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

straight out of Mary Ann Richardson’s journals. <strong>The</strong> Boatmans, from Illinois, would head out in
1852. <strong>The</strong>ir party consisted of Willis Boatman, age 24, and Mary Ann Richardson, age 18. <strong>The</strong>y
were married October 14, 1851. Also, a brother of each came along; they were John Boatman
and William Richardson.
<strong>The</strong>y departed on March 29, 1852. Mary Ann’s account of leaving was the typical
reaction. This was a huge adventure for such young adults and they were nervous, anxious and
sad to leave their families not knowing if they would ever see one another again. One account
from Catherine Scott Colburn recounts, everyone cried because they would never see their
families again. 14
Before leaving it was necessary to make many preparations. Some of the items the
Boatmans list taking are “bedding, clothing, cooking utensils, provisions to last six months [and]
medicine.” 15 Another emigrant, Joel Palmer, who left in 1845, made a much more detailed list of
supplies. For food they took; “200 [pounds] flour, 30 [pounds] pilot bread, 75 [pounds] bacon, 10
[pounds] rice, 5 [pounds] coffee, 2 [pounds] of tea, 25 [pounds] sugar, half bushel of dried beans,
1 bushel dried fruit, 10 [pounds] salt, ½ bushel cornmeal and [a] small keg of vinegar.” 16 Palmer
also went into great detail on what sort of nonfood items they took with them. He took a “sheet
iron stove, Dutch oven, cast metal skillet, tin plates, cups and saucers, two churns – one for sweet
– one for sour milk, keg for water, tools – hand saw, plow molds, ax, shovel, rope, rifle and
shotgun.” 17 This would have been considered travelling light for the six month journey ahead of
the emigrants.
<strong>The</strong> Boatman party would be traveling in a wagon specifically engineered for this
journey. <strong>The</strong>y had what was named a Conestoga which was the best of the best when it came to
wagons. <strong>The</strong> “wagon box…could be made water tight and used as a boat when fording
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