Page 68 and the end of the Wagon Train story sees the settlers on their way out west:
Finally, let us say that it wasn’t all danger and hardship. When the wagon trains halted for the night and the camp-fires were lighted and, at last, a hot meal was eaten by hungry men, women and children, then would men with musical instruments of all kinds, from the fiddle to the hunble jew’s harp, strike up a song of the West or, maybe, some old tune that reminded the emigrants of the homes they had left for ever.
Then the canvas flaps of the great wagons would be laced securely and the emigrants would wrap themselves in their blankets for the night. Yet not all would sleep away the hours of darkness. Shadowy figures, each with a gun in the crook of his arm, would keep guard, ready to give the alarm the moment that danger threatened. Thus did men and women and carefree children of all ages pioneer their way across a great continent in the covered wagon trains of the days of the Golden West.
Page 67 of the Wagon Train 1961 annual:
So went the wagon trains, braving dangers from redskins, sudden storms, deadly snakes, shortage of water, dust storms that could bury a whole train in an hour, blizzards that often came out of season to take men unawares, and a whole host of other perils. Bandits were there, too, waiting to pounce upon the last wagons if they happened to have lagged behind a little. Sometimes bad men formed themselves into companies, lived in tent-towns and raided the wagon trains that they thought were the least protected by the guards.
People died on the trail, babies were born, couples were married by travelling clergymen on their way to serve some small mining village or cattle town away out West. Deeds of heroism were performed that would have earned a whole stack of George Crosses. Yes, and all the time the wagon train, large or small, would go steadily on, nearing its goal with every turn of the great wagon wheels.
Read the story from the beginning: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4
Annie Oakley was “the first American female superstar” according to her Wikipedia entry. Not bad for a girl born in a cabin in rural Ohio who suffered a fairly eventful childhood and honed her skills as a sharpshooter hunting game from the age of 9 to sell to neighbours to support her family.
Born Phoebe Ann Mosey, Annie Oakley took her stage name before joining Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in 1885 and became known as ‘The Little Sure Shot of the Wild West’.
Compare the Wild West Show promotional poster below then with the second image taken from a 1959 era comic ‘Wild Bill Hickock & Jingles #7‘ published by Charlton Comics:
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Peter Brookes’ regular Nature Notes cartoon in The Times today compares the Arizona Senator to a ‘fast disappearing species’:
Buy a great collection of Nature Notes cartoons on Amazon.co.uk
Page 65 of the Wagon Train annual continues the story:
But the Indian menace was not the worst of all; it was the terrible storms that rage over the West that were the greatest danger. They’d come roaring up from the west, sweep down upon the wagon train and, like as not, drown several oxen-drivers and pony riders before it was past. Terrible blizzards, too, took their toll of lives, as did the crossings of the many raging torrents that were encountered.
And the route itself? The main one was the Oregon and California trail that had been first carved out by the early traders and trappers. It led across the great Humbolt Desert that had to be travelled as quickly as possible before its terrors struck down and wiped out a whole wagon train. Then it wandered across the vast South Pass and clear to the Sierra, and beyond to Oregon and California and gold.
Page 65:
Then came rules and regulations that had to be obeyed. Some of the bigger wagon trains were little travelling republics or kingdoms with their own laws, judges and courts where men could appeal against the decision of the president. If an emigrant grew impatient while the wagons waited for better weather, or for hostile Indians to move on, and decided to go off alone, he could be brought back at the point of a gun.
Each wagon carried a load of between 1,800 and 3,000 lb. of stores and personal equipment. There would be huge quantities of flour, bacon, coffee, beans, rice, salt and, in place of sugar, molasses. Sometimes, of course, fresh meat was obtained on the way with the aid of the emigrants’ guns, but it wasn’t always wise to go firing off guns in Indian territory. There was one case of a youth who took a shot “for fun” as he put it, only to bring down a horde of painted devils who killed half the entire company before they were driven off.
