The Long Haul West: Life on the Oregon Trail By ... - Lourdes College

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him. Now all of the male Turners, save for one young one, were dead. At this point, the Scott half of the Boatman-Scott party decided that they were going to leave the others and head on alone. <strong>The</strong>y left them so as not to contract cholera as it was highly contagious. <strong>The</strong> Boatman half stayed around for an extra day while the surviving Turners decided what they would do. <strong>The</strong>y finally decided to head back east and try to consolidate their losses. 36 Now the Boatman party was back to its original size upon leaving home, plus one. Mr. Warner, one of the Turners hired men, wanted to continue on. <strong>The</strong>y camped all alone that night feeling depressed and ostracized. <strong>The</strong> next day they woke early, drove hard all day and went late into the night. That night a big black wolf was seen scouting the small Boatman party. <strong>The</strong>y drove the next day without incident. <strong>The</strong>y were travelling very light now and were able to make great distances in a short amount of time. This makes plenty of sense seeing as that they were all young and able bodied. This trend went on for a couple of weeks. One morning upon waking, Willis Boatman, Mary Ann’s husband, found his brother-in-law William stark raving mad. He was naked except for his undergarments and he was soaking wet from freezing cold water. He had apparently been trying to drive the oxen to the water throughout the night. At this point, everyone realized that William was very sick. Again the group did all that it could and tried to help brother William recovers from what ailed him. <strong>The</strong>y were at least able to calm him and he was able to leave the world with dignity. On that day William breathed his last breath. 37 It had been two months and thirteen days since the Boatman party had left Iowa. <strong>The</strong>y were now one short and had seen several unnerving deaths far too close to home. In Alcove Springs, Kansas, 110 miles west of Gardner, there was, and still is today, a mass grave of over two-hundred known graves. This is relatively close to how far along the Boatmans were in their journey. It is put into perspective how tough the trail was that so many people were dead so soon 14
on the trail. 38 <strong>The</strong> Boatman party continued on, starting early and ending late. <strong>The</strong>y continued to push like this all in hopes that they would be able to catch up to the Scott party. Within a week they would come upon Mr. Scott’s party. <strong>The</strong>y most likely were in such a hurry to meet up with the Scotts because Mary Ann had become close with Mrs. Scott and her daughter. Mary Ann was young by most standards and needed female companionship. Also, it is believed that she was pregnant and would have needed a woman to help her give birth. <strong>The</strong> reunited Boatman-Scott party had now made it to the Platte River. Many people died along the Platte. <strong>The</strong>y would pass graves by the dozens. One train that they passed had just finished burying six dead and another six had died during the time it took to bury the first six. Another said that they had just finished burying a family of seven. Yet another said forty had died within two nights and a day. Death was an everyday factor along the trail. Now the emigrants would ran into another big problem. So many emigrants had gone before them and let their cattle and stock graze on all the lands grass. Now they faced the problem that all of the grass had been consumed or destroyed. <strong>The</strong>y would have to go great distances at night with their stock to find anywhere for them to graze. 39 After several weeks of trudging westward in this manner, they saw the first Indians they had seen since the cholera outbreak. This would be both a blessing and a curse. For the most part it meant that the cholera epidemic was over with and on the other hand it meant that the troublesome Indians were back and they would have to be on the watch for them. <strong>The</strong> Indians told the Boatmans that there was a bridge ahead that they would have to cross. Of course the Indians said that they would need to pay them. <strong>The</strong> Boatmans refused payment until the time of service. This turned out to be a good thing, because the bridge had been built by white men and could be crossed freely. <strong>The</strong> bridge 15
Page 1 and 2: Introduction The <
Page 3 and 4: the pass, the trail crossed the Gre
Page 5 and 6: problem until Astor went to Congres
Page 7 and 8: straight out of Mary Ann Richardson
Page 9 and 10: While on the trail, the emigrants f
Page 11 and 12: with the Indians would be typical o
Page 13: The Boatman party
Page 17 and 18: filled up every container they had
Page 19 and 20: Mary Ann said this of the river,
Page 21 and 22: families who travelled there for ma
Page 23 and 24: Endnotes 1 Robert Richmond, A Natio
Page 25: List of Sources Primary Sources A N

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