The ~Christian Country Farm~

JUMPING OFF

07:43 AM, Aug. 8, 2006 .. 0 comments .. Link

     TRUE OR FALSE???

   Pioneers rode the 2,000 miles to Oregon in covered wagons?

False. Most pioneers who went west did travel with wagons, but the wagons carried supplies and were packed so tightly that they had no room for passengers. Families would make wagon space for those who were sick, hurt, very young, or very old, but the most common mode of transportation for everyone else was---you guessed it---feet. Even the person driving the wagon usually walked alongside the oxen or mules that pulled the load.

     HOW LONG DID THE JOURNEY TAKE?

   Several months. {Just think, today you can travel the same distance in a few days by car or in a few hours by airplane!} Since oxen walk only 1 to 2 miles an hour, wagon trains usually traveled 10 to 15 miles a day---fewer when they ran into storms or rough ground. If your wagon train went 10 miles a day, how many days would you spend walking the 2,000 miles to Oregon?

       Answer:200, or almost seven months

     DID PIONEERS FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO OREGON???

   NO. Most followed the Oregon Trail, which certainly wasn't made of brick! In some places it was hardly a trail at all. The Oregon Trail was really many separate Indian footpaths along the Missouri, Platte, Snake, and Columbia Rivers that mountain men had linked together. The earliest pioneers knew it as the "Emigrant Road."

     DID PIONEERS USE THEIR BEST PARACHUTES FOR JUMPING OFF?

   No, because they weren't jumping off an airplane. They were "jumping off," as they called it, into Indian country. The main jump-off point was Independence, Missouri, at the western edge of the state. {Can you guess which state's nickname is the "Gateway to the West ?" } Pioneers gathered there and in other towns along the Missouri River to make repairs, buy last-minute supplies, and get advice. They also formed wagon trains, or groups, that went west together because that was safer than traveling alone. Most trains jumped off in April or May, when there was grass for the animals to eat and time to complete the journey before winter snows fell.

Kelly KJV
Deuteronomy 6:5-9*Proverbs 31:28*Titus 2:5*
Psalm 19:14*Joshua 24:15*I Corinthians 15:58