Wagon Train

 

by 'RoundUp'

 

In the 1830's a few American Politicians began to discuss ways to encourage settlement of two of the more sparsely populated areas of the West....California and Oregon!. The Senator for Missouri, one Lewis Linn, introduced a bill to 'remove the British from Oregon and offer their land to settlers', but this was quickly defeated by the more far-sighted Senators, fearing yet another war with Britain, (the war of 1812 being still fresh in their minds)!.
Eventually, a more subtle method was decided upon and, as the emigrants to be targeted were mostly farmers, the 'tall tales' began to circulate in the Mid-West about the quality of the crops being raised in these area's...tales such as the wheat which grew 'as tall as a man', 'clover so dense the farmers could hardly get into the field to harvest it', and 'turnips five feet tall, and as fat around as a horse', but the over-riding reason seized upon by most would-be emigrants was, in the words of Francis Parkman, who interviewed many hundreds of families, was 'the simple desire of bettering their condition'...and so the days...and years...of the great treks Westward began!.
 
The decision to embark on a journey of over 2,000 miles, and lasting up to six months over rough country, was not one to be taken at the drop of a hat, it needed planning and organising...neither was it inexpensive!, costing the average family over $1000 for animals, supplies and tools, on top of which, a specially-prepared wagon, known as a Prairie Schooner and costing $400 would also be needed...serious cash in the 1830's!. The wagons were made mostly from wood...even the hoops, over which Linseed oil-soaked canvas was stretched, were wooden...Iron was used to reinforce the wagon at crucial points, but was used sparingly as, being heavy, it would slow down and eventually exhaust the draught-animals.
 
The earliest emigrants initially used horses as draught-animals but, not having the stamina, mules became a second choice. These soon proved to be too skittish and obstinate and, eventually, Oxen became the preferred wagon-puller, they having the stamina and the mellow disposition to continue mile after mile without complaint, plus they were of far more use after the emigrants finally reached their destination. The only draw-back was that they tended to 'Bolt' on smelling water after an extended period without, but the settlers learned to live with this single draw-back, realising the value of these animals, and soon learned that they had to keep them well watered!. Another factor was the cost...the heavier horses costing in excess of $100, mules selling for $75, whilst Oxen were available for just $25.
 
The Prairie Schooner could, in theory, carry up to 2,400 lbs of supplies but, more realistically, a weight not exceeding 1,600 lbs was usually recommended. 
 
A typical 'shopping list' sufficient to sustain a family of four for the trek was as follows;
 
800 lbs of Flour
200 lbs of Lard
700 lbs of Bacon
200 lbs of Beans
100 lbs of Fruit...(dried)
75 lbs of Coffee
25 lbs of Salt
 
The wagon also had to carry a large water barrel, (filled), tools, (including a shovel, a pick-axe, hammers & nails, and cooking utensils. These items were usually insisted upon by the Wagon-Master or 'Captain', as every wagon was expected to be completely self-sufficient...there was simply no place for the ill-equipped!.
There was little room in the wagons for passengers, apart from the elderly and very small children, so if you had neither a horse or a mule, you walked!. Many emigrants took a few items of furniture along...(usually family heirlooms such as piano's and large clocks, but these were often discarded along the trail, (in fact, the remains of these items can often still be found by the sharp-eyed traveller in the more arid regions...although far fewer these days!).
The wagon-train travelled at just 2 miles per hour, and this enabled the 'train' to cover an average of 20 miles per day. There were no breaks for lunch, so a hearty breakfast was needed as the 'head's-up was usually within an hour after Sun-up, with lunch, eaten on the move, normally consisting of the left-over beans, jerky, or a form of 'hard-tack' biscuits, cooked during the previous nights stop-over.
 
The end of the day's travel was normally called by the 'Guides' or 'Scouts', they being the only one's who knew where the streams and water-holes were, which enabled the folks to replenish their water-barrels. The wagons were pulled into a circle, mainly to form a 'corral' for the stock, but also for protection against attacks from Indians and, (depending on the size of the 'train'), roving gangs of Bandits, and all the men were expected to take 'shifts' on guard.
 
 Many movies have been made about these hardy people which portrayed them holding dances every night but, in truth, they were usually too exhausted to do little more than feed and settle their animals, (which always took priority), carry out any repairs, then feed themselves, shuck-out their bed-rolls and sleep!, celebrations of any kind normally being reserved for holidays, such as the 4th of July and Christmas...(yep, the Wagon-Trains even travelled then, there was no 'season' for the great migrations West!).
 
Not everyone who set out on these epic journeys made it!. More than half dropped out along the way, usually for one of three reasons...Illness, fear of Indian attacks or, most commonly, wagons too badly damaged to continue, (not all the suppliers of the wagons were totally scrupulous, often supplying sub-standard transport to the more unwary emigrants!).
Those who dropped out within a week or two of starting out returned home, (as they could still remember the way), but others simply made their homes where they chose to stop!.
 
This, in fact, saw the advent of the 'Mule-Skinners'!. Many of the more far-seeing and 'commercially-minded' of the drop-outs got the Idea of setting-up supply posts along the trails which were, by then, becoming better-known, and they used their re-furbished wagons to visit the nearest towns, (often a weeks journey away), to buy, initially on credit, supplies to sell to the Wagon-Trains. The wagons they used, though, proved to be too small to haul sufficient supplies to re-supply the 'trains, which were, by then, coming through at the rate of 3/4 a week, and so the 'Conestoga' wagon came into being, which was a much heftier vehicle, and required a team of Mules to pull it. Still, a single wagon wasn't enough, so they hitched-up a second, (and sometimes a third), wagon, or 'trailer', and began to use teams of between 20 and 24 Mules, thus becoming a completely separate industry...the term 'Mule-Skinner' emanating from their skill with the extra long whips, with which they became so proficient...(it was said that some 'Mule-Skinners' could take a fly of the lead Mules ear without touching the animal...but they where also known for their 'tall tales'!).
 
Eventually, settlements sprang up around these trading-posts, which soon became towns, and so the the Wagon-Trains needed to carry much less weight, allowing the migrants making the journey to travel somewhat lighter, thereby cutting down the time taken for the trek by several weeks...(which made it a tad more strenuous for those walking, incidentally!!).
 
Eventually, they reached the fork in the trail, some 800 miles west of Missouri, where the trains usually divided...the California-bound taking the South-West trail, whilst those with their eye on the more fertile lands of Oregon heading North-West. Even though the trek was some 500 miles longer, they figured the rewards, land-wise, would be worth the extra effort...as it, in fact, proved to be!.
 
Eventually, less than half of the emigrants starting out from the main Missouri staging-posts of St. Joseph and Independence completed the arduous journey but, for those who did, the eventual rewards were greater than they could have imagined and, to this day Oregon is still one of the biggest-producing 'raw material' States in the U.S.
 
However, the ever-spreading networks of the Railroads eventually saw the demise of the great West-bound Wagon Trains and, shortly before 1890, the era was over, sinking fondly into the annals of American history!

End