A Need for Speed

 It was a hurry-up mindset that decisively shaped the technology of American travel.  The need to move fast over long distances shaped the highways and vehicles by which pioneers moved west.  A  technology of haste...

Long, dangerous stretches of desert, a lack of water, deep snows and hostile Indians made the travel west one where the quicker you made it through, the safer you would be.  To move quickly was a matter of survival, and a now-or-never mentality was the norm.

Wagons, steamships and railroads all were focused on moving people there as quickly as possible, not on building anything for the future.  Every owner of a vehicle that carried pioneers to the West and even around the West knew the importance of light construction, speed and freedom of movement.

For the overland wagon, the Concord carriage or heavy Conestoga wagon of the early pioneer who had shorter travels to get to the frontier would no longer do.  These were replaced by the light "prairie schooner" or "prairie wagon" which was smaller in size, without a door, very bad springs and cheap construction.  They were built for maneuverability and speed, never really expected to outlast the journey.  They did however, skim across the prairies like nothing save a horse in speed.  They were sold as piecemeal or abandoned at the foot of the Sierras but while they were used, they were indispensable.

The prairie got the pioneers to the West quickly and with minimum trouble - just what they were made to do.

Next time...the steamboat

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Today in Pioneer History: "On August 27, 1875, hours after being asked to resign as president of the Bank of California, powerful western capitalist, William Ralston is found drowned in San Francisco Bay.  He was one of the first men to build a financial empire in the West when he came to San Francisco from Ohio in 1854.  Ten years later he used his Gold Rush profits to build the Bank of California. It remains a mystery whether Ralston died by foul play." 

 

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."

Some Interesting Statistics about Those Overland Pioneers

Certain Characteristics of the Overland Trail pioneers grouped them together.  You might even call them "prepared"...

1.  Most had already made one or more moves west for better land.

2.  Most were children of parents who had moved to new land.
3.  Most had owned land before, had cleared land before and were prepared to clear and own land again.
4.  Most were young - between 16-35 years of age.

The only difference in this new group were the distances they traveled.  Previous emigration had been in shorter distances: from New Hampshire to Massachusetts, to Ohio and Illinois.  The neighbors then had been within reach...this time the move was wider than the Atlantic Ocean and a whole lot more dangerous.

Next time...It was an emotional time for women...

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Today in Pioneer History:  One June 25, 1876, Indians defeat Custer at Little Big Horn.  Determined to resist the efforts of the U.S. Army to force them onto reservations, Indians under the leadership of  Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse wipe out Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and much of his 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Preparing to "Go West Young Man (or Woman)

So why would a family leave their home for the arduous journey into the unknown? 
One of the main reasons is the economic depression of 1839 when wages for the common man took a 50% decrease, banks closed, and grain was worthless.  Another reason was farmers in the Mississippi Valley and the Plain states began to feel "crowded" when there was a mere 12 miles between neighbors.  To us today, that is wilderness living but to the early American farmer that was too close for comfort.

"Oregon Societies" were formed in towns along the Mississippi Valley.  Members pledged to make the westward journey together.  These societies relied on the journals of traders, trappers, missionaries, travelers, government reports and guidebooks of the early 1830's to make their decision.  One traveler who have gone to Oregon in 1834 wrote: "The soil...is rich beyond comparison...The epidemic of the Midwest country, fever and argue, is scarcely known here...the willament valley is a terrestrial paradise." 

As we have discovered, the westward migration was a family affair.  One young girl wrote: 

"One Saturday morning father said that he was going to hear Mr. Burnett talk about Oregon.  Mr. Burnett hauled a box out to the sidewalk, took his stand upon it and began to tell us about the land flowing with milk and honey on the shores of the Pacific.  He told of the great crops of wheat which it was possible to raise in Oregon and pictured in glowing terms the richness of the soil and the attractions of the climate, and then with a little twinkle in his eye he said  'they do say gentlemen, they do say, that out in Oregon the pigs are running about under the great acorn trees, round a fat, and already cooked with knives and forks sticking in them so you can cut off a slice whenever you are hungry'  Father was so moved by what he heard that he decided to join the company that was going west to Oregon.  Father was the first to sign his name." 

Once the decision was made to journey west, a wagon had to be built, supplies purchased, houses sold and possession secured. 

Next time...Let's build a wagon!

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Today in Pioneer History:  On June 4, 1876,  a mere 83 hours after leaving New York City, the Transcontinental Express train arrives in San Francisco.  That any human being could travel across the entire nation in less than four days was inconceivable to previous generations of Americans. when it had taken Thomas Jefferson 10 days to travel from his home to Philadelphia via carriage. 

How Tired Can You Be?

I often wonder how could a frontier women not suffer from constant fatigue?  She was exhausted from childcare and never seemed to rest.  Says one pioneer woman "this gypsy life is anything but agreeable.  It is impossible to keep anything clean and it is with difficulty that you do what you have to do."

Even records of journeys to the west tell of woman laboring - supervising the children in cramped wagon quarters, making sure the older children didn't run off while herding the cattle.  A mother's exhaustion was surely psychological as well as physical - there was no down time for her, no place to get away to peace and quiet.

Woman also took on jobs usually done by men when needed - loading and unloading wagons, yoking the oxen, even driving the wagons and riding horseback.  One of the best quotes I have found that expresses a pioneer woman's plight is

"A man doing woman's work was doing the woman a favor
A woman doing man's work was doing what was necessary"

Dirt, dust, monotony, fatigue,,,the life on the journey west.

Today Cellular Service makes any journey more enjoyable...Take a look at the latest cell phone and plans.

Next time...Home Sweet Home

The Oregon Trail

One of the greatest emigrant trails to the Northwest was the Oregon Trail which ran from Independence, Missouri to the Columbia River in Oregon. It crossed 2000 miles of rugged terrain, including some of the fiercest Indian territory in the West.

The trail was first used by fur trappers, traders and missionaries, but in the 1840s the trail became jammed with emigrants moving west - wagon trains of 12,000 settlers in 10 years during the early settlement of the West.

The first overland settlers started on the Oregon Trail in 1841 with 70 emigrants from Independence, MO, following the route west along the Platte River, through the Rocky Mountains via the South Pass in Wyoming and then northwest to the Columbia River.  From then on, it was called the Oregon Trail.


In 1842 a larger group of 100 pioneers made the 2000 mile journey and the next year the number soared to 1000. The wagon train which left from Elm Grove, MO, included 100 wagons and a herd of 5000 oxen and cattle.  Dr. Elijah White, a Presbyterian missionary who had made the trip the year before served as the guide. During that year, 1843, a severe depression was hitting the Midwest and farmers in Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee hoped to find better lives in the reported paradise of Oregon.

The Oregon Trail was used the longest, even after railroads replaced much of the wagon routes in 1884, cattle and sheep drives found the trail a good path. Today there are still places that you can visit the deep ruts in the trail where wagon carried settlers west to a better life.

Next time...the Great Oregon Flood

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