Pioneer Pieces

Posted By admin on July 2, 2009

Wagons were no good without something to pull them, so the next important decision was what animals to use.  Horses were expensive and were used for riding by all but the wealthy settlers.   That left the choice between the mule and the ox…

Unbroken mules were quite a challenge to prepare for the task of pulling the wagon, ocassionally causing grave injury to the trainer.  But, once trained, mules were sure-footed, smart, durable and quick moving. On the other hand, oxen could pull larger loads, would eat anything, and were cheaper than mules ($50 per ox as compared to $90 per mule).  Oxen were also less likely to be the victim of Indian thieves or wandering off in the darkness.

On the down side, oxen were SLOW – as one settler said, they “plodded along, not walked”.  Oxen could add days to an overland mountain trail.  Oxen hooves were not adapted to travel over rocky mountain areas, whereas mules are known for rocky travel. 

How many animals?  Depending on the financial means of the family – it varied from 4 oxen and one wagon for an average family to an entire farmyard for more well-to-do families.

Now that we have our gear, our wagon and our team of animals – we are on the way west!

Next time we will be stopping for meals…yum!

Category: 1800's american pioneers, American Western Frontier, American pioneers, Travel in American Western Frontier, frontier travel | No Comments »
Tags: Conestoga Wagon, covered wagon, mule team, oxen teams, prairie schooner, wagon trail animals, wagon wheels

Posted By admin on July 2, 2009

Settlers just didn’t jump on the buck board and take off on the trail – there were many important decisions to make at home.  For the last couple of posts we have been looking at the Conestoga wagon, popular on the frontier trail.  I happened across a couple more bit and pieces that were interesting…

Although wagon wheels were high enough for good clearance through the raging waters and rocky mountains, that made them very difficult to turn.  Often wheels that weren’t of high quality, didn’t last long and had to be replaced along the trail.  And too often that meant that a cherished piece of household furniture would have to be sacrificed for the new wagon wheels.

The canvas/cotton cover was actually waterproofed with linseed oil.  Women would sew patch pockets on the inside “walls” of the canvas to provide even more storage.  Unfortunately, the height of the wagon was just 5 feet so anyone over 5 feet could not stand up inside the wagon. Pulling the end “pucker strings” would provide some privacy for families on the wagon trail as well as keeping dust and dirt outside.

The wagon becomes a boat!  By calking the seams in the wagon and removing the wheels all together, the wagon made a great temporary boat – crossing the deep rivers and even floating downstream on the river. 

With the wagon ready – next we need to choose our animal team.  We’ll do that next time…

Category: 1800's american pioneers, American Western Frontier, American pioneers, Conestoga Wagon, Travel in American Western Frontier, frontier travel, prairie schooner | No Comments »
Tags: Conestoga Wagon, frontier wagon, prairie schooner

Posted By admin on June 26, 2009

Okay so we are going west in our prairie schooner – so what are we taking with us inside that wagon?  Let’s untie the back strings and look inside:

1. Blankets
2. Feather Beds
3. Ground Cloths
4. Pillows
5. Tent
6. Poles
7. Stakes
8. Ropes
9. Dutch Oven
10. Kettle
11. Skillet (Often a 3 legged “spider”)
12. Coffee Grinder
13. Coffeepot
14. Teapot
15. Butcher Knife
16. Ladle
17. Tin Tableware
18. Water Keg
19. Matches
20. Reflector Oven
21. Flour
22. Bacon
23. Coffee
24. Baking Soda
25. Corn Meal
26. Hardtack
27. Dried Beans
28. Dried Beef
29. Dried Fruit
30. Molasses
31. Vinegar
32. Pepper
33. Eggs
34. Salt
35. Sugar
36. Rice
37. Tea
38. Wool Sack Coats
39. Rubber Coats
40. Cotton Dresses
41. Wool Pantaloons
42. Buckskin Pants
43. Duck Trousers
44. Cotton Shirts
45. Flannel Shirts
46. Cotton Socks
47. Brogans
48. Boots
49. Felt Hat
50. Palm Leaf Sun Hat
51. Green Goggles
52. Sunbonnet
53. Surgical Instruments
54. Liniments
55. Bandages
56. Campstool
57. Chamber Pot
58. Washbowl
59. Lanterns
60. Candle Molds
61. Tallow
62. Spyglasses
63. Scissors
64. Needles, Pin, Thread
65. Set of Augers
66. Gimlet
67. Ax
68. Hammer
69. Hoe
70. Plow
71. Shovel
72. Spade
73. Whetsone
74. Oxbows
75. Axles
76. Kingbolts
77. Linchpins
78. Oxshoes
79. Spokes
80. Wagon Tongue
81. Heavy Ropes
82. Chains
83. Rifle
84. Pistol
85. Knife
86. Hatchet
87. Gunpowder
88. Lead
89. Bullet Mold
90. Powder horn
91. Bullet Pouch
92. Holster
93. Butter Churn
94. Clothes Trunks
95. Double Barreled, percussion lock shotgun (usually up front with the driver)

THEN – if you wanted a few luxury items you would have also had

1. Canned goods
2. Plant cuttings
3. schoolbooks
4. musical instruments
5. dolls
6. family pictures
7. jewelry
8. china
9. silverware
10. fine linens
11. iron stove
12. furniture

WHEEE!  that is one heavy and packed-to-the-max wagon!  Any roon for the average family of 4 children and usually a pregnant wife to ride along???

We’ll keep going on this journey next time…

Category: American Western Frontier, American pioneers, Travel in American Western Frontier, frontier travel | No Comments »
Tags: pioneer travel, pioneer wagon cargo

Posted By admin on June 25, 2009

I believed all these years that we just moved westward – from the Ohio Valley to the Plains and then on to the West Coast, BUT that is not the case!

The first wagons moved out in 1841 on the Oregon Trail, a 2000 mile rough trail that was no more that wagon ruts in the grass.  Settlers headed through the Great Plains but didn’t settle there at first.  It wasn’t until after the Civil War that the Great Plains became the “place to go”. 

The Great Plains were thought to be only good enough for Indian Territory and hunting bison, not for actually settling and setting up homesteads.  The weather was thought too harsh and there were no trees with which to build homes.  So the early 1800’s settlers were “just passing through” on their way to the promising lands along the Pacific Coast.

The first wagon train was 41 wagons long.  Safety in numbers, you know.  Only the sick and small children would ride in the actual wagon, with the rest on foot.  There wasn’t enough room in the wagon for pleasure riding…

The covered wagon, as we know it, was called the paraire schooner, or the Conestoga wagon designed for long hauls over rough land.  Some of the early pioneers simply took the family’s farm wagon and modified it, or if you had the money you purchased specifically built wagons, but they all had to have certains features in common.

1.  they had to be light enough for the oxen or mules to be able to pull them.  

2. they had to be strong enough to hold up under loads as much as 2500 pounds.

3.  they were constructed of maple, hickory or oak woods with iron used only for strengthening. The wagons were 10 by 12 feet (think of a normal sized living room square)

4.  they had a cloth cover made from canvas or cotton that was stretched over the hickory bows to provide shelter.

5.  Dangling from the back was a pail of grease to keep the wheels lubricated and turning well.

They had no springs so a ride over the rocky terrain would have been anything but pleasant – and I would have opted to walk!  The household items were packed inside and the animals were tied to the wagon to make the journey as well.

We sometimes romanticize the covered wagon trains, but there was nothing easy nor romantic about journeying 2000 miles (for months at a time) in a buckboard wagon!

Next time – we’ll take a peek inside the wagon…

Category: 1800's american pioneers, Travel in American Western Frontier, frontier life in American history | No Comments »
Tags: contestoga wagon, prairie schooner, wagon trains

Posted By admin on June 17, 2009

The frontier of te colonial days was east of the Appalachian Mountains.  It wasn’t until Daniel Boone, in 1767, set the example for the next 130 years by leaving settled areas for the wilderness.

By 1820, the Ohio Valley was settled and the frontier extended all the way to the Missouri River. It’s what lay beyond the Missouri River that would be become the greatest migration of people in history.  But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. 

First some interesting pieces about “old Dan’l Boone”.  Born in Pennsylvania to a Quaker family of 11 children.  He didn’t finish school, and although he did learn to read, he never learned to spell.  (if you read any personal writings of this period, no one else knew how to spell either!!)  His family moved to North Carolina while he was a young lad.  He was like most people of that period – shorter than we think is average now at 5′ 11″.  He was known as a soft spoken and intelligent man with a wife of many years, and served as a militia commander during the Revolutionary War. 

In North Carolina at the age of 40,  he was recruited by the government to open the territory of Kentucky for the settlement of the 14th colony. He made a deal with the Cherokee Tribe to sell 20 million acres in Kentucky for 10,000 pounds of goods.  He made sure the Cherokee had an attorney, an interpreter, and their squaws present for the negoiations. 

He set up Boonesboro with 2 laws on the books – one, to prohibit the wanton killing of game, and two,  to improve the breeds of horses.  Unfortunately for Dan’l, the land was confiscated when his company, the Transylvania Company, was declared illegal.

Seems that Boone kept making the same mistake when it came to his land – he never bothered to register his deed and he lost any land he settled in.  The Spanish gave him 8500 acres in Missouri and he became the judge there until – you guessed it – he lost the land.  Something called the Lousiana Purchase was made and all of Missouri suddenly belonged to the US.  It never seems to bother Dan’l much, as he just kept moving on.

He passed away September 1820 peacefully in his son’s farmhouse after a life of happy hunting and trapping, still encouraging the next generation of pioneers heading west.  A true frontier legend.

Category: American Western Frontier, American pioneers | 1 Comment »
Tags: Daniel Boone, frontier explorers, Lousiana Purchuse, Midwest Pioneer