A Man Called George Gave Nell Hope

 The distance to Fort Dodge in Iowa was short in modern days. It was less than seventy miles, but it took longer than a week for the wagon train that Nell was traveling with. She was traveling with some new people this week because some of her former companions had decided to stay or to travel a different direction. Winter was a terrible worry for them. Nell could no longer go barefoot of course, because of the bitter cold. She had done some hand sewing for some ladies at the fort which she traded for some fur lining for her old coat. She was much warmer now, but still so terribly worried that she would have no home when she got to Cherokee.

Fort Dodge was unlike most forts in the 1850's. It had no high wooden fence around it Grandma Lu told the group. It had twenty-one buildings in it, but they were all in a straight line. Those buildings took up the same distance as many of our city blocks do. The traffic to Fort Dodge was mostly travelers who needed supplies or fresh horses or oxen. There seemed to be no trouble with the natives, or there would have been a stockade which had tall sharped points on the wooden fences that surrounded forts in those days.

Fort Dodge was a very busy fort. Travelers were commonplace because of the Gold Rush out west. The people came from New York, Ohio, and many other states and/or territories that had not yet been declared a state.

 When they woke up the next morning it was snowing. The snow was thick and the wind was blowing. The man in charge of the soldiers in the fort was called a general. He told the trail master that he could not in good faith allow them to leave. He said the weather if anything was going to get worse. They would have to stay there until the weather was better. Needless to say Nell was devastated. She just knew that Nathan was going to marry another lady or perhaps already had. She pleaded with the trail master to leave the fort so she could reach the man that she was to marry. She thought that she should be able to get there in about ten days.

 There was a young man who overheard Nell and the trail master talking about leaving against the General's orders. He also wanted to leave. He and nine other men were on their way to an area south which someday would be called Cherokee. They were determined to settle in that area because of the river, the rich soil, and the miles of trees that would provide them with wood to build log cabins. There had been scouts telling them it was the perfect place to settle and have families. He walked over to Nell and said, "Hello, my name is George. My friends and I are going in the general direction that you want to go. We don't want to wait either, but you must know it's going to be a dangerous trip not only for us, but for our animals. The area where you are going is not settled. There are other wagons behind us that wish to settle there as well. I've been told that there is shelter there that will get us through to the spring.

Nell just knew that one of those farmers that George was talking about was Nathan. She had to go. Nell's heart pounded with excitement in her chest when she  heard about that shelter. It would later be called Fort Cherokee. She was ready to go. All she had to do was find more people to go with her. They would have to leave within an hour or two or it would be impossible to make any headway during the daylight.

The thought of freezing on the trail was a real concern for Nell. The clothes she had were not suitable for the trail in the winter. She had a fur lining for her coat, and deer skin around her shoes, but her cotton dress was a thin muslin. She had to find a way to make her dress thicker. She had traded some sewing and mending for some wool stockings and had fashioned a heavy apron to wear over her dress. She was a warm as she could be. Hopefully she would find folks to go with her and they would share some of their warm clothes and quilts.