Caravan 1839- Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus

 Salvete Omnes,

Archive World Library has a  number of works on or about dr Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus. German-American medical doctor, somewhat a revolutionary, American diplomat and traveler, who in 1839 made a journey along the Rocky Mountain Fur Company caravan to the Rocky Mountains. 

The journey produced a journal or sketches in German, published in 1840 in St. Louis,  that was published in English by the Missouri Historical Society in 1912.

I would like to point your attention to the chapter on the caravan or the daily activities of this outfit going west from Sapling grove, 80 miles from West Port, a border village not far from Chouteau's Landing in Missouri in April 1839. 

The caravan, led by  mountain man Harris,  included 27 persons, including two women, wives to two missionaries, the 3rd missionary was single. They had 4 two-wheeled carts drawn by two mules. 

saddlin' the pack saddle on the mule

We learn that first they let the animals graze - to prevent them from straying far they hobbled them (details on page 30), each animal drag a long rope of buffalo leather - a trail-rope.

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at night the horses and mules were fastened to stakes (pickets)  by their trail-ropes.

the caravan moved with the leader with his company carts in front, the line behind him with riders and pack animals

this way the caravan covered 20 to 25 miles daily across the western prairies...

.

Valete

LibriVox - Parkman's Oregon Trail

 Salvete Omnes,

a great book to listen (and /or read - eg this 1918 edited version): ''The Oregon Trail'' by the American historian Francis Parkman.

I have  been listening to this production on Librivox.

perhaps in the future I will share some horse-related stories and information form this fantastic travel literature work.

some of the illustrations created by Frederic Remington for one of the  more lavish editions.

Valete

Days on the road - Sarah R.H. crossing the Plains on her bay pony

 Salvete Omnes,

 

I just have finished listening to Days on the Rad  (Archive audiobook) - by Sarah Raymond Herndon, a Missourian who along with her family crossed Great Plains going to Virginia City , Montana in 1865.   

You can read the book too - also on archive.org. 

The book - based on the journal written during the travel from Memphis, Tennessee to Montana,- starts on May1, 1865. Our narrator was sort of an Amazon, she rode her horse or rather a pony named Dick, and she was not alone, more girls rode  with Sarah, often ahead of the train or along with the moving train.
We read about Sarha saddling and riding her pony, but more about this horse appearance we learn at the very end when Sarah was sort of bullied into selling Dick (for 125 dollars in gold dust ) to a miner returning to the 'States' from the gold fields of  Montana. Here is the tale as she told it:

Sarah not only rode her pony, but also drove the wagon, as she was traveling and living in it with her mother and 2 sisters. 

prairie schooner and a pair of oxen

Their small wagon train crossed the Plains during the Indian war and hostilities, causing this small group of migrants to be fearful and very watchful, but thankfully they suffered no encounters with the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors scrimmaging with US Army's cavalry and infantry deployed on the Plains. She said in her diary that she was afraid more of a wind- storm  than of Indians.

They suffered one killed from a loaded gun accident, the negligence on the part of the gun owner. 

McClellan saddle at Fort Kearney

 

At Fort Kearney, Nebraska, Sarah came across the former rebel (Confederate) soldiers and officers from Georgia and Alabama, who were forced into the federal army and service on the wild Indian frontier. Arriving at Julesbourgh they came there 2 weeks(she says 3,, but the fight took place on  June 7, whereas she arrived there on June 21)  after the big fight between the Army and Indians had occurred there. She saw some Indian women and children prisoners taken at Fort Laramie, and spoke with more former Confederate soldiers forced into US Army.

 

Sarah had no high opinion of the Indians she encountered on her trek, and her depictions of her encounters rather shows the destruction of the native peoples in face of the progress and passing of their way of life (still some 10-20 years away).
I like this book for what it is, and if you are interested in the 1860s pioneers' experiences  while crossing the Plains  and told by a young woman then this book is for you too. 

nota bene, here is a link to Goodreads with their ratings and little 'reviews' about this historical diary.

Valete