1846
ADVICE TO EMIGRANTS.
CHAPTER V.
Necessary outfits for emigrants to Oregon or California, taken from Palmer’s Journal of Travels to Oregon—Additional advice by the Author.
For burthen wagons, light four-horse or heavy two-horse wagons are the size commonly usd. They should be made of the best material, well seasond, and should in all cases have falling tongues. The tire should not be less than one and three fourths inches wide, but may be advantageously usd three inches; two inches, however, is the most common width. In fastening on the tire, bolts should be usd instead of nails; it should be at least five eighths or three fourths of an inch thick. Hub boxes for the hubs should be about four inches. The skeins should be well steeld. The Mormon-fashiond wagon-bed is the best. They are usually made straight, with side-boards about 16 inches wide, and a projection outward of four inches on each side, and then another side-board of 10 or 12 inches. In this last, set the bows for covers, which should always be double. Boxes for carrying effects should be so constructed as to correspond in hight with the offset in the wagon-bed, as this gives a smooth surface to sleep upon.
Ox teams are more extensively usd than any others. Oxen stand the trip much better, and are not so liable to be stolen by the Indians, and are much less trouble. Cattle are generally allowd to go at large, when not hitchd to the wagons, whilst horses and mules must always be stakd up at night. Oxen can procure food in many places where horses cannot, and in much less time. Cattle that have been raisd in Illinois or Missouri, stand the trip better than those raisd in Indiana or Ohio, as they have been accustomd to eating the prairie grass, upon which they must wholly rely while on the road. Great care should be taken in selecting cattle—they should be from four to six years old, tight and heavy made.
For those who fit out but one wagon, it is not safe to start with less than four yoke of oxen, as they are liable to get lame, have sore necks, or to stray away. One team thus fitted up may start from Missouri with twenty-five hundred pounds, and as each day’s rations make the load that much lighter, before they reach any rough road, their loading is much reducd.—Persons should recollect that every thing in the outfit should be as light as the requird strength will permit. No useless trumpery should be taken. The loading should consist of provisions and apparel, a necessary supply of cooking fixtures, a few tools, &c. No great speculation can be made in buying cattle and driving them through to sell, but as the prices of oxen and cows are much higher in Oregon than in the States, nothing is lost in having a good supply of them, which will enable the emigrant to wagon through many articles that are difficult to be obtaind in Oregon. Each family should have a few cows, as the milk can be usd the entire route, and they are often convenient to put to the wagon to relieve oxen. They should be so selected that portions of them would come in fresh upon the road. Sheep can also be advantageously driven. American horses and mares always command high prices, and with careful usage can be taken through,—but if usd to wagons or carriages, their loading should be light. Each family should be provided with a sheet-iron stove, with boiler. A platform can easily be constructed at the hind end of the wagon, and as it is frequently quite windy, and there is often a scarcity of wood, the stove is very convenient. Each family should also be provided with a tent, and to it should be attachd good strong cords, to fasten it down.
The cooking fixtures generally usd are of sheet iron—a Dutch oven and skillet of cast metal are very essential. Plates, cups, &c., should be of tinware, as queensware is much heavier and liable to break, and consumes much time in packing up. A reflector is sometimes very useful. Families should each have two churns, one for carrying sweet and one for sour milk.—They should also have one eight or ten-gallon keg for carrying water, one axe, one shovel, two or three augers, one hand-saw, and if a farmer, he should be provided with one cross-cut saw and a few plow-molds, as it is difficult getting such articles. When I left the country, plows cost from twenty-five to forty dollars each. A good supply of ropes for tying up horses and catching cattle, should also be taken.
Every person should be well supplied with boots and shoes, and in fact with every kind of clothing. It is also well to be supplied with at least one feather bed, and a good assortment of bedding. There are no tame geese in the country, but an abundance of wild ones, yet it is difficult procuring a sufficient quantity of feathers for a bed. The Muscovy is the only tame duck in the country.