The Two Sams: Men of the West. F. M. Worden

never to be seen again. I tell ya it’s kinda strange. You walk softly around that woman.”

      Sam thanked him. They never talked of Sarah again.

      Sam began gathering horse equipment. A saddle, pack saddle and camp gear. He made a leather saddle scabbard for a rifle and a pair of saddle bags. He had talked to Sam Hawkin about making a two-foot barrel for his colt pistol. Sam made it in a few days and he and young Sam screwed it into the gun. He had made a wooden shoulder stock for it and mounted the same on the pistol. The two fired the rifle-pistol out back on the range.

      He asked Sam Hawkin, “How far you figure she’ll shoot?”

      “Pack all the power in the cylinder you can get, set the ball deep and she should be good for two hundred yards.” Sam did and Hawkin was right.

      The winter turned to spring, it was 1849. Word came gold had been discovered in California, the gold rush was on.

      Many men started west and needed a rifle and pistols. The shop was booming. Sam was lucky, he found and purchased a ten-year old mare who had been used as a saddle and pack horse.

      A shipment of a hundred colt pistols came in. Sam purchased one and an English 10 gauge double-barreled shot gun. Now he was ready to go west.

      By June prices went sky high. Flour, sugar, corn went for a hundred dollars a barrel. Teams of oxen, mules and horses went for a thousand dollars if you could find any. It was a true seller’s market.

      Sam talked to an Army officer who told him mounted troops were going to a new post named Fort Laramie. Six hundred miles up on the Oregon trail. “There’s gonna be need for all kinda help up there. A man could make good money.”

      Sam told Jake he was about ready to go. Jake knew how he felt. “If you want ta start a repair gun shop up there, we’ll send anything you need. Mail has started coming in from that fort and going that way. Write and let me know, we’ll ship supplies to you. Them emigrants need all kinds of help by the time they get that far.”

      Sam said he would take him up on the deal. “Just as soon as I get set up.”

      He told Jake he planned to leave Monday morning. “Good luck and God go along with ya,” Jake hugged him, turned away and left the shop. It would be a long time before they saw each other again.

      Sam was busy packing. Sarah knocked on the back door. “You in there Sam?” she called.

      He went and let her in, it was raining hard. “Why you out in this rain?”

      “You won’t come down, so I came here.” She acted angry. “I’ll be up there in a little while. You go back, I’ll come up and eat.” She reluctantly returned to the café.

      The two had a nice supper. After supper he let her know his plans of going west. She went into a fit of rage, started throwing things at him calling him names, fell on the floor screaming and kicking, saying she hoped the Indians would kill him. He told her he didn’t like to see her act this way.

      “I just gotta go Sarah,” he told her. “I’ll miss you.” He went down to the kitchen. George heard it all and said, “Come by on your way, I’ll have a food sack for you’s.” Sam did.

      At sunup, with his saddle horse and pack horse he rode to the docks and onto a steam boat he had booked passage on to go up the Missouri River to the town of Independence. The jumping off place for most of the wagon trains headed west and to Fort Laramie on the Oregon Trail. Sam was on his way west.

       Chapter 6

      Fort Laramie

      Sam rode into Independence, after leaving the paddle wheel steamer. There were three wagon trains being made up to go west, one a Mormon with a hundred and fifty Saints. Many a pretty girl was with this train.

      Sam missed Sarah already.

      Sam asked a wagon boss when they expected to leave. “Not for another week.” The other trains were waiting for one thing or the other. No one seemed to be in a hurry.

      He decided to push on by himself. He followed a well worn trail west. As he moved past settlements and farms the plains became empty of civilization. He could see that the wagons moved four wide abreast. He guessed it was for protection from Indians. The grass was stirrup high, small streams ran to the north toward the Missouri river. Game became plentiful, rabbits bounded away every few yards, deer stopped to watch them go by. Antelope herds grazed in the distance. Coyotes and wolves hid in the tall grass, not moving unless Sam and his horses disturbed them. Late in the evening of the first day out, two wolves followed along for some time, staying out of gun range. He surmised them had been shot at before. A crippled antelope appeared. The wolves went after it and Sam watched as the two got a meal.