Native Americans called the Oregon Trail the Great Medicine Road of the Whites as countless thousands of white-topped wagons and moving troops passed westward. At Vieux Crossing, the first major campground west of St. Marys Mission, about a day's travel away, travelers rested, grazed livestock, repaired equipment, and buried the dead. Crossing the Red Vermillion just east of the campground was dangerous, with steep banks and a swift river requiring wagons to be lowered by ropes, ferried across, and hauled up the far side while livestock also struggled through, so a large train might need up to two days and camp on both banks. The river also brought cholera, carried from waterhole to waterhole by sick travelers, and in May 1849 more than 50 people died within a week at this campground and were buried in a cholera cemetery on the east side of the creek. Travelers feared such delays and dangers on their 2,000 mile journey, especially with the example of the Donner Party of 1846, trapped by snow after entering the mountains late in the year. Nearby resident Louis Vieux built a toll bridge across the river and charged a dollar a wagon, reportedly earning as much as $300 a day, which many considered worthwhile to save time on the road west. This was also the point where the military road between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley turned southwest while the Oregon Trail turned north. Fort Riley, established for defense of the Oregon and Santa Fe trails, grew from efforts encouraged by Colonel Thomas T. Fauntleroy of the First Dragoons and from Brevet Major Edmund A. Ogden's selection of a site near the fork of the Kansas River, where Camp Center was founded and later renamed for Major General Bennet Riley, who had commanded the first wagon train escort on the Santa Fe Trail in 1829 and died in 1853, the year the fort was officially established. The road linking Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley followed an established Indian trail and carried replacement troops, command, and assistance to the outpost; it was later used by Russell, Majors and Waddell in freighting and in the Pony Express, while food for the fort was often obtained from St. Marys Mission 42 miles east. Cholera struck Fort Riley on August 1, 1855, and although the epidemic was controlled within a week after help was requested from Fort Leavenworth, 75-100 people died and were buried at the fort. With Fort Riley established, cities and towns grew, and the Oregon Trail and military road continued to serve the military, traders, merchants, businessmen, and emigrants heading farther west.