INTRODUCTION
By Marian Albright Schenk
FOREWORD
By Dean Knudsen
SECTION 1
Primary Themes of Jackson's Art
SECTION 2
Paintings of the Oregon Trail
SECTION 3
Historic Scenes From the West
 |
| After their first full year of business, William Henry Jackson left the day-to-day operation of his Omaha Studio to his brothers Ed and Fred, while he ventured out in search of interesting subjects. He found one in the new Union Pacific Railroad. In this image, dated 1869, Jackson is looking at a glass plate negative. (SCBL 933) |
Section 2: Paintings of the Oregon Trail
JULESBURG
Thirteen days after leaving Fort Kearny, Jackson's train of freight wagons pulled into Julesburg, Colorado Territory. In 1866, Julesburg was only a small hamlet but it already abounded in history—most of it of an extremely violent nature. Julesburg has the dubious distinction of being the only western town ever to be attacked by Indians.
The attack occurred on January 7, 1865, and was in retaliation for the massacre of the Southern Cheyenne at Sand Creek five weeks earlier. A small cavalry detachment, consisting of forty men of Company F, 7th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, was decoyed away from Camp Rankin—a small fort located one mile south of Julesburg, where they were ambushed by a large force of approximately 1,500 warriors. Thirteen soldiers were killed in the desperate fighting before the survivors regained the safety of the post.
 |
| In 1867 Jackson added the job of horse wrangler to his resume by hiring on to work with an outfit moving a herd of wild horses to Omaha. When he left the herders in Julesburg he was paid the princely sum of twenty dollars for his efforts, which he used to buy a new suit. (SCBL 286) |
As if to add insult to injury, the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors returned three weeks later and attacked Julesburg a second time! However, the soldiers at Camp Rankin had learned their lesson and prudently remained behind their protective sod walls until after the warriors had sacked and burned the town and moved on to the north.
When Jackson arrived on July 24, 1866, Julesburg had just been relocated in its second site, three miles east of its first site. However, within a year, the town was moved again—this time to the north side of the South Platte River, where it was situated next to the newly constructed Union Pacific Railroad.1
Julesburg was Jackson's first experience in getting his freight wagon across a large river. As he recalled the event:
About ten o'clock we reached the fording place three or four miles past town. It was a great picture. The South Platte was about half a mile wide at this point, and on both sides were wagon trains preparing to cross, while the river itself was the scene of the heaviest traffic we had yet witnessed. Oxen bellowed, men shouted and swore, and the air resounded with an incessant cracking of whips. . .
At best it was a difficult undertaking. The water was never more than three to four feet deep; but the current was swift and the sandy, gravelly bottom became quickly undercut if a wagon stopped for more than a few seconds anywhere between the banks.
Twelve yokes of oxen, instead of the customary six, were chained to each wagon; and instead of one driver, ten or twelve of us we needed to start the reluctant beasts through the water. Then followed two hours of whipping, shouting, and heaving to negotiate a distance of eight or nine hundred yards.2
Jackson returned to Julesburg in 1867. On this occasion he was working his way back east with some horse herders. In the short span of only a year, great changes had occurred at Julesburg once the railroad had progressed into the region. As Jackson described it:
The present Julesburgh is but a temporary arrangement. Will probably disappear with the progress of the RR. All the buildings are mere board shanties put up in a day. 4/5th of all are either gambling, drinking or dancing halls. More gambling, drunkeness & fighting going on than in any place I was ever in.3
1. Dallas Williams, Fort Sedgwick, Colorado Territory; Hell Hole on the Plains (Julesburg: Fort Sedgwick Historical Society, 1993), 45-51.
2. Jackson, Time Exposure, 120.
3. Hafen, Jackson Diaries, 201.
 |
| Crossing the South Platte. Signed and undated. 33.5 x 51.0 cm. (SCBL 23) |
 |
scbl/knudsen/sec2f.htm Last Updated: 14-Apr-2006 |
 |