Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/428

418 the tire, which answers very well, is to drive pine wedges crosswise under it, which holds it tight. If your wagons are even ordinarily good, the tire will never become loose, and you will not perhaps have to repair any on the whole trip. Any wagon that will perform a journey from Kentucky to Missouri, will stand the trip well. There are many wagons in Oregon, brought through last year, that are both old and very ordinary. It is much easier to repair a wagon on the way than you would suppose. Beware of heavy wagons, as they break down your teams for no purpose, and you will not need them. Light wagons will carry all you want, as there is nothing to break them down, no logs, no stumps, no rock, until you get more than half way, when your load is so much reduced, that there is then no danger. You see no stumps on the road until you get to Burnt River, and very few there, and no rock until you get into the Black Hills, and only there for a short distance, and not bad, and then you will see none until you reach the Great Soda Spring, on Bear River—at least none of any consequence. If an individual should have several wagons, some good and some ordinary, he might start with all of them; and his ordinary wagons will go to the mountains, where his load will be so reduced that his other wagons will do. It is not necessary to bring along an extra axletree, as you will rarely break one. A few pieces of well seasoned hickory, for the wedges and the like, you ought to bring.

.—The best teams for this trip are ox teams. Let the oxen be from three to five years old, well set, and compactly built; just such oxen as are best for use at home. They should not be too heavy, as their feet will not bear the trip so well; but oxen six, seven, and eight years old, some of them very large, stood the trip last year very well, but not so well in general as the younger and lighter ones. Young cows make just as good a team as any. It is the travel and not the pulling that tires your team, until after you reach Port Hall. If you have cows for a team it requires more of them in bad roads, but they stand the trip equally well, if not better, than oxen. We fully tested the ox and mule teams, and we found the ox teams greatly superior. One ox will pull as much as two mules, and, in mud, as much as four. They are more easily managed, are not so subject to be lost or broken down on the way, cost less at the start, and are worth about four times as much here. The ox is a most noble animal, patient, thrifty, durable, gentle, and easily driven, and does not run off. Those who come to this country will be in love with their oxen by the time they reach here. The ox will plunge through mud, swim over streams, dive into thickets, and climb mountains to get at the grass, and he will eat almost anything. Willows they eat with great greediness on the way; and it is next to impossible to drown an ox. I would advise all emigrants to bring all the cattle they can procure to this country, and all their horses, as they will, with proper care, stand the trip well. We