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BREAKING CAMP
Very early on in the dawn, the night watch fired their guns to let everyone know it was daybreak. Clothes are thrown on over the ones slept in, and morning tasks are begun. For the women breakfast has to be prepared. Because of steady winds that blow across the prairies, trenches have to be dug. Fuel has to be found. One could travel for days without seeing a tree, so another form of fuel had to be found. The pioneers quickly saw that buffalo droppings 'chips' made a clean, hot fire, with little smoke or smell. Once they got to the mountains, dried sage brush could be used. When the first just would not start, the women resorted to using a little gunpowder.
BREAKFAST
A firm favorite for breakfast was pancakes as they only needed flour, water, baking soda and a skillet. A dutch oven was used to bake bread, the dough having been allowed to rise overnight. Other food was soda biscuits, muffins, or johnny cakes. Beans, with bacon, were slowly simmered and fried meat was popular. The pioneers wanted to start their day with a big meal. Coffee is served at every meal. The water is rarely drunk for it was disgusting (even the animals refusing to drink it sometimes). When it is disguised by coffee it then becomes palatable.
GETTING READY
During the prepartion for breakfast, the men round up the cattle, that have been allowed to graze free during the night. The horses have been nobbled, so that they would not run off. Overlanders travelled in different ways. Farming families usually chose oxen to pull their wagons. The journey would be over 2000 miles and they needed strong animals. Men who were going after gold chose mules that were faster. Once the cattle were herded into the middle of the wagon train, and sorted out, the oxen were then yolked. Oxen were relatively cheap to buy, $55 to $65 per yoke, whereas mules could cost up to $110. Pioneers also had milk cows, so that the families could drink fresh milk. As the women had no time on the trail to make butter, they would hand the milk churn on the side of the wagon, and the movement would produce balls of butter.
WAGONS ROLL
There had to be someone in charge, so a captain was elected. This man had to have had experience of crossing the plains in both directions. He was responsible for all the major decisions about the wagon train. The route to travel, the time to start and to stop each day, the site for camping at night, the camp for the midday meal, posting of guards, and rotation of wagons each day. This was necessary as no one wanted to be at the end of the dusty train each day. At seven the bugle would sound. Everything would be cleared away, and the captain would shout "roll the wagons". An average size wagon train was around 60. The pioneers preferred to travel in groups rather than alone.
ON THE TRAIL
Most wagons were uncomfortable to ride in, so pioneers walked the 2000 miles of the Oregon trail. The wagons could only go slow, about two or three miles an hour. The children who got tired could hitch a lift, and if there were sick people, beds were made up in the wagons and padded round with pillows so that the jolting would not be too bad. When it rain, they simply put on ponchos or had umbrellas. Sometimes they went for days until they got to water and food.
RIVER CROSSING
The wagon train followed the course of the river when it could,because it provided water and grass. However, the crossing of the rivers often caused big problems. Ferry's made it easier to cross, but heavy traffic meant long delays and the prices were high. If there was no bridge, ferry or no money, they simply had to get the wagon across themselves. They would chose the shallowest part of the river. Everything was hauled out of the wage, then the wagon was taken to pieces. A strong rope was stretched across the river, long enough to pull from one side to the other. Men on each side of the river would pull it. Everything had to cross a little at a time. Women and children were last, and then the men had to swim the cattle and horses across. Men lost their lives doing this, as well as losing cattle. Some of the women welcomed the delays at the ferrys because it gave them a chance to catch up on washing. They had to use cold water, and lye soap that they had made themselves from ashes and animal fat. The clothes were hung on any bush to dry, and if there were no bushes then the clothes had to be put on wet.
HOW DID THEY EAT?
Each morning men would be sent out to hunt. During the first part of the trip, rabbits, chickens, pheasant and other small birds and animals could be found. As they travelled further West, the game got bigger, elk, antelope, sheep and best of all, buffalo. They would usually use a rifle to hunt with. Pioneers really loved the meat from the cows, as they though the bulls were too tough. The hump would be roasted, the tongue braised, and the marrow bones baked in the coals. Meat not eaten fresh was cut into thin strips, and hung over a smokey fire for half a day, or put to dangle from the back of a wagon where it would cure. Early travellers tried to use as much of the buffalo as possible, but when travel became common that changed. Within a few decades there were hardly any buffalo left. An excerpt from a pioneer diary read "The valley of the Platte is dotted all over with skeletons of buffalo. Such waste of creatures that God has made for man seem wicked, but every emigrant seems to wish to signalize himself by killing one"
LEAVING THINGS
Very often the pioneers would have to leave stuff that they had brought along with them, because the oxen were getting tired and they had to lighten the wagons. All along the trail could be found furniture and other things that pioneers had had to leave behind. Sometimes even food had to be left.
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