Andrew Drips, the “mountain man” who had guided De Smet up this way in 1840, was later replaced by Joseph Papin of St. Louis, who died and was buried here. His grave and the outlines of the second “Fort John” have been identified. It is not known just when this place was abandoned. However, when the main artery of traffic definitely moved from Robidoux to Mitchell Pass, in 1852, “Fort John” and Robidoux’s post both doubtless “withered on the vine,” in the manner of a modern-day filling station which is by-passed by a new highway.
Collections of historical objects found on the surface of the sites of Robidoux’s two posts and “Fort John, Scott’s Bluffs” are preserved in the Oregon Trail Museum. Beads, pendants, danglers, belts, buttons, medallions, coins, traps, bar lead, bullet molds, and other objects testify to the variety of activities conducted at these stations. Although long consigned to oblivion, these primitive commercial establishments were the true beginnings of private enterprise in the Scotts Bluff area.
Coming of the Bullwhackers
The Grattan massacre of 1854 and retaliation by Harney’s forces in 1855 were prologues to the inevitable showdown with the Plains Indians discussed later. New posts were built, garrisons were strengthened, and expeditions were launched. In 1857 troops had to be sent to Utah to quell the rebellious Mormons; at the same time the Cheyennes staged an outbreak. It became necessary for the Government to move huge quantities of equipment and provisions westward up the Platte Valley, and the freighting contractors came into the picture. Notable among these was the firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell of Kansas City (old Westport).
The army freight moved in huge Conestoga wagons drawn by 6 to 8 teams of oxen. A new profession arose known as “bullwhacker” and we can well imagine the bedlam that accompanied the passage of a “bulltrain” or the process of yoking up the bellowing animals in the morning after the nightly encampment in the wagon compound. The experience of taking a bulltrain through Mitchell Pass is vividly described by T. S. Kenderdine in 1858:
Passing over a dreary country, which barely furnished enough of grass for our famished animals, we arrived at Scott’s Bluffs on the afternoon of the 25th. This is a bold escarpment of sand and clay, about a half a mile in length and near a thousand feet in height, extending southward from the river and rising like a gigantic barrier to obstruct our way. It was for a long time visible, and at a distance seemed impossible to be surmounted. The road forks before we reach the bluffs, one trail passing around its southern end and re-joining the main road at some distance beyond it, the other passing directly over its summit. The latter is the worse road of the two, but it being the shorter, we chose it. We were detained some time at the foot of the bluff by the breaking of one of our wagons, but we at last got under way, and commenced our toilsome journey over it. The ascent was easy and gradual, until we came to a deep gorge, which intersected our road at the foot of the main bluff. Crossing this at the imminent risk of being run over by the teams as they plunged headlong to the bottom, we came to a series of steep hills and narrow, deep and sandy defiles, through which there was barely room for a wagon to pass. So squarely hewn were some of these passes, that one could hardly believe that art had not a hand in their formation. After a vast deal of exertion we at last reached the summit, when we commenced the still more dangerous descent. Tumbling pell-mell down narrow passages, slowly crawling over abrupt ascents, we at length reached the bottom, and in two miles struck the river and encamped, but not till long after dark.
In 1857, the year of the Utah War, there was quite a crop of Scotts Bluff enthusiasts. Cornelius Conway, a freighter with the Utah Expedition, went into raptures over the scenery. He refers to Mitchell Pass as “Devil’s Gap,” because of its tortuous passage. Capt. Jesse A. Gove tells of passing through “the celebrated Scott’s Bluff, a cut of some 7 miles from the old road.” Being rear guard, he had time to “sketch the notch.” In 1857, according to Capt. Randolph Marcy’s guidebook, The Prairie Traveller, from the pass “the road descends the mountain, at the foot of which is the Platte and a mail station.”
Freighters at Independence Rock. Original sketch in Oregon Trail Museum.
William A. Carter, civilian trader bound for Fort Bridger with a U. S. Army contingent, noted the “gigantic mass” of Scotts Bluff, which split the trail. The old road to the left was taken by the troops, but Carter himself was advised