now and then a clear agate.

We have seen many places and things of interest, among them Kit Carson’s table rock. This is a soft shale limestone of mushroom form, three miles from Old Fort Harker.10 It is covered with names of people, from all parts of the Union. Also Pawnee rock, 11 near Pawnee, where the Indians of former days held their councils. But most of the places are familiar to your readers, so I will not describe them.

At Grenada [Granada] Judge Austin and Mr. Trott leave us, much to the regret of the whole company. In a few days they will be at home and doubtless will give graphic pictures of camp life. All are well and happy.

July 29.—About nine o’clock last night a severe storm broke upon us—it literally poured down. The water ran in from the hills back of us and in less than an hour our camping ground was five or six inches under water. The “big tent” was blown down, and a general rush was made for the wagons, where the rest of the night was spent. Though every one was more or less wet and uncomfortable, not one bit of grumbling was heard but merry jokes, ringing laughter and gay songs resounded. This morning the sun is shining brightly, the air is pleasantly cool, the water all gone, and everybody is busy drying bedding and clothing. Some look a little “wilted, ” not having slept much, but all are in good spirits.

The hunters of yesterday met with good success, and to-day we have antelope for dinner. Would you not like to dine with us?

A.B.M.

1 The editor of the Junction City Union in 1875 was Noble L. Prentis. He was a native of Illinois and a Civil War veteran. Harold C. Evans, editor, Kansas, A guide to the Sunflower State (New York, 1949), p. 124.

2 Sargents, Colorado. A postoffice would be established there in 1880 and named for Joseph Sargent, a rancher, and first postmaster. Frank Dawson, Place Names in Colorado (Denver, Colo., 1954), p. 45.

3 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. A good short treatment is found in Howard R. Lamar, Reader’s Encyclopedia of the American West (New York, 1974), pp. 61–62.

4 Named by the Spaniards for the river, “El Riode las Animas Perdidos in Purgatorio, ” “The River of the Lost Souls Lost in Purgatory.” Dawson, op. cit., p. 31.

5 Granada, Colorado. Spanish word for “End of the Road.” It was the end of the railroad for a period. Dawson, op. cit., p. 24.

6 Today there are the ruins of an abandoned fort eight miles north of Watrous, New Mexico. T.M. Pearce, New Mexico Place Names (Albuquerque, 1985), p. 59.

7 This fort, established in 1866 and abandoned in 1867, was named for a French trapper and guide, Francis X. Aubry. Evans, op. cit., pp. 389–90.

8 Located on the Arkansas River. It is dubbed by Harold C. Evans “the metropolis of southwest Kansas, ” Evans, op. cit. pp. 177–184.

9 This became Dodge City’s “Boot Hill.” ibid., p. 180.

10 Had been established in 1864 and abandoned in 1873. The town of Kanopolis grew up on the site. Ibid. p. 358.

11 Pawnee Rock is now a Kansas State Park.