I read 5 more pages in the book “Daily Life In A Covered Wagon”, written by Paul Erickson, and this is my Report on it:
The people would bring a lot of food with them, but they often couldn’t bring enough for everyone, on the long journeys.
So, they often hunted. At the beginning of the journey, there were only small animals, like pheasants and rabbits, but, later on, there were larger animals to hunt; animals like wild sheep, antelope and, best of all, buffalo.
Everyone loved to hunt buffalo. They could eat every part, and dry it for later in the journey. They could use the bones, and, best of all, the hide!
But, constantly wanting to hunt one of the buffalo’s led to their near-extinction. Just too many people were hunting them! Soon, they were almost all killed; for everyone wanted to have “proof” that they’d captured one.
Life for the adults consisted of hunting, cooking, driving and cleaning, but for the children, life was quite dull. Every day, they walked alongside the wagons, but sometimes they’d run off to collect flowers or berries, and that was often enjoyable. But other parts weren’t.
They all had had school before the journey, but, of course, there was no time along the way, and the wagon jostled too much to study there. So, the children fell behind on their studies.
Because of their “little to do” problems, many of the children wrote in journals about their trip, which is why we know so much about it today!
Many things could happen on the trip. “Mishaps” were common. Steep hills broke the wagons. A broken wheel was a clean sign for failure. Sick oxen could not be replaced.
Something many people did was bring too much stuff, and that often weakened the oxen, making them die quicker.
Crossing rivers was a very dangerous thing. In some places, ferries could be made, but those were very expensive to use, and people would have to wait in lines for days – or even weeks!
That’s why many people just led their oxen to swim across the river. This usually worked, but it was dangerous, and many people drowned, their entire wagons being destroyed in high currents or deep water. If their oxen were ill, they often couldn’t swim all the way across, and this killed the people!
So, it wasn’t all “fun” on their journeys!
Tomorrow, I’ll write about the rest of the book!
Thanks for reading!
Olivia's Essays 
Leave a comment