THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 29 killed. Volunteers and two companies of regulars soon arrived from California. By the end of May some 800 troops were in the field. On June 3 the Indians were de- feated in a battle along the Truckee and they caused little further trouble. But already every station of the pony express from the Carson River to Simpson's Park had been destroyed. Station-keepers were killed or forced to flee. The stations were burned and the horses killed or driven off. Service was suspended for several weeks. As a result of this war, Fort Churchill was built on the Carson River thirty-five miles below Carson City. 34 The year 1860 saw the beginning of what was to su- persede to a large extent the pony express. In November a telegraph line was completed between Omaha and Fort Kearney. 38 In the same year, the telegraph from Califor- nia reached Carson City36 . An account of the freighting activities of the great overland trail must be prefaced with at least a short story of the Mormon trouble of 1857-58 . In September, 1850, the bill was signed which created Utah as a territory. Her boundaries were California on the west, Oregon on the north, the summit of the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Thirty-seventh parallel on the south. Brigham Young was appointed governor. Three judges of the Su- preme Court, the Attorney General and the United States Marshal were also appointed, two of the five offices being filled by Mormons. The Mormons were not well-disposed toward the Gentile officials and in September, 1851, they left the territory. New ones were appointed who suc- ceeded in living in harmony with the Saints. 37 In 1854 Young's term as governor expired. President Pierce offered the governorship to Lieutenant Colonel Steptoe who was then in Utah, but Young compromised Steptoe and forced him to decline the offer, and even to 34 Bancroft, History of Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming, pp. 209-216 . 35 Morton, op. cit., p. 98 . 36 Bailey, op. cit., p. 887. 37 Linn, The Story of the Mormons, pp. 430-467.
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