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---Chapter 5: Leaving St. Joseph, Missouri---
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We were ferried across the Missouri river at St. Joseoh, Missouri, and for the first time in the lives of many of us the tents became the only protection for the night and the cover over the wagon the only for the day. We remained in camp here one whole day and night. The necessity for this was evident when I tell you that not a house stood on the West bank of the river, and within a few miles travel, we would be in the* wild unsettled territory subject to the attacks of marauding bands of savages.
Several parties from the camp recrossed the river to get some needed supplies, and then for the first time we realized the strength of unity. Every known want was supplied before starting on our long and hazardous Journey that now lay before our venturesome and adventurous feet Other parties from other sections of the country had arranged to make the Journey in our company or "train" as it was now called, and these parties now began to fall in with us, some of them coming over the river before nightfall.
Roving bands of Sioux Indians came often to St. Joseph to buy "firewater" and were a menace to any one who might land alone on that side of the river, hence we had taken every precaution to arrange a large company. While in this camp a Captain of Company was chosen and every gun was examined and put in perfect condition. Every man was required to register his name and that of every member of his household, then the charges of ammunition were counted and all carefully stored against the time of need.
Preparing Our Team
In selecting our captain great care was taken to select a man who had been in mountainous countries and had clear ideas of the possible dangers that we were to encounter. Wagon loads of people and goods had left the Missouri river the year previous to cross the same plain that we were preparing to cross, but none of them had ever returned to tell as of their adventures, and, as I now think of it, we were surely taking a wild and inconsiderate step for we had no definite knowledge of their fate, and yet we were willing and anxious to plunge into the same wild and risk the dangers that were so numerous with no definite knowledge of what might lie at the other extreme. It seems a special providence of God that our hearts were kept strong and true to the task before us.
The election of a captain was to recur as often as once in every month, that no one be too long burdened with the duties and cares of that office.
My husband had a copy of the "Lewis and Clerk" report and from that it was decided that our route lay along the banks of the Missouri river, although no definite idea was given, as making the journey in wagons and carriage was so different from the one made by dark and Lewis. The Willamette valley was the goal of our destination and the land of our expectations, and on the morning of May 6, 1845, we started. Within a few hours time we began to sight vast hoards of buffalo on their way to and from the plains to the river where they made regular excursions to get water. This sight was becoming to frequent in recurrence that we had grown quite indifferent to the sight when, one bright morning, a vast heard of several thousand of these horned beasts were seen coming directly toward our train. The order was given to stop, then veer to the left, as these animals were in a wild race commonly called a stampede, and had never been known to stop for anything that proves an obstruction to their progress. We were barely able to give them right of way ere the great moving mass of apparently crazed beasts came alongside our teams with their regular movement, a sort of short gallop which gave the long line of living things the undulating movement of a great sea as it rises in regular billows and falls in gently undulating troughs. For more than two hours our progress was stayed and the time seemed to pass quickly too, for we were so spell-bound in our wonder at the vastness of the herd and the futility of our at-,tempts to impede their onward movement. Many shots were fired into the herd but to no effect, as their thick skulls and great shaggy coats were almost impervious to the effect of those old time rifle shots; however a calf that fell behind the herd was slain and the meat divided out, but so small a game was not enough for a taste to the different parties who now besieged the captor.
My mother drove "Blackey" and "Sorrel" hitched to the Virginia carriage which father bought for the especial trip. At first we were ruled out of the train on account of the horse team but we found that horses were much better fitted for such a journey than oxen.
A few days later we arrived at the fortified camp of Mr. Whitlock, his son, and several others who had gathered their belongings and preceded us to prepare dried meats for as many of the company as might desire to purchase for their outfitting to carry them across the plains. We secured a bountiful supply and this proved a great blessing to us. This first taste of buffalo meat marked a decided improvement in our health and for the first time in my life I began to enjoy fairly good health.
To prepare this dried or Jerked meat the newly dressed meat is first dipped into a solution fo strong brine at boiling heat then hung over a frame work of small poles and allowed to drain off all superfluous moisture. A fire of hardwood now supplies the drying and curing smoke that renders the meat proof against the effects of microbes and decay. These animals were a great blessing to mankind both savage and civilized. Without these animals the vast region West of the Mississippi river would have been almost untamable. "A wilderness in its vast loneliness, a desert in its uncultivated wildness."
We were now out on the great plain of the Platte, or Nebraska river, and we could well fancy ourselves in the desert of Sahara, so striking was the resemblance, according to what Captain Riley said of the wild region of Africa where he spent many years in travel and research. Had we but camels to complete the "panorama," we would have had the semblance complete. The high winds would lift the soil and heap it around us in such a way that we could not be seen, so completely would the wind sweep the earth, but on we went, our hearts and minds striving to reach the "Land of Promise."
The car in which I rode was a large wagon that my husband had purchased only a few days before we started on this journey, and was drawn by two teams of strong oxen, and some of the time three span of oxen were required to do the work.
The trails made by the buffaloes ran parallel and were as regular as any set of ploughed furrows, so we rode on a constant rocking movement as our road lay parallel to the trails.
Since I have told you of the dust storms that occasionally came on you may wonder how we managed to protect our beds and clothing, but most of the wagons were so perfectly covered with well made canvas coverings that at a moments warning they could be tightened down as to perfectly protect from dust, sand and wind. To be sure our going was not like riding in a Pullman Palace car, as I have since experienced, and the humpty-dumpty road was not gone over so rapidly as goes the "iron horse" or the electric motor, y_et we were content to go on our way with the best that God g"ave us wisdom to employ, and we had the best accoutrements that the age and inventions of the times produced.
One day a small animal was seen running across the plain just as we called a halt for dinner. A little old man mounted a fleet horse and went in pursuit but he soon discovered that it was not a fawn but a new species of animal such as we had not seen on our journey, and one of which we had no knowledge, so he came back to meet the crowd and take the laugh. Some one spoke to my husband in regard to it saying, "It was so strange a little creature and so fleet of foot." He replied that from the first jump he had decided it must be an antelope as it so resembled the description given in his books of natural history. Chasing antelopes now became a favorite pastime for the younger men and many a poor grass-fed horse could testify to the cruel sport.
We were now in full view of the Rocky Mountains and their dull gray peaks towering skyward caused many an anxious thought and doubtless questioning as to how, when, or where we should find a pass through their apparently solid phalanx of rock. Our now weary teams and great cumbersome wagons could make an exist into the great beyond, and many were the rueful thoughts and dim forebodings of interest that would haunt our day dreams as we plodded along, ever moving yet making so little apparent progress. Anent these dismal thoughts came vivid pictures of the great beyond, the republic yet to be born, the conquest of the wide, wide West, recalling lines of prose and verse, descriptive of Evergreen Firs, soughing Pines, and flowing rivers that mingled their placid waters with the rolling turbulent waters of the great Pacific.
All along this part of the road there was great scarcity of wood and many times we were compelled to cook our food with buffalo chips. This caused many ladies to act very cross and many were the rude phrases uttered, far more humiliating to refined ears than any mention of the material used for fuel could have been, but fane of surroundings was a great leveler, and, ere long, each member of the various households was busily employed in the search for fuel. The fires burned clear and with great heat, so that by good management with our old fashioned "Dutch ovens" and closed kettles, a clean and wholesome meal could be quickly prepared over a fire of buffalo chips. Almost every family was provided with one or more good milch cows, and after a night's rest and graze the fresh morning milk, good warm bread, meats and sauce, for there was an abundance of dried fruits in each provision wagon.
i Right here I wish to state that many of those emigrants were well equipped for setting up a new home in a far off land. Whole bolts of sheeting, linsey wool, Jean for men's clothing, carpets, home-knit hoisery and mittens of colors, both grave and gay, were stored away by careful hands to circumvent the day of need. Books also were not entirely forgotten. My husband and I brought our Bible, dictionary, arithmetic, grammar, charts and maps, also our diplomas of graduation.