Q.David Bowers
Another company comprised of 40 members who paid $200 each left Cincinnati. The Pittsburgh & California Enterprise Co. was the name selected by another group, this one with 250 members. The Cumberland Co. comprised 50 men who subscribed $500 each.
One ambitious group of about 70 people from Tennessee established its own form of government complete with a constitution and bylaws, president, vice president, a legislature, three judges, a court of appeals, nine sergeants, and other officers. The officials were all exempt from menial duties around camp. While this worked in theory and was eagerly discussed before the large group of wagons left on the westward trail, in practice it caused a rebellion. Eventually a group of over 20 wagons seceded from the organization and went its own way separately.
Careful people among the travelers brought extensive supplies, including clothing and food to last a year or two. Others took merchandise and equipment which they hoped to sell for large profit once they reached California. Some even took coining equipment and presses as well as heavy mining apparatus. Cats, dogs, and other pets as well as art objects and decorations were among the baggage of still others.
Unlike the sea voyages, which were largely limited to adventurous men, many families made the overland trip, often with women and children riding inside the wagon while the men walked outside. However, in many instances the entire family walked for the wagons had no seats, or else the wagons were small and provided a bumpy ride.
The mass gathering on the frontier began in April 1849. By the end of the month about 20,000 people from virtually every city and hamlet in the eastern states were camped waiting until the prairie grass grew to sufficient height to feed the animals. Early in May the first travelers departed. For the next month one group after another left until there was a long string of wagons, pack trains, animals, and people on foot from Missouri to Fort Laramie. One adventurer, Kirkpatrick, recorded in his diary on Thursday, June 18th: Met a man whose train was on ahead who told us that he had counted 459 teams within nine miles. When we started after dinner there were 150 that appeared to be in one train.
On Friday, July 22nd, the same writer observed:
Passed the Upper Platte ferry. The ferryman told me he had crossed 900 teams, and judged that there were about 1,500 on the road ahead of us. Yet they still come.
At night there was one long string of camp fires along the trail as far as the eye could see. Another traveler, Bayard Taylor, noted that at the beginning of the trip:
A single traveler could have journeyed for 1,000 miles, as certain of his lodging and regular meals as if he were riding through the old agricultural districts of the middle states.
With food in abundance, the alluring prospect of unlimited gold in California ahead, many things to talk about, and songs to sing, the first weeks on the trail were cheerful and happy. Every afternoon the groups would break and would halt around 5:00 p.m. to make camp. Wagons would be arranged in a circle, or sometimes on the edge of a river in a semi-circle, to provide protection against Indian raids. However, in the early times problems with Indians were few and far between. The enclosure of wagons made a corral for the animals which were set free to graze and rest. Each night was filled with campfire stories and singing.
A sentinel or two was posted to guard the wagons throughout the night. As soon as the first traces of daylight appeared, a man from each party was awakened to move the animals to a better feeding location. Around 4:00 a.m. the entire camp was awake, making breakfast, and getting ready for the day's journey. By 6:00 the group was underway again.
During the day the wagon trains would usually stop at meal time for a brief rest, but the urge was to move forward, and pauses were brief. Food consisted of bacon and salt pork, sometimes varied with fresh buffalo meat or venison, beans, baked bread, and pancakes. The latter were made by mixing flour and water together, adding salt and some baking soda, and frying the mixture in a pan with animal fat. When the pancake was done on one side the frying pan was grasped by the handle and the cake was flipped so as to land on the uncooked side. These "flapjacks," as they were called, were very popular. Sometimes contests were held to see who could flip the pancakes with the most dexterity.
There being no courts in the area, justice was administered by the travelers. The "Lynch Law," or justice on the spot, was practiced. However, as the riches of California beckoned, there were relatively few problems along the trail. In one instance a man who shot another traveler who had seduced his wife was tried and acquitted. In another instance a traveler, eager to get to California and for some perverse reason seeking to impede the progress of his fellow travelers, deliberately set fire to a grassy area in a spot where grass was scarce. His companions gave chase and shot him.
The scenery was quite varied until the Platte River was reached about 10 or 15 days after the start of the journey. From this point onward the following of the shallow stream became rather monotonous. Spats and quarrels broke out among the travelers, often over some trivial infraction of rules or some inconsequential matter. Weeks and weeks went by without much change. Morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and night were the same. The terrain eventually changed from a grassy prairie with streams to a sterile plain to bleak mountains to swamps, and then to sandy areas, followed by alkali wastes and salt flats. Heat, rains, and dust storms were annoying. While the 2,000 mile journey was tedious for some, many others, particularly those with much energy, enthusiasm, and good health found it to be quite enjoyable.
Cholera, which caused widespread devastation along the Atlantic seacoast and which came up the Mississippi River to the starting point, killed many travelers. The disease followed the wagon trains throughout the journey until the high mountain areas past Fort Laramie. All along the road there were many fresh graves often marked by a simple headboard or stake, and usually showing signs of being disturbed by coyotes and other predators. It is believed that about 5,000 people died from this dread disease, including many heads of families on the westward journey. The nature of the disease was not completely known, so often victims were left ill to perish along the wayside while their companions, fearful of contracting the disease, continued forward without them.
The Platte River area abounded with wild game, including antelope, turkeys, and other animals. Meadows, fields, marshes, and springs provided abundant water and grass. From the Platte the route went along the north branch from Ash Hollow to Fort Laramie, which was then the most western outpost of the United States. One diary of the time stated that it took six weeks to travel the 670 miles between Independence and Fort Laramie.