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| Fulkerson's grave at sunset |
On June 22, 1996, some of the Wyoming Chapter trekkers stopped at what is now called the Fulkerson grave at Rattlesnake Pass. Due to the research by Randy Brown, this grave, which was improperly known for years as the T. P. Baker grave, is now dedicated to its true occupant. Randy's group erected a fine protective enclosure for the grave.
Frederick Richard Fulkerson, aged 18, left Missouri with his parents bound in 1847 for Oregon. He died on July 1, 1847. His niece recalled, "When crossing the Platte River, (Frederick) swam the river below the crossing to ford the stock over, as the river was so swift it tended to wash them downstream. He became so chilled and exhausted that he died and was buried near the crossing."
For years, historians and Oregon Trail buffs have been aware of the grave of T. P. Baker just east of Devil's Gate on the Tom Sun Ranch. A photograph of this grave even accompanied an article on Wyoming's trail graves in the Casper Star-Tribune during the 1993 Oregon Trail Sesquicentennial celebration. But just about the time that the photograph appeared, the true story behind the so-called T. P. Baker grave was coming to light.
Randy Brown, a teacher from Douglas, Wyoming, chairs the Graves and Sites Committee for the Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA), a non-profit organization based in Independence, Missouri which is dedicated to education about and the preservation and enjoyment of the trans-Mississippi emigrant trails. In his capacity with OCTA, Mr. Brown frequently researches the lives and deaths of those emigrants whose graves are still found along the length of the trail. Mr. Brown has also been actively involved in gathering information about the graffiti signatures of emigrants which exist along the trail.
Despite his best efforts, Mr. Brown had never been able to discover anything about the T. P. Baker who was believed to be buried near Devil's Gate. Then, to his surprise, Mr. Brown discovered a nearly identical inscription -- "T. P. Baker, 1864" -- on a rock face one-half mile beyond his alleged grave. This discovery sent Brown back to his trail books to try to determine whether, possibly, the supposed grave of Baker might not belong to someone else.
In May 1996, Randy Brown and other members of the Wyoming Chapter of OCTA placed a new marker at the Fulkerson grave, properly identifying it and providing information about the young Fulkerson whose grave had been misidentified for so many years. The marker notes that the existing inscription -- "T. P. Baker, 1864" -- is believed to be the graffiti of a passing emigrant. The elaborately-inscribed headstone sketched by Bruff, which Fulkerson's family crafted during their week-long stay with the dying man, has long since disappeared. This grave is located just west of Independence Rock, off State Route 220 on the Tom Sun Ranch, now owned by the LDS Church. Ask for permission to visit the gravesite and directions to it at the Martin's Cove Visitor's Center.
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The grave of F.R. Fulkerson was noted by forty-niner J.G. Bruff on July 26, 1849, as he traveled through what he termed "Pass of the Rattle-Snake Mountain to the left of Devil's Gate." The survival of the large granite boulder used as the Fulkerson headstone and the sketch made of it by Bruff allows us to locate this grave precisely.
Frederick Richard Fulkerson, son of James M. and Mary Fulkerson, died July 1, 1847, while en route to Oregon. His father, James Monroe Fulkerson, was born in Lee County, Virginia, August 28, 1802. The family moved west to Tennessee in 1807 and then on to the Missouri frontier in 1817, where they settled in present Cole County. In 1823 James married Virginia-born Mary Ramsey Miller. By 1847 they had seven children. Frederick, their fourth child and oldest son, was born October 11, 1829.
In the spring of 1847 the Fulkersons and many of their relatives became part of an Oregon-bound party composed primarily of members of the Old Florence Baptist Church located near Jefferson City. Some three hundred congregation members joined a wagon train captained by James Curl. The 120-wagon company soon broke into four groups. The group calling itself "The Plains Baptist Church" was captained by the Reverend Richard Miller, who was Mary Fulkerson's brother and the husband of Nancy Leeper Fulkerson, a sister of James Fulkerson.
Accounts of the death of Frederick Fulkerson vary. The Curl family remembered it thus, "Mrs. [Caleb] Curl's [nÈe Margaret Fulkerson] brother took the fever, and Mr. Fulkerson, with two other families remained while the others went on. After nine days the young man, then aged eighteen, died near Devil's Gate." A granddaughter of James and Mary wrote, "When crossing the Platte River [Frederick] swam the river below the crossing to ford the stock over, as the river was so swift it tended to wash them downstream. He became so chilled and exhausted that he died and was buried near the crossing."
When Bruff passed the grave in 1849 he also noted, "Inscribed on a rock above the grave 'J.M. Fulkerson, June 26, '47.'" The inscription, which no longer exists, confirms that the family must have camped for at least a week during the final illness of Frederick Fulkerson. Upon his death a grave was dug at the foot of this rock. According to Bruff, the epitaph was painted on the face of the rock headstone, FREDERIC RICHARD, SON OF JAMES M. & MARY FULKERSON, DIED JULY 1, 1847, AGED 18 Years.
Two weeks later Mary Fulkerson died of mountain fever and was buried atop Names Hill on the Green River crossing of the Sublette Cutoff. Bruff saw this grave on August 7, 1849, and noted the engraving on a sandstone slab above the grave, "Mary, consort of J.M. Fulkerson, Died July 14, 1847." The site of Mary Fulkerson's grave became a burial ground for other victims of the trail and eventually developed into a pioneer cemetery. All these graves were destroyed by pipeline construction in the 1930s.
The existing incription, "T.P. Baker 1864," now found on the Frederick Fulkerson gravestone, is believed to be the graffiti of a passing traveler. Baker, whoever he was, left another nearly identical inscription on a rock face a half-mile farther on at the bank of the river.
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