St. Joseph
Last spring, I had the good fortune to retrace the steps of the Donner Party. This post is part of the story of my journey. If you want to begin at the beginning, go here first. Big thanks to the Indiana Arts Council for helping to make this happen.
It took us 6 hours to drive from Lacon to St. Joseph. We did it in less than the time it takes the sun to rise and set. The Graves family watched about 44 sunsets between Lacon and St. Joseph. Unbelievable.
St. Joseph was a big stop because it was a jumping off point for emigrants. Though many people crossed in Independence, Missouri, the town of St. Joseph was also used as a place to ferry wagon trains across the river. Crossing that Missouri River meant crossing into the wild. They were leaving their country, the boundary of the United States, and headed for “uncharted” land. It was a big deal.
It was here that emigrants had another chance to restock on supplies and also form groups. The Graves family caravanned with several other wagons, all headed to Ft. Laramie.
It’s hard to envision what it looked like then for the Graves family. It’s hard to get a good view of the river at all—there are so many raised roads and industrial growth around it. It’s a very hilly downtown. I imagine they camped away from the hills, close to the river. Surely they would have crossed at a flatter junction.
Here’s a mural in the town of St. Joseph that depicts part of this town’s important history:
While driving around, I also saw this building, which I loved and wanted to remember:
GPS took us down a road we thought would end up in a little park, where we could get a good view of the river and the city. It ended up being someone’s house. But I hopped out anyway to snap a few pictures.
It would have taken them an entire day to ferry across that river. So many trips at a time to get all that livestock and wagons and people across. Hard to imagine the trouble one little river caused.
We zipped across the bridge in no time flat. And then we got back on the road.
For the next post in this series, go here.