An Adaptation of the original Wagons West quadrology by Dana Fuller Ross
When I was growing up in the early 1980s, we were one of the few homes without a television. (At least one reason for this was my mom doing everything in her power to make my dad look like the bad guy prior to and during the divorce - long story.) At the time, lacking a television and not having many friends, I started reading whatever I could get my hands on. On my dad's bookshelf in the living room was a series of historical novels, Wagons West, which began with the "first" wagon train to settle Oregon. Of course, the books while accurate as far as the technology and customs for the time period were not historically accurate - it seems the first settlers to Oregon were few in number (only 20 wagons, tops), not the mass migration depicted in the book (hundreds of wagons). The books themselves were equal parts romance and exploration, with most of the activities in the second and third books (Nebraska! and Wyoming!) happening during the winter months.
With that in mind, and removing the characters from the books, what follows is the "final" draft of my would-be article, Wagons, Ho!, which would have appeared in the Overland Travels and Travails article for Pyramid, if there had been room.
In the 1830s, the Oregon Country, which encompassed the modern-day states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, along with the southern portions of the Canadian province British Columbia, wwas under dispute by four of the nations of the western world: Great Britain, Russia, Spain, and relative newcomer the United States of America.
Britain claimed the area as part of its Canadian holdings, while Spain claimed it as part of California. Russia at the time held Oregon as part of her Alaska holdings. The US's claim came from two expeditions: a sailor who discovered the mouth of the Columbia River, and the Lewis & Clark expedition. Both Britian and Russia had until that point held their claim with a series of military forts, most of which protected the fur trade. Outgoing President Andrew Jackson and his electred replacement, Martin van Buren, had a different idea to solidify the American claim: settlers.
Sadly, most of the details of the first few expeditions have been lost to history, including the names of the guides and scouts who led the settlers west, their families and worldly possessions loaded into what has become the icon of American westward expansion: the covered Conestoga wagon. There is little doubt, however, that these guides and scouts were recruited from the ranks of the rugged and independent "mountain men", hunters and trappers who made their living in the Rockies and parts west, andd from friendly Indians native to the regions.
Jumping Off
At the time, Missouri was the State farthest west, although the Louisiana Purchase a generation back had given the United States nominal control over the rest of the Great Plains. Investors set up supply depots for westward settlers in the towns of Independence and St. Joseph, both on the Missouri River.
Contrary to popular depiction, the majority of settlers' wagons were not pulled by teams of horses, but by oxen. Only the more well-to-do settlers could afford teams of draft horses.
The Route
In later decades, the Oregon Trail could be traversed in a manner of six months; it is likely it took the initial expeditions a year or more, spending the winter in temporary settlements in the mountains. (Today, thanks to the US Interstate Highway system, the same route can be made in only two days.)
Leaving Independence or St. Joseph, the wagon train followed the Platte River through the Great Plains. This was - and still is - a fairly monotonous drive. During the day, the wagons could be formed up in two or three columns. A small train could be as few as twenty wagons; a larger expedition could reach a few hundred. Smart guides would put wagons pulled by oxen in the front, to let the slower animals set the pace. It was expected that on a good day the wagons could travel up to twenty miles.
At night, the wagons would be pulled into a circle for protection. Reports vary as to whether the encircled campsites had a central fire for cooking or if each individual wagon had its own campfire. In the plains, wood was scarce to come by, so cooking fires generally used dried buffalo dung, much like the Plains Indians used.
Once the plains started to turn to prairie as the wagon train entered the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the train turned towards a more northerly route. At the time, the South Pass in modern-day Wyoming was the only available pass across the Continental Divide that could accommodate the wagons. At this point, because of the narrower terrain, the train took on what many consider the typical image: a line of wagons that could reach almost a mile long.
The South Pass was discovered in 1812 by fur trader Robert Stuart, though its existence wasn't widely known until the 1820s. It was named such to distinguish it from the only other known passes over the Divide at the time, which sat in what was then British-controlled territory in Canada.
Once through the pass, the wagon train continued due northwest, passing through modern-day Utah and Idaho, before coming to the Columbia River. Later expeditions built rafts and floated their wagons downriver; other expeditions remained on land attempting to follow the Columbia River Gorge.
Everyday Troubles
Inevitably, a wagon would break down: an animal's harness would snap as the leather rotted, a wheel would come off or break, an ox's or horse's leg would sprain, break, or need shoeing, etc. Any disruption could prevent travel that day.
Illness, too, plagued the settlers. By the time Oregon was admitted to the Union in 1959, tombstones marking the graves of those who died on the trail could be seen every few miles. Many of these were the youngest and elderly, but many illnesses - particularly smallpox - were indiscriminate, weakening and killing those in their prime as well.
Indians proved troublesome, particularly in later decades as the number of settlers grew and the US government repeatedly broke their treaties. (There was no concept of "political correctness" at the time; the term "Native American" had not yet been coined, and would likely have referred to whites born on American soil, not the use it has today. Many settlers used derogatory terms such as "injun" and "savage". Indians, too, were prejudiced; "white man speak with forked tongue" was a common saying among Indians.) One of the reasons to "circle the wagons" was to protect against Indian attacks, providing the settlers cover wwhile firing their guns. The Indians soon learned that flaming arrows could set wagons ablaze; most of the losses during these attacks were the boys and women working to put out the fires.
A unique tactic developed by settlers during an Indian attack was to have two or three rifles per shooting, with the older children working to reload the firearms. As soon as the rifle was fired, another would be passed to the shooter, increasing the effective rate of fire.
Special Troubles
The United States did not keep their colonization attempt of the Oregon Country a secret. Quite the opposite, in fact: they advertised it every chance they could in an effort to entice people to move west.
Of course, the other powers with claims on Oregon would not just sit back and let this upstate United States colonize what they felt was their territory. London, St. Petersburg, and Madrid no doubt had their agents in the first few wagon trains in efforts to sabotage the entire operation. It is known that Britain fortified and expanded Fort Vancouver, on the north side of the Columbia River, around the same time.
Slaves?
Many settlers on the Oregon Trail hailed from the southern "slave states". Even in the 1830s and '40s, slavery was a contentious issue. It is likely that many runaway slaves headed west with the wagon trains in an effort to escape their owners. Of course, many slave owners also likely brought their slaves along with them in their western migration.
Oregon joined the Union in 1859 and sent troops east to fight for the Union in the American Civil War. Being located well above the Missouri Compromise Line (30° 30' north latitude), the assumption can be made that the early settlers effectively outlawed slavery and freed any slaves brought into the territory. On the trail, however, things were not so cut-and-dried.
Who is in Charge Here?
On a wagon train, the guide hired by to lead the expedition was in charge of the train's safety. He mapped out the trail, organized scouts, wagon spotters, and sentries, led the defense of the encampment, decided when and where to stop for the night, and when need arose negotiated with the Indians.
But most wagon trains had another person on hand to handle internal disputes. Because the guide was often hired from the mountain men, their handle on interpersonal relationships was not always what easterners and many settlers would consider "civilized", so on nearly every wagon train one person stepped up to keep the peace amongst the settlers themselves. Often, this was a priest or pastor, but sometimes it was just a settler with a political or retired military background; on occasion it was just someone good with people and both smart and patient enough to handle the demands. This was especially common on larger trains where the guide could get overwhelmed if he tried to act as arbiter.
In the event the settlers decided to evict someone from their train, for any number of reasons ranging from being discovered as a British saboteur to just petty jealousy, the evicted wagon was usually given directions to the nearest settlement or fort (commonly one they'd passed some time back) and told - sometimes at gun-point! - to get gone. It was commonly held that a lone wagon could travel faster and farther in a single day than any wagon train, due to various reasons, but was also a tempting target for riled Indians and the occasional outlaw. Especially in the Rockies, exile from the train was held to be a "fighting chance death sentence".
I would then have come up with stats and a write-up for the Conestoga Wagon, though to be fair the TL3 Wagon in the Basic Set (p. B464) works for a small wagon; unlike the one listed, though, a Conestoga could handle up to six tons of cargo and could be pulled by up to eight draft animals. For defense, guns with stats similar to the Baker Rifle and Hall M1819 (both from High-Tech, p. 108) would not be uncommon, nor would any number of flintlock pistols that would match the stats of the Rigby Traveling Pistol (High-Tech, p. 91) or the Tower Sea Service P/1796 (High-Tech, pp. 90-91).
Some time later, I think I'll stat up the wagon train's guides from Wagons West, Sam Brentwood and Michael "Whip" Holt, and their scout, the Cherokee named Stalking Horse.
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