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Covered Wagon Days
The settlement of the western part of the United States of America was full of hardships and dangers as well as excitement. We can have a glimpse of an early settlerĄ¯s journey west by reading the following letter written about fifty years ago by Mrs. Orpha Haxby.
The settlement of much of the territory west of the Mississippi River has taken place within the last one hundred years, within the memory of people now living .
Rapid City, South Dakota, a fast-growing modern business center of some 60,000 people located at the eastern
edge of the Black Hills, is a community that has been settled in recent years. The Black Hills , a region of low,
beautifully wooded mountains in the western part of the state, first became known in the 1870s when gold was discovered
there. Most of the South Dakota territory belonged to the Indians at that time, but the white men soon came to the Rapid
City area in throngs, some to search for gold and some to farm or establish businesses for the new settlement .
Some years ago, the children of the third grade in one of the schools in Rapid City wrote to Mrs. Orpha Haxby,
an 80-year ¨Cold resident of the city, to ask her about her childhood experiences as a real pioneer. The following
letter is her reply telling about her 300-mile trip by covered wagon from Elk Point, South Dakota, to Rapid City.
This journey that took seven weeks in 1876 can now be made in one day by car or in one hour by airplane. You will
note that in writing to children she wrote from the childĄ¯s point of view, emphasizing the excitement she felt as a child.
She failed to mention, however, that the men were always conscious of the dangers involved and that the
women were saddened by the breaking of home ties. Mrs. Haxby has said that her mother cried during the whole trip,
feeling that she would never see her family again.
November13, 1944
Rapid City, South Dakota
Dear Children:
Yes, I was a pioneer when I came with my father, mother and two older sisters to the Black Hills of South Dakota.
We left Elk Point, South Dakota, in early October, 1876, in a covered wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen , with a few necessary belongings : our clothing bedding, dishes, cooking utensils , a kerosene lantern , a tent, camp stove, my motherĄ¯s rocking chair, and of course, food. I was allowed to bring my schoolbooks and a few toys. We also had six cows, a crate of chickens on the rear end of the wagon box,
and one pony. We started with four cats, as my father had promised some of his friends he would bring them each a cat.
Well, we arrived with only one---my pet. I shall always feel grateful to him , for he slept at my feet all the way and
kept them warm.The cats and chickens soon learned that the wagon was their home. But the cats would go hunting at night ,
and at different times three failed to get back in the morning before we were ready to start and had to be left behind.
The chickens were always turned loose when we first made camp in the evening, to stretch their wings and get exercise.
They cackled and scratched around until dark and then flew into their box to sleep. The cattle were different.They had to be watched at night by a man called the night herder. He slept in the wagon during the day as we jogged along.
After our tent was put up at night and a fire was going in the camp stove, we were comfortable, even though the snow sometimes had to be scraped away before putting up the tent. Many times I had to knock my feet together to keep them warm while waiting. After supper, we spread our beds on the ground.
Our food was cooked outside over an open fire. Our bread was baked in a Dutch oven, a heavy iron kettle with three
short legs and a heavy iron lid with a rim about an inch high.The bread dough was patted out the size of the kettle
and an inch thick.The oven was heated by placing it over a bed of hot coals, and more coals were placed on the lid,
which shows the need of the rim to keep them from falling off. Some old-timers still say this is the best way to make
bread, and it certainly is good.
Our food consisted mostly of bread, bacon, ham, rice, dried fruits, tea,coffee,and sugar. We had milk from the cows, and the hens occasionally laid eggs. We could not have vegetables or canned goods because they would freeze.
We carried our wood tied under the wagon unless we were going to camp near a stream where there was timber.
We had only two real rivers to cross, the Missouri and the Cheyenne. When we reached the Missouri River at Pierre,
the ice was not strong enough to carry the heavily loaded wagons, so we waited about a week for it to get thicker.
Even then we were not allowed to ride. Instead, we walked alongside at a safe distance, and I could see cracks
in the ice radiating in all directions .By the time the last wagon came along, the ice was so weakened that it broke
through just as it reached the edge, but the teams were on the bank and pulled it through.At the Cheyenne River the ice
was not safe either; but since it was a shallow stream, a channel was cut through the ice wide enough for the wagons,
and the river was forded.
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