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After supper, the men watered the animals again and secured them for the night by tying them with “pigging
strings” which were wires or ropes strung between two trees, or “hobbles” which simply means tying the feet
of the animals together, to prevent them walking or running off during the night. The hobbles also served as a
hindrance to any Indians who tried to make off with the animals, because the animals could not walk, or even
trot. Knowing that Indians might steal their livestock, the wagonmaster assigned two shifts of night guards for
the camp and the livestock for the night. Finaly, just before midnight, all people not working were asleep and
the night sounds of crying babies, chirps of crickets and small animal sounds were all that could be heard.
A small fire was kept burning all night in order to scare away the bigger wild animals. During the night, the
mosquitos buzzed incessantly around the heads and in the ears of those trying to sleep. Some nights it
rained all night and everything stayed wet, making the travelers more miserable than would otherwise be the
case. With muddy trails, mosquitos, snakes, cold weather, rain, sick children, overturning wagons, lack of
trails to follow, indians and things staying wet, the increased pain, misery and suffering quickly became a way
of life. On any typical day, everyone on the wagon train was up at 4 a.m. and immediately set to work,
repeating the jobs they had done the night before; Feeding and watering the animals, and filling all the water
barrels while the women prepared breakfast, usually consisting of hoecakes, fried meat and coffee for
everybody. Then the children had to be cared for and fed.
After breakfast, everything had to be repacked, reloaded and lashed down on the wagons, the livestock had
to be rounded up and kept together until the wagons began moving. The hunters went first. By the time the
group was ready to go, most people were already tired from lack of sleep and from all the work that had been
done at the beginning of the day. The night guards had most of the day to try for some sleep, but that was
not easy on a loud, bumpy and very uncomfortable wagon. Finaly, with the wagon train on the move, the
loose livestock were a huge problem because of the little control the settlers were able to exercise over them.
Keeping them on the trail of the wagons required constant chasing, steering and caring for them all day.
Along the way, they passed a few outposts and supply/trading posts which were built of logs and occupied
usually by previous settlers who found living along the route to be a little easier by buying, selling and trading
goods such as tools, weapons, animal hides and edibles from the Indians and other settlers, and the passing
wagon trains. In the absence of money, the trade of goods was the prevalent way of doing business. These
outposts also served as sources of information to all travelers concerning other settlers, indians, forts, and
directions, but most importantly, they provided information on Indian troubles and trouble spots such as trees
down, trail washouts, stream crossings, or landslides, or large trees across the trails ahead
HOW THEY LIVED
Upon arriving at a new destination, the travelers learned that the government would sell frontier land at a low
cost per hundred acres, with the stipulation that the buyer would clear and plant 3 acres of the land every
calendar year, for every hundred acres received, up to a limit of about 260 acres per family, depending upon
the number of people in the family. Prior to the establishment of local land offices, no limits existed on
acreage for new settlers.
From earlier settlers in the area, they learned that although the land was free, many of them worked as
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share-croppers, or at other work for various periods of time. Some worked as carpenters, wagon makers,
“coopers” (barrel makers/carpenters), seamstresses, tailors, blacksmiths, shoe makers and so forth. But
most worked as share-croppers and that means performing back-breaking, common labor, farming someone