On Saturdays I write fiction. I’ve been writing about Celeste, a 90-year-old senior that I’ve met as a chaplain at a retirement center. Celeste is sharing her life story with me.
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I greeted Celeste as I entered her room. She was on her computer sending greetings to friends. She tries to keep up with birthdays, anniversaries, new children (and grandchildren and great grandchildren), and other of life’s milestones.
“Ah Karen, always great to see you!! I was thinking about you the other day. With my poster ladies, I did a lot of things, but only once did we go back in time. I wanted to tell you about that.”
She continued.
I was reading about your recent trip to the high point in Nebraska in your blog. That reminded me of my visit to the prairie when I was in seventh grade at Prairie du Chien Junior High School.
For years I had poster ladies who interacted with me - but nobody else could see or hear them. We were looking at pioneering books in my English class, such as Willa Cather, and Ole Rolvaag. I was an American living in the 20th Century and had trouble understanding the pioneers.
Crystal was my poster lady that year, and she whisked me off to western Nebraska along the Platte River.
Thousands of people were moving west for free land, for gold, for riches, for a new life. The Platte River was one of the main routes west. It was followed by Mormons as the “Mormon Trail”, and others as the “Oregon Trail”. In the high prairie settlers had multiple problems. The land was arid, and, in some years, it was hard to get a crop. Because of the wide-open spaces, there was little interaction with neighbors - some of which might be ten miles or more away. Other than following the Platte River, there were almost no roads - just miles of grassland.
The real goal was to get to Oregon. Oregon was a land flowing with milk and honey - in the historical Biblical aspect. Things grew in Oregon because of the frequent storms coming in off the Pacific Ocean and getting stopped by the Cascade Range of Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier and others. The rains fell on the lush valleys and settlers could raise fruit, corn, and just about any crop you’d desire.
But, for some of these travelers, Oregon was just “Pie in the Sky” - they figured they wouldn’t make it before winter settled in. There were hostile (and friendly) Indians, there were mountains to cross, because of the long trip, families ran out of food, others got bit by rattlesnakes, attacked by wolves, bears and the elements.
Crystal had told me that we were going to Bushnell Nebraska to see the Schulte family. They immigrated from Germany in 1848. 1848 was a tumultuous time in Germany. There wasn’t really a German yet, but lots of little German states. The two big German states were trying to unite the smaller states - but that led to conflict between the two. They were Prussia and Austria. Austria had been part of the Holy Roman Empire and was a well-established country. Prussia was on the Baltic Sea and while they also had been part of the Holy Roman Empire, they were largely independent.
The Schulte family were in Saxony in what would be southeast Germany today - on the Czech border. Hermann Schulte had gotten a draft notice from Austria - but Hermann didn’t want to fight other Germans in this unification effort and many Germans had emigrated to the United States. Gretchen, his wife of three years, really didn’t want to leave her family and relatives and go to that new and wild country. But, Hermann was the third male in his family and would not inherit the family farm, and Gretchen would get no inheritance as a female. In Gretchen’s view, if Hermann joined the area, he could go up in the ranks and be an officer and get a title and fame and fortune.
But, Hermann, although assertive, was also a peaceful person and having a new life in America appealed to him.
After months of debate, Hermann said “enough, we are going to America. As my wife, you will come with me.” And the Austrian draft office was about to require Hermann to be part of the army, so he decided going to America would be more attractive and financially better than staying in Germany.
They had some savings and got more funds from their families and took the train to Breham and a ship across the ocean. It was not a pleasant trip, Gretchen was saddened about the decision, Hermann was optimistic. He had heard about the California Gold Rush but thought going to the “land of milk and honey” (as the publicists called Oregon), might be good for a family. Gold mining was for single men.
They found other Germans who helped them with directions, and they joined a part of 30 people, (13 couples plus four single German men), that was going to Oregon. They traveled together to St. Joseph in western Missouri on the Missouri River by train, and there bought a Conestoga Wagon and outfitted it to go west. The journey was from four to six months and arriving in October the group settled near Omaha and worked at various trades until April 1849 when they would set out on the trail.
The trail was fairly easy to follow since many people had gone to Oregon. You followed the Platte River. When it split you took the northern branch into Wyoming. The Platte River was fairly wide. In the spring months it was deeper as the snow melted in Colorado and Wyoming and flowed into tributaries of the Platte. Nebraska didn’t have many rivers that joined the Platte so the first part of the trip could be done fairly safely.
In St. Joe, they had purchased a pair of oxen, a gun, and food supplies. There might be buffalo, antelope, or deer to shoot on the way, but their main staple were beans (beans, and more beans).
Soldiers at Fort Kearney kept the Native Americans away from the trail. Off they went. Like the others, they had all of their earthly possessions in it. Hermann and Gretchen had left Germany each with a trunk of what they deemed they would need in America. They followed the Missouri north from St. Joe to Omaha and then west along the Platte. By May 2, 1849, they reached Fort Kearney Nebraska - the last dependable supply store.
Four days west of Fort Kearney, Herman heard a loud crack. Checking it out, he saw the back axle on the Conestoga wagon was starting to break. Working with the other men, they hewed a new axle from cottonwood trees along the Platte River and fit it into the wagon. That delayed the party one day. Most days were pleasant with only a few rainy days.
By the point where the North Platte River joined the South Platte River, the group followed the North Platte River west. The goal was to make it to South Pass City, the easiest pass through the Rocky Mountains by June 1st. By May 19 the front axle on the Schulte Wagon broke. The rest of the party was divided - should they wait for a day to fix the axle or push on. The wagon train split with about 6 couples and two of the single men going on and the rest waiting until the Schulte wagon was fixed.
But finding and fixing the wagon wasn’t quite as easy this time. It was hard to find a suitable cottonwood tree and then shape it into an axle. It took two days to get a reasonable working axle. Half the men helped with the repairs and the others went hunting. Soon the group had what seemed to be enough grub to get them to Idaho. They pressed onward. But the replacement axle just wasn’t right and by Gering Nebraska, the Schulte family got left as the others, fearing getting caught in winter snows, decided to go ahead. A second, unspoken reason to leave the Schultes behind was that Gretchen was getting to be a real complainer.
She rarely combed her hair, and rarely said anything. She was withdrawing into herself with every step they took, with every mile in the wagon. When she did speak, she ranted about being in a “God forsaken land” and railed at Hermann for bringing her here to this desolate wilderness.
But, as there were others on the trail, there was hope that soon Hermann could get the axle refitted and join up with another group.
Meanwhile, Gretchen was complaining vehemently “What an awful place. We should never have left Germany. I hate this place. I hate you”.
Hours turned into days and Hermann created an axle and they started west again, and the axle broke in a few hours. Finally, Hermann said to Gretchen. “It seems as if God wants us to live here”. Gretchen sobbed for the rest of the day. “Forsaken, abandoned”.
So, Herman and Gretchen Schulte claimed an area near the Platte River for a homestead. There were a few cottonwood trees. Hermann thought he could work through the winter to fashion a better axle and they could join up with the first Oregon Trail party in the spring.
There were a few people in the area and a general store that sold to travelers going west and to the local people. They told Hermann about the terrible winters, the wind, the cold, the snow. Many had sod shanties and Hemann and Gretchen would need to start gathering firewood and whatever they could to last the winter. There were two families within a day's drive that spoke some German. One was a family from the Czech area, and the other was from Holland but could speak some German. Hermann knew that he needed to learn English, but that was hard to do by oneself. Gretchen firmly avoided English and didn’t even try to learn the language and even in the general store pointed at things she wanted to purchase.
The Novak family from the Czech area helped the Schultes build a sod house. Hermann didn’t quite trust them as they were a Catholic family, and he came from a Lutheran family. But as they worked together, he discovered they were good people. Gretchen largely stayed in the background and complained. As it was already June, Hermann took the area where they had cut the sod and planted corn, beans, onions, beets, squash, and a few other crops (with suggestions from the Novak family).
The rains were rare, but a blessing when they came. The wind always seemed to blow. In July and August, the winds were hot and dried out the corn, but September brought winds that were colder.
Hermann kept the oxen team for plowing. By September, he discovered the female ox was pregnant and that was good news - it would mean more help for plowing next year. Gretchen was not happy as an ox calf would delay their getting back on the trail the next year. Hermann kept his opinions to himself but was really anticipating that they were settled here in western Nebraska even though Gretchen hated the area. Hermann kept careful watch over his money hoping to have money for seed and farming the next spring.
*****
Time passed.
In eight years, Gretchen had delivered two live children and two stillborn children. She was assisted by a midwife from the area. Her pregnancies were difficult - partially as she hated life.
She pushed Hermann away when he wanted to make love to her. It was a terrible life - dependent on the weather. Winters were difficult as they could be snowed in. The oxen were in a small sod house close to their own house. Hermann collected the ‘cowpies” for burning to keep them warm. There was little brush and even less trees to use for firewood.
In January 1859, after a five-day blizzard, Gretchen went crazy. She waited until Hermann was out of the sod shanty and then she took a knife and was going to kill herself and her children. She could not let them survive in this awful place.
That is where Crystal and I came in. Unseen by Gretchen or anybody else, we came between Gretchen and the children. Ultimately, Gretchen stabbed herself and died, but Hermann and the two children survived thanks to Crystal and me. She never had been happy and the difficulty of being in the vast American high plains was like a worm eating through her resolve and her brain.
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There was enough of a thaw late in January 1858 that Hermann could bury Gretchen near the sod house.
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Hermann loved the children and five years later married a daughter of one of the other immigrant families. He died in 1889 at the age of 60, and his son took over the farm.
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Celeste paused and looked at me and said, “I am a great-granddaughter of Hermann and Gretchen Schulte. It was a remote place, and no photographer came through Bushnell. I go back to a little cemetery near Bushnell Nebraska every few years and reflect on my great-grandparents coming from Germany, and especially how my family loved me. I know I am close to the end of my life but want to honor the memory of this pioneer family.”
*****
To be continued
LOVE WINS!!
Karen White, September 3, 2022, ©
