Susan Shelby Magoffin was an unlikely traveler when she set off on the Santa Fe Trail in June of 1846 with her husband, Samuel Magoffin, an experienced trader familiar with the conditions on the trail. Susan grew up in Kentucky, where her grandfather Isaac Shelby had been the first governor. Used to a household filled with servants, Susan was also formally educated.
She was only 18 when she married 45-year-old Samuel Magoffin in November 1845. Just over six months into their marriage, they loaded trade wagons and set off from Independence, Missouri, following the Santa Fe Trail—a route her husband had frequently taken in his trading operations. Their outfit, according to her diary—published as Down the Santa Fe Trail and Into Mexico: The Diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin, 1846-1847—included 14 big wagons, each one pulled by six yoke of oxen, a baggage wagon, a light Dearborn wagon that carried her maid, Jane, and was pulled by mules, and another wagon in which Susan herself rode. The fact that she traveled with a lady’s maid shows her status not only as a Santa Fe trader’s wife, but also as a woman from a wealthy Kentucky family.
In camp at night, Susan had a tent for sleeping, but it was a luxury accommodation with a bed and mattress, chairs and a table attached to the large center pole. The floor was a piece of carpet made from sail duck.
As the journey began, Susan wrote in her journal whenever the carriage stopped for a break, remarking on the treeless prairie that stretched ahead of their wagon caravan. The quiet stillness of the first Sunday morning on the trail contrasted with the earlier days when teamsters cursed oxen not yet accustomed to pulling wagons.
Susan wrote of prairie flowers, wild roses and a party of U.S. Army Dragoons who overtook their caravan en route to Santa Fe as tensions escalated between the United States and Mexico.
Across the Wide Missouri
Denne historien er fra July - August 2021-utgaven av True West.
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Denne historien er fra July - August 2021-utgaven av True West.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.
Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist? Up to a dozen members of the Reno Gang stopped a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train at a watering station in southern Indiana. The outlaws had prior intelligence about its main load: express car safes held about $97,000 in government bonds and notes. In the process of the job, one of the crew was killed and two others hurt. The gang made a clean getaway with the loot.
Hero of Horsepower - Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.
Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.
From the Basin to the Plains
Discover Wyoming on a road trip to Cody, Casper and Cheyenne.
COLLECTING AMERICAN OUTLAWS
Wilbur Zink has preserved the Younger Gang's history in more ways than one.
Spencer's West
After the Civil War, savvy frontiersmen chose the Spencer repeating carbine.
Firearms With a Storied Past
Rock Island gavels off high profits from historic firearms.
She Means Business!
An energetic and ambitious woman has come to Lincoln, New Mexico, to restore the town's legendary Ellis Store.
Ride that Train!
HERITAGE RAILROADS KEEP THE OLD WEST ALIVE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES.
Saddle Up with a Western
Old West fiction and nonfiction are the perfect genres to fill your summer reading list.
RENEGADES OF THE RAILS
RAILROADS WERE OPEN SEASON FOR OKLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY OUTLAW GANGS.
