"I--" Joe fumbled. He had come to ask about the west, and only now did
it occur to him that he hadn't the slightest notion of what to ask. "I'm
thinking of going there," he said lamely.
"You don't aim just to point your nose west and follow it?"
"No. That's why I came to see you. I want to find out how to do it."
"The west is a big place. What are your wishes?"
"A fellow named Townley told me he staked out land by riding three days
in each direction and finally coming back to his starting point."
"Townley's a liar," Grandpa assured him. "Though some of the ranches and
land grants in the southwest are most as big as the state of Missouri.
They need a lot of land; takes maybe eighty acres to feed one cow in
some of that country. You going in for cattle?"
"No. I'm a farmer."
"Oregon," Grandpa said. "Oregon's the place you want. Get yourself a
quarter section there. That's all the land any farmer needs in that
country."
"How do I get to Oregon?"
"Go out to Independence and get on the trail. Even if anybody in
Independence can't put you on it, which they can, you won't miss it.
Last time I was through, it was a few miles wide in some places and I
expect it's wider now. With all the wagons that have gone through,
people would have to branch out to find grass for their stock. Follow
the Trail after you get on it and you'll be all right. But May's the
time to start for Oregon. Unless you want to travel alone, you should
wait until next spring."
"Can a lone wagon get through?"
"Sure, but it can be almighty lonesome. The prairies are a right sizable
place to be in all by yourself. But you can do it alone. Some of the
Mormon companies pushed hand carts all the way from the Missouri, and
there were plenty of women pushing right along with the men. But,
starting this late, you won't get through to Oregon this summer."
"How far can I get?"
"How are you traveling?"
"What's the best way?"
"Mules," Grandpa said decisively. "Next to them, oxen. Oxen will get
along on skimpier grass, but they're slow. Horses are all right for
riding but they don't stand up under a long haul."
"Is one team of mules enough?"
"That's taking a chance. You should have two, or anyhow one spare
animal. Then, if you lose one, you can always get some place where
they'll sell you another."
"How far can I get this season?"
"To Laramie, anyhow. With luck, and if storms hold off, you might get to
Fort Bridger. But you can count on Laramie with time to spare."
"Can a man figure on finding something to do through the winter?"
"Any man who wants to work can find it. Tell you what, a little short of
one day west of Laramie there's a friend of mine with a trading post.
Name's Jim Snedeker. Tell him I sent you, and he'll give you and your
mules a job. That is, always supposing you want to work for him."
"How about Indian trouble?"
"That's up to you. Ninety-eight out of a hundred Indian scrapes are not
brought about by Indians, but by some mullethead of an emigrant who
started a ruckus with them. If you don't bother the Indians, and don't
let them bother you, you should have no trouble."
"What else will I need?"
"How many are going with you?"
"My wife and six young ones."
"Load your wagon heavy with eatables," Grandpa advised. "Carry plenty of
flour. Take eggs; pack them in a barrel of corn meal and use up the meal
as you use up the eggs. You should have coffee and whatever else you
fancy in the way of eating. Take tools, the ones you'll need are the
ones you need here. Go light on dishes and furniture. There's enough
household goods been pitched out of wagons between Independence and the
Wil'mette Valley to stock a city the size of St. Louis ten times over.
You got a milk cow?"
"Two."
"Take both. You'll get some milk all the time. Hang the morning's
milking in a pail behind the wagon. By night it'll be butter. Drink the
evening's milking. Can you shoot?"
"Tolerable good."
Grandpa said, "There's still buffalo and I think there always will be,
though they'll never be again like they were in '30 when we went into
Santa Fe. But you can count on enough for meat. You got any money?"
"Very little," Joe confessed.
"Keep what you have. Take all of it with you and get as much more as you
can. You'll need it."