Westward Ho! by Laurie Carlson

Author:Laurie Carlson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 1996-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Trail Hardships

The overland trip was not easy. No matter how careful people were, they had accidents and became sick during the trip. Children and adults fell from the slow moving wagons and were crushed beneath the heavy wheels. Some drowned trying to swim across rivers. People got sick from drinking bad water or milk from cows that ate poison weeds. Most of the people who died during the trip west became ill from diseases for which there was no cure at that time such as typhoid, mountain fever, dysentery, cholera, flu, measles, and smallpox.

Many people were afraid of attacks by angry North American Indians and feared death in this way, but most people who died during the trip died from acci-dent or disease. The Indians caught the diseases, too. The germs were on clothing, blankets, trade goods, and food. Thousands of Indians died from disease, some-times whole villages at once.

There were attacks by bandits, too. Sometimes they were North American Indians, sometimes whites dressed up as Indians. Helpless travelers had their horses, food, and equipment stolen by thieves who sold the items to the next train passing through.

It wasn’t easy. Disease, attacks, little grass or water, and harsh weather made it difficult. As the trip wore on, the oxen and horses grew tired and weaker. The supplies gave out. Then people became desperate for food. They began to toss out heavy items—furniture, clothing, tools—to lighten the load for the weak animals. By the middle of the trip the trail was scattered with people’s discards. Piles of clothing and blankets, wooden barrels, chests, stoves, tools, and mirrors marked the path of litter across the plains. Those who took too many things or useless luxuries were the first to begin lightening their load. Sometimes people who lived at a nearby fort followed along behind the trains at a distance, waiting for travelers to begin throwing away their possessions.

Few people could tell if a cow was milk sick. That happened when a cow ate a snakeroot plant. Their milk became poisoned and people who drank it sickened and often died. That’s how Abraham Lincoln’s mother died.

As people in the train ran out of food supplies they began to barter with each other. Precious dishes and fancy items were of no value—everyone wanted a sack full of beans instead!

Not everyone traveled in a covered wagon. Many people built wooden handcarts (like large wheelbar-rows) and pulled or pushed them along the way. Some walked and led a pack mule. Others just walked with a pack on their back—even children. During the later years of the Oregon Trail, wealthy families went west in fancy carriages with a full-time cook, a real stove, and several wagons full of supplies. Some even had huge two-story wagons built!

No matter the hardship, people still had fun on the way. They marveled at the towering Rocky Mountains and the herds of buffalo that carpeted the plains. They saw bubbling springs of soda water, hot springs, and ice caves. They saw more country than they had ever seen in their lives.

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