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Robert Stuart October 22, 1812 Campsite

Historic Campsite

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place:4015190

place:4015181

At dawn, Stuart, six Astorians, and their one horse headed “E by South [109 degrees]” presumably to avoid encountering Crow Indians or Stuart thought St. Louis was to the southeast, and at “5 miles from camp found a small stream of water [Dickie Springs Creek or Oregon Gulch] and breakfasted”. They continued the same direction for another 15 miles, killed two Bighorn Sheep for dinner, and camped along the base of gray bentonite bluffs that oozed water in spots that Stuart described as “whitish color, and possessed a great similarity of taste to the muddy waters of the missouri – ” (Rollins 1935, 164-65, 184 note 156).

The Astorians had crossed the Continental Divide using the southern pass and now camped on the headwaters of Sand Creek, a tributary of the vast Red Desert’s Great Divide Basin where water is trapped within to eventually sink or evaporate. Here on the high mountain desert of Wyoming the Continental Divide splits and surrounds the Great Divide Basin and Stuart would now unknowingly traverse along the edge of the basin headed east to present day Muddy Gap (Dale 1916, 50-51).

The members of Robert Stuart’s party that crossed South Pass that day were: Ramsay Crooks, Benjamin Jones, François LeClairc, Robert McClellan, Joesph Miller, André Valle, and Rozinante their horse.

Summit of South Pass

South Pass is a high mountain plateau roughly 22 miles across with nondescript topography that typically deceives travelers in search of the summit and Continental Divide. The wagon train gap near Pacific Springs is about 1/4 mile wide, although travelers on foot or horse can cross the Continental Divide almost anywhere along the 22 mile span.

For instance, distinguished historian Leroy R. Hafen shared his experiences seeking the summit of South Pass:

In July 1939 … We drove to the North Platte, to Fort Laramie and Independence Rock. But two days of steady rain had so glazed the ungraveled clay road that it was so slick we were compelled to turn back before reaching our goal.

— Hafen

Years later, while retracing the route of the Mormon handcart migration to Utah, my wife and I followed the oiled highway over the Pass. I mention this to emphasize the nature of the country. I drove from the west side and watched for a supposed marker on the summit. The ground was so nearly level that not until I reached the Sweetwater did I realize that I had crossed the summit. (1981, 33-34 note 15)

— Hafen

The summit marker Hafen sought, had been moved earlier by the Highway Department from the oiled road he traveled, returning it back to the original historical route summit two miles to the south.

Washington Irving’s Rendition of Stuart’s South Pass Notes

Irving retold Stuart’s trek over South Pass as:

At daybreak they were up and on the march, scrambling up the mountain side for the distance of eight painful miles. From the casual hints given in the travelling memoranda of Mr. Stuart, this mountain would seem to offer a rich field of speculation for the geologist. Here was a plain three miles in diameter, strewed with pumice stones and other volcanic reliques, with a lake in the centre, occupying what had probably been the crater. Here were also, in some places, deposits of marine shells, indicating that this mountain crest had at some remote period been below the waves.

— Irving

After pausing to repose, and to enjoy these grand but savage and awful scenes, they began to descend the eastern side of the mountain. The descent was rugged and romantic, along deep ravines and defiles, overhung with crags and cliffs, among which they beheld numbers of the ahsahta or bighorn [sheep], skipping fearlessly from rock to rock. Two of them they succeeded in bringing down with their rifles, as they peered fearlessly from the brow of their airy precipices.

— Irving

Arrived at the foot of the mountain, the travellers found a rill of water oozing out of the earth, and resembling in look and taste, the water of the Missouri. Here they encamped for the night, and supped sumptuously upon their mountain mutton, which they found in good condition, and extremely well tasted. (1836, 2: 164-65)

— Irving

Attribution of Source Material

The preceding summary for the approximated October 22, 1812 Robert Stuart Campsite location is used with thanks for the public domain source of Dale 1916 and Irving 1836. Additionally, appropriate parenthetical citations are used with thanks and credit in specific summary passages and quotes for sources that are not in the public domain Hafen 1981 and Rollins 1935. Errors regarding unintended and improper copyright usage will be corrected immediately following notification.

Primary Sources

Dale, Harrison C., and Ramsay Crooks. “Did the Returning Astorians Use the South Pass? A Letter of Ramsay Crooks.” The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society 17, no. 1 (1916): 47–51. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20610028.

Irving, Washington. Astoria, Or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, 1836. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Astoria_Or_Anecdotes_of_an_Enterprise_Be/t6k-AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.

Rollins, Phillip A., ed. 1935. The Discovery of the Oregon Trail: Robert Stuart’s Narrative of His Overland Trip Eastward from Astoria in 1812-1813. Bison Book Edition reprinted from the original 1935 edition by Edward Eberstadt and Sons. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.

Secondary Sources

Hafen, LeRoy R. Broken Hand The Life of Thomas Fitzpatrick, Mountain Man, Guide and Indian Agent. Bison Books Edition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981.

Further Research and Reading

Andersen, C. L., Luhr, S. C., and Loveland, A. M., The Origin of Landscape – Wyoming’s Cultural Geology Guide (pamphlet): Wyoming State Geological Survey, 2015, 2 sheets. https://www.wsgs.wyo.gov/public-info/cultural-geology.aspx

Bagley, Will. South Pass: Gateway to a Continent. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014. Pages 37-50 describe Robert Stuart’s journey.