Alexander Majors Mystery Cache

Alexander Majors

This cache will bring you to the site of the Alexander Majors House and the Russell Majors Waddell Park which sit on five acres in southern Kansas City, Missouri.  To complete this cache, you will explore the grounds of the Alexander Majors House and hopefully, will learn a few things about our area’s history and Majors’ role in both its development and the development of the American West. 
 
Parking can be found at the Alexander Majors House parking lot which can be accessed from State Line road, just north of 83^rd Street.  You will not need to enter any of the buildings to complete this cache, so you don’t have to go while the museum and house are open.  Although night caching is not legally prohibited, in order to examine the site carefully enough to solve the puzzle, night caching may prove difficult and certainly will make you look like a miscreant as you snoop around with a flashlight.  As a result, I’m restricting this cache to be a “DAYLIGHT ONLY” cache.
 
The house is sometimes used as a summer camp and is open for tours on weekend afternoons and the barn facility is often used for receptions and parties, so you may need to come back if one is in progress. As always, please be stealthy in the presence of muggles.
 
As a preview and back-story, I’ve researched and accumulated a few bits of information about Alexander Majors’ life and business dealings.  I hope you’ll take the time to read it.
 
Permission to place the physical cache was granted via email from the landowning authority upon which it is placed.  The physical cache is a 1 for difficulty and a 1.5 for terrain.  The stated difficulty of 3.5 is attributable to the work and attention to detail needed to solve the puzzle. 
 
I hope you enjoy my first cache and learn a little bit in the process!
-P98
 

The Cache

All but one piece of the information you need to solve the puzzle can be found by exploring the physical site. For one question, the answer is not on-site, but is in the history lesson that follows. I suggest you PRINT the history lesson and bring it with you.

Additionally, there is a shortcut. You should probably allow for 30 minutes on-site to finish the cache if you figure out the shortcut at home. If you don't figure out the shortcut, it may take an hour (or more) to answer the questions. Good Luck!

The physical cache can be found at:
 
N 38° AB.CDE  
W 94° FG.HIJ
 

1. Look near the museum entrance - the Landmarks Commission of Kansas City, Missouri recognized the site in 197C.
2. The DEMSPSTER MILL MFG CO made a piece of equipment on this site.  It has components numbered H, 227, 22G, and 20K. J=K-2
3. If you are clever, you can apply the shortcut here: Othewise, go to the front porch of the house and find the number of letters on the "WELCOME" sign (ignore all punctuation, symbols, and numbers).  Then, tally all of the exterior window panes the house (exclude windows in doors and transoms).  Lastly, determine how many exterior doors the house has.  Add those three numbers together.  Add one.  Multiply by nine.  Add the digits in the resulting number together (e.g., 61 = 6+1 = 7 or 182 = 1+8+2 = 11).  If the number you get is bigger than ten, then add the digits of that number together.  Subtract three.  The result is E.
4. Go to the northwest corner of the house to find the Santa Fe Trail sign. Count the number of letters in each word. What is the MODE (not the mean and not the median -- you need the mode) of the length of the words on the sign? Use that number for A.
5. Charles’ factory in Hillsboro, Ohio made a piece of equipment on this site. Look on its south side to find its size and use that value for D.
6. Do your reading... the size of the Alexander Majors House is approximately F,L00 square feet. I = F + L
7. The Blacksmith Shop offered several services such as Jobbing, Wagon Building, and _________.  Count the number of letters in the missing service and use that number for B.

The Life of Alexander Majors

 
In 1819, at the age of five, Alexander Majors migrated to Missouri with his family from Kentucky.  He grew up as a farmer and was particularly skilled at handling livestock.  Majors married when he was twenty and bought his own farm and raised a large family.  Most of his children were daughters which made it difficult to run a farm large enough to support the family.  Lacking the sons to farm effectively, Majors turned to trade.  He developed good relations with the Pottawatomie Indians and in the summer of 1846, loaded a wagon with cheap but colorful merchandise at Independence, Missouri and went on a trading expedition to the Pottawatomie Indian Reservation in Kansas Territory (Moody, 142). 
 
In 1848, Majors headed a small train of six wagons, each loaded with about four thousand pounds of merchant trade goods to Santa Fe.  This was Majors’ first trip as a freighter (Settle and Settle (2), 30).  Majors would later comment, “I was brought up to handle animals, and had been employed more or less in the teaming business.  After looking the situation all over, it occurred to me there was nothing I was so well adapted for by my past experiences as the freighting business that was being conducted between Independence, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico” (Majors 71).  Majors made the long haul to the New Mexican capital and back in ninety-two days, a record for the round trip, and closed the year’s business with a profit of about $650 per wagon.  His expert skill and long experience in handling oxen enabled Majors to make that remarkable time.  On this trip he first started the practice, which he continued throughout his career as a freighter, of having his train remain in camp from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning to allow his animals and men to rest.  A man of strong religious convictions, he always held worship services for his teamsters on the Sabbath (Settle and Settle (2) 31-32).
 
When he entered the freighting business, Majors wrote a pledge which he required his employees to sign; it read: “While I am in the employ of A. Majors, I agree not to use profane language, not to get drunk, not to gamble, not to treat animals cruelly, and not to do anything else that is incompatible with the conduct of a gentleman.  And I agree, if I violate any of the above conditions, to accept my discharge without any pay for my services” (Majors, 140).
 
Majors returned to Santa Fe in 1849 with twenty wagons and one hundred oxen making $13,000 for the trip.  After returning to Missouri, he agreed to fulfill a late but urgent request from the quartermaster of Ft. Leavenworth to haul supplies to Ft. Mackay, at the Cimarron Crossing of the Arkansas River (Settle and Settle (2) 32).
 
Private freighters such as Majors proved so successful for the army that in 1850, the army entirely abandoned the transport of its own supplies with hired teamsters.  By the end of 1850, the quartermaster of Ft. Leavenworth had freighting contracts with sixteen different firms and individuals to seven different military posts in the west (Settle and Settle (2) 32).  The acquisition of New Mexico, Oregon, and California necessitated an ever increasing demand for western freighting.  In 1851 and 1852, the federal government experimented with various routes and methods to transport goods West including shipping around Cape Horn and a route over an old military road between San Antonio and Santa Fe.  As a result, in 1851, the amount of supplies sent west from Ft. Leavenworth dropped by two thirds as compared to the previous year.  In the end, the freighting experiments didn’t improve the timeliness or cost per hundred pounds of delivered supplies, and in 1853, the quartermaster of Ft. Leavenworth elected to return to overland shipping from Ft. Leavenworth (Settle and Settle (2), 36-37).
 
In 1852, Majors did not take a train, but returned to the business in 1853.  He made one trip to Santa Fe hauling private merchandise and then returned to Missouri in time to sign a contract with Ft. Leavenworth’s quartermaster for to take a trainload of supplies to Ft. Union at the rate of $16 per hundred pounds resulting in payment of at least $28,000 (Settle and Settle (2), 37).  By 1854, Majors was the foremost government freighter west of the Missouri, and it is believed that his bids shut out the firms owned by William Waddell and William Russell as their firms did no military freighting in 1854 (Moody, 142-143; Settle and Settle (2), 38).
 
The contract-by-contract low-bidder system by which military freighting contracts were awarded prior to 1854 was one that was difficult for the government to administer and introduced high risk for the freighters.  For the government, every contract had to be negotiated individually and for the freighters, the system required them to assemble the wagons, oxen, and teamsters on short notice once a contract was awarded.  Additionally, since there was no guarantee that the firm would receive a contract in the next year, freighting firms would often sell their oxen and sometimes wagons each year.  To remedy these issues the Quartermaster General Thomas Jesup decided to abandon the system in 1854.  Starting in 1855, the government would issue a single contract for the transportation of all supplies to all the posts in the West and Southwest for two years (Settle and Settle (2) 38-39).
 
On December 28, 1854, Majors, Russell, and Waddell signed a two-year agreement effective January 1, 1855 to engage
  

“…in the business of merchants in the buying and selling of goods, wares, and merchandise, and also in a general trading in stock, wagons, teams and other things used in the outfitting of persons, or trains across the plains or elsewhere and also in freighting goods or freights for the Government or others, as well as for themselves, for sale or barter, which partnership is to be conducted in the city of Lexington under the name, style, & firm of Waddell, Russell, & Co., and at such other places in Jackson County as the partners may agree upon the name, style, and firm of Majors & Russell, and shall commence on the first day of January, 1855, and continue for the term of two years unless sooner dissolved by mutual consent” (Russell, Majors & Waddell).

 
By joining forces, Russell, Majors, and Waddell created a firm that could hold a virtual monopoly on western freighting from Ft. Leavenworth.  It is interesting that Majors would agree to such an arrangement given his dominance of the government freighting business in 1854 and the excellent financial condition of his company.  Speculation exists that Russell, who was known as an “incorrigible wheeler and dealer,” had a silent partner inside the War Department and may have convinced Majors that he, and not Majors, already had control of the upcoming government freighting contract.  Regardless of the reasons, each of Russell, Majors, and Waddell entered the partnership with a stated contribution of $20,000 each.  Although the contributions were stated in cash terms, little to no cash was contributed to the firm as Waddell and Russell put in their stores and Majors put in a considerable amount of his stock and equipment (Moody 139, 143).
 
As expected by the partners, the firm was awarded the two-year contract with the War Department on March 27, 1855, giving the partnership a monopoly on the transportation of all military supplies west of the Missouri River (Moody 144).
 
The three partners had distinct roles in the firm’s operations. 
  

“Russell spent most of his time in the East cultivating friendships with Government officials and securing freighting assignments from the Quartermaster General’s office in Washington, negotiating loans in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia to finance the enormous investment required, and promoting various and sundry projects with other partners or associates.  Waddell sat on the lid at headquarters, worrying, sulking, and quarreling with Russell by mail about the impulsive and reckless risks to which Russell committed the firm without prior consultation with his partners.  Majors, the only one of the three who was a practical freighter, devoted his entire efforts to supervising the actual freighting operations; he spent the greater part of his time out on the trails with the wagon trains, and was evidently kept in the dark by his partners concerning numerous phases of the business” (Moody 144).

 
Majors’ primary concern was with the trains upon the road and he returned home only during those months when they were not running.  Each season he rode on horseback from one end of the route to the other.  Additionally, he had trains of his own in operation, a store in Denver, another in Fort Leavenworth, and a sutler’s establishment at Fort Wise.  Majors job was to see that the firm’s trains delivered on time, and they usually did (Settle and Settle (1) 14).  Majors usually rode alongside the train communicating his instructions though the use of pony-mounted messengers. One such messenger received his start when his mother asked Majors to give her 12 year-old son his first job. Majors hired him and later taught little Willy Cody to read and sign his name.  He would later become part of American Folklore as "Buffalo Bill" Cody (Alexander Majors Historical Trust 7).
 
In the early spring of 1855 riverboats delivered an endless flow of military supplies to the piers of Ft. Leavenworth that were bound for Santa Fe, Fort Kearney, and the growing number of frontier forts being established in the wilderness between the Missouri River and California.  By May, Russell, Majors & Waddell had twenty heavily loaded trains on the trail, each led by a qualified train-master, accompanied by an agent that could act on behalf of the company, and consisted of 26 wagons, approximately 375 oxen and mules, and 40 to 50 men (Moody 145.)  At that moment, the partners had likely invested more than $500,000 not counting employee pay to execute the two-year contract.  The partners did not have unencumbered assets of this amount and they had to utilize credit to meet the obligations of such a large undertaking (Settle and Settle (2) 44).
 
The firm profited handsomely in 1855 and 1856 with Majors later commenting in his memoirs that the firm’s profit in those years was $300,000 (Moody 146; Majors 142).
 
Majors’ rise as a freighter was quite impressive.  In 1854, he started the year with 100 wagons, 1,200 oxen, and about 120 men compared to the six wagons, 30-40 oxen, and 8-10 men he had in 1848 (Settle and Settle (2), 38).  After forming the partnership with Russell and Waddell, Majors bought a 300-acre site just outside of then Kansas City in order to further expand both his personal and the partnership’s growing operations.  On this site he built a 3,400 sq. ft. two-story nine-room Antebellum home from which he focused on running trains on the route to Santa Fe.  Here he also built ox barns, mule sheds, and blacksmith and wagon shops.  He used the non-governed Kansas Territory just steps from the western porch of his home and personal headquarters as grazing land for his vast herds (Alexander Majors Historical Trust 8).
 
The volume of freight bound for Santa Fe kept a steady stream of wagons moving day and night between the steamboat docks at Westport on the Missouri River and the starting point for the Santa Fe trains at what is now 83^rd Street and State Line Road in Missouri.  Here, the freight was reloaded into the huge “Santa Fe” or Murphy style wagons (which were designed by Majors and J. Murphy in St. Louis) that would ultimately make the trip southwest (Alexander Majors Historical Trust 3, 9; Settle and Settle (2) 43).
 
A significant portion of the growth and prosperity of Kansas City can be attributed to Alexander Majors.  The prominence of his western freighting operations was instrumental in attracting governmental and private shippers to unload goods at Westport Landing on the Missouri River. Additionally, Majors' tremendous needs for buying and selling livestock established the Kansas City Stock Yards.
 
At its height, Russell, Majors & Waddell ran 150 trains which required 3,750 wagons and 45,000 oxen (Alexander Majors Historical Trust 5).  It employed 4,000 men.
 
Alexander Majors and his two partners operated not only a vast freighting operation, but also founded and operated a general dry goods, grocery, and outfitting business in Leavenworth (Settle and Settle (2) 46). 
 
In 1857, the Russell, Majors & Waddell agreed to a new one-year contract with the Quartermaster General that would prove to be the start of the firm’s downfall. 
  

"At the outbreak of the 1857 Mormon War, the quartermaster at Fort Leavenworth requested that Russell, Majors and Waddell move some 2.5 million pounds of freight to Salt Lake City, Utah. Though the request far exceeded the company's contract and was a risky venture, they didn't want to jeopardize its position as chief army contractor and agreed to haul the freight. To fulfill the request, they borrowed heavily, anticipating payment of the goods after delivered, by the government. However, when the company's 52 wagons arrived in Utah Territory, the Mormons attacked the huge caravan. The company's loss of $494,762.61 exceeded two years' worth of profits and they were never reimbursed by the U.S. Army.
 
Regardless of the loss the company took in Utah, it continued to bid on government contracts; as these contracts were its main livelihood. Though the company continued to freight supplies to the western forts and to Santa Fe, New Mexico, they sank deeper into debt. A series of transactions over the next few years, including Russell's insistence in developing the Leavenworth and Pikes Peak Express continued to erode the partners' finances. In the spring of 1858, the firm began freighting from Nebraska City, Nebraska on a government contract to transport all provisions for all western forts. The supplies were brought up the Missouri River by steamboat and then taken out by wagon train. Part of this agreement was to move their headquarters to Nebraska City.
 
In 1860, despite growing financial trouble, Russell created the firm's most enduring legacy by convincing his two reluctant partners to support the establishment of the Pony Express. As a result, the firm, once again, won the government mail contract, which Russell was sure would save them from falling into bankruptcy. The Pony Express began operations on April 3, 1860. However, it too, would be a failure, losing upwards of $1,000 a day. That same year, Russell found that he could no longer honor his financial obligations and became mixed up in a scandal involving Secretary of War John Buchanan Floyd and Godard Bailey, a clerk for the Department of Interior. Through a series of illegal transactions, money had been obtained from the Indian Trust Fund. Russell and others were indicted in the scandal, effectively ruining the reputation of the firm.
 
This affair, coupled with the completion of the telegraph lines, ended the brief era of the Pony Express in October, 1861. In 1862, the company filed for bankruptcy. Its remaining stagecoach operations, which retained value after the collapse of the rest of the company, were bought out by Ben Holladay" (Weiser).
 

"Majors’ life after the dissolution of Russell, Majors & Waddell was clouded by disappointment, hardship, and obscurity.
 
Majors steeled himself against the adversity which overtook him and remained in the freighting business. In 1865 he sent two wagon trains from Nebraska City to Salt Lake City and later freighted to points in Montana. In 1867 he moved his family to Salt Lake City where he engaged in grading the roadbed and furnishing ties and telegraph poles to the Union Pacific Railroad. On May 10 1869, he was present at the ceremony of driving the gold spike which marked the completion of the transcontinental railway.
 
After the failure of his marriage, Majors unsuccessfully prospected in the Utah Mountains for several years.  Starting in 1879 he made his home at various places, including Kansas City and Denver. His former messenger, Willy Cody, then at the pinnacle of his fame as “Buffalo Bill” Cody, found him living in Denver in a little shack engaged in writing the story of his life. Cody hired Prentice Ingraham to edit the autobiography and paid for having it printed under the title, Seventy Years on the Frontier.  Majors died in Chicago on January 14, 1900, aged 86 years, and was buried in Union Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri" (http://www.alexandermajors.com/about).

 
Today:
Majors' home is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Restored in 1984, the home features original white pine floors and millwork, as well as furnishing of the era. Also on the site are a blacksmith shop with large display of tools, Conestoga freighting wagons, buggies, etc. and herb and vegetable gardens. 
 
References:
Alexander Majors Historical Trust.  Alexander Majors and the freighting of RUSSELL, MAJORS & WADDELL.  Pamphlet. 1985. 9pp.
http://www.alexandermajors.com/about viewed on June 16, 2013.
Majors, Alexander. Seventy Years On The Frontier. Ross & Haines, Inc. Minneapolis, MN 1965. 325pp.
Moody, Ralph. Stagecoach West. Promontory Press. 1967. 341pp.
Settle, Raymond W. and Settle, Mary Lund (1). Saddles & Spurs; The Pony Express Saga. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE. 1955. 217pp.
Settle, Raymond W. and Settle, Mary Lund (2). War Drums and Wagon Wheels; The story of Russell, Majors and Waddell.  University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln, NE. 1966. 268pp.
Weiser, Kathy.  OLD WEST LEGENDS Russell, Majors & Waddell - Transportation in the Old West.  Legends of America. March 2012. http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-russellmajorswaddell.html as viewed on June 16, 2013.
 

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