On the Road Again

 

We are on the road again - well, the trail again.  The trip west, and the communities settled there were unique in the things they left behind.  Unlike their ancestors back east, the first thing they left behind was the ritual of burial in a churchyard cemetery.  Burial "according to the custom of the Prairies" was quick.  No funeral clothes, no casket and no tombstone.  The grave was filled with stones as a safeguard against wild animals.  The livestock were allowed to roam over the grave to trample it, then the wagons were driven across it to hide clues that the Indians might use to dig up the body.  Along the trail, there was left no evidence that anyone had died or had been buried there.

Secondly, any ancestoral bonds that remained were replaced by their latest companions and their surnames were lost.  They received names or nicknames that identified their personal characteristics, a way of speaking or even the food they ate.  You might have been known simply as "Honest Whiskey Joe", "Truthful James" or "The American-Pie Eater."  Women were known as the "wife of" or by their first names.  Surnames were rarely used once settled in the West.

Thirdly, the westward traveler learned to give up possessions.  James Abbey, who left New Albany, Indiana for California in 1849, recorded the property toll of a trip west by covered wagon...

    "August 2nd - started out at four in the morning, at six stopped to cook breakfast and lighten our wagons by throwing away heavier portions of our clothing and such articles we can spare.  We pushed forward today determined to reach the desert, but our cattle showed signs of exhaustion, We had to stop.  Being completely out of water, we bought two gallons from a trader for $1 a gallon.

    The desert is strewn with dead cattle, horses, mules and oxen.  In the distance of 15 miles I counted 350 dead horses, 280 oxen, and 120 mules.  We saw vast amounts of valuable property abandoned - leather trunks, clothing, wagons...at least a value of over $100,000 in just 20 miles.  In the last 10 miles I have counted 362 wagons left behind at a value of $120 a piece back home.  In order to save animals and reach the end of the journey, the loss of personal goods is a matter of small importance."

 The settlers gave up costly things to come west - traditions, people, names, and possessions.  All left behind to reach the dream of land in the West.

Next time... Not left behind - the women

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Today in Pioneer History: "On August 10, 1846, the Smithsonian Institute was created.  After a decade debate on how to best spend a bequest left to America from an obscure English scientist, President James Polk signs the Smithsonian Act into law.  James Smithsonian left in his will that the whole of his estate would go to the United States of America to found at Washington an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.  Thank you Mr. Smithsonian!"

Inexperienced and Packin' Heat

Most members of wagon trains were so inexperienced they often got lost, set themselves and their wagons on fire, were kicked by mules, died from bad food or water, crushed under their wagons, or drowned in streams.  Actually drowning was the most common cause of accidental death on a wagon train.  In 20 years, 300 settlers lost their lives in streams and rivers by drowning.  As one traveler wrote, "to make an overland crossing, a man must be able to endure heat like a Salamander, mud and water like a muskrat, dust like a toad, and labor like a jackass."   Good quote!

The settler's fears about Indians were about as bad as the Indians themselves.  To protect themselves, 

they left Missouri armed with 135 rifles, 104 pistols, 1672 pounds of lead, 1100 pounds of powder - when all they really needed was a couple of knives per person.  The rifles, say historians did little to win the West, in fact a dozen or so lost their lives every year because of rifle shots.  Compare that with 34 total settlers died from Indian attacks in 7 years between 1840-47...

More deaths were due to the traveling settlers not being able to get along - they didn't listen to reason so they took out their rifles and talked later. It was even said that the Donner party's tragedy had more to do with their constant bickering and tempers than it had to do with the weather!

Next time...Missed Connections

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On this Day in History:  On October 22,  1903,  the infamous hired killer, Tom Horn, is hanged for having allegedly murdered Willie Nickell, the 14-year-old son of a southern Wyoming sheep rancher.
Some historians suggest that Horn may have murdered Willie Nickell by accident, having mistaken the boy for his father. Others, though, argue that it is more likely that Horn was deliberately convicted for a crime he did not commit by Wyoming citizens seeing an opportunity to take revenge.