Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/381



which took from four to six months. Large, strong wagons were made for these trips, as rough roads were encountered through the mountain regions. These wagons were also used as the night camps for defense against Indian attacks. Almost the entire journey was through an unsettled country, portions of which was in regions infested by roving bands of hostile Indians. The wagons were covered with canvas and drawn by from three to six pair of oxen. At night the encampment was made secure by forming a corral with the wagons, while the oxen were left to graze on the plains. Progress was slow, as the cattle could only travel from fifteen to twenty-five miles a day. During the years 1849, ’50, ’51, ’52, long lines of California teams traversed the main roads leading westward through Iowa, from the Mississippi to the Missouri. They furnished a good home market to Iowa farmers for their surplus hay and corn, early in the spring before the grass had grown to supply feed for the slowly moving teams. Thousands of gold seekers from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin made their journey thus over the Iowa prairies in those years. It is doubtful, on the whole, whether as much wealth was brought back by the thousands of Iowa men who swelled the army of gold seekers as was expended by them in outfits, subsistence, loss of time and the various unavoidable expenses attending the venture.

Whether Iowa gained or lost in population from the great hegira is not easy to determine. Thousands of Iowa men remained in California, but other thousands from eastern States, who traversed its fertile prairies on their journey in search of gold, remembered the beautiful country they had passed through and, after a few years, returned to make it their home.

The gold discoveries and consequent emigration to California revived with vigor the controversy over the extension of slavery in the territories. The new population of California was largely composed of industrious,