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In 1843, enterprising mountain men
constructed a commercial ferry at the primary Green
River crossing on the Oregon Trail. Many emigrants used
this crossing, including Brigham Young with his exodus
of Mormons who crossed here on their way to settle the
Salt Lake Valley in 1847. By 1848, emigrant traffic on
the Oregon Trail had swelled to approximately 12,000
people.
Then, in 1849, with the discovery of
gold in California, the trickle of emigrants turned into
a tide. That year, tens of thousands of people used the
Green River crossings to travel west. By 1850, alternate
routes -- or cutoffs -- multiplied. The Kinney Cutoff
ran near the confluence of the Green and Big Sandy
Rivers, upstream near the current town of Fontenelle.
But the old ferries continued to service a great many
emigrants. In many places along the east bank of the
Green, wagon ruts are still clearly visible. |
In 1850, the Mormons took over
operation of the Lombard Ferry crossings and ran them
until 1858. That year, William Lombard arrived and
took over the operation until 1889. During the peak
emigration months of May, June, and July, emigrants
might have to wait several days for a ferry because of
the large number waiting to cross. The charge to cross
could be as high as $16.00 per wagon, a considerable
sum for the emigrants. Impatient parties who chose to
ford the river instead of waiting and paying the high
fees sometimes lost their property, or even their
lives, when they misjudged the current or slipped off
the narrow gravel bar. |
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The Donner Party crossed the Green River
further downstream, near where the fur brigade led by Jedediah
Smith had crossed in 1824. On April 3, 1860, the Pony Express
established a station here that operated until late 1861 when
telegraph wires crossed at this same spot. Near this area, the
Mormons also built another ferry in 1847 which they operated
until 1856 when a controversial court decision turned its
operation over to Isaac Bullock and Lewis Robinson. A few
years later, the Robinson homestead was attacked by Indians
and the entire family, except for a 10-year-old girl, was
killed. An old trapper head about the orphaned child and
escorted her back to New Jersey.
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Amelia
Stewart Knight, June 28, 1853:
Still in camp waiting to cross. Nothing
for the stock to eat. As far as the eye can reach it is
nothing but a sandy desert, and the stench is awful....
June 29: Cold and cloudy. The wagons are all crowded up
to the ferry waiting with impatience to cross. There are
30 or more to cross before us. Have to cross one at a
time. Have to pay 8 dollars for a wagon; 1 dollar for a
horse or a cow. We swim all our stock. |
For
further information about the Lombard Ferry, see:
"Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge
and Vicinity: A Historical Perspective," brochure of the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Available at Seedskadee
National Wildlife Refuse, P.O. Box 700, Green River, WY 82935.
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