The Journey Begins.

Throughout the 19^th Century there were many trails all across the Americas. It’s a hard thing to imagine now with everything we have.

I have to take my brain on a journey back to a time with no cars, no freeway systems and no housing developments. I have to replace those with wide open plains and rough forests. It’s a hard thing to do when all you have ever known is cars, established road systems, computers and cell phones.

You have to think of a world before everything could be found with a few keystrokes.

With this in mind I had to think of a way the gold prospector would travel from Texas to California. In my research several cattle trails and one trail called the Marcy Trail which was named after Randolph Marcy who established the trail for the fortune seekers leaving Texas for California. This trail went from San Antonio to Sante Fe, New Mexico then turned north and intersected with the Oregon Trail in what is now Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Coppledge; Clay, Texas Trails, Southern Livestock Standard; June 2, 2025, https://southernlivestock.com/texas-trails-44/

I would like to imagine the prospector travelling this route because it is a faster and more efficient way to get to California, however, the earliest years I can find for this trail was 1854, well after the gold prospector in my story started his journey. It is also reported that this trail was started and used after the gold rush for cattle drives to deliver beef to California.

So while that trail may have already been there and already was used from what I found,  it was not a widely known travel route.

Furthering my research I came upon the Shawnee Trail. This one as far as I can tell was used by many as far back as the 1700’s. This would be the route in my mind the gold prospector would more likely take since it was well established.

The Shawnee Trail started in San Antonio and ended in St. Louis Missouri.

Gard, Wayne; The Shawnee Trail: A Historical Route for Texas Longhorn Cattle; Published in 1952 and updated October 11, 2016. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/shawnee-trail

I remember watching American Primeval on Netflix with my son. It is a fairly good depiction of life at that time and how dangerous not just living then was but also encounters with other people. My son said something along the lines of how miserable they all must be and I remember commenting how they didn’t think it was at the time because that was their life. If you have nothing to compare your life to, then it’s not miserable, it’s just how you live.

***The Story***

It was early in the morning before the sun came up to warm the sky when Robert and his companion started their journey. The wind was cold and so fierce it was hard to walk, the journey was starting slow. Robert only had a well-worn thin wool jacket and no hood or hat, each time the wind blew it stung his face and made his eyes water. He wished he had put more thought in to warm clothing but he didn’t have much money, or anything to trade. All he had was the clothes on his back, a blanket, a frying pan and some boots.

Roberts travelling companion hadn’t stopped talking since their journey began. He had never known someone who talked so incessantly. Robert himself wasn’t much of a talker, he preferred to share few words with people. That way no one could hold him to anything or use anything against him. This was how Robert survived. So he listened while this man talked constantly and prayed for the sun to fade soon so the man would go to sleep and he could enjoy the peace of silence.

He was also beginning to doubt his companions map. The sun was now in the middle of the sky, Robert figured it was somewhere around noon. They had not crossed paths with anyone, either coming or going. The path they were on though was well worn, as if there had been travelers there at one time so Robert just had to trust his travel companion knew where he was going.

Robert began scanning each side of the trail for a place to take shelter from the wind and start a fire for a meal. He was sore, cold and hungry. After a few feet something caught the corner of his eye, turning to look Robert say a cluster of trees. What caught his eye was a piece of cloth blowing in the wind attached to some kind of stake in the ground. Robert’s companion was still prattling on about some war between cowboys and Indians. Robert grabbed his arm to stop him and put his finger to his lips to silence him. He then pointed to the cloth.

The brush around the trail was chest high, walking in to it would be dangerous if they made a lot of noise, there could be any kind of person or animal hiding among the grass and prairie flowers. Robert and the man began slowly creeping through the brush to where the cloth kept violently flitting in the wind. When they were close Robert felt something below his boot. Looking down he saw it was the remnants of a campfire. When he looked up he saw his travel companion looking down at something a little further up from him. He walked over to the man who was standing next to tattered cloth that looked to have been used as a shelter and saw what the man was staring down at, it was bodies.

They had been there for a while. There was no flesh left they were nothing but bone.

“What happened to them?” the man asked.

“No way to know,” Robert answered.

They began looking around the camp. Whoever they were it appeared they did not meet a great end. Their things were scattered all around. There were clothing items and pots, empty tin cans and an empty trunk. Robert thought they had probably been attacked and robbed. The thieves taking only what they wanted and leaving the rest. Or it could be possible the two were taken over by the elements and their stuff gone through and left after they died. Either way Robert wanted to get out of there.

“Let’s walk in to the woods over there for shelter from the wind,” Robert told his companion. “We can make a fire and have something to eat.”

The companion shook his head and they headed to the tree line. Both of the men keeping an eye out for any kind of predator.