Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 22.djvu/158



148 S. H. TAYLOR

cattle is unnecessary after striking the Platte from that point, for some reason, they will not eat it. There are about ten ferries on the road the aggregate cost on each wagon is about $25 to $30 by all but two of which the Mississippi and Missouri we swam our cattle without difficulty. The loss of cattle on the road is just according to the care they have. The loss of sheep, some 15,000 to 20,000 of which are on the way, I am informed by the most judicious drivers to be not much less than 20 per cent., or one-fifth. If any one wishes to take hens, they can manage a half dozen or so with little trouble. There are some in our company, and they ride well, being let out at evening, and have laid nearly all the way. There is no trouble in taking a dog, unless a bad traveler, by seeing to it that he has water supplied to him on the "dry stretches." It is not well to take cows that will "come in" on the road; I have seen many such, and many young calves traveling, but there are great objections, to wit: Good butter cannot be made on the road, and such as we have is little cared for. A can holding 6 to 20 qts., keeps our sour milk and cream, and makes our butter by the motion of our wagon. Everything should be carried in tin cans and bags. Pickles, and, I pre- sume, pork, can be kept in cans while air tight. The flesh of poultry, "cooked down," is found an excellent article of food. The dried eggs were a failure with us. Tin ware should be substituted for earthen, and sheet for cast iron. Russia is the only sheet iron, that, in a stove, will last through. An excellent substitute for a stove when no baking is to be done, is a sheet of iron like a stove top, to be put over a fire hole in the ground, a common means of cooking, and one which the traveler soon learns to make and use. It is just as good as a stove for every purpose but baking. Every one needs flannel under clothing here. In regard to supplies of clothing for the future, every one is convinced that anything not needed for the road, costs a great deal more than it comes to. Take nothing for use after getting through excepting money, of course, tho' I can assure you, you will have much less of that than you