o the Chief of the Omaha Indians, both of whom
had been with me on the plains, and instructed them to select their most
trusted men and send them on the plains to ascertain for me the purpose of
the hostile Indians, and whether they would head towards the settlements,
or if their movements indicated they would attack only the lines of
communication and the trains crossing the plains. At the same time we
stopped all trains on the plains and ordered them to the nearest military
post, instructing the officers to arm and organize them in companies, and
place a United States officer over them, and have them move with the army
trains.

Having perfected the preliminary organization for moving upon the stage-
and telegraph-lines, we saw it was necessary to concentrate on one line.
At this time the stage- and telegraph-lines on the north ran from Fort
Leavenworth to Fort Kearney, and from Omaha to Fort Kearney, where they
were consolidated, running up the Platte Valley to the mouth of the Lodge
Pole, the stage-station at that point being known as Julesburg. The lines
here separated again, the main telegraph-line running to old Fort Laramie,
thence up the Sweetwater through South Pass and thence to Utah. The
stage-line ran up the South Platte to Denver, then by the Cache La Poudre
to Laramie Plains, over them to Fort Halleck and Bridger, and on to Utah.
I concluded to concentrate all our efforts to open the line from Fort
Leavenworth and Omaha to Kearney, thence to Denver and on to Utah, known
as the South Platte Route.

The overland route from Fort Leavenworth and Omaha crossing the continent
had a stage-station about every twelve miles. The troops along the lines
were posted at the forts and stockades about every hundred miles, with a
few soldiers distributed at each stage-station. Then scattered along the
road were ranches, and relay- and feeding-stations for the regular
commercial and supply-trains that were continually on the road. The great
mining-camps, and all the inhabitants of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and
Idaho, were dependent upon these trains for their supplies. In winter
these trains were generally mule-trains of twenty wagons each, and during
the summer were generally ox-trains of fifty to a hundred wagons each.
They were in the habit of straggling along through the country, taking
care of themselves. Their stock had to be herded at night, and it was a
great temptation to the Indians to steal, and a great deal of th