Report-1853, June 16-23

Report of First Lieut. E.G. Beckwith, Third Artillery.

June 16-23, 1853

   …Arriving near Westport we fell in with our camp, and with pleasure alighted from the wretched stage to begin our arduous march. Our encampment was some five miles from Westport and the western line of the State of Missouri, selected by Mr. Kern in a fine Grove near a spring, and surrounded by fine grass and an open prairie, and in the midst of the various Shawnee missions, which appeared well. The approximate elevation of this point above the Gulf of Mexico, as indicated by our barometers, is 990 feet, or 615 feet above low-water mark at St. Louis, as deduced from Dr. Geo. Engelmann’s valuable observations at that place, kindly furnished to aid the meteorological discussions in this report. The purchase of mules and horses and employing men suitable for the expedition occupied several days at this camp, and the breaking in of the teams and teamsters as many more, during which our camp was only move to secure grass when the animals had fed it down near us. On the 20th, Brevet Captain R.M. Morris, first lieutenant, and Second Lieutenant L.S. Baker, with some 30 non-commissioned officers and men of the regiment of the Mounted Riflemen, with the necessary subsistence train, joined us as escort. The 21st of June was spent, as the previous two or three days had been, and breaking in wild mules; no other could be obtained on short notice, so large had been the demand by emigrants going west of the mountains. Nor were we more fortunate in procuring capable teamsters, the large trains which annually cross the plains having preceded us; but by industrious drilling, and replacing incompetent men by the trial of the skill of others, we deemed ourselves at evening in a condition to move forward the following morning. But at an early hour it began to rain in torrents, and continued during the day, so that it was impossible to do more than to harness up a few of the wildest mules to habituate them to their labors. On the 23rd the creeks and branches were still swollen by the rain of the previous day, and the roads slippery and soft. The advance, however, was ordered, and we pursued the usual Santa Fe road for eight miles, and encamped for the night on Indian creek, a small timbered stream; the character of the country being that already described—as beautiful and fertile rolling prairies as the eye ever rested upon.

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[Pacific Railroad Explorations and surveys, 1853-1854, v. 2 p. 11-12.]