Chapter 6: Indians!

Mar 8-9, 1857

Emma’s POV

We leased space in a warehouse in Leavenworth near the docks. Every one of the white women who had lived near here wanted to bring everything from their homes. I could understand in a way. It was all they had remaining of their former lives and their loved ones. Jim would probably be upset about it. Then an idea hit me. We raided the town, buying all the luggage they had, and bought lumber and carpenter’s tools for the men to use making wooden crates. We packed and crated everything to ship, and filled their wagons and shipped them, too. Every steamboat headed north as far as Omaha was loaded with whatever was ready to ship. Two of the white women and twenty of the slaves accompanied the goods aboard each ship. The first group would warn our families how many people would be arriving.

The white women freely shared any clothing with the freed slaves. I finally realized that Jim was more than just lucky; people bonded to him, and through him, to each other. I’ve never agreed with slavery, and never had strong feelings for or against Negroes, but I knew many people did. Yet, here in Kansas, a slave territory, just like what happened in our wagon train, white and Negro are working side-by-side and sharing. Even in the cities we traveled through in free states, we usually saw a separation between the two races.

The Negro men worked diligently building crates and filling the wagons with goods from the women’s properties. They were nervous when it was time to load everything from the captured house’s armory, and I had to reassure them that it was okay for them to handle the weapons. Jim hadn’t said anything about selling them, so he probably planned to use them until the rifles he ordered arrived. I can’t believe that he ordered ten cannons!

Just the fact that the captain would order the cannons and rifles for him makes me even more sure that Jim is special. I’ve seen the women he rescued look at him longingly. They titter about him rescuing them while they were completely naked, even though none of them even owned clothing during their captivity. They exchange stories about Jim helping to gather the clothes of the men he killed and helping the women dress in the men’s clothing. I have a feeling that many or possibly all of them may end up sharing our bed for at least one night.

That’s another thing about Jim. From the time I was nine, when I first kissed Jim, all I could think about was having Jim as my husband, MY husband. I never once thought about sharing him with another woman, and almost came to blows with a couple of other girls when they flirted with Jim over the years. I found it funny that he hadn’t even realized they were flirting with him.

Yet, less than a month after meeting Flo, I couldn’t imagine her NOT being a part of our marriage. With Madison, I knew almost the second I met her that she belonged with us. I’m pretty sure Wendy will be joining us once the trauma of her ordeal fades. Knowing the rest of the women will probably want to have sex with Jim doesn’t make me the least bit jealous. I think it may help them get beyond what they were forced to endure during their captivity.

The day after Jim left, a steamboat dropped off twenty-five empty wagons for us; Jim was obviously busy in Kansas City. We loaded our crated goods aboard three steamboats bound for Omaha and took the empty wagons to the fort to load and to get them ready for us to ride in. Flo and I managed to buy thirty-two more mules from a couple of farmers to supplement the ones from the slavers’ farm. I wasn’t sure when Jim would be back, but figured he’d be at least two days, possibly more. I had Flo and Madison to keep me warm at night, and wondered how Jim was doing, being all alone. All three of us missed him.

Jim’s POV

I was up early again this morning. Unfortunately, there was little for me to do for nearly an hour before the rest of Kansas City began waking up. The hotel finally served breakfast, and I wondered how my wives were doing and if they were also eating breakfast. I missed them. I missed seeing them, touching them, holding them, and just listening to them laugh, even if they were laughing at me, as usual.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind. I managed to find twenty-five wagons to ship to Leavenworth, along with four mules for each wagon. Knowing how much work we accomplished with mule power, I bought the remaining twenty-three mules offered for sale. Those twenty-five wagons should hold everyone going with us from Leavenworth and everything they needed to take.

After that, I went to a bank in Independence and deposited the gold and silver bullion we just took from the pirates. My wives still had most of the coins. The manager was staggered. When all was said and done, I’d been credited for a hair under a hundred thousand dollars.

I took two thousand in gold coins with me from the bank and headed for the docks to find the man whose name Captain Roberts had suggested. James Callahan was excited to meet me. Evidently, Captain Roberts was spreading stories about the attack on his boat, and our part in defeating it. James laughed, telling me that, within a month, every captain sailing the Missouri River would know the story.

He was surprised when I told him what I wanted, and eagerly agreed to it. Business was slow enough that he was barely surviving right now. With what I wanted, he’d be set for quite a while. With Captain Roberts’ promise that James was scrupulously honest, one of the few men Captain Roberts would say that about, I took James to the bank and introduced him to the bank manager. I explained to the manager that James was my agent and would be using my funds to make large purchases for me.

Once I finished that arrangement, I told James what I wanted him to buy. I wanted a hundred barrels of cement every two weeks for a year. Everything was to go to the Lucky J warehouse in Omaha. I also wanted all the glass windowpanes he could get, assuming that he’d have to order them from several cities back east during the coming year. Having learned yesterday of a brickyard outside of Independence, I wanted as many bricks as we could get right now, and as many bricks as the plant could produce going forward, sent to us every two weeks for a year.

I also wanted four wagons loaded with coal every month until further notice. Having seen the riverbanks rapidly being denuded of wood, I hoped to limit the amount of wood we used for cooking and heating. With so much coal in neighboring states, I wondered if we might find some on our property. I increased our standing order for lumber from the mills here, extending the deliveries for a year.

Another thing I wanted, when available, was cattle and hogs. With so many people to feed, we’d need the sows to breed and the boars for dinner. If James found sturdy mules or good quality horses at a reasonable price, especially mares, we’d take those, too.

Other needs included all the galvanized pipe, nails, plumbing hardware, and building hardware that he could find, and the ten triple plows I saw offered at a store as we rode through town. Remembering my wives, I had James order several wagon loads of canning supplies to be delivered as soon as possible. I was sure we’d need them to feed so many new people next winter.

James took me to a ranch he knew was trying to sell off their livestock. We went to look at the cattle, but the Clydesdale horses caught my eye. When we left, I had a stallion and eight very pregnant mares. I also had five female and three male yearlings, and four male and four female foals. I wondered if Wilbur had my other Clydesdale mares pregnant yet.

I talked to seven families outside of Kansas City who were waiting for a wagon train to California or Oregon. Two of them agreed to go to Omaha instead. I paid their steamboat fares and tasked them with watching out for the sixty head of cattle and the Clydesdales, and with keeping an eye on the rest of our freight.

Exhausted, I slept alone again. While I missed the sex, I missed the closeness of sleeping together more. After sleeping crammed together in the narrow confines of our wagon for so long, I felt lost alone in a bed.

Mar 10

I was excited when I woke up; I would be seeing my wives later today. The wagons with my final purchases were on board, too. Almost as an afterthought, I realized that more people meant that we needed more food to last until our harvest. Going from memory, I bought the things they had me buy before we left home in Virginia but bought ten times as much. I even added several jars of fruit preserves that were for sale in one of the stores, and all the jars of honey I could find. Even knowing that we should get a wheat crop this autumn, I bought flour, and more than a thousand pounds of wheat we could grind. In the stores I nearly emptied, I asked for anything else they might recommend and bought some of those items, too. I added several barrels of dried apples and peaches.

The last store I was at suggested rope and chain, something I’d completely forgotten. Smacking myself mentally, I bought all he had, which wasn’t much. I also bought the four block and tackle sets he had. To relieve my conscience because he had such a great idea, yet I couldn’t properly reward him by buying a lot, I let him talk me into buying picks, chisels, rock hammers, shovels, and gold pans. I figured they’d be easy to sell to people leaving for California. I also bought all the chicken wire that he had for sale, another thing I’d forgotten.

I made a quick return trip to several other stores and added nearly a hundred more rolls of chicken wire, several thousand feet of chain in various lengths, and more than five thousand feet of rope before I thought we had enough to get by for a while. I told James to send five thousand more feet of heavy-duty chain and five thousand feet of rope when he could, and then boarded the boat.

The captain greeted me warmly, having heard the story about me. He was saddened to hear that my wives weren’t with me on this leg of the trip, but showed me how to reach the best firing position on the boat. Even the crew was excited to know I was aboard.

The trip downriver from Leavenworth to Kansas City had taken three hours. I learned early on from listening to Captain Roberts and his crew that the trip upriver took about twice as long as the trip downriver. Since we left at 10 a.m., I wasn’t surprised when we docked shortly after 4:00. Only my horse, saddlebags, and I got off the boat. Everything else was destined for our warehouse in Saratoga Bend. I wondered if the warehouse was full yet.

The crew jumped to work, loading a large pile of wooden crates awaiting shipment upriver while my wives nearly hugged me to death. After hearing what all I bought, they told me everyone would be ready to leave tomorrow. Had they known I’d be here today, they would have been ready to leave today. The women left their twenty properties in the care of the bank. At the insistence of the women, the bank would deposit any money received from the sale of the properties into my account there. I actually did something smart and used branches of the same bank in each city in case I needed to transfer funds.

The first surprise when we got to the fort was Grey Fox. He asked if the people of his tribe, the Kansa tribe, could go with us. There were only forty-seven people remaining in his village and they were having a difficult time surviving. With so many people here now, the once-plentiful game had been hunted into oblivion. Rabbits and waterfowl were the only thing they could find with any regularity. When I agreed, he was off like a shot, returning half an hour later with Chief Running Buffalo who thanked me for agreeing to take his people with us. The other surprise was that Grey Fox was coming, too. Captain Scott was sorry to lose him, but knew he wanted to be with his family and knew how difficult it was for them to survive here.

The third surprise was waiting in our bed tonight. Wendy looked so vulnerable that I couldn’t kick her out if I’d wanted to. Emma looked proud of me when I finished making Wendy happy, and she was blissfully unaware of anything for a few minutes afterwards.

Mar 11

We rose early, ate breakfast, and were at the docks by 7:00. Fortunately, there were two boats waiting this morning. We loaded the wagons onto the first boat, and the livestock on a barge for the second so there was enough room for everything.

Captain Jackson of the New Orleans Pride was excited to hear we were aboard, excited enough that, once I vouched for them, he allowed the village full of Indians on board, too.

We always kept our weapons handy. The only incident was once when we stopped to load firewood. The male Negroes with us, and the Kansa women, always jumped in to lend a hand, making the task go much faster than usual. At each stop, the Kansa warriors would go ashore to kill any game they might be able to find. They usually brought back rabbits but managed an occasional deer.

At one stop, several bandits tried to rob the men who went ashore to cut and load firewood. Since my wives and I always went to the best vantage point when we stopped, we saw what was happening and killed or wounded the six bandits. The Kansa warriors who were ashore quickly dispatched the wounded bandits. Joe made a point of searching each of the men and bringing their horses and belongings aboard for me. We netted eighty-seven dollars from the pockets and saddlebags of the men, along with six Navy Colt revolvers.

Other than the one incident, the nine-day trip north was boring. The only thing I found to break up the monotony a bit was sitting along the railing of the second deck and watching people when they came aboard at various towns. I tried to meet the ones that made me most curious when they came aboard. A large percent of the people were single men or families planning to buy a wagon in St. Joseph or Omaha and join a wagon train to California and Oregon. Some families already had a wagon and had it loaded aboard.

I did run ashore to the lumber mills in St. Joseph to increase our order and extend the request for another year. I also contracted with several lumber mills in smaller towns that I missed on the trip downriver. I would return in a couple of months to pay for the next round.

Mar 19

It was nearly dark when we docked in Omaha. I was surprised to see so many wagons there waiting for us, wondering how they knew about our arrival. Turns out, they weren’t specifically waiting for us, but for any goods like the ones that had been arriving almost daily since shortly after we left. I made the general introductions of everyone to my dad and the people I recognized. Most of the people waiting for us I’d either seen and didn’t remember their names or I’d never met before. Penny insisted on a long hug and a rather unsisterly kiss before letting me go.

Despite the descending darkness, the wagons were loaded quickly and efficiently. I wondered how full the Lucky J warehouse was, but was afraid to ask. The wagons were probably here because there wasn’t room in the warehouse. I reminded someone to get our four rowboats from the paddle wheeler, the ones the pirates had used to attack the Iowa Dream. I had no idea what we’d use them for. Maybe fishing?

Since the moon was three-quarters full, we easily picked out the already well-worn road to camp. When I saw it, I could hardly call it a camp anymore. Laying out the town was the first thing the surveyors did, even before starting the survey of our property. Near the middle of town were eight large barn-like warehouses, a nearly completed home that was huge, and some sort of odd tower-like structure under construction next to a completed windmill. Dad explained that the structure would be a water tower when it was finished in a week or so. They quarried rock in several spots on our property, as well as sand and gravel. The sand was mixed with the cement I sent to make mortar, with gravel added to the mix to make concrete.

Even in the light of kerosene lanterns, the big house, our new home, was magnificent. I was surprised that they spent so much effort building us a home already. It was complete enough that we could stay in it now. They had hoped to have it completely done before we returned, wanting to surprise us. I was definitely surprised. They left us alone then, promising to show us everything else in the morning.

The five of us celebrated in the new, large bed in our new, large bedroom, in our new, large home. We left one of the kerosene lamps burning low to provide a little light if we needed it.

Mar 20-21

Once again, I was awake early. My wives convinced me to stay in bed a little longer, and each wore a serene smile when we made it downstairs. Nearly a dozen women were using our huge kitchen to cook breakfast. The kitchen was even bigger than the one in the farmhouse we captured. The women explained that the rest were cooking and serving breakfast in the cooking and dining warehouse across the street.

Jerome and more than a dozen people arrived just as we were finishing breakfast. He was anxious to show off the plumbing in the house. The hand pump in the kitchen sink was obvious, and I finally saw an installed water closet. He had installed it in a small room downstairs. When the water tower was finished, it would provide enough water pressure to fill the tank above the water closet automatically each time it flushed. By then, the water closet would be hooked up to the sewage line so it could be used.

None of the galvanized pipe was big enough to use for draining the water closet, so Jerome had three-foot sections of wood turned on a hand lathe until they were the same size, although each section of wood was slightly tapered so the narrow end of one tube would fit into the wide end of the next one. They coated the wood with a thick coat of clay, and dried it in the cooking warehouse, the warmest place here. Once the clay was dry, the wood form was carefully removed, and the tubes were fired and allowed to cool. Narrower tubes connected the water closet to the wider main sewage line. Each junction was sealed with mortar.

The main sewage line was six times the size of the narrower tubes and was halfway to the river already. As they built each house, a connection to the sewage line was included. When the water closets arrived, they would be installed and connected to the water line and the sewage line. A separate sewage line carried the waste from each east-west street to the river. I congratulated Jerome on the idea and he practically glowed.

Next, they showed us around the house, beginning in the cellar. The cellar walls were rock and mortar, and the floor was concrete. We could see where the water pipe entered the house, far enough belowground that it wouldn’t freeze during the winter.

The ground floor held the kitchen and a huge pantry, as well as the dining room and parlor. It also had the room for the water closet and two guest bedrooms, as well as my study. The rooms were much larger than I had ever envisioned. Dad explained that I would probably have frequent guests, and they made sure the house was big enough for that. He chuckled, commenting that three or four wives would probably insist on a whole passel of children.

Upstairs, our master bedroom was much larger than it had appeared in the dark last night. Nine other bedrooms completed the second floor. The attic was nearly as large. The roof was steep enough to shed snow, although residents in neighboring Omaha said the snowfall was usually only two to three feet total each winter, while admitting that they got nearly eight feet last winter. Still, it rarely snowed enough at one time to warrant such a steep roof. Usually, there was less than a foot of snow on the ground.