Ways West

California Trail
Following the Oregon Trail from the Missouri River to the South Pass on the Continental Divide in Wyoming, emigrants bound for California then branched out. Some took a northern route via Fort Hall in Idaho, above the Great Salt Lake; others ventured south around the Great Salt Lake. Either way, emigrants sought the lifeline of the Humboldt River.

On the desert approaches to the Sierra Nevades, the routes again diverged; but all routes or "cut-offs" forced emigrants to face risks and endure severe hardships. In their worst imaginings, they could not suspect what was in store over the next 800 miles. The remaining challenges of the Rockies, weeks of plodding through loose sand, days of little or no water, nights of vigilance againse thieving and sometimes hostile Indians and the backbreaking work of hauling wagons over 70 miles of the Sierra Nevades, haunted by the fear of early snows.

Mormon Trail
Stretched nearly 1,400 miles across prairies, sagebrush flats and mountain barriers. From 1846-1869, this trail carried an estimated 60,000 Mormons westward to Salt Lake City. A later trail, starting in the southwest corner of the Utah territory, connected the various Mormon settlements in southwestern territories to the major temple at St. George.

Oregon Trail
Blazed by fur traders and missionaries, the Oregon Trail remained in use from the early 1830s to the mid-1880s. In 1841, less than a hundred settlers, the Bidwell-Bartleson Expedition, followed the trail to the "Oregon Country," an area in dispute between the United States and Great Britain. By 1847, the dispute was settled and emigration along the trail swelled to 4,000. Wagon trains rolled almost 2,000 miles from the Missouri River to the Dallas settlement located along the Columbia River. With the trailblazing that led to the opening of the Barlow Road between Dallas and Oregon City, the extremely fertile and temperate Willamette Valley opened to settlement.

Montana-bound prospectors and settlers turned north from the Oregon Trail and North Platte River, skirted the Bighorn Mountains, passed through the Crow Indian hunting grounds and wound by was of the Yellowstone River and Gallatin Valley to Virginia City in Idaho.  The Bozeman Trail offered dependable water and abundant grass for livestock, but this trail was probably the most dangerous in terms of Indian raids. By late 1866, three army forts guarded the trail in Indian country.

Sante Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail cut across prairie, mountain and desert and reached more than 900 miles from Missouri to New Mexico. It endured for about 61 years, from opening in 1821 to 1880, when the completion of the railroad to Sante Fe put it out of business. Travelers had a choice of two branches: The northern route angled through the Colorado Rockies, a difficult passage for wagons, The southern route (or Cimarron cutoff) shortened the journey by 100 miles but took emigrants far from reliable sources of water. Early in it's history, the Sante Fe Trail was recognized as a primary economic route to Mexican territory, carrying products and livestock.

Westerly routes from Sante Fe and El Paso joined in Apache country to form the Gila Trail. Traversing the deserts of the southwestern frontier, it took a course determined by sources of water and passages through the mountains. Soldiers and settlers, miners and mail carriers, and freighters and outlaws traveled the trail beginning in the 1840s.

Old Spanish Trail
For traveling Mexican caravans between 1829 and 1848, the Old Spanish Trail was known as the shortest path to riches between Los Angeles and Santa Fe. It was a trail of commercial opportunity and western adventure as well as slave trading, horse thieving and raids. The trail route was established along a loose network of Indian footpaths that crossed the wide expanse of the Colorado Plateau and the Mojave Desert. With time, this newly established trade corridor attracted frontiersmen and U.S. military expeditions.

The 2,700 miles of trail which linked Santa Fe with Los Angeles pushed mule caravans to the limit. In the first week on the trail alone, the mules scrambled, swam or dragged their handlers through more than a dozen river crossings. By the time the pack trains reached Los Angeles, they had crossed dune fields in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, found their way around the Grand Canyon, skirted the continent’s harshest deserts at Death Valley, and slaked their thirst at Stinking Springs, Salt Creek, Alkali Canyon, Bitter Spring and the Inconsistent River.

The Harvey Girls

A Slice of American History

HubPages / Travel and Places / April 26, 2012

A Harvey Hotel

How the West Was Won

The Harvey Girls came into being in the early years of railroads. Before railroads included dining cars on their trains, a railroad passenger's only option for meals while travelling was to eat at a roadhouse near a water stop, en route. The food was terrible. Rancid meat, cold beans and week-old coffee. The trip out west, from New York to Sante Fe by rail, took about five days, and these conditions discouraged many travellers, until the advent of Fred Harvey and the Harvey Girls. Fred Harvey, who was a railroad freight agent, saw an opportunity there.

The Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe Railroad Company contracted with Harvey for several eating houses along the route west. Harvey staffed his places with the Harvey Girls; waitresses with very high standards.

The subsequent growth and development of the Fred Harvey Company was closely related to that of the Sante Fe Railway. Harvey opened his first depot restaurant in Topeka, Kansas, in January of 1876. Railway officials and customers alike were impressed with Fred Harvey's strict standards for high-quality food and first class Harvey Girl service. As a result, the Sante Fe Railway entered into subsequent contracts where Harvey was given a "blank check" to set up eating houses along the entire route west. At more prominent locations, these restaurants evolved into hotels, many of which survive today, though not many are open for business. The Harvey Girls were almost as famous as the Harvey restaurants and hotels along the railroad route west.

Of the 84 Fred Harvey facilities, some of the more notable include:

• The Alvarado — Albuquerque, New Mexico; closed in 1969. Demolished. Exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History (March 8- June 7, 2009.) 
• The Bisonte — Hutchinson, Kansas; closed in 1946 
• The Casa del Desierto — Barstow, California; closed in 1959. Refurbished 1999; operating as two museums and city offices. 
• Castañeda — Las Vegas, New Mexico; closed in 1948, used in the film Red Dawn 
• El Garces — Needles, California; closed in 1958. Undergoing restoration (2008). 
• El Navajo — Gallup, New Mexico; closed in 1957. 
• El Ortiz — Lamy, New Mxico; closed in 1938. 
• El Otero — La Junta, California; closed in 1948. 
• El Tovar — Grand Canyon, Arizona; still in operation. 
• El Vaquero — Dodge City, Kansas; closed in 1948. 
• The Havasu House — Seligman, Arizona; closed in 1955. Demolished 2008. 
• The Escalante — Ash Fork, Arizona; closed in 1948, demolished in the 1970s 
• The Fray Marcos — Williams, Arizona; restored and reopened as a historic hotel and train depot for the Grand Canyon Railway 
• La Fonda — Sante Fe, New Mexico; still in operation 
• Las Chavez — Vaughn, New Mexico; closed in 1936 
• La Posada — Winslow, Arizona; closed in 1957; restored and reopened as a historic hotel 
• The Sequoyah — Syracuse, Kansas; closed in 1936 

Harvey Girl Poster
The Orange Empire Railroad
Museum

Fred Harvey's biggest challenge was not delivering fresh food to his far-flung outposts but finding reliable help. So he placed advertisements in the East and the Midwest for single "young women, 18 to 30 years of age, of good character, attractive and intelligent."

These women became the famed Harvey Girl waitresses, trained in rules of etiquette and given black and white uniforms befitting a nun. Humorist Will Rogers once said Harvey and his Harvey Girls "kept the West in food and wives." Indeed, one estimate put the number of Harvey Girls who wound up as brides of western cowboys and railroad men at 20,000.

Mrs. Harvey met each girl as she was hired. Mrs. Harvey had strict standards of etiquette and codes of behavior, and the prospective a Harvey Girl had to measure up. The jobs were considered plum positions in those days. Paid $17.50 a month, this was a dream job for many young girls who were unable to find work in Eastern cities, with the burgeoning populations of big cities like New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

Many Harvey Girls, who were always respectable, left their employment as a Harvey Girl to became the wife to a customer. One railroad baron said "The Harvey House was not only a good place to eat; it was the Cupid of the Rails". It is estimated that more than 100,000 girls worked for Harvey House restaurants and hotels and of those, 20,000 married their regular customers

How Did They Do It?

How these girls did it, I'll never know. The rules were strict: No fraternizing with the guests. Fred Harvey, who would overturn tables in a fit of temper if he was displeased with the way it was set, was a real stickler for the rules. Any least infraction would result in instant dismissal, without the rest of the person's pay. Fred Harvey advanced the girls a train ticket and half their first month's pay on hiring them, but expected them to keep their end of the bargain, and work the full year's contract, abiding by every strict rule he imposed.

It drove him crazy! His staff kept getting married out from underneath him, over and over. At one point, a rule was imposed that a Harvey girl could not sit down, anywhere, while on duty. Harvey girls were on duty twelve to fourteen hours per day.

How did they do it? How did they find a way to establish enough of a relationship to get married, without being able to talk to their suitors, or even sit down in their company; while wearing black hosiery, black dresses with white aprons, full length, to the floor; high collars, hair back, no makeup...I love it. These Harvey Girls kept working miracles!

Mail-Order Brides

The concept of mail-order brides was first seen on the American frontier during the mid-1800s. The huge emigration of men to the Western U.S. resulted in a disproportionate ratio of men to women in such places as Washington, Arizona and especially California during the Gold Rush. While most men found financial success out west, they missed the company of a wife.

Back East, for women who were not of the privileged classes, finding a husband could be difficult particularly after the Civil War when thousands of young men died in battle and thousands more moved west. To make ends meet, many went into domestic service or nursing at an early age and were unable to take part in the courtship rituals allowed middle and upper class. Ingenuity and perseverance were needed to find a worthy mate if the most desirable qualifications – money and social standing – were not in abundance.

San Francisco-based Matrimonial News was the first newspaper for singles. It began publication in post-Gold Rush San Francisco in 1870 and promoted honorable matrimonial engagements and true conjugal facilities for men and women. Men paid $0.25 to place an ad (about $4.50 in today's dollars). Women posted for free. It eventually boasted 300 ads a week, with most advertisers claiming good looks and circumstances. 

In spite of the occasional mismatch or short-lived union, historians believe that mail-order brides produced a high percentage of permanent marriages. The reason cited is that the advertisements were candid and direct in their explanations of exactly what was wanted and expected from a prospective spouse. If requested, the parties sent accurate photos of themselves along with a page of background information. Often, when the pair met, the groom-to-be signed an agreement, witnessed by three upstanding members of the territory, not to abuse or mistreat the bride-to-be. The prospective bride then signed a paper (also witnessed) not to nag or try to change the intended!

With the turn of the 20th century, matrimonial papers remained popular, but many mainstream newspapers stopped running personal ads. The New York Times dropped them as early as the 1870s, with other papers, like the Manitoba Free Press and Atlanta Constitution, following suit in the 1920s. A touch of scandal tended to color this sort of advertising, and newspapers preferred to report on it, not cause it.

The Busy Bee Club was formed by six Tucson, AZ wives who were distressed by shootouts over eligible Black females. They formed the “Busy Bee Club” in 1885 to arrange mail-order brides for young Black miners by contacting Black churches and newspapers in the east. Men with "seniority" got first dibs.

Good Reads

“Hearts West: True Stories of Mail-Order Brides on the Frontier” 

“I Do! Courtship, love, and marriage on the American Frontier”

“Black Women of the Old West”.

Mercer Girls

"The Departure" - Harper's Weekly, January 6, 1866, p. 8-9.

The Mercer Girls or Mercer Maids were the 1860s project of Asa Shinn Mercer, an American who lived in Seattle. Mercer decided to bring women to the Pacific Northwest in order to balance the gender ratio. While frontier Seattle attracted many men to work in the timber and fishing industries, few single women were willing to relocate by themselves to the remote Pacific Northwest. Only one adult out of ten was female, and most girls over 15 were already engaged. White men and the women of the Salish tribes often were not attracted to each other and prostitutes were scarce until the arrival of John Pennell and his brothel from San Francisco.

In 1864, Mercer decided to go east to find women willing to relocate to Puget Sound. To satisfy Victorian era moral concerns over the propriety of importing single women to the frontier, he enlisted prominent married couples to act as hosts when they arrived. He also had support from the governor of Washington Territory, though the government could not offer financial support.

Mercer set off for Boston, MA and the textile town of Lowell. He recruited eight young women from Lowell and two from the nearby community of Townsend, who were willing to move to the other side of the country. They traveled West through the Isthmus of Panama, first landing in San Francisco where locals tried to convince the girls to stay there instead. On 16 May 1864 they arrived in Seattle, where the community staged a grand welcome on the grounds of the Territorial University.

Original 11 Mercer Girls

• Annie May Adams (16) from Boston: Planned to sail as far as San Francisco, but changed her mind and continued on to Seattle. She married and lived in Olympia.
• Antoinette Josephine Baker (25) from Lowell: Taught school in Pierce County and married a man from Monticello.
• Sarah Cheney (22) from Lowell: Taught school in Port Townsend and later married.
• Aurelia Coffin (20) from Lowell: Married in lived in Port Ludlow.
• Sara Jane Gallagher (19) from Lowell: Married a year after arriving in Seattle and taught music at the university.
• Ann Murphy (24/age unconfirmed) from Lowell: The only woman among the first eleven Mercer Girls to leave the Washington Territory.
• Elizabeth "Lizzie" Ordway (35) from Lowell: The oldest of the original Mercer Girls. Ttaught school on Whidbey Island, Port Madison, Seattle and Port Blakely. Later elected superintendent of Kitsap County schools.
• Georgianna "Georgia" Pearson (15) from Lowell: The youngest Mercer Girl. She and sister Josie brought their father Daniel Pearson on the trip. (He had been ill and it was believed that a change of climate might to him some good.) Left their mother Susan, brother Daniel and sister Flora in Lowell. They traveled to Seattle with Mercer in 1866. Georgia later married and lived on Whidbey Island.
• Josephine "Josie" Pearson (19) from Lowell: Died during her first summer in Seattle.
• Katherine "Kate" Stevens (21) from Pepperell: Accompanied by her father, Rodolphus Stevens. Kate married and lived in Port Townsend.
• Catherine Adams "Kate" Stickney (28) from Pepperell: She and Kate Stevens were cousins. Kate Stickney was the first Mercer Girl to marry (two months after arriving in Seattle). She died five years later. 

The Next Trip

In 1865 Mercer tried again, this time on a larger scale. To bring suitable wives, he asked for $300 from willing bachelors and received hundreds of applications. 

In the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, his next trip east went wrong until speculator Ben Holladay promised to provide transport for the women. But the New York Herald found out about the project and wrote that all the women were destined to waterfront dives or to be wives of old men. Authorities in Massachusetts also were not sympathetic. Because of the bad publicity by the time he was to depart, he had fewer than 100 willing women, when he had promised five times that many.

On 16 Jan 1866 his ship, the former Civil War transport SS Continental, sailed for the West Coast around Cape Horn. Three months later, the ship stopped in San Francisco, where the ship’s captain refused to go any further. Unable to convince the captain otherwise, he telegraphed to Washington governor Pickering asking for more money, but was refused because the governor could not afford it. 

Mercer finally convinced lumber schooner crewmen to transport them for free, leaving a few women behind who decided to stay in California. Among those who financed the trip was Hiram Burnett, a lumber mill manager for Pope & Talbot, who was bringing out his sister and wanted wives for his employees. 

When Mercer returned to Seattle, he had to answer a number of questions about his performance. At a meeting on 23 May, public dismay softened, probably because the women were with him. A week later, Mercer married one of the women, Annie Stephens. Most of the other women found husbands as well.

Further reading;

Who Were the Original Seattle Mercer Girls?

Saloon Girls

Saloon Girls of the Wild West
By Amy Lillard / www.hhhistory.com / January 26, 2015

It’s no secret that Queen Victoria’s habits and manners influenced a generation. So much so that we call it the Victorian Age. From clothing to wedding traditions, she touched more than England. The eastern states were equally affected. But the Wild West? That was another matter.

To the westward pioneer, a great deal of these Victorian practices were just not practical and were quickly dropped. Consequently, the west took on a shape of its own.

Rowdy frontier towns gave rise to rowdy frontier saloons which in turn gave us the saloon girl.

I’ll be honest and tell you that I stumbled across this topic a little on accident. I was working on a story idea to submit to my publisher and wanted to make sure the term I was using to describe my character was correct. I’d used the term “saloon girl,” but was thinking more of a Gunsmoke-Miss Kitty type. What I found was that there was a great deal of difference between the saloon girl and the prostitute of the Old West.

The saloon girl had many different names. The 49ers in California called them “ladies of the line” or “sporting women.” Cowboys called them “soiled doves.” Kansas trailers knew them by many names, "daughters of sin,” "fallen frails,” "doves of the roost,” and "nymphs du prairie.” Still others referred to the saloon girls as "scarlet ladies,” fallen angels,” "frail sisters,” "fair belles,” and "painted cats,” to name a few.

But they were all the same: saloon girls.

Now, east of the Mississippi River, women didn’t go in saloons, but the west was different. To the “proper” woman, there were two kinds of improper ones: saloon girls and prostitutes. And to this “proper” miss, these were lumped together and considered a necessary evil.

But to saloon girls, what they did was vastly different than the prostitutes. Only in the roughest of saloons were the ‘’girls” and prostitutes one and the same. Otherwise, saloon girls held themselves higher than the prostitutes and wouldn’t be caught dead associating with one.

So what exactly was a saloon girl? They were workers, hired by the saloon to entertain the lonely men. And men in the West tended to be lonely. They outnumbered the women three to one in most places. In California in the mid-1800s, the population was ninety percent male! The saloon girls’ job was to dance with the men. They sang to them, talked to them, and otherwise kept them in the saloon buying drinks and playing games.

Most of the girls had come west from farms and mills seeking a better life, the opportunities that the West had to offer. A great deal of them were widows who, without a husband to support them, had to work for a living. Unfortunately, the Victorian Age didn’t offer a great deal of employment opportunities for women. In fact, the men of culture acted like women were brainless. The only legitimate opportunities for a woman’s employment were cooking, cleaning, or washing clothes, all backbreaking work.

That’s not to say that being a saloon girl was easy. A high probability of a violent death was a certain job hazard. Most of the ladies carried small pistols or daggers to protect themselves from overzealous patrons.

The girls were encouraged to dance with the men, then get the men to buy them drinks. The men would pay regular price for the ladies’ drinks though the women would secretly be served cold tea or colored water. (A practice my deputy husband tells me is still in use today. Who knew?) The girls got a commission off the drinks and a set salary for the week. They were also discouraged from spending too much time with one patron as the saloon owners lost a lot of employees to marriage.

As I mentioned, the saloon girls were there to dance with the men. Dancing usually started at eight or so in the evening. Each "turn” lasted about fifteen minutes and a popular girl could average as many as fifty dances a night. Often times they could make more a night than a working man could make in a month. Because of this, it was rare for them to double as a prostitute. In fact, many ladies of ill repute found they could make more money as a dance hall girl.

Most saloon girls were considered "good" women by the men. And in most places the women were treated as "ladies.” True, Western men tended to hold all women in high regard, but the saloon girls and/or the saloon keeper demanded the respect. Any man who mistreated one of these women was quickly deemed an outcast. If he insulted one, he would most likely be shot and killed.

I think we’ve all seen the picture of a dance hall girl, with her brightly-colored, ruffled dress ending at her knees (scandalous!) and her painted face. Yet with as many westerns as I watched with my dad as I was growing up, I never picked up on the distinction between dance hall girls and ladies of the night.

So what say you? Miss Kitty…saloon girl or not?