François Xavier Aubry (also spelled Aubrey or Aubray; December 3, 1824 – August 18, 1854) was a French-Canadian merchant, freighter, wagon-train captain, and explorer of the American Southwest. He is best known for setting extraordinary speed records on the Santa Fe Trail—earning nicknames such as “Telegraph” Aubry and “Skimmer of the Plains”—and for pioneering explorations along the 35th parallel that later influenced wagon roads and the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. He had only an indirect connection to Colorado River steamships: he crossed the river in 1853 near the future site of a major steamboat landing that was later named in his honor.
Early Life and Entry into the Santa Fe Trade
Aubry was born on a farm in Saint-Justin (near Maskinongé), Quebec, to Joseph Aubry and Magdeleine (Lupien) Aubry; he was one of thirteen children. He left school around age 12 and, at about 18 (c. 1843), moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked as a store clerk for French-Canadian merchants. Observing the profits available in the Santa Fe trade, he saved money, obtained credit, bought wagons and draft animals, and joined a traders’ caravan leaving Independence, Missouri, on May 9, 1846. After selling goods profitably in Santa Fe, he repaid his loans and soon shifted to full-time freighting, making Independence his base.
He recognized that speed maximized profits and began making two (and later three) round trips per year instead of the customary one. In December 1847 he rode from Santa Fe to Independence in 14 days despite winter weather, Indian harassment, and other hazards—beating the previous record by about 10½ days. Newspapers celebrated the feat and called him “Telegraph” Aubry. In 1848 he set an even more remarkable mark: leaving Santa Fe on September 12 with prepositioned fresh horses, he covered the roughly 800-mile (1,300 km) distance in 5 days and 16 hours (arriving the evening of September 17), winning substantial wagers and the lasting nickname “Skimmer of the Plains.” He later settled more permanently in Santa Fe.
Aubry also explored commercial alternatives. In 1849–1850 he tested routes into Chihuahua, Mexico, via El Paso and Texas (including purchases in Victoria, Texas), but Indian threats, weather, distances, and market conditions limited success. Around 1850–1851 he discovered a useful shortcut (the Aubry Cutoff or Aubry Route) that shortened a section of the Cimarron branch of the Santa Fe Trail by roughly 50 miles while improving access to water.
California Ventures and Colorado River Crossing
In 1852 Aubry drove a large flock (reports cite about 3,500 sheep) plus mules and wagons down the Rio Grande and Gila River route to California, reaching San Francisco via Tucson and Los Angeles. After selling his stock, he returned eastward in 1853 by a more direct path. His small party (roughly 10 Americans, 6 Mexicans, and a cook) crossed Tejon Pass (July 10) and reached the Colorado River on July 23, crossing roughly 20 miles north of the mouth of the Bill Williams River (using rafts made of logs). They then pushed eastward through the central mountains of what is now Arizona.
Beginning in early August the party faced harassment from Native groups Aubry called “Garroteros” (likely Yuman or Mohave). On August 14 a chief approached under a pretense of friendship; the subsequent attack wounded nearly everyone in Aubry’s group, but the travelers repelled it with revolvers, killing about 25 attackers. Skirmishes continued until the party reached Zuni Pueblo on September 6. Aubry reported the journey to New Mexico Territorial Governor David Meriwether, declaring that a railroad could run “almost mathematically direct from Zuñi to Colorado [the river], and from thence to the Tejon pass in California.” He also conferred with Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple, who was preparing a Pacific Railroad Survey of the 35th-parallel corridor. Aubry noted gold near the Colorado (reportedly used by Indians for bullets), though its local origin was unclear.
In late 1853–1854 he organized a second, much larger sheep drive (reports of tens of thousands) to California with other Santa Fe investors, reaching Los Angeles in January 1854 and then San Francisco. His return party of about 60 men left the San Jose area in early July and arrived in Albuquerque on August 18 without major incident.
Death
That same day, August 18, 1854, Aubry entered a store/cantina operated by the Mercure brothers in Albuquerque (some accounts place the confrontation in Santa Fe). He encountered Richard Hanson Weightman, a former territorial delegate, newspaper editor, and political figure who had published material critical of Aubry or his preferred railroad route. An argument escalated; Weightman threw liquor in Aubry’s face, Aubry drew a pistol that misfired, and Weightman stabbed him fatally with a Bowie knife. Weightman was tried for murder but acquitted on grounds of self-defense. Aubry was 29. He was buried in Santa Fe’s Rosario Cemetery. His diary, found in his saddlebags, was published and helped sustain interest in the 35th-parallel route later followed in large part by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.
Role in Relation to Colorado River Steamships
Aubry played no operational or commercial role in Colorado River steamboating. Commercial steam navigation on the lower Colorado began in the early 1850s (the Uncle Sam in 1852; more successful vessels such as the General Jesup shortly thereafter) and expanded significantly in the 1860s with companies such as George A. Johnson & Company and later the Colorado Steam Navigation Company, serving military posts, mining districts, and settlements.
His contribution was geographic and commemorative. He was among the early Anglo-American explorers to cross the Colorado near the Bill Williams River confluence and to publicize a practical east–west corridor north of the Gila. The site of his approximate crossing later became the location of Aubrey Landing (also called Aubrey City or Aubrey), a steamboat landing and short-lived settlement established by the mid-1860s at the confluence of the Colorado and Bill Williams rivers. Named for the explorer, it served nearby copper and other mines of the Bill Williams Mining District, handling freight and passengers for the steamboat lines. The post office operated 1866–1886; the settlement declined with mining fluctuations and the rise of railroads and was eventually inundated by Lake Havasu after Parker Dam. Other Arizona places (Aubrey Peak, Aubrey Valley, cliffs, and a street in Prescott) and Kansas sites (including Fort Aubrey near the cutoff) also commemorate him. A Missouri River steamboat was likewise named in his honor during his lifetime.
Aubry’s brief career exemplified the entrepreneurial energy, risk-taking, and route-finding of the mid-19th-century frontier. Though he died young, his speed records, cutoff, and 35th-parallel explorations left lasting geographic and historical marks on the Southwest.