OCR Text |
Show • - 14 Persons having familie~, with children, will find it ne· cessary to make nearly as large an estimate for each child, as for an adult. Men, wou.len and children, eat twice the quantity on the road that they would otherwise require at home. 1\iake no calculation upon any thing in the shape of game-you \viii need that too. Do not encun1ber yoursel~es with any thing not absolutely essential to your comfort; take blankets, sheets, quilts, coverlets and pillows, (omit beds,) with oil cloth, or India rubber spread, to lay on the ground under you. Take no horses unless of the Indian breed; the common horse cannot stand the road. Do not start with the intention of changing your \Vagons, for mules and Indian horses at Fort Laramie, as recommended by one through the press-it cannot be done-they are not to be had in any number. Cattle are best, except for packing over steeps. Oxen upon the whole, are the best; they need no shoeing, as the hot sand of the plain renders their hoofs so hard as to supersede the use of shoes. Some recommend cows, do not take them as a team. Extra axle-trees are useful. Every mechanic should have his tools within his reach for emergencies on the road. Fish-hooks and lines are useful· seeds of mcst kinds are needed; all kinds of garden seeds, particularly peach, cherry, and plum stones-tobacco cotton rice ·an d oth er usef. ul seeds. ' ' ' For clothing, you want plenty of strong cheap goods f~r hard se:vice-as well as boots, hats, caps, &c. Whe; rightly equipped, the undertaking is not so sQrious as may be supposed. One thing we would enjoin, particularly, get up early when on the route; start your cattle np to feed as ~arly as 3 o'clock-start on your journey at 4-travel hll the sun gets high-camp till the heat i a over. Then start again and travel till dark-do most of ' .' 15 your heavy cooking at the noon camp. Never travel on the S1bbath; we will guarantee that if you lay by on the Sabbath, and rest yourselves and teams, that you will get to California 20 days sooner than those who travel seven days in the week. ... ' |