Ten Years on the Overland Trail Brings Changes

The 1840s pass into the 1850s.  Pioneers are still heading west from Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, but there are noticeable changes taking place. Not only has the size of the wagon train changed but so have the people in them.

Wagon trains are made up of larger family units.  In addition to the immediate family, extended

families now travel together...aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters and their families.  In addition to the people, these trains include herds of cattle and sheep.  One woman reported seeing at least "13,000 head of livestock" at one jumping off town.  Now extra wagons are packed with provisions. 

These wagons  had the names of the owners, place of origin and destination marked in large letters on the wagon sides or wagon covers.  No mistaking whose wagons belonged to who or where they were headed. 

The travelers were no longer just farmers either...they were business owners in search of businesses, hotel managers, carpenters, horse traders, cattlemen, and ranchers.  Their knowledge and skills were not so much for breaking ground, preferring to settle in towns instead of in the country.  Extra men tagged along with the wagon trains, drawn into families because of their willingness to work their way west.

The second western migration was a movement of monumental capital and goods.  The Overland Trail had become a commercial road.  From April through October standard fees at river crossings were $5 a wagon and 50 cents a head for livestock.  Quite a change from a couple of calico shirts in exchange for Indian help across the waters. 

Charlotte Pengra commented on the new costs of the journey in her journal in 1853:
"Our expenses have cost us nearly $75.  Persons starting on this journey should have at least $150."

Next time...Women sound off about work on the wagon trail...

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On this Day in Pioneer History:   On September 10, 1833,  President Andrew Jackson, announces that the government will no longer use the Second Bank of the United States, the country's national bank. He then used his executive power to remove all federal funds from the bank, in the final salvo of what is referred to as the "Bank War."