Along the trail, there were many types of terrain. Steep hills, mountains, and rivers all opposed the gold-seekers on their journey to California. There were plenty of ways to overcome these obstacles, but capsized wagons were common and the results could be disastrous.
Mountains
Over the mountains, particularly the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada, the trails were steep and treacherous. A wagon could stop in its tracks if the oxen were too weak to pull it up a slope, or fall over if it hit uneven ground while unsteady. The pioneers came up with improvised solutions to these problems.
These solutions included “Double-teaming” a wagon. Leaving one wagon without oxen, you hooked up two sets of oxen to one wagon and hauled the wagon up the slope. Also, if the hill was a near cliff, a wagon could be broken apart and hauled up with ropes. However, this method was rarely used due to the challenge of reassembling a wagon once it reached the top of the slope. The third way of getting a wagon over the mountains was to wrap ropes around the wagon bed and haul the wagon, fully intact, up a cliff. Both ropes and chains occasionally snapped when this method was used, sending wagons laden with supplies crashing to the bottom of cliffs and ruining food and necessities.
These solutions included “Double-teaming” a wagon. Leaving one wagon without oxen, you hooked up two sets of oxen to one wagon and hauled the wagon up the slope. Also, if the hill was a near cliff, a wagon could be broken apart and hauled up with ropes. However, this method was rarely used due to the challenge of reassembling a wagon once it reached the top of the slope. The third way of getting a wagon over the mountains was to wrap ropes around the wagon bed and haul the wagon, fully intact, up a cliff. Both ropes and chains occasionally snapped when this method was used, sending wagons laden with supplies crashing to the bottom of cliffs and ruining food and necessities.
Rivers
For many headed west, a river was their first geographical barrier to cross. Among the methods for crossing rivers were ferries, floating the wagon, and forging the river.
Passage on a ferry could be purchased from people at the river, or a makeshift raft could be built and the wagon carried across on top of it. Floating the wagon was removing the wheels from the wagon bed and waterproofing the inside of the wagon. It was then set afloat and pushed across the river with long poles. To forge a river, you simply drove the wagon through the river with the hopes that it wouldn’t capsize.
When a wagon did capsize, supplies were always lost. Sometimes, company members or animals drowned. Food and even guns could be washed away in the current. When an entire wagon was swept away, the occupants of that wagon slept in another wagon with friends or company members. Usually, the wagon crossed the river safely and the company could continue on their way.
On what was known as Upper Crossing on the North Platte River, the book The World Rushed in by J. S. Holiday reports, “In the watery melee of wagons and rafts, teamsters and frightened, thrashing oxen, men drowned every day-at one crossing a total of twenty-eight drownings was reported. What a sad irony on a trip through the Great American Desert.” (pg. 179 first paragraph)
Passage on a ferry could be purchased from people at the river, or a makeshift raft could be built and the wagon carried across on top of it. Floating the wagon was removing the wheels from the wagon bed and waterproofing the inside of the wagon. It was then set afloat and pushed across the river with long poles. To forge a river, you simply drove the wagon through the river with the hopes that it wouldn’t capsize.
When a wagon did capsize, supplies were always lost. Sometimes, company members or animals drowned. Food and even guns could be washed away in the current. When an entire wagon was swept away, the occupants of that wagon slept in another wagon with friends or company members. Usually, the wagon crossed the river safely and the company could continue on their way.
On what was known as Upper Crossing on the North Platte River, the book The World Rushed in by J. S. Holiday reports, “In the watery melee of wagons and rafts, teamsters and frightened, thrashing oxen, men drowned every day-at one crossing a total of twenty-eight drownings was reported. What a sad irony on a trip through the Great American Desert.” (pg. 179 first paragraph)