- Westward to Oregon -

Chapter 1
The Trail Journal of: Jeffery Everboth
I am a trail guide, formerly a farmer, who, on April 1, 1875, set out from Nauvoo, Illinois, to start a new life in Oregon City, Oregon. I began my journey with a large farm wagon, accompanied by the five other members of my family. Their names are Katie, who is ten; Melanie, who is eleven; Jack, who is nine; Joshua, who is twelve; and Susan, my wife, who is 29. I am 34 years old. We started out with six hundred dollars.
Susan has training in cooking, botany, * and sewing, while I have training in medicine, carpentry, and farming. We would need each of these skills on the rough days of the journey through the Oregon Trail. On March 27, 1875 , I called everyone into the family room.
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“Susan! Kids! Come in here for a minute, will you please?” called Jeffery. Katie, Melanie, Jack, and Joshua came scampering into the family room moments later.
Susan came in after them. She did not run, as the children had. When she walked in though, she had a mysterious twinkle in her eye. Jack swiveled his head quickly to look at Mama when he saw Papa wink.
However, she looked straight ahead, acting as if she did not know what was going on.
“What is it, Father?” questioned Melanie when they did not speak.
“Well,” Papa paused. “We are moving west!”
What a frenzy that followed those words! “Is it true, Mother?” asked Jack.
“If your Papa says so, than sure it is! Let’s go get packed!” said Mother. She had known about it ahead of time, but gave no hint of the plan that had been forming between the two parents.
“We have already sold the farm,” aid Father.
“We did?” asked Melanie mournfully.
“Yes, dear, we did, but we will build a new farm when we get to Oregon City, and we will get more chickens and pigs and cows and dogs and cats, and other things, all right?” said Mother, putting her arm around her daughter’s shoulder.
Melanie nodded. “What are we going to take?” she asked. “May I take my tea set and my doll and my doll’s clothes box and my doll’s chair and bed and dresser and all her little possessions?”
Papa hesitated. “Well,” he began. “Let me put it this way. Each of you may take one small box of things to Oregon. Is that clear?”
“Yes.”
“Father,” Katie piped up. “May we each take the box that is by our beds? You know, the ones you made for us that have nice shiny wood and that we put our stuff in?”
“”Yes, you may. You must pack what you are taking tomorrow, or you will not take anything,” Papa replied.
All of the children looked at each other and vowed to themselves that they would pack their boxes first thing in the morning.
Unhappily for them, however, their hopes were dashed as Papa spoke again. “Tomorrow will be very busy, so you must not dawdle in your chores, especially if you want to take things.”
“We will go into town tomorrow to get the things that we will need for the journey,” said Father. “We will need many things, besides the things that we are taking from our home. You children may go with us if you behave. Do you remember the last time you went with us? Katie and Joshua knocked over a whole pile of cans!”
Everybody laughed, and the children ran upstairs into the attic to change and get everything ready for the next day. They figured that the sooner they got to bed, the sooner the morning would come. “I cannot wait for tomorrow, can you guys?” asked Joshua.
After a pause, he remembered something. Quickly, he added, “and gals?”* not wanting to leave out the girls. He knew that they did not like to be referred to as “guys”.
The girls giggled, and then they all whispered yes to answer him, rolled over, and tried to go to sleep. They were all thinking the same thought. “I can’t wait for tomorrow!”
Finally, when it was almost midnight, they drifted off to dreamland.
That night, while they slept, their Mama and Papa got some special toys and games that the children loved and packed them into a box. They planned to surprise them when they got to Oregon City by giving them something to do. Then, they too got some sleep.
The Everboth family had no idea of the dangers and hardships that lay ahead of them on the Oregon Trail. The whole family thought that the trip would be fairly easy, but little did they realize how wrong they were!
**********
Early the next morning, Joshua woke up with a start to hear his alarm bell in his pocket watch go off. He jumped out of bed quickly and shook Jack awake. “Let’s wake the girls,” he suggested quietly.
Jack nodded and reached under the bed. He handed Joshua’s slippers to him, then pulled out his own. The two boys pulled on their slippers and crept over to the sheet that separated the boy’s half of the room from the girl’s half.
They slid it back quietly and were startled to hear a low shriek. The two boys ducked behind the curtain then cautiously peeked out again. A nightgown hit Joshua full in the face.
He clawed it off and whispered, “What do you girls think you’re doing?”
“We’re dressing!”
The boys giggled, and then went into the girl’s room. “Looks like you had the same idea as us, getting up early to pack our boxes!” said Joshua.
The girls nodded and pulled their boxes out from under their big double bed. Katie slept on the right side of the bed, and Melanie slept on the left.
Katie pulled hers out and dumped its contents on the unruly bedspread. She pulled out her scrapbag, which consisted of small scraps of fabric and felt, a cross-stitch picture not yet completed, thread, needles and other things.
Then, she pulled out her doll and ten of its outfits. After thinking, she reduced it to five. She then got her tea set, a pad of paper and some pencils, and a small quilt she had been working on.
She had about five inches left at the top, so she got some candy that she had saved for a while, and put it in. Then, she got a large piece of fabric and some yarn and knitting needles to add to her box. After that, she shut the lid and went to see what her brothers and sister was packing.
Melanie got her box out and put in it a doll, a doll’s chair and dresser and bed, and after that there was not much room, so she put in a scarf that she had knitted.
Joshua and Jack had saved some candy too, and they each got a little bag to put it in.
Then, Joshua pulled out the top drawer in the boys’ dresser and pulled out his pocketknife, a pad of paper, three pencils, his history book, and a trail guide. He still had a lot of room left, so he added a couple of books.
He looked up when he heard Katie speak. “Hey! Now where are my doll’s pajamas?”
She ran over to her box and rummaged through it. Then, she turned to the growing heap on the bedspread. “Here it is!” she exclaimed.
Jack put almost the exact same things into his box as Joshua had put in his. He added a soap carving he had done, a first aid kit, and a pair of tweezers.
Joshua looked at the clock as they were putting away the things they were not going to take, and exclaimed, “Six thirty already!”
His brother and sisters looked at him in astonishment. “We’d better get dressed and get downstairs!” said Katie.
As the children tiptoe down the stairs leading from the attic, they heard a loud snore.
Katie and Melanie went into the kitchen to start breakfast, and Joshua and Jack set the table, swept the floors, took out the trash, made the beds in the attic.
All the while, everybody was talking in excited whispers about the day ahead.
When Mama and Papa finally got up, they found the table set and everything else done, a nice warm fire made in the fire place for them to dress by, and Katie was setting the last dish of breakfast on the table. “Well well well!” said Father. “I see you already did everything for us! You must be excited about today!”
“Oh, yes!” said Katie.
“We made eggs, toast, flapjacks, * syrup, ham and milk for breakfast!” Melanie excitedly told Mama and Father.
“Don’t forget the sausages!” said Joshua. “Remember how you let us each have one? Boy, were they good!”
Mama pulled her nice blue and white dress down over her long brown hair and straightened it. This was the dress she wore when they went to town, which was not very often.
She then pulled her straw hat with a sprig of blue and white flowers on it down from the hook on which it hung.
Papa and his children were already sitting at the table when Mama sat down. Papa asked the blessing and started to pass the food around. When the eggs were passed to Mother, she took three. She then passed it on.
When the syrup reached her, she poured some over her eggs, and everyone at the table grossed out.
“Mom, why do you do gross stuff like that?” asked Jack.
“Gross stuff like what?”
“Like putting syrup on your eggs and catsup on you cake and basil on your cookies!” he replied.
She winked at him and said, “Probably because I am pregnant. When I had Joshua, I craved ham sandwiches, when I had Melanie, I craved salt, when I had Katie, I craved biscuits, and when I had Jack, I craved chocolate!”
They all laughed, and Katie and Melanie got up to clear the table.
“When are we going to town, Father?” asked Joshua.
“Right now!”
The children scrambled behind the wagon and Joshua lowered the tailgate. When they had all climbed in, including Lumber, who was their bloodhound, they started.
The ride to town was merry, because they were all singing and laughing and telling jokes. Lumber howled when they sang high-pitched songs, and at that they laughed.
“Here we are!” said Father. “Hop out!”
When they had just barely gotten out of the wagon, questions were flying all over the place.
“Father, will we get the animals first? I want to see the horses!” pleaded Joshua, tugging on his father’s arm.
“I want to get clothes!” cried Melanie.
“Let’s get food first!” was Katie’s opinion.
“Tools, tools!” shouted Jack.
“We’ll have to see what your Mama thinks first,” replied Father.
Overhearing what he said, Mama stated, “I will take the girls to get the clothes we need, and you can take the boys to get the animals.”
As they were departing, Mama called to them. “Then, we will all go together and get the other supplies that we will need.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do! Come on, men!” announced Father, turning toward the stables. “Let’s go get some oxen and pigs!”
“Will we get some chickens too, Father, and maybe a cow?” asked Jack eagerly.
“We’ll see,” said Father, with a twinkle in his eye.
“Yippee!” yelled Jack and Joshua, running toward Henderson Stables. They raced, and soon reached it.
They got there ahead of Father, and as soon as they went inside, they came right back out again. “Pheyew!” they told him.
Papa laughed heartily and said, “It will always smell like that in a stable that holds lots of horses and cows!”
**********
“Well, come on, girls! We’ve got some shopping to do!” declared Mother, also turning.
As they entered Sadie Martin’s Clothing Emporium,* Melanie spoke. “Why don’t we hurry to get clothes and try to get back outside to the meeting place before the boys do?”
Quickly she put in, “We will do things right, though, if we are allowed to hurry and beat the boys.”
“Great idea, Melanie,” congratulated Katie. “May we do it, Mother?”
She then quickly added to her sentence. “Please?”
“I suppose, as long as you are careful,” Mama replied.
The girls and Mama looked around for clothes that would be suitable for the trip. Katie, holding up a pair of boots, said, “Mother, don’t you think that it would be good for everyone to have a sturdy pair of boots for walking? Shoes would probably wear out too quickly.”
“Well, personally, I think you are right! Let’s get them!” answered Mother. “How much does each pair cost, Katie?”
“Um, let’s see, they cost fifty-nine cents a pair, Mother,” she replied, glad to help out.
“Good! Please pick out two pairs for each person, Katie!” Mama did some quick calculating in her head. “That will total to about seven dollars and twenty cents. That is what I would call a pretty reasonable price!” exclaimed Mother.
**********
Jack had the exact same idea of beating the other three back to the meeting place while the boys and Father were at the stables. “Are we allowed to, Father?”
“Oh, I guess so,” said Father. “Just so long as you do not spook the horses.”
“Oh, we won’t,” they promised him.
“Alright,” Papa said. “But, do be careful!”
The boys took a look at the list that their Papa held and scurried off to find several things.
**********
Mama walked up to the counter, her arms full of clothes. Behind her was Katie, carrying the boots, and then Melanie, carrying some other thing that they would need. “We will take these things, please,” Mama told the counter girl, placing the clothes on the counter.
She braced the pile up with her back, while she pulled her change purse out of her pocketbook. “Are you moving west?” asked the girl. She started checking things off on a sheet of paper and writing down the prices.
“Why, yes, we are,” Mama exclaimed. “We heard from our sources that the land would be nice and fertile,* and it is sunny a lot there.”
“Well, yes, I guess it is, but here I get paid a lot, because so many people are going to Oregon these days,” the girl answered.
“Yes, I suppose so,” Mama said, handing the girl eighteen dollars and fifty-six cents.
They headed out of the store after collecting their clothes, and the girls were pleased to see no one at the meeting place where they were headed. “Yes!” they shouted jumping up and down.
**********
Meanwhile, at the stables, “Father, look at the beautiful horses!” exclaimed Joshua. “Will we get one?”
He pointed to a beautiful yellow, brown, and black pinto horse.
“We’ll see,” said Father.
“Father! Look at the beautiful horses!”
“Okay,” he answered, looking at the other oxen and horses.
Papa went to the back of the stables, looking in the stalls as he went, trying to find a stable hand. The man was mucking* out a stall at the back of the stables when Papa found him, and asked how much the horse cost.
“That one costs one hundred dollars,” the worker replied. “The horse would cost sixty dollars, but she is special!”
Papa went back to the boys and said, “I’m afraid we can’t get horses, son, they costs too much. Maybe when we get to Oregon, okay?”
“Aw, phooey!” said Jack.
Joshua put in, “Shucks! Oh, well, though, no use wishing for one when we can’t have one, I guess.”
Papa purchased ten healthy, good-looking oxen for twelve dollars each. Then, he asked the stable hand if he knew where they could find an extra yoke and a wagon cover.
“Well,” he drawled. “You could get them right here if you really wanted to. They would cost a little more, though. Shall I get them for you?”
“Yes, please,” said Father.
When the owner of the stable returned, Papa questioned him on the price of cows and chickens. When they where done talking, Papa bought five chickens and a milk cow. “They’re for food,” he told the boys.
“But Father! Why would we kill them just for food?” exclaimed Jack.
“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant! I meant we would use the chickens for a supply of eggs, and the cow for a source of milk and butter!” Papa laughed. “That’s another thing that we need to get-a new butter churn! The one we have right now is too old. We need to get a new one.”
**********
After finishing getting the things the family needed, they went outside to find the girls standing at the meeting place, waiting for them.
“Papa will be out with the oxen in just a minute,” Joshua told them.
When Papa came out, he laughed heartily, “It sure looks like your sisters beat you at your own game, boys.”
“What do you mean, Father?” inquired Melanie, puzzled by his words.
Before he could speak, however, Katie told her. “They must have had the same idea for beating us out here as you did!”
“Oh,” Melanie said, laughing.
“I’m still glad they did not beat us!” voiced Katie.
“I think that since you both had the same idea, and the girls won, that we should make something for them, don’t you think so boys?” Papa asked Jack and Joshua.
“Yeah, but...” they started to protest.
“I think it would be a good idea, and I am going to do it,” stated Papa firmly, looking hard at the boys. “I think that a piece of candy would be good, don’t you?”
They looked at the ground and sighed. “Yes, I guess so,” Joshua said, not sounding like he really agreed at all.
“Jack?” asked Father, looking questioningly at him.
“NO!” Jack shouted. He was in a bad mood just then, and told them his opinion.
“Jack Andrew Everboth!” Papa shouted. “You stop your bad attitude right this instant!”
Jack timidly told the girls that he was sorry. He finished with, “Please forgive me. I am sorry for being mean.”
“I forgive you,” Melanie told him sympathetically.
“So do I,” Katie answered; too.
“Oh, you got a cow!” exclaimed Mama as they walked to the wagon store.
“That we did!” said Father.
“Look, the wagons are leaving without us!” Katie cried out suddenly. “Why are they doing that, Father?”
Patting her head, Papa reassured her that the wagons were part of another train.
“Well, let’s go and get the other supplies that we need, because we don’t want to hold up our wagon train!” exclaimed Mother, starting toward the drugstore.
Papa corrected her, saying, “Don’t forget now, our train does not leave until tomorrow, but we do need to get our other supplies today, because we will be leaving very early in the morning.”
The children, after hearing what their Mama said about going to the store, raced each other to Festrunk’s Drugstore. When they got there, they entered. Papa and Mama came in shortly to tell the children that they were not yet ready to get medicine. “The bottles might break when carried, because we do not yet have a wagon to put them in.”
They all went out of the store together and across the street to the wagon shop. “Hello, Namine! How are you this fine morning?” asked Papa heartily.
“Oh, I’m fine, thanks, Everboth!” answered Namine.
Edward Namine was his full name, and he owned the wagon shop. In his spare time, he made and painted wagons to sell. He made quite a large amount of profit from them.
“We’d like to buy a wagon, and a wagon tongue, and an extra wagon wheel. All right with you, Namine?” Papa asked questioningly, looking at the man
Namine agreed to sell Papa the things he requested, and then they went out of the store.
Right outside the door, Papa hooked the wagon tongue to the front of the wagon and harnessed the oxen to it. He put three yoke of oxen on the wagon. One yoke of oxen is two oxen hooked together on a yoke. So, in all, Papa hooked six oxen to the front of the wagon.
All of the Everboth family climbed aboard and with the children’s help, they also put the crate of chickens, the clothes, and the lunch basket in the back.
Papa drove the team over to the drugstore and hopped down off the wagon seat. He walked over to the other side of the wagon and helped Mama down. They all walked into the store together and looked around. “Wow!” shouted Jack, amazed that there were so many cases and bottles lining the walls.
“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Papa cautioned him.
“We will need probably at least one of everything,” announced Mama with finality.
“You’re right,” replied Papa with a sigh. “It will cost a good amount, and we do not have a lot of money. With me losing my job and all, we do not have much money left.”
Just then, a man, a tall one at that, came walking through the swinging door that led to the back of the store. “Howdy, folks! What can I do for you today?” he asked in a deep voice. He cleared his throat and walked behind the counter. He leaned onto it and looked at them expectantly.
“You can get us one of everything, all right, Festrunk?” Papa also cleared his throat and looked at Festrunk, nodding at the walls.
Festrunk was the drugstore owner. He got his medicine from out-of-town makers. Knowing from reports what most Oregon Trail travelers needed for their journey, he gathered the necessary supplies from the walls and wrote down the prices on a sheet of paper.
The Everboths bought laudanum, iodine, borax, chamomile, calomel, camphor, Epsom salts, castor oil, James Fever Powder, ipecac, quinine, sulfur, spearmint, olive oil, witch hazel, and saleratus. (They got a lot more than that, but it is too much to tell right now.) After that, they went to the gunsmith.
“Hello, we would like to buy three rifles, six boxes of twenty bullets, and one shotgun, please, sir,” Papa told the man at the counter.
“Father, why are you getting three guns?” questioned Joshua.
Jack also looked quizzically at his Father. “Yeah, how come you are not buying only one?”
“You will see,” said Papa mysteriously.
The man pulled down three rifles from the wall. As he pulled down a shotgun too, he remarked, “You might want to buy some shot for this, but, if you don’t want to buy any…” his voice trailed off.
“Oh, that’s all right. We already have two and a half pouches full of shotgun shells out in our wagon,” Papa told him.
“Oh,” the man said, laying the guns and bullets on the counter.
The Everboths paid the price that was due and walked toward the exit of the gunsmith’s shop. As they exited, the boys were still wondering why their Papa had gotten three guns. They hung behind the family and talked about it in hushed whispers. When their Papa spoke, it made them jump. “Boys, the reason that I got three guns, is…”
“Oh boy!” Jack whispered to Joshua, keeping his eyes on his father. “We’re about to find out!”
“Is because I think that you boys are old enough and responsible enough to handle a gun!”
Joshua and Jack stood speechless for a moment; their mouths hanging open in surprise. “You mean it, Father? Do you really really mean it?” shouted Jack.
“Yes, I do mean it,” said Father, handing each boy a gun.
Each boy looked in awe at the gun in his hands. They ran their hands over the smooth stocks* and barrels.
“Girls, I have something for you too,” Papa told his daughters. He led them around to the back of the wagon store with the others trailing behind.
“I don’t see anything special, Father!” Melanie said, looking puzzled. “Nothing except that old shed over there.”
“It’s what is in it that is special,” said Father, leading them over to it. “Mr. Namine let me borrow it to put the things in.”
He pulled the door open, and for a moment they could not see anything. Then, Melanie saw something moving. Papa reached inside the shed and grabbed something.
He led two horses out into the sunshine. Jack then yelled, “Hey! Neat! I’m glad that you girls got something too! Lucky! Can I ride your horse, Katie?” he slapped one of the light tan horses on the flank. He did not intend to hurt it, though.
The horse turned and nuzzled* his shoulder. Papa handed one pair of reins to Melanie and the other pair to Katie. Mama gently chided Jack, saying, “Now, now Jack, the girls have not even had a chance to ride them yet. Don’t you think you should wait until they have a chance?”
“Yeah, I guess that you are right,” agreed Jack.
“Can I ride it after you though?” he quickly added.
“May I?” Mama reminded him.
“But, I asked first!” said Jack, looking hurtfully at his mother.
Mama laughed and then explained.
**********
Papa then took the children into the wagon and seated them on the floor. “Now, while we drive the oxen over to the store, I want you kids to fold as many clothes as you can.” he told them. “You may have a race if you want, but fold them right or you will have to do them all over again.”
The children started folding clothes and putting them in piles. They also wrote names on little tags and put them on each article of clothing. Every once in a while, they could not help but to look back at the two horses that were following the wagon and munching hay from the wagon box.
They put four shirts, two bonnets, two pairs of pants, two dresses, six pairs of socks, one pair of shoes, and two pairs of boots in the girl’s stacks, and also in Mother’s stack. Into Father’s and the boy’s piles went four shirts, four pairs of pants, seven pairs of socks, one pair of shoes, and two pairs of boots. Besides labeling each article of clothing, the children also labeled the piles of clothing.
By this time, the wagon and its occupants had reached the store. It was all the way across the town from where the family had been.
Just then, Melanie asked, “Are we going to Bailey Green’s Department Store now?” She had just seen it across the road, and remembered that her Mama once told her about it.
“Yes, actually we are,” replied Father.
They all went into the store together. Papa started to ring the little bell that was there for summoning service, but before he could, Joshua stopped him. “May I please do it, Father? Please?” he asked pleadingly.
“Oh, all right, I suppose so, go ahead,” Papa gave in to his request, sighing.
Joshua rang the bell several long, loud times until Papa made him stop. A tall man and a short, stubby man came through the door in the back. They were hurrying. “Is something wrong?” the tall man asked anxiously.
“Oh, no,” laughed Papa when he saw the scared looks on their faces. “We just wanted to buy some things for our trip to Oregon, and I let Joshua ring the bell. I guess it did sound pretty persistent.”
“Yes, it did,” the tall man released his grip on the counter and relaxed. “So, what would you like to buy?” he asked.
“Well, we would like to buy whatever would be most needed on the Oregon Trail,” Papa answered, looking around the store.
The man helped the family pick many things, such as: bacon, biscuits, butter, candy, sardines, celery, cheese, coffee beans, cornmeal, crackers, dried beans, and dried bread.
They also got dried vegetables, dried fruit, a butter churn, flour, garlic, ham, honey, lard, licorice, maple syrup, molasses, pemmican, and many other things that they would need on the rough journey.
They also let the children each get one thing apiece, such as a treat. Katie got sugar, Melanie got fish, Jack got a tub of hard candy, and Joshua got Neccos. Neccos are a small round and flat candy wrapped up in a paper package with bright pictures covering it.
Without anybody knowing it, Mama went over to the bakery while the children were picking out their things and ordered a spice cake for the family. Papa did not notice what she was doing, because he was busy supervising what the youngsters picked out.
**********
That night, when they finished shopping, they went home and loaded the things into the wagon. “All right, everyone,” Papa explained, “We have a lot of work to do for tonight and for tomorrow.”
“Like what, Father?” questioned Melanie.
“Well, for one thing, we need to unload the wagon and put in things from our house first, and then we need to load all the things that we got today in, and then…” Father’s voice trailed off. “Oh, well, I’ll just tell you what to do when the time comes,” he finished.
The family set to work taking things out of the wagon and carrying them inside the house. Snatches of conversation went something like this. “Mother, where should I put these eggs?”
“Be careful with that pick, son!” yelled Father, handing two loaves of bread down to Mother.
“Joshua, don’t drop that!”
“You dropped my doll!”
“Mother, I just dropped your best dress!”
“You didn’t!”
“I did!”
“Bring that box over here!”
“What’s in there?”
“None ya!”
“Mother, I just squashed that sack of apples that you bought!” screamed Melanie. She ran over to her mother. “See, I was carrying it, and then I tripped, and then I fell on it, and then they squashed all over me!” she cried. “It wasn’t my fault, really!”
“Shhhh, shh, shh,” Mama comforted. “I can make applesauce for tomorrow morning.”
Mama took Melanie into the house and got her cleaned up. They then went back outside. They took the others some ice cold water, for they were working quite hard.
It was nearly midnight by the time the whole wagon was unloaded and everything was taken inside the house. Papa told the children to go in the house and go to bed, but they wanted to stay up and help with whatever else that was necessary.
Papa decided that he would let them stay up longer, as the horses and the oxen needed to be put into the barn, the wagon needed to be put away, and other such things.
They all went inside the house and moved everything so that it would be possible to make breakfast in the morning, and so they would be able to get to their bedrooms and into bed.
The whole family walked-or more accurately dragged, into the house and dropped into bed.
“Tomorrow, we will go to town early and meet up with the wagon train so we can get a front position,” said Father. We will wake you kids up if you want us to, or you can get up on your own. However, let me warn you that that will not be very easy, because we will be getting up at five-thirty in the morning.”
They heeded his warning and asked him to wake them up.
“You kids will be going to school in the afternoon tomorrow,” said Papa to his haggard* children.
“Awe,” they said.
“Everyone try to get a good night’s sleep,” said Mother. “I’ll probably sleep like a log because I’m so tired from all this shopping.”
Everyone else agreed. After that, they all headed to their own beds and fell asleep instantly.
Chapter 2
Setting Out
At five-thirty the next morning, Jack, Joshua, Katie, and Melanie found themselves being shaken awake by their rather tired-looking mother.
“What’s wrong Mother?” questioned Katie. “Did you not sleep well last night?”
“Oh, I got a good night’s sleep all right,” said Mother. “I just didn’t want to get up!” she laughed, and so did the others, putting everyone into a good mood.
After breakfast was over, and everyone was refreshed, the family started to pack the wagon. Papa took a small dresser outside and Mama and the girls packed it full of clothes.
After they were finished loading it, they told Papa that they were ready to have it lifted onto the wagon. Papa and the boys had been in the barn pulling equipment down from the walls and packing them neatly in a box. (In this box, they put the horse harnesses, bits, collars, hooks and bridles.) So far, they had packed two boxes.
They, of course, kept out two bridles, two saddles, two saddle blankets, two tailpieces, two bits, and two pairs of reins.
After everything in the house and everything in the barn was packed, they started to load the things into the wagon. “Joshua, hand me that box of tools, please.” came Father’s voice from inside the wagon.
Joshua handed the box up to him and then handed up a box of food that Mama had given to him. Papa took it, and then they put in the furniture. The Everboth family was taking two slat-backed chairs, a dresser, ten boxes of food, two barrels of water, one crate of chickens, one milk cow, and three boxes of tools, and farm equipment.
They also were taking two barrels of flour, ten blankets, two boxes of soap, and sixteen boxes full of miscellaneous items that they would use either along the trail or when they got to Oregon. The last thing that went in mystified the children.
Papa put in a large box that appeared to be very heavy. They could not guess what was in it, and their parents would not tell them.
(It contained the children’s toys and games.)
**********
It was ten-o clock, and Papa said that the children must get to school.
They went into the house and got their lunch pails and books, then went up to their rooms for their slates. Joshua led the way, and Mama and Papa watched them walk down the lane that led to the schoolhouse.
When they reached the schoolhouse, Joshua and Jack went to the boys’ side of the room and Katie and Melanie went to the girls’ side. Katie sat with Susan, her best friend, Melanie sat with Mary, Joshua sat with Harry, and Jack sat with Derek.
When Miss Pendle, the young teacher came into the room, everyone stopped talking. She walked to her desk and sat down. She rearranged the things on her desk and then stood up again.
She looked out over the class and started talking. “Students, I have an announcement to make. Joshua, Jack, Melanie and Katie are moving west, along with their parents. I am not happy about that decision, but it is not my choice to make.”
The two biggest boys in the school, Denver Hardstow and Barry Whitefield came forward carrying a big box between them.
They set it down and looked up at Miss Pendle for permission to return to their seats. She nodded and they went back. “Thank you, Denver and Barry,” she said. “Everyone in this schoolhouse knows what is in this box except for the Everboth children, for whom this is.”
She paused. “Children, please come open it.”
Joshua, Jack, Katie and Melanie rushed forward, almost knocking each other over.
Eager hands tore at the box’s covering.
Inside were brightly colored wrapped packages with names on them. The whole school was silent until Joshua plunged his hand in and pulled out a long package. “To, Jack Everboth,” he read.
He handed the package to Jack and handed one to each of his sisters, then pulled out another long package that was for him.
Jack and Joshua opened their packages, and inside each was a long, sleek bow and ten arrows!
The girls opened theirs, and inside was a paint set, a pad of paper and pencils and brushes. Then they both got two dresses and two hats, and the boys got two new outfits too.
The girls went into the cloakroom to change out of their old dresses and into their new ones.
After they came out, the boys went in. when they were all together, Miss Pendle told them how fine they looked. “Now, do you think that possibly there might be a false bottom on that box?”
The Everboth children rushed over to the box and tore off the bottom. Underneath lay two dolls, twenty outfits, and four books. The books were for the boys and the dolls for the girls. They exclaimed in delight at their presents.
“Now, let’s all turn to page 89 in our math textbooks,” Miss Pendle said.
The children went back to their seats and opened their schoolbooks. When recital time came, Miss Pendle decided to have a contest. “Joshua and Katie, will you please come forward and be our team captains?” she asked.
Joshua and Katie went up to the front of the school. “You may pick first,” Joshua told Katie generously.
“Thank you. I pick Charlotte,” she said, knowing that Charlotte was a whiz in math.
Joshua picked out ten boys and four girls, while Katie picked out twelve girls and two boys.
Miss Pendle wrote some math problems on the chalkboard and explained the rules. “There are two teams, and the first of each team will do a problem, and whoever gets it done first wins. The other person has to sit down. Got it?”
“Yes, Miss Pendle,” said the class.
Joshua’s first problem was multiplication and Katie’s was division.
On “Go,” they started. Joshua multiplied as fast as he could, but Katie finished first. Miss Pendle marked the point at the top of Katie’s side of the chalkboard.
The next two of Katie’s team won, then lost to five of Joshua’s team. Katie told her teammates to work their best.
“Remember, the winner gets a piece of candy!” reminded Miss Pendle.
Melanie and Jack were against each other, and Jack won, adding another point for Katie’s team.
In the end of it all, Katie and Charlotte were left against Derek. Charlotte dropped out, and then Katie beat Derek by a long shot with ten seconds while he took fifty-eight seconds.
Miss Pendle handed a piece of taffy to her, and she split it with Joshua, Jack and Melanie.
After school was out for the day, the children all said goodbye to the Everboth children and went home.
When Joshua, Jack, Melanie, and Katie got home, they were surprised to find the house empty. “Tonight we will sleep under the stars,” Papa told them.
Later the next day, “Father, may Melanie and I ride our horses for a while?” asked Katie, petting her horse.
“Oh, I suppose,” said Father. “Just do not go too fast. They tire more easily that way.”
“All right,” they agreed with him as they mounted their horses.
The boys looked on with envy as the girls both cried out, “Giddap!” and trotted away. They soon changed to galloping, because trotting made them bounce out of their seats.
Melanie had named her light brown horse Patches, because of the black patch over one eye and a brown patch over the other eye.
Katie named her horse Windwalker, because the horse ran so smoothly under her and felt like the wind.
When everyone was ready, they set out for the town. Singing and laughing, time passed quickly for them. They got there almost before the wagon train leader.
As the wagon master trotted up to him on a horse, he said, “Well, Mr. Everboth, you and your family sure did get here early!” exclaimed the wagon master.
“Those are nice horses that you have there, girls! Do they have names?”
“Yes, a person has to get here early to get a good place in the wagon train!” replied Father, interrupting the wagon train master’s question to the girls.
“How is your family doing, Dave?” Mama asked the wagon master.
“Oh, they’re right fine, except for April. She’s my youngest, and she’s got the measles,” answered the wagon master.
“I’m sorry,” said Mother.
It was then that the girls, Melanie and Katie, had a chance to answer the wagon master. Melanie piped up, “My horse’s name is Patches,” she told him, looking proud.
“That’s a very nice name, Melanie,” the wagon master replied, looking impressed. “Is the reason you named her that because of the patches of color around her eyes?”
“Yes, it is,” Melanie answered.
“What is your horse’s name, Katie?” asked the wagon master.
“Her name is Windwalker, and I named her that because when I ride her, it feels like I am riding on the wind!” Katie told him. “She also likes to run. Papa told us not to run them too much at first, though.”
When Windwalker heard the word run, she tried hard to get away. Katie tried to keep Windwalker still, but was unsuccessful. Windwalker pranced away with Katie on her back, who was trying to slow her down enough to get her back under control. The group near the wagons laughed.
**********
Soon, after a while, the other wagons began to arrive. There was much shouting and yelling going on as the wagons entered town and lined up.
Yes, the town was a busy place that morning, but it would be nearly empty by the afternoon. There was a lot of dust in the air at the time, and there were many oxen bawling, babies crying, and other noises that added to the confusion.
When all 22 wagons were there and were ready to start, the wagon master shouted, “Onward!” and blew his horn with a loud noise, indicating that they were to start.
Slowly, the wagon train inched across the ground. As the animals got used to what they were doing, they moved faster. Just a few minutes after the train had started, there was a scream from the front of the wagon train.
The families in the train soon found out that a child had fallen out of a wagon accidentally He had been leaning out of the back of the wagon trying to count how many wagons there were, and he lost his balance and fell out.
When the children in the Everboth family heard about it, Mama took the spice cake that she had bought at the store over to the family.
Before she left the wagon however, Papa stopped her. “Where did you get that cake?” he asked, licking his lips.
“I got it at the store in Nauvoo, but I am giving it to the Mama of the child that fell out of the wagon,” explained Mother.
“I see,” Papa answered, reluctantly taking his eyes off the cake.
Mama then carried the cake to the front and gave it to the woman and her little boy. The little boy, Steven, dried his eyes immediately and smiled at Mama when she handed him the cake.
“What do you say, Steven?” urged his mother.
“Tank u,” he said.
He was not but three years old, and Mama smiled at him.
(Later, the Everboth’s wagon will be in front, but that is because they have a wagon train leading father.)
**********
“Isn’t this fun?” Katie questioned Melanie.
“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Melanie in reply. “Let’s race our horses to the edge of town and then come flying back, okay?”
“Well, we’ll have to ask Papa first,” said Katie, hesitantly. “He did say that we were not allowed to race them very much, you know. Or didn’t you hear him?”
“Yea, yea, I heard him, but,” mumbled Melanie uncomfortably.
“But what?” questioned Katie, giving Melanie her full attention.
“Well, let’s break that rule just this once. If he doesn’t see, he’ll never know and we wouldn’t get punished!” Melanie replied.
“Not true,” Katie answered. “I would tell him. I am also going to ask first, whether you are going to or not.”
She rode Windwalker up to the front of the wagon train where Papa was. “Father, may we please race our horses to the edge of town and back?” she requested, hoping that he would answer before they were out of town.
“I guess so,” said Father. “But when you come back, I want you to walk them, not gallop, trot, or prance, but walk them. All right?”
“All right, Father,” Katie agreed to what he said and galloped Windwalker back to where Melanie was riding. “We are allowed to, but when we get back, Papa said we have to walk them, not prance, gallop, or trot, but walk them.” She relayed Father’s information to Melanie.
“Okay, ready, set, GO!” Katie shouted and started to race Windwalker.
“Wait! Katie, Patches isn’t moving!” Melanie shouted, wanting Katie to stop.
Katie stopped her mount and turned. She raced back to Melanie and stopped again. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I don’t know! She just won’t move!” Melanie cried in agony.
Katie raced up to the front of the wagon train where her Papa was guiding the train. “Father, come quickly! Melanie’s horse won’t move!”
Papa handed the reins and the whip to Mama and hopped onto the horse behind Katie. He then took the reins out of her hands and guided the horse with his own. When he got to where Melanie was, he figured out that the horse had thrown a shoe.
The trio went back into town to buy a new one and to have it put on. The blacksmith went as fast as he could, but it was noon before the trio caught up with the wagon train again.
The train stopped inching along the ground when they arrived. They found out that it was not because they had just arrived, but because they were stopping for the nooning.*
A nooning was when a wagon train stopped at noon for an hour, more or less, and people took a break and ate lunch, talked with people, and just took an overall rest from driving the oxen and sitting down. Some walked around to get the feeling of sitting out of their legs.
**********
The wagon train was on its way soon after they had stopped, for they wanted to travel as fast as possible and get there faster than most. That day at dinnertime, most people thought that they had gone far enough for that day.
Unfortunately for them, the wagon master insisted on keeping up their pace. Many people objected, but some were for it, including the Everboths.
That night, or should I say late evening, the wagon train master stopped the train, because he said that he did not want to stress the oxen too much the first day. Gladly, the people accepted the break.
“I suppose that we should give the oxen a break,” suggested Mother. “After all, they have been working hard all day and this is the first time that they have done it,” she finished thoughtfully.
**********
The next morning after they had started out and traveled for about a half of an hour, Joshua asked, “Mother, there are a couple of boys in back of us that I want to meet. May I go and meet them? One of them looks like he is around my age.”
“Oh, I suppose, if it is all right with your father,” replied Mother. “But you had better check with him before you go to meet them!”
“Yes, Mother,” said Joshua soberly.
After she had dismissed him, Joshua ran to the front of the wagon train where his Papa was directing the wagon train. Before they had left Nauvoo, the men elected Joshua's Papa to be trail guide for the wagon train.
“Father, may I please go and meet the boys that are in the wagon behind ours?” pleaded Joshua.
“That’s fine with me, but if they turn out to be bad playmates who affect your Christianity, I do not want you playing with them,” stated Father. Please find out if they are, all right?”
“Yes, sir!” said Joshua, as he ran around to the wagon that held the other boys.
As one of the boys noticed him, Joshua said shyly, “H-hi. I’m Joshua Everboth, and I am traveling in the wagon that is in front of you. My Papa is the trail guide.”
The tall, thirteen year old boy by the name of Pete Haver, answered, “Hi. My name is Pete Haver, and this is my brother, Noah. I have a couple of other siblings* in the wagon. Quite a number, actually. Are you and your family going to Oregon City? That is were my family and I are going.”
Noah, who was driving the wagon, reached over and tried to smack Pete. “You know I hate it when you call me a sibling!” he laughed teasingly.
“Well, you are!” protested Pete.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, but I still don’t like it,” Noah teased. “I know you do it just to annoy me, but that doesn’t mean you get to call me that all the time!” he laughed.
By this time, Joshua, who seemed to have lost his shyness, laughed and answered Pete. “Yes, actually, that is were we are going.” he replied. “Do you have a bat and a baseball?” he asked.
As Pete jumped down from the wagon seat to walk beside Joshua, he asked, “Sibling, will you tell Mom that I’m playing with a new friend for me?”
“There you go again!” shouted Noah. “This time I’m going to get you!” he disappeared inside the wagon.
Both boys heard as he said, “Curt, will you drive the wagon for me? I have got to get that little rat brother, Pete.”
The boys jumped and started to run. They looked back to find Noah coming out of the wagon with something in each hand. They also saw a tall, handsome young man climb out and take Noah’s place as he jumped down.
Noah walked calmly towards them, and then he suddenly stopped. He drew back his arm, and suddenly Pete found himself covered with goop. Joshua managed to dodge the one that was thrown at him.
“Hey! This tastes like apple!” exclaimed Pete. “Noah, did you…”
“Yes, Ma gave me two of her pies. It’s a good thing that you dodged that one, Joshua! That one was rotten!”
Pete went back to his wagon to clean up. Noah reached out as he passed and stuck a finger into the goop. He stuck it into his mouth and then ran to catch up with Pete.
This time, he grabbed a piece of crust and raced back to where Joshua was standing. He handed the crust to him and said, “You weren’t the one teasing, so you can have this.”
Joshua took it and ran back to his own wagon. It was a large piece of crust, filled with glop, so it was large enough to share He called everyone around and told them his story, and ended with cutting the piece up and handing one piece to each member of the family.
They were all very glad to have the pie, but Father claimed he had an overall taste in his. “It must have landed on him!” he joked.
Everyone laughed, and the children went back outside.
Joshua went to find Pete, and when he did find him, Pete said while he was turning to Joshua, he answered. “No, I don’t have a bat, but I do have a ball, but it isn’t the kind that you would want to use for a baseball. My Pa wouldn’t let me bring mine. We do not have much room in our wagon. That is my answer to your question.”
“Oh, that’s okay, I’ve got one myself. Want to play?” asked Joshua.
He headed for his wagon to get them but was pulled up short, as Pete said, “No, not right now.”
Joshua turned around and waited for Pete to catch up. Then, he asked, “Are you a Christian, Pete?”
Pete looked startled. “No, what is that?”
“A Christian is someone who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. I will get my Bible and show you some verses after I tell you something about it. To become a Christian, you have to ask Jesus into your heart, ask Him to save you, and ask Him to forgive you from your sins. Do you understand?” answered Joshua.
“Yes, I do, and I would like to be one too. Will you help me?” said Pete.
“Yes, I will. Just kneel down, and we will pray together.”
They did that, and Joshua said, “Repeat after me. Dear Jesus, I am sorry for all my sins,”
“Dear Jesus, I am sorry for all my sins,” repeated Pete.
“Please come into my heart and save me from my sins,” dictated Joshua.
“Please come into my heart and save me from my sins. Amen.” finished Pete.
“There! Now you are a Christian, and you will go to Heaven when you die. And if Jesus comes down from Heaven before you die, He will take you back up to Heaven with Him.” declared Joshua happily, looking at his friend.
“Let’s go play!” shouted Pete, jumping up and running away from Joshua. “You have to try to tag me!”
“Okay!” shouted Joshua, also jumping up. He ran after Pete and it was a couple of fun filled minutes before he finally caught up.
**********
Meanwhile, back at the Everboth’s wagon, Mama was preparing lunch.
“Melanie, will you please get some beans for me with this scoop?” she asked. “The beans are at the back of the wagon.”
“Then when you are done getting plates, Katie, you and Melanie go round up your Papa and brothers, and tell Joshua’s new friend that if he’s allowed, he is invited to have lunch with us,” she said.
“All right, Mother,” Katie replied, reaching for the plates.
She straightened out a blanket that they had been using for their lunches, and started setting the table.
Meanwhile, Melanie had found the bag of beans and was reaching in with the scoop when all of a sudden; the wagon gave a lurch. Katie and Mama turned quickly at the sound of, “Owwwwww! That hurt!”
Katie looked out the back of the wagon and saw Melanie lying on the ground amidst a pile of beans. Together, they soon cleaned up the mess and fed the beans to the chickens and pigs. Whatever the pigs and chickens could not eat, they put into the feed trough for the cow. She followed along behind the wagon, munching happily.
“I really wish that you had been more careful, Melanie,” Mama chided her.
“I was!” Melanie protested.
“No you weren’t, or it would not have happened!”
“I was so!”
“No you weren’t!”
“Yes I was!”
**********
Jack then appeared at the front of the wagon. “Mmmmmm, it sure does smell good in here!” he exclaimed. “What are we having?”
“Well, we are having beans, biscuits, and maple syrup, and eggs.” Mama answered him.
“Yum!” he exclaimed, dipping his finger into the hot maple syrup. He licked it and got prepared to stick it in again.
“Hey, you sneak!” Mama laughed, smacking his hand. “That’s for lunch, you cheat!”
“Oh!” he said. “I thought that it was for me to eat right now!” he teased, even though that he knew it was for lunch.
As he started to leave the wagon, he quickly dipped his finger into the maple syrup again. Mama did not have time to slap his hand, but shouted after him teasingly, “You rascal!”*
“I’m gonna see if I can find any friends to play with, okay?” he shouted over his shoulder.
“All right, but please be back in time for lunch!”
“Don’t worry, I will!”
Katie appeared at the flapway (the flap of cloth covering the doorway) just then. “Joshua’s friend is allowed to come, and Father’s on his way,” she said. “Joshua went to tell him that we have a guest for lunch.”
As she said those very words, Pete, Joshua, and Papa came through the improvised doorway.
Soon, they were all seated on the floor eating except Father, who was driving the oxen. Joshua spoke up. “Mother, Katie, Melanie, Jack, this is Pete Haver. Pete, this is my Mother, my sisters Katie and Melanie, and my brother Jack.”
As everyone exchanged friendly greetings, they ate lunch. After they had eaten, Pete spotted his brother Curt, age twenty, and heard him calling, “Pete! Time to come back! Mama needs all of our help! Betty has the grippe!”
His voice sounded frantic.
Setting down his plate quickly, Pete said, “I had better get over there fast! Thanks for the lunch!” and he was gone. Melanie stared after him and found out that it was a very nice young man that was driving the wagon. A thought entered her mind, but she quickly pushed it back out.
“I think that I will go over there and see if I can help at all,” said Mother, interrupting her thoughts.
**********
A little while later, Jack happened to look out the back of the wagon. Seeing a turtle crawling slowly along, he jumped out of the wagon and picked it up. “Hey, guys! Look what I found!” he shouted, holding it so that they could see it.

A little while later, Jack saw a turtle crawling along the ground.
Katie, Melanie, and Joshua came scrambling out of the wagon, followed by Daniel and Pete. “Cool!” they chorused together.
“I think that I will sell it on trading day!” he announced.
“Can I have half of whatever you get for it if I help you sell it?” asked Daniel.
Daniel was a friend that Jack had met when he went out to find a friend after leaving the wagon.
“No, I want to trade it for a pocket watch,” replied Jack.
Daniel shrugged. “Okay,” he said, walking away. “It is your choice, and it is your turtle.”
“Let’s go and play tag!” yelled Katie. “I’m not it!”
These words brought Daniel racing back in a hurry.
The others counted ONE, TWO, THREE, and “Not it!” Only Pete did not say it fast enough, and he ended up being “It”. They kept playing until Pete finally caught Joshua, who tripped over his untied shoelace.
He flopped down on the ground and said in reply, “Pooh! I do not want to be it! Let’s have someone else be it! Nearly every single game we play, I am it!”
He pouted.
“I will be it,” Melanie volunteered.
Soon enough, she caught Daniel, and in turn he caught Katie. Soon they were out of breath and they decided to take a break from their running.
**********
Late that night, the wagon train reached the Mississippi River. A sign near its edge showed that it was 5,500 feet across.
Papa went to the front of the wagon train and told the wagon master, “I think that we should cross on the ice. It looks pretty solid. But, we should probably wait until tomorrow.”
“It would not be smart to cross in the dark, because the wagons might hit a bump that we can’t see in the dark and skid around on the river.”
“You’re right as always, Jeffery,” replied the wagon master.

Chapter 3
Broken Ice
Early the next morning, the first wagon started across the treacherous stretch of ice. Papa watched for a minute and then went back and told his family that they were going to go across the river last. When their turn finally came, they started across. When they were almost halfway across, Melanie asked, “Mother, what is that sound?”
Mama turned quickly. It was then that everyone heard the loud grinding sound. Seconds later, the left front wagon wheel went down.
“Oh, no!” shouted Joshua. “The ice is breaking!”
At that moment, the whole wagon broke through the ice. The oxen bawled loudly, for the wagon almost pulled them under. Papa struggled to the top and out onto the solid ice, all the while shouting, “Go! Giddap!” to the oxen.
The oxen pulled with all their might, and with some resistance, the wagon came out of the large, broken hole in the ice. As fast as they could go, the oxen ran across the ice.
When they reached the other side, they all climbed out. Katie and Jack were soaked to the skin, because, when the back wheels of the wagon went down, they had gotten sprayed with water.
Melanie and Joshua had avoided getting wet, because they had been making a little fort out of the sacks, and had just put on the roof when the wagon went down. They were inside it at the time, and the heavily filled sacks had prevented them from getting wet. Pete and Noah ran over with a couple of large, woolen blankets.
“Here, put these around you,” Noah ordered Katie and Jack.
He helped Katie get one around her, and then ran into his wagon to get dry clothes from his fifteen year-old sister, Betty. She had gotten over the grippe by this time, and Katie would not catch any disease from wearing her clothes.
After they had gotten warm, the wagon train continued on its way and this time with the Everboth’s wagon in the lead. Mama checked their supplies after they were on their way again.
“Oh, no! Jeffery, we lost a lot of supplies in the spill!” exclaimed Mother.
“Well, we’ll just have to do with what we have until we get to somewhere where we can buy more things,” murmured Papa sadly.
Minutes later, came the shout, “We just passed the thirty mile mark!”
“Is that good, Mother?” asked Melanie.
“Yes, I suppose that you could call that a pretty good start, for the way that we are traveling!” remarked Mother.
On April 3, the wagon train stopped so the men could hunt. Papa went to a quiet, remote, area to do his hunting and shot two bucks and big bear. In all, he shot 395 pounds of meat.

Papa shot two bucks and a big bear.
It took him quite a while to gather all the meat that he had shot, and also to skin and tie it up so that it was suitable* to carry.
The family was getting worried about him, and they prayed very hard that he was not hurt and that the Lord would protect him from anything that might hurt him in the dark.
When Mama first spotted him, he had a lot of meat in his arms, and he was whistling.
“Jeffery! Thank the Lord you’re all right!” praised Mother.
“Why were you gone so long? We were getting worried about you!” Mama continued as he got closer.
“Oh, it took me a while to gather up all the meat,” he answered her calmly.
**********
“Jeffery, the wagon master told me that this afternoon we are going to reach the Des Moines River and that we are going to have to cross it on the ice!” she told him. “What if the ice was to break again?”
“That’s just fine, only this time, we are going across first!” he laughed. “Just to make sure that the ice doesn’t break while we are crossing.”
They did, but not one single wagon went down. The reason that the Everboth’s wagon had gone down was because there was a weak spot in the ice were all the other wagons had crossed. The wagon had hit it and gone down.
One day later, they ran into a very severe thunderstorm and waited for the conditions to improve, but the storm lasted until nighttime, so they had to wait until morning came.
When the train reached Fox River, it rested for an hour or so. This gave Mama a chance to trade with an old woman named Granny Chicken. She loved chickens, and she raised them. Mama made some tea for them both and they sat down to talk for a while. They talked about children, their lives, where they grew up, and how they were getting along on the trail.
They also talked about things that happened to them, and Mama brought up the subject of why they wanted to move west by saying, “So, Granny, what made you and your chickens feel the urge to move west?”
Granny answered in a quivery voice. “Oh, I used to have six children, but the Lord took them away with cholera. My littlest one, though, did not have cholera, she had…”
Mama looked at the old woman. “What did she have?” she asked after Granny had been silent for several minutes.
“Dysentery,” she answered, letting out her breath with a rush. “You see, I let them go exploring, and when they came back, they looked sick, so I put them to bed. I asked them if they had eaten anything, and they answered that after they had eaten their lunch, they had still been hungry, so they ate some mushrooms and leaves. They also ate some berries.”
The old lady let her story pour forth from her lips, knowing that this was a person she could rely on for sympathy.
“I called a doctor, and when he got there, we found out that five of them had cholera. He did not know at the time what she had, but later, after they had died, it was known that she had caught dysentery,” she finished her story with a sigh.
“I’m so sorry,” Mama said softly, but Granny Chicken was not finished.
“Then I did not feel anything that wanted to make me stay in Nauvoo, so I got all my things, bought a wagon and several oxen, and headed west!” Granny stood up. “I really must get back to my wagon,” she said. “But thank you for having me over!”
“You’re welcome,” Mama waved from the back of the wagon canvas to her.
While they talked, everyone else filled up the water kegs, even though they did not need the water very much.
At Ely’s Ford, the train continued past it without stopping. Ely’s Ford, a bad place for the pioneers, was flooded. They traveled as fast as they could through the mess, and soon they were past it.
At Locust Creek, everyone stayed in the wagon to stay away from the mosquitoes.
“These mosquitoes are terrible!” exclaimed Katie, hugging the blanket that she was wrapped in.
“I’ll say!” replied Mother, slapping at yet another mosquito that was trying to bite her through the blanket.
“I wish that we had mosquito netting, because it would be nice to not have these stupid mosquitoes biting us!” commented Jack, wrapping another blanket around him.
“Yes, that would be nice,” said Mama in answer to him.
The whole family had wrapped themselves up tightly in large blankets to try to keep themselves protected from the stinging mosquitoes.
**********
That night, Jack nodded off to sleep over his supper, and Papa had to carry him into the wagon and into his bed. Everyone else in the family went to bed early, too.
Early the next morning, Papa got up and rose all the other men in the train so they could start out.
When he reached the last wagon, he found a woman crying and a ransacked wagon. He asked her what was wrong and what had happened, and she replied with, “Last night a burglar broke into our wagon and killed my husband as we slept.” The woman sobbed even louder.
Papa went back to his own wagon and roused Mother. He explained what had happened, and she bustled about, telling the pastor what had happened, and other things that were necessary.
**********
On the night of April 5th, the people of the train held a funeral for the man that had died. Mrs. Kennter, the woman whose husband had died, sobbed loudly all through the funeral. The same night, men held a meeting. “I think that we should try and push ourselves and the oxen up to twelve hours for each day,” announced Father, standing up.
There was mumbling in the crowd and then one man said, “I think that that is a good idea. After all, it will take long enough as it is to get there.”
Someone else said, “We will get up at six in the morning and stop at eight in the evening.”
“Yeah, but why bother? It’ll take forever, anyway!” someone shouted.
“I think it’s a good idea!”
“So do I!”
Everyone else agreed after quarreling for a number of minutes. Then, they vowed to push themselves even harder each day.

Chapter 4
Diseases
The next day, which was April 6th, they reached a place in the trail that had flooded because of the storm earlier in the week. The previous day, the woman’s husband had been buried.
The woman also found out that the burglar had stolen a lot of her things. She tried to make light of it by saying, “Oh well, at least I will have a lot less to carry when we reach the mountains!”
**********
“Now what are we going to do?” asked Jack, with worry in his voice.
He was asking about the flooded place in the trail, of course.
“We’ll ford* it,” replied Father.
“What does it mean to “ford it”?” he asked.
“It means to wade through something,” Papa told him after thinking for a minute for an accurate answer.
“I see,” replied Jack. “Are we going first?”
“Maybe, probably,” said Father, looking straight ahead.
They did go first, but, however, the whole wagon train was not able to ford it without getting stuck.
They took about three hours out of traveling time to get the wagon out. Mother, Katie, Melanie, Jack, Joshua, and the other children and women stood on the other side and watched.
All of the men in the wagon train added up to 23 men. Altogether, even with their strength combined, it took a while to get the wagon out. Shouts went back and forth between the crowd of men.
“Get the oxen out!”
“Take this to shore!”
“Hey, Peterdas! Get over here and help me with this barrel of whatever and these boxes!” one of the men yelled as he dropped a box into the muddy slop accidentally.
The men were trying to get the supplies that were in the wagon to safety and also to get the animals, people, and wagon out. They thought that it would not be possible to get it all out, though.
Later, they figured out that it had been quicksand, and they were surprised that they had gotten themselves, let alone the wagon, out of the mess.
The next afternoon, the train reached Garden Grove Waystation and went in to get the food and the other things that they needed for the rest of their journey. They got the things that they needed, which was quite a lot.
The train stopped at Garden Grove Waystation to get the food they needed.
“This is going to cost us almost 22 dollars, you know, but we need it in a bad way,” said Father.
“Yes, that is a lot of money to use, but I think we need it. After all, we did lose things when we went down through the broken ice.” Mama replied, trying to make light of it.
That day at lunch, Mama and Papa shooed the children outside. The children puzzled over this until their parents let them back in. As they scrambled up by means of stepping on the wagon wheels, they almost fell head over heels in their surprise. There, right in front of their eyes, lay a beautiful picnic lunch.
“Wow! Ham sandwiches!” shouted Melanie.
“And cookies!” said Joshua happily, reaching into the cookie basket. “This looks good!”
“Where did you get all of this, Mother?” asked Katie in a shocked voice.
“We got it at Garden Grove Waystation when you were not looking!” Mama replied with glee.
Everyone in the Everboth’s family ate a tasty feast that day. They enjoyed it immensely. Jack and Joshua each had two ham sandwiches, eight cookies, and two glasses of ice cold water. The girls had five cookies each, Katie ate one sandwich, and Melanie ate two.
Later that day, Melanie said, “Mother, my head hurts and I feel dizzy.”
Mama did not start worrying because she thought that it was a side effect from eating so much. It was only when Melanie began to vomit that she began to feel uneasy. “Uh-oh, let’s look this up in the guidebook. “Jeffery! Come here a minute!” called Mother.
After Papa had checked Melanie over, he said, “I think that you have cholera, * young lady!”
“Cholera!” Mother’s hand flew to her mouth.
“Is that bad?” Melanie asked in a small voice.
“Yes, dear, it is. And unless we get a doctor, the worst may be assumed.” Papa did not want to tell her that, but she had asked and he did not want to lie.
Melanie shut her eyes and lay back against the pillows. She whispered before she drifted of to sleep, “I don’t want to die.”
Melanie’s Mama and Papa gave her peppermint after she woke up. Peppermint was a medicine that was supposed to relive cholera. After she had taken the medicine, Melanie fell fast asleep again and did not wake up until around midnight.
When she woke up, she saw Joshua’s face above her, looking anxious. “I’m supposed to give you this medicine when you wake up,” he said.
The next afternoon, Melanie sat up in bed after sleeping for hours, and said “Mother, I’m as hungry as a bear. Are there any ham sandwiches left?”
Mama asked if she was feeling all right, and she replied with a yes.
Mama fed her, and then allowed Melanie to get up, but not to leave the wagon. She pouted a lot, but was still not allowed to leave the wagon.
When Papa came into the wagon that evening, he rejoiced to find Melanie up and all right, and he said that the doctor had examined her and told them that she did have cholera, but a very light case of it. This was unusual, for most people that got cholera died. A few days later, Melanie was completely healed from her cholera incident.
That very evening, someone near the front of the wagon train shouted, “Heavy fog up ahead! We need to slow down because we can hardly see our hands in front of our faces!”
Papa took a step outside and instantly agreed. The next day was April 9th, and on that day the wagon train reached the Middle Nodaway River. “Are we almost there?” asked Katie impatiently.
“No, we are not even nearly there. We haven’t even gotten halfway there yet,” snapped Father. “Now, stop bugging me! I have things to do!” he said angrily.
Papa was in a bad mood at that moment, and no one knew why. He just was, for some reason.
“Aren’t we even halfway there?” she bugged.
Papa got very mad. “What did I just say?” he stormed. “Anyway, I just told you that we are not even halfway there!”
**********
By the end of the afternoon, everyone had caulked* his or her wagons and was ready to go across. “Let’s go!” shouted the wagon master.
The first wagon started into the water. When it was halfway across, the second one started into the stretch of river. When all of the wagons had crossed except for the Everboth’s, it was five o’ clock.
“Gee up!” shouted Father, slapping the reins on the backs of the oxen.
The four oxen put their front feet into the water and stopped. Papa yelled at them, but to no avail. Joshua hopped out of the wagon and walked behind them. He gave one a slap on the rump, then the other one in that yoke. Then he turned around and did the same to the other yoke of oxen.
When they did not move, Joshua climbed back into the wagon. “I don’t know why they are acting like this. Do you have a whip?”
“Yes, I do. Do you think they will respond?” asked Father.
“Probably. I saw someone else using a bullwhip, and they were scared of it. They did everything they were told to.” Joshua replied with a satisfactory air.
Papa gave Joshua instructions on where to find the bullwhip, but he could not find it. “Here,” said Papa in disgust, handing the reins over to Joshua.
“I’ll find it myself,” muttered Father, as he scrambled back to the back of the wagon.
Papa got the whip and climbed back up on the wagon seat. He used the whip, but the oxen did not respond. “Father, why don’t we hitch the horses up to it?” suggested Katie.
Papa thought about this for a minute, then said that it was a good idea. Jack, Joshua, and Papa all climbed down from the wagon, and started to unhitch the yokes of oxen.
Just as they finished, the girls appeared around the end of the wagon, leading the horses.
“Thanks!” exclaimed Father.
“We had a little trouble untying their ropes, but we managed,” Katie told them happily.
“That’s okay,” said Joshua. “It was still good of you to get them. That is very helpful.”
The girls then took the oxen to the back of the train and turned them loose in the remuda.
As they turned to go, they heard one of the nearer herders mutter, “Oh, great. Four more to herd.”
Katie and Melanie went back to the wagon to find the wagon heading into the water. “Hey! Wait for us!” they yelled, running toward the wagon and flailing their arms.
The wagon stopped and waited for the girls. The two climbed in and settled themselves between some furniture.
They had barely settled themselves when the wagon started with a jolting bump.
The horses shook their manes as they headed into the deep water. This particular river was quite strong that day, for the wind was against them, and this made it even harder to control.
The horses struggled against the flow of the river and almost lost their balance. Papa talked soothingly to the horses, and they stopped for a moment, and then started up again.
They were about halfway to the end of the river, when all of a sudden, there was heard a loud crack! Papa turned around, startled, and then cried out.
“Oh, no!” he shouted. “A wheel has broken!”
Mama gasped. “Are, are you sure?”
“Yes, I am! If you don’t believe me, go look at the rear left wheel!” Papa told her.
Mama scrambled to the back of the wagon and looked out. Behind the wagon, she could see the broken wheel floating off into the river.
All of a sudden, the wheel disappeared. “What happened to the wheel?” asked Melanie.
Papa turned around and answered her question. “It probably went down in a whirlpool!”
“Does that mean that there are other whirlpools around here in this river?” asked Jack.
“Yes,” replied Father.
The children gasped and looked for more. They wanted to warn Papa if they saw any more.
Papa continued talking. “We probably struck a log on something underneath the water. We can not see anything, and we might hit something else.”
“Do you think we will hit anything else?” asked Mama with anxiety.
“Um, well, it’s hard to tell,” Papa replied.
“I hope not!” put in Joshua.
“Well, so do I!” exclaimed Katie.
The family did not know that they would strike something else, but it would not be a log.
The wagon continued, without its wheel, on to the other side of the river. They were nearly there when all of a sudden; one of the horses neighed loudly.
Rose, the bay horse, broke away from the harnessed horses, for one of the harness straps had broken, and off she splashed through the water. Without another horse to pull the wagon, and because the horses were now spooked, the wagon went out of control.
Papa jumped into the water to try to save Rose. The horse was floundering in the middle of the river, and went down twice.
Rose brayed shrilly, and the people on the land and in the wagon plugged their ears. Papa reached the horse and grabbed her bridle.
The horse neighed again, and tried to break away from Father’s grip. However, she could not. Papa hopped onto her wet, slippery back and guided her back toward the wagon, where his family was waiting for them.
Since nobody was guiding the wagon, there was no one to see where they were headed.
The people on the shore were shouting at them to watch where they were going, but they failed to hear.
All of a sudden, there was a bump that sent all of the occupants in the back right into the water. “Yow!” shouted the children.
Papa was back with the horse by then, and, instead of hitching her back up to the wagon, he took her to shore and sent her into the hands of the people on shore.
Then, he swam back to the wagon and rescued his children from the water.
They thanked him, and then climbed back into the wagon.
The children took turns drying off with a towel that Mama had given them, and then they got dressed.
After they were finished, Jack asked a question. “What made her run off like that?”
“Oh, well, I don’t rightly know, but a strap of her harness came loose, and she broke away!” Papa answered.
Jack thought about this. Then he asked, “Are we going to keep the horses pulling the wagon?”
“Hmmm,” Papa said. “Maybe we could do that,” he said.
“Really?” asked Joshua.
“No more boring old oxen for us!” Melanie exclaimed.
“Actually, maybe it would be a good idea to keep the oxen on. That way, the horses can have a rest!” Papa declared.
“Aw,” said Joshua.
“Rats!” Jack agreed.
The girls were rather disappointed, too. They did not protest, however. Papa was glad of this, because he was not in the mood for an argument.
When the wagon reached the shore of the other bank, people crowded around them and tried to make sure they were okay.
Papa assured them that they were, just a little shaken up and very wet.
A person offered blankets them, but Papa and Mama refused. They did not want charity, and they already had blankets of their own.
**********
All the wagons crossed the river by the end of the evening. After they had crossed, The train stopped for an hour. It was only a few minutes after they had started up again that Jack said, “I itch all over.”
“It’ll go away,” Mama said, not looking up.
A little while later, Jack threw up. It was then that Mama turned and grabbed the guidebook.
They looked up the symptoms in the guidebook. “Uh-oh! I think that he has the measles. What he has sure does match the symptoms in the guidebook,” said Mother.
“How long does it take to get over it?” asked Jack.
“Unfortunately, it will take quite a while,” said Father.
“Does that mean that I can’t play with my friends?” questioned Jack sadly.
“Yes, I’m afraid it does,” said Mother.
“Phooey!” said Jack as he lay down.
**********
That night, the family had leftover ham sandwiches and maple syrup poured over biscuits. Jack said that he wanted some, but Mama gave him broth instead.
The next day, Joshua started coughing very hard. When he was finally able to stop, he wheezed, “I feel terrible, Mother.”
“Good grief! All of you kids have gotten something except for Katie. She has been lucky to get this far without getting anything.” she replied. “I think that you might have a cold, Joshua. I’m glad that it is not as serious as the diseases that your brother and sister got.”
By the time the word had gotten to the wagon master, who was near the back of the train checking someone in someone else’s family, Katie caught the measles from Jack. After all, measles are contagious.
“Now they all have or had something.” cried Mother, throwing her hands into the air. “Why did we come on this trip? Why don’t we just turn around and go back?”
Papa comforted her, and then they both gave the children some medicine.
Early the next morning, the cry went up, “Lighten the load!”
The Everboth’s wagon was very heavy, considering that all four children, all the supplies, and all the other things they had in the wagon.
Together, Mama and Papa lifted out a small table, two slat backed chairs, six books, one box of tools, and two barrels of flour. By the time they left the sight, that place could have been turned into a store! There were many, many, things that the people were leaving behind, and many women cried, but others set forth with hard, set faces, determined to move on.
Everyone knew that the less weight they added to their wagons, the better off they would be. Katie watched the pile of things grow smaller as they moved farther into the desolate wilderness.
**********
To treat Katie for the measles, Mama and Papa gave her something else. “This time,” said Father. “We will give her Epsom salts to see if they do any good, instead of peppermint. It did not do any good when we gave it to Jack.”
They gave the medicine to Katie, and she commented that it tasted awful. Papa replied, “Well, I cannot help that, but do you want to get even sicker?”
“No,” she said.
“Then you need to take it twice every day, until they go away.” Papa told her.
“Let’s give some to Jack to, because he still has not taken a medicine that works,” Mama gave this suggestion.
“That’s a good idea,” said Father, pouring some more into a spoon for Jack.
He took it, and also commented on how awful it tasted.
That afternoon, Papa went fishing to try his luck and to see what he could catch. As he walked gaily up the trail ahead of the train, a couple of other men joined him.
They chattered as they walked together, and then, after a while, the pond came into sight. As they walked up to it, the two men that had come with Papa went over to the other side of the pond to fish while Papa threw his line into the water. They fished for about an hour, and then they got up and headed back up the trail.
When they got to the place where the walking trail led into the Oregon Trail, they saw in the distance the train disappearing over the crest of a large hill.
“Come on!” shouted Father, starting to run.
The men ran as fast as they could, but they were carrying many strings of fish, and the running was not easy going. Papa gradually drew abreast of the other two, and caught up with the wagon train a few minutes before the others did.
In all, he had caught 34 pounds of fish. “That’s enough to last us for about 5 days,” said Mother.
When everyone heard how much fish that Papa had caught, they wanted to eat some right away, which Mama let them do. As they ate the pickerel, perch, and bass, Papa told them of his exciting chase after the wagon train.
Joshua said that he wished that he could have been with them at the time. “I could have run faster that anybody!” he boasted.
“Yeah, right, you can’t run worth a dime!” taunted Melanie.
Mama stopped the argument as fast as she could, but Joshua managed to get in a: “You can’t run so well yourself!”
**********
Right after they had eaten lunch, the family heard something in the distance. All of a sudden, Katie asked,” What is that noise? It sounds like drums!”
Before Papa could answer, Pete appeared at the flapway. “It is,” he said. “We are almost at Indian Town. The wagon train master sent me tell you.”
He scurried off to tell the others of the train.
“What kind of Indians are they, Mother?” asked Jack.
“I think they are Pawnee,” Mama answered as best she could.
That afternoon, April 11th, 1875 , wagon train two reached Indian Town, Iowa. Mama got into a long conversation with an old Indian named Naomi.
Naomi did not know too much English, but Mama somehow managed to get into a discussion with her just the same. Mama asked her if she had anything to trade, and she replied, “You tr-ade. Me? You-me, Tra-de. Trade?”
Mama made motions of trading things back and forth until at last the old Indian woman understood. Naomi stood up and went inside an Indian wigwam. She came out with a large string of fish and five pairs of soft moccasins.
Mama walked over to her own wagon and pulled out several things that they had double of, and also things that they had gotten for trade with the Indians.
The Indian woman watched excitedly as Mama pulled object after object out of the bag and laid it on the ground.
After several minutes, a large array of bright colored things lay on the ground in an orderly fashion. There were many things, such as bright colored beads, a harmonica, two pairs of brand new shoes, six sewing needles, and one pair of scissors.
There was also a fiddle and a long dress. Naomi handed the moccasins to Mama and picked up a needle that was lying on a blanket. She touched the end of it, and was startled to find that it was sharp. She held her finger, which was bleeding, out to Mother, and Mama bandaged it up nicely.
Naomi said something in her strange tongue, and then went back to looking over the things. Mama assumed that what she said was Thank you.
“You may have anything in that pile for all five pairs of these moccasins,” Mama told the Indian woman.
“Is good, is good,” was the reply.
She picked out the dress and two sewing needles as pay for the moccasins.
Mama gave her one fiddle, because they had two, for the fresh fish that she had for trade. There were many large salmon from the creek.
Mama then put back the bag of things for trading, and gathered up the moccasins and the fish. Naomi watched, and then gathered up her own things and took them inside the tepee.
Mama climbed into the wagon and drove the oxen over to the chief’s tent, where Papa was talking to the chief. She told him that she had traded, and she was ready to go.
He told her this: “Susan, we are going to stay here for several days, and the chief said that he is going to let the people of our train sleep in their tepees!”
**********
The wagon train rested at the old Indian town for day to rest everyone up for the rest of the trip.
One hour after they left the town, Bessie, one of the Everboth’s best pulling oxen, turned her foot when she went down in a gopher hole. “Father! I think Bessie is hurt! Her foot went into something!” shouted Joshua.
He had gotten over his cold by this time, because the chief had had his wife, who was Naomi, give him an herb that helped them when they were sick.
The old chief had also given them some of it to take along, saying that it helped just about anything.
Papa asked the wagon train to wait for them while he unhitched her and examined her injured foot to see if she could go on.
Fortunately, the gopher hole was not too deep and Bessie’s foot had not turned much. Papa took her to the back of the wagon train, where the extra animals were driven. He picked a new ox out of the ones that he owned. This ox was frisky, and he had a hard time getting it hitched to the wagon.
Ten minutes later, the wagon train was on the way to Oregon again. Papa had trouble with the oxen, because when one of the oxen turns, then the rest of them have to turn. That is the way that the yokes worked. If one ox wants to turn, and he does, then because the yoke is wooden, and cannot bend, that forces the other ox to move, too.
Now, this ox wanted to turn, and this was the reason that Papa was having trouble with the ox. Joshua came out of the wagon to help, and got shoved out of the way by Papa when he tried to help stop the oxen. Papa was trying to get the ox to slow down, but it refused.
When he finally got the ox under control, he helped Joshua brush off.
“I’m sorry that I pushed you so hard, Joshua, but I did not want you to get kicked by the frisky ox,” Papa apologized.
“That’s all right. I probably spooked him anyway, and would have gotten kicked!” Joshua laughed.
**********
After a little while, the men stopped again and hitched another ox to the yoke. They put the skittery ox back with the rest and put on a more solemn one. “Mother, when are we going to stop?” asked Jack.
“We will be stopping at Council Bluffs when we get there,” she answered.
“Good. I want to look around. Pete and I want to see if we can find any money lying around in the dirt,” Jack exclaimed.
“If you do find any, you must ask Papa before you use any of it, or give it to me to hang onto, all right?” Mama told him.
“Okay,” he shouted over his shoulder as he hopped out of the wagon and ran off to play.
Mama watched him go and shook her head, thinking I sure am blessed with such good children. I just hope the good Lord helps us get to Oregon all right.
**********
At 1:07 on April 13th, the rather tired looking wagon train inched into view of Council Bluffs. Unfortunately, Mama had been wrong. The wagon train did not stop at Council Bluffs, but continued its journey until it reached Kanesville Crossing.
There, the men stopped the wagons to try to figure out a way to cross the river. It was not iced over like the other rivers had been.
Many arguments went on between them, and there were many disputes over how the river should be crossed.
“We should ford it!”
“I say we make a raft!”
“That would take too long!”
After one hour of planning, the men decided that they would ford the river until Papa spoke up. He had been thinking, and now he told of what he thought they should do. “Men, that river over there is ten feet deep and the oxen’s legs are only two feet high. Now, if you want to drown your oxen and lose all your supplies, go right ahead.”
Papa continued with, “It’s not up to me what you fellers do, but me and my family are caulking our wagon and we are floating across that treacherous river.”
The men talked and argued about this for a couple of minutes and decided that Father’s word about river crossing was the best. “Why didn’t I think of that?” questioned one of the men.
“You must just not be smart enough!” another joked.
“All of us know that Mr. Everboth is the smartest one out of all of us!” exclaimed one man loudly.
Papa heard this complement as he walked away from the circle of light where the men had met. When he looked back, nearly the whole area was deserted, for everybody had gone back to his own wagons.
“Did you know that Council Bluffs used to be called Kanesville?” asked Katie, her face buried in the guidebook.
“Yes, I did,” replied Mother.
The next morning, the wagons started across the stretch of river that lay ahead. The first wagon tipped, and six men swam out to try to rescue the people and the oxen, but they were not quite in time. The whole thing went under, taking the people, the oxen, and many loud screams and bawls.
It was a sad sight, and the next wagon that went across was extra careful. All of the people were careful, but yet another wagon went down.
“Mother, what made those wagons go down?” asked Melanie. She was upset about the incident, too.
“Well, that I can’t tell you exactly, but I can at least tell you what I think happened!” Mama replied. “I think that there is a whirlpool in the middle where both of those wagons went down.”
“What is a whirlpool?” Melanie came back with yet another question.
“A whirlpool is a spinning column of water that sucks things into it’s depth,” Mama answered.
“Oh,” said Melanie.
“Do you think that it will get us?” asked Joshua, who had been listening in.
“Well, maybe, but it won’t get us if we are careful and stay away from it,” she explained.
**********
By 5:00 that evening, all but three of the wagons were across the river. The last one, as it turned out, also got sucked into the whirlpool, even though they were careful. One of the people, a little boy, clung onto one of the oxen when the wagon went under, and the ox struggled to shore with the little boy on his back.
His Mama had been rescued, and she rejoiced to find her little boy alive. Mama provided her with a towel to dry Steven, her son, off.
“Praise the Lord!” the woman kept saying over and over again.
It was decide that the woman would walk, and her son would ride on the ox’s back. Many of the families donated something from their stock of supplies to that small family.
One family gave them a large patchwork quilt, one gave them a raincoat, another an umbrella, and yet another gave the little boy a bag of candy and a new set of clothes to wear.
The Everboths gave him a Bible and when Papa took something out of his pocket, he walked over to the ox where the little boy rode, and handed something to him. “This is for you,” he said. “I personally think that you are old and responsible enough to have a jackknife.”
Quickly, he added, “If your parents say it is all right. Oh, I mean your mother.”
Steven’s Mama nodded her head happily.
“Oh, thank you, sir,” said the boy, looking with wide eyes at the knife.
“You’re welcome,” replied Father, heading back to his wagon.
When he got back to the wagon, Joshua asked him, “Father, what did you give him?”
“I gave him a jackknife, and I got it at Council Bluffs,” Papa answered.
“Did you get me one?” Joshua persisted.
“No, I did not, Joshua, and you already have one, so you do not need a new one. Don’t be greedy. Yours is perfectly fine.” Papa said, sitting down on the wagon seat and taking the reins and whip from Mother.
He looked back at Joshua, who had pulled out his jackknife, and was now looking at it. Joshua was thinking, Maybe I did just get this at the beginning of the trip, but I still want a new one. Maybe Papa was going to give that one to me, but decided to give it to the other boy instead. Oh, well.
**********
That night, Mama called everyone together. When everyone was gathered around her, she started to talk. “From now on, there will me some different rules around here. Papa and I will explain them, and you must listen carefully. Number one, girls, I have noticed that you have neglected wearing your bonnets, and that is the first rule. From now on, unless you are sleeping or in the water, you must wear your bonnets.”
“Number two,” said Father, “You boys will comb your hair each morning before breakfast.”
“Number three, you will not ride in the wagon unless you are sick,” Mama put in.
“Number four, you will not pick up things that you see in piles of stuff that others have left behind,” voiced Father.
“That is right,” said Mother. She continued with, “I have noticed some strange things in the wagon, and this is one of them.”
She held up a dishtowel with a picture of a kitten and a dog on it. “Whom might this belong to?” she asked.
Katie timidly raised her hand. “It belongs to me.”
“Well, don’t pick up anything else that is without value, all right?”
All the children agreed, although they did look kind of forlorn. “Does that mean we cannot pick up anything?” asked Joshua sadly.
“Not unless we say it is all right to keep,” replied Father.
The children agreed and trudged out of the wagon unhappily.
**********
The next morning Mama announced, “It is April 15th, and we have gone three hundred and four miles and we are almost to Florence, where we will stock up on supplies that we used or lost during the trip.”
“Yippee!” Melanie and Jack shouted.
“I want to see if there is anything lying around, like money! Mama did not let me look when we got to the Bluff of Council!” Joshua exclaimed, combing his hair with the new comb Papa had given to him the previous day.
Mama laughed. “Joshua, it is Council Bluffs, not Bluff of Council!”
Joshua looked embarrassed. “Oh,” he said, sitting down in a chair. “What’s for breakfast?”
“Oh, let’s see,” Mama replied, starting to serve things on the plates. “We are having roasted ham dipped in honey, eggs, milk, and…”
“Where did you get milk?” demanded Joshua, looking in the cups.
“I got it in trade for a harmonica,” she answered.
“Oh, I see,” he said in reply.
“Who did you get it from?” interrupted Jack.
“I got it at…” Mama tried to answer, but was cut off by another question.
“Are we having anything else?” asked Katie.
“In answer to your question Jack, I got the milk from Mrs. Peterdas, and Katie, here is what we are having.” Mama explained.
Just then, Melanie clambered in. “What is for breakfast, Mother?”
Mama handed each of her children a plate. “Look and see!” she said happily.
“Oh boy!” they exclaimed when they saw what was on their plates.
Papa came in just then, and picked up a plate. “This is good, Susan,” he mumbled through a mouth full of food.
“Thank you,” said Mother.
“Yeah, Mother, it is good, but what is this on top of the ham?” asked Melanie, gazing at the glop on top of her ham.
“It’s honey, silly,” chided Joshua. “See? It’s all drippy, and stretchy, and gooey!”
“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” she said, taking a large mouthful. Immediately she spit it back out.
“Eeew! What is this stuff?” she sputtered.
The boys were in hysteria; they were laughing so hard. “It’s it’s…” they could not answer.
“Well, come on, out with it!” Mama told them. She took the ham off Melanie’s plate and split it open. Inside, the brothers had hollowed out it out, and there was a large amount of mud.
Papa saw what was inside and started to shout. “JOSHUA AND JACK, YOU TWO ARE IN BIG, BIG TROUBLE!”
Joshua and Jack hunkered down in their seats and looked timidly up their father. Meanwhile, Mama tasted the glaze on the mud pie. (Or, should I say, ham.)
“This is melted lard!” she exclaimed. “You boys didn’t use the melted lard I was trying not to use, I hope!”
Glad to turn away from the angry face of Father, the two boys turned to their mother. They nodded timidly, and then they apologized to Melanie for playing such a mean trick.
“That’s all right, guys,” she said. “I guess I was just surprised when I bit into it, and screamed!”
“Thanks for forgiving us, Melanie.” Joshua said.
“You’re welcome,” she replied.
“Well, I suppose that if Melanie is not mad, I can let you guys off just this once,” remarked Father. “But this is THE last time, do you here me?”
“Yes, sir,” they replied meekly.
**********
Mama was wrong again. When the train got to Florence, they did not stop, but continued on slowly. Everyone thought that they were going to stop, but Mr. Catemade, the wagon train leader, gave no indication that they were going to stop or turn into the gates.
When they were past, Jack exclaimed, “Mother, you said that we were going to stop! I wanted to stretch my legs!”
“Then get out and walk beside the wagon, if it’s exercise you want,” snapped Mother.
As soon as she said this, Joshua piped up with, “Mother! You said I could go look for money in the town! It’s not fair that we didn’t stop!”
“If you think that it isn’t fair, go talk to the head of the wagon train!” she answered, not looking at him.
Muttering, Joshua walked toward the front of the wagon train. Then, a thought hit him.
Why not run up front and guide the wagon train, since no one was there? Joshua set out for the lead wagon as fast as he could. When he got to about the third wagon behind the first, he peeked cautiously around the lead wagon, and, seeing nobody, he trotted over to the wagon master’s horse.
He climbed onto the tethered horse that the wagon master owned, and stuck his feet into the stirrups. For a few minutes, everything went well. The horse behaved well, and the oxen in the wagon behind him followed the horse.
Joshua started to worry that the wagon master or his Papa would come around the corner just then, and spoil his fun. Joshua sat up straight in the saddle, and shifted his weight, trying to think about something good.
After all, I am doing them a favor. Nobody was here, and the oxen might have run away if I had not gotten on this horse. “Yeah!” he said out loud.
Joshua straightened up suddenly, and smiled. Now he felt proud. But there was still the problem of people seeing him. Oh, well, I’ll just say that they should be proud of me for taking over for them while they here.
Joshua shifted his weight again, and then stood up in the saddle to try to see what was over the next ridge of land. He gave a loud war whoop when he saw what was coming. Just ahead, coming towards them, was a horse and wagon. “A peddler!” he shouted with joy.
The peddler was to far away to hear him, but the horse was not. The midnight black horse that Joshua was riding bolted and started to run. Somehow, Joshua managed to turn him back around and ride back to the front of the wagon train.
Joshua calmed the horse down somewhat, but after a couple of minutes, the horse stated getting skittery.
The horse got irritated of having someone incapable of riding on his back, and started to kick. The horse kicked up his hind feet and then reared. “Whoa!” shouted Joshua, this time not able to keep the horse under control.
At that moment, Papa and the wagon master came around the side of the wagon. “Oh, my goodness!” exclaimed the wagon master.
Seeing the horse kicking and bucking with Joshua on his back, Papa rolled up his sleeves and started toward the wagon master’s horse and his son.
Just in time, Dave Catemade, the wagon master, caught his arm and said, “Jeffery, don’t go just yet. I’ll handle this, and you can talk to Joshua later, all right?”
Papa sighed. “All right,” he said, rolling down his sleeves back down.
“I know this horse, because I’ve had him a long time,” replied the wagon master.
Mr. Catemade walked slowly up to the horse, saying calmly, “Whoa, there, Trusty, Whoa, there.”
Trusty turned toward the wagon master, who was his master, and reared again. Then, he kicked up his heels and ran.
“You know how he works, huh?” Papa shouted at Dave. “Looks to me like he doesn’t even like you!”
Papa started to run towards his wagon, but Dave stopped him by putting his hand on Father’s arm. “Where are you going, Jeffery?”
“I’m going to get one of my daughter’s horses and I’m going to go after my son!” he snapped.
“Jeffery, calm down!” said the wagon master. He turned toward the horse, which was still running. He whistled loudly, and the horse stopped and perked up his ears. From the distance, Papa and Dave saw Joshua move around, and assumed that he was getting off.
Before he could, Dave whistled again. This time, Trusty streaked toward the wagon train. They could see Joshua almost fall off. As soon as the horse calmed down, Joshua was able to get off the back of the horse that had given him that very scary ride.
Papa looked at him sternly and Joshua knew that that meant, “Get back to the wagon and we’ll talk about this later.”
Dave started to pet Trusty on the neck, and the horse nuzzled his shoulder. He then looked at Papa as if expecting something.
“I’m really sorry about all this, Dave,” said Father, seeing his look.
“Well, so am I,” said Dave, the wagon master. “Why don’t you head back to your wagon?”
“No, not quite yet, I’d like to hang around for a while, and help with whatever I can,” replied Father, looking at Joshua.
Joshua knew that that look meant, and it meant, Get back to the wagon NOW, and stay there until I see you to talk with you. Tell your Mama what happened, and don’t leave the wagon until I say you can. Now, Go!
Joshua trudged toward the wagon, and once he looked back. He saw that Papa was still staring at him, so he turned around and ran the rest of the way to his wagon.
When he arrived, he told Mama this. “Papa said to tell you what happened. You see, I, um, well, I kind of like, um, well, got onto the wagon master’s horse, and it kind of um, like, ran away?”
“Joshua! You didn’t!” exclaimed a shocked Mother.
“I’m afraid to say that I did! I’m supposed to stay in the wagon until Papa comes home. He’ll tell you the rest when he comes home,” Joshua said, looking at his feet.
Mama looked at him sternly for a moment, and then turned back to preparing supper. As she worked, she talked to Joshua. “You should never, never, take anything that belong to someone else!”
“But I didn’t take it!” said Joshua, who was protestant.
“Yes, you were! Maybe you didn’t steal it, but you sure did take it and ride that horse!” Mama shouted back.
“No I did not!” he shouted back.
“Yes, you did!” she came back with.
“I DID NOT!” Joshua shouted as loud as he could.
Papa appeared at the front of the wagon just then and looked inside. “What is going on in here?” he asked, covering his ears.
First Papa heard what Mama had to say, and he responded, “Joshua, yes, you did ride that horse.”
“But I…”
“There’ll be no buts about it, young man. Tonight, tomorrow night, and each night for the rest of the week, you will go to bed one hour earlier, and you are grounded to this wagon for all of tomorrow,” Papa pronounced.
“But but…”
“I said no buts about it, and I mean it!” Papa shouted at him.
“Yes, sir,” he muttered.
Joshua got out of his seat and jumped off of the wagon tongue. He started to run towards his friend Pete’s wagon, but was pulled up short as Papa called out. “Joshua!” he crooked his finger towards him, motioning for Joshua to come back
“What now?” he asked with a sassy ring to his voice as he walked back toward the wagon yet again.
“You also may not go out for the rest of the day,” Papa stated with finality in his tone of voice.
Joshua’s mouth dropped open, but he climbed back up into the wagon bed and sat down in a slat-backed chair. He did not look at his parents, whom he knew were looking at him.
“Well, Susan, I’m going to head back up to the front of the wagons, and I guess I’ll see you later!” he said.
Before he left, he told Joshua that he was to obey his mother’s commands, and he was still not to leave the wagon. “I will talk to you more about this later, but for now, I’m going to see if I can help with anything up front.”
“Okay, bye.” Joshua told him downheartedly.
Papa left the wagon and Joshua saw him run toward the wagon master, who was up ahead.
Because of the diseases that the Everboths had gotten, the wagon master had put them at the end of the train, and they were still there.
Just then, Mama called to Joshua. “Come help me get dinner, please. I would like you to set out the plates and silverware. It’s in the box under sewing kit.”
As Joshua set the table, he was feeling regret, and then he had a thought. I never told them what I was going too!
But then, they told me I was punished for doing wrong, and I believe it.
**********
The next morning was the shout, “Elkhorn River, straight ahead!”
A great cheer went up from the members of the train. This was a pretty famous landmark, and they were glad to reach it.
“Wow, we have traveled three-hundred and thirty one miles so far!” cried Katie, who was in the back of the wagon.
“Yeah!” Melanie also exclaimed. “We have gone real far!”
The girls chattered on and on, telling what they would do first when they got to Oregon.
Joshua felt jealous, because his sisters were so happy.
**********
The day that they reached the Elkhorn River was the day after the peddler joined the wagon train for a few days. The wagon master called the wagons into a circle, and then he had the peddler open his cart to show his wares.
“Yup, folks, all my stuff is made from genuine metal, no artificial stuff, all genuine!” the peddler said, looking out over the crowd of people.
This particular peddler had a dog, and the Everboths found out that its name was Grapple. They found out why he was named this when the peddler called Joshua forward…
“I need a volunteer!” he shouted loudly at the people gathered around his cart.
Many people raised their hands, but the peddler did not call on any of them. Instead, he saw the Everboths, standing quietly, and watching what he would do.
“You! The little boy in the blue shirt and black pants! Come here!” said the peddler, pointing to Joshua.
“Y-y-you mean me?” Joshua asked timidly.
“Yes, you,” said the peddler, motioning for him to come closer.
Mama gave Joshua a little shove, and he slowly walked forward. When he reached the side of the peddler’s cart, he stopped and said “What?”
“Good! Good!” said the peddler, guiding him toward the front of the cart.
He held the shoulders of Joshua and addressed him in front of the crowd. “This here is a boy, and he is going to find out why I named my dog Grapple.”
Joshua shivered, but he did what the peddler told him to.
The peddler said, “Now, you may call me George McParleyson, and what I want you to do is stand right here.”
George had Joshua stand a distance away from the cart with his back to Grapple. Then he positioned Grapple directly behind Joshua, and the he told Grapple go, and before Joshua knew it, he was on the ground with Grapple on top of him.
“He did that to me when I first got him, and he does it to me every once in a while. So, I trained him to do it so that it would not hurt people, and I use it for a show,” the peddler told him.
“Well, that certainly is some show,” Joshua said to him.
“Thank you,” said the peddler.
“Can he do anything else?” shouted someone in the crowd.
“Yes, he can,” George answered.
He motioned for Grapple to get off of Joshua, and when Joshua stood up, he was pretty shaken. “Is there a reason that he does that?” he asked.
“Well, I’m not exactly sure, but I think that he does it to people he likes. I got him at a farm where people were selling puppies, and I could not for the life of me decide which one I wanted. Right then and there, one of the puppies woke up, and stretched. All of a sudden, as I turned around and started to leave, I felt something hit my back. I was so surprised, I fell down!” George the peddler laughed.
Joshua laughed, too, and the peddler continued his story. “Anyway, the owners started to laugh, and so did I. I decided that this was the perfect puppy for me, because it seemed that he liked me. And, I took him home, and he has been traveling with me ever since.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Joshua. “What an experience!”
“You got that right!” declared the peddler.
The peddler reached into his wagon and pulled out a hoop, two balls, and a hat. He set the hat on Grapple’s head, and then held the hoop up to waist level. He gave Grapple a signal, and the dog sailed through the hoop.
Someone started to cheer, and the rest of the crowd joined him. When the whole crowd was cheering, Grapple flung his head forward so his hat came off of his head, and then he snatched it back up with his teeth and flipped it up through the air onto his head.
This caused a great deal more cheering and clapping. The peddler, George, bowed, and then he explained that his dog had been bowing, too.
Someone else then shouted, “Can he do anything else?”
Another asked, “What are the balls for?”
“Well, I’ll show you!” said the peddler.
He picked up the two balls, and rolled one toward the outside of the wagon circle. Grapple ran after it, and as soon as he got there, George, the peddler, threw the ball up into the air and let it drop to the ground. Grapple ran back to his master, dropped the ball that had been rolled at his feet, picked up the other one, and ran back to the place where he had gotten the other ball.
George threw the ball up into the air and again let it fall to the ground. Once again, Grapple brought the other one back, dropped it, and then took the other one back.
This time, George whistled to his dog, and Grapple brought the ball back, dropped it, and stared up at his master to wait for his next command to fill out.
George patted Grapple’s head, and the dog lay down on his master’s feet.
People began to clap yet again, and then the rest joined him. The peddler and his dog bowed again, and then George put away the hoop, the two balls, and took the hat off Grapple’s head, and put that away, too.
The people kept on cheering until he put his hands up for silence, and motioned for them to be quiet.
**********
After the crowd had dispersed, the peddler took his wagon to the back of the wagon train and climbed up onto the high seat. “Gee-up!” he told his mules.
The train was starting, and they were pulling out of the circle that had formed.
The wagon master called for them to start, and the wagons started to roll. The people that were at the back of the train watched through the back to see what the peddler would do.
Instead of doing anything worth watching, he just smiled and drove his mules at the same pace.
At the end of the day, when the wagon master called a halt, the peddler walked back out into the circle again, and he said, “Now, you may see what is in my cart, and I will sell you things,” the peddler told the crowd.
The Everboth family was one of the first to be called on to buy things, and they went forward. Papa told all of the children that they would each be allowed to pick out one thing that they wanted.
“Yay!” they shouted, jumping up and down while they were still outside of the cart.
When they got inside the cart, all the things took the children’s breaths away. It was very shiny inside, as a peddler’s cart should be. There were pots, pans, skillets, cake pans, shoes, aprons, cookie cutters, tin horns, pens, pencils, scissors, and many, many, other wonderful things that a peddler would carry.
Joshua picked out a tin horn, Jack picked out a tin horn also, Melanie got a diamond shaped cookie cutter, and Katie got an apron.
After the kids had picked out what they wanted, Mama and Papa made them wait outside while they made their purchases. While the children waited, inside their parents were buying pots, pans, a skillet, two cake pans, six pairs of shoes, one more apron, six more cookie cutters, and six pens and pencils.
When they hopped out of the back of the peddler’s wagon, Mama and Papa handed each child a pen, a pencil, and a new pair of shoes. They were very happy, and thanked Mama and Papa profusely.
**********
The next morning, which was April 17th, when the wagons once again pulled out of a circle. About an hour after they had started, Mama started to sing, because she was in a good mood that morning.
“Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Home, home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs* so free,
The breezes so balmy and light,
That I would not exchange my home on the range
For all of the cities so bright.
The red man was pressed from this part of the West,
He’s likely no more to return
To the banks of Red River where seldom if ever
Their flickering campfires burn.
How often at night when the heavens are bright
With the light of the glittering stars,
Have I stood here amazed and asked as I gazed
If their glory exceeds that of ours.
Oh, I love these wild flowers in this dear land of ours,
The curlew I love to hear scream,
And I love the white rocks and the antelope flocks
That graze on the mountaintops green.
Oh, give me a land where the bright diamond sand
Flows leisurely down the stream;
Where the graceful white swan goes gliding along
Like a maid in a heavenly dream.
Then I would not exchange my home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Home, home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day.”
Melanie was listening to the song, and she asked what the name of it was. Mama answered. “It is called the A Home on the Range.”
“Why is it called that?” she asked.
“Because it is all about a home on the range,” replied Mother.
“I see,” she answered.
“Who wrote it?” asked