How the Pioneers Really Fared on the Oregon Trail Part 1 of The Sojourners’ Quest “Fact or Fiction” by Donna Wichelman

Recently, my husband and I took a road trip in a 300 hp JeepGrand Cherokee to visit friends and family and sightsee the Midwest, Blue RidgeMountains, and Eastern Seaboard. With autumn upon us, we packed the SUV withclothes and extra gear for inclement weather. A small ice chest and picnic basketheld a stash of food, utensils, and paper products for eating along the road. Othertimes we pulled off to get a bite to eat. Gas and hotels were plentiful.

Jeep Grand Cherokee:Compliments of Pixabay

Ice Chest:Compliments of Dreamstime

We reveled in comfort on our twenty-first-century high-speedfreeways, loving our heated seats on cold mornings and audiobooks downloaded onan iPhone to keep us from boredom on long stretches of road. Minus the days weenjoyed with friends and sightseeing, we spent seventy-two hours on the roadand drove forty-six hundred miles from door to door.

United States Map:Compliments of Dreamstime

Our trip provoked reflection on how my characters fared, migrating across the continent in the nineteenth century on the Oregon and Overland Trails in a covered wagon.

Abandoning their homes in the east, pioneers left most belongings behind in favor of necessities to sustain them throughout their travels. They drove in covered wagons—Praire Schooners—wooden boxes that measured four feet wide, ten feet long, and three feet deep.

The box sat on four wheels made of wood, iron bands fastened to the outside rims, and was covered with a double-thick canvas coated with linseed oil for waterproofing. They tied the ends for privacy or protection from the elements

Prairie Schooners weighed thirteen hundred pounds andrequired teams of horses, mules, or oxen to pull. Poor suspension and roughroads meant people preferred to walk alongside the wagons rather than endurelurching in the box. They wore through their leather boots quickly, tolerating run-downshoes. Traveling two miles per hour—fifteen to twenty miles per day—the two-thousand-miletrip took four to six months, depending on the weather.

Pioneers constructed their wagons with interior storage;some had false bottoms with extra storage below. Few towns and scarce services meantcarting hundreds of pounds of flour, lard, bacon, beans, fruit, coffee, and salt.They also carried cornmeal, eggs, potatoes, rice, yeast, and a large barrel ofwater tied to the side of the wagon. Halfway across the hot, barren prairie,water often ran out, and they collected it crossing rivers or during rare rainstorms.Cattle and people withered without it.

Typical Prairie Schooner: Compliments of Pixabay

They also carried a reflector oven (tin kitchen) to cookmeals, consisting of meat hunted along the trail, baked bread, hard tack, beans,bacon, and dried fruits. Without an ice source, they preserved their food withsalt, and without kindling on the prairie, they collected buffalo chips (driedanimal feces) to fire up the reflector oven and start campfires.

Reflector Oven: eBay Collection

Kettle: Compliments of Pixabay

Movies and historical fiction novels give romantic notions of travel on the Oregon Trail. But diseases such as cholera, accidents, swollen rivers, and exhaustion took nine out of ten lives. The Oregon Trail afforded little time for leisure. Most pioneers spent their days walking the trail, tending camp, and fending off various dangers, including snake bites and nefarious folks stealing vital resources. Suicide was common.

Only faith and long-suffering kept the pioneers’ hopes and dreams alive. They deserve great honor and respect for risking all to obtain a better life in the west.

(c) 2022 Donna Wichelman

TheSojourners’ Quest

Novelette Prequel to the Singing Silver Mine Series

Sarah Byrne left everything behind to escape the poverty of her Irish homeland. But will she make a better life in America and find love?

Born into thelower class of Irish society, Sarah Byrne had no dowry, no chance of marryingwell, no way of earning a living to rise out of her miry bog. When best friendMary insists she must emigrate to America to make better than butter and eggmoney and find a man to marry, Sarah risks her life on a disease-ridden ship tosail across the Atlantic.

Butleaving the land and people she loves proves more difficult than she hadthought as Sarah combs the streets of New York for a job, and everywhere sheturns, the signs read, “No Irish Need Apply.” Her only option: become the nannyfor two children of a widowed minister who has accepted a position in the RockyMountains.

But will Sarahhave the strength to cross the Great American Prairie in a covered wagon duringthe dusty heat of summer? And will her grief-stricken employer ever return theprofound feelings she has developed for him?

Find out how and where love blooms in this novelette prequel to the Singing Silver Mine Series, an exciting new Historical Romance series that will take you on a journey into our deepest longings for love and contentment.

This novelette is a Giveaway.You may click on the following link to receive your free copy. https://BookHip.com/BGKHGJN 

Donna worked as a communications professional before turning to full-time writing. Her short stories, essays, and articles have appeared in various inspirational and secular publications, and she has two self-published books available on Amazon.com.

Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of her love of history and literature as a young adult while attending the United World College of the Atlantic—an international college in Wales, U.K. She still loves to explore the peoples and cultures of the world and views her writing as a ministry, developing plots that show how God’s love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, forgiveness, and belonging in a world that often withholds second chances.

You may find Donna at:

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