LARGE PARTY TRAVELLING AFOOT WITH BAGGAGE-WAGON.
With a horse and wagon to haul your baggage you can of course carry
more. First of all take another blanket or two, a light overcoat, more
spare clothing, an axe, and try to have a larger tent than the
"shelter."
If the body of the wagon has high sides, it will not be a very difficult
task to make a cloth cover that will shed water, and you will then have
what is almost as good as a tent: you can also put things under the
wagon. You must have a cover of some sort for your wagon-load while on
the march, to prevent injury from showers that overtake you, and to keep
out dust and mud. A tent-fly will answer for this purpose.
You want also to carry a few carriage-bolts, some nails, tacks, straps,
a hand-saw, and axle-wrench or monkey-wrench. I have always found use
for a sail-needle and twine; and I carry them now, even when I go for a
few days, and carry all on my person.
The first drawback that appears, when you begin to plan for a horse and
wagon, is the expense. You can overcome this in part by adding members
to your company; but then you meet what is perhaps a still more serious
difficulty,--the management of a large party.
Another inconvenience of large numbers is that each member must limit
his baggage. You are apt to accumulate too great bulk for the wagon,
rather than too great weight for the horse.
Where there are many there must be a captain,--some one that the others
are responsible to, and who commands their respect. It is necessary that
those who join such a party should understand that they ought to yield
to him, whether they like it or not.
The captain should always consult the wishes of the others, and should
never let selfish considerations influence him. Every day his decisions
as to what the party shall do will tend to make some one dissatisfied;
and although it is the duty of the dissatisfied ones to yield, yet,
since submission to another's will is so hard, the captain must try to
prevent any "feeling," and above all to avoid even the appearance of
tyranny.
System and order become quite essential as our numbers increase, and it
is well to have the members take daily turns at the several duties; and
during that day the captain must hold each man to a strict performance
of his special trust, and allow no shirking.
After a few days some of the party will show a willingness to accept
particular burdens all of the time; and, if these burdens are the more
disagreeable ones, the captain will do well to make the detail
permanent.
Nothing tends to make ill feeling more than having to do another's work;
and, where there are many in a party, each one is apt to leave something
for others to do. The captain must be on the watch for these things, and
try to prevent them. It is well for him, and for all, to know that he
who has been a "good fellow" and genial companion at home may prove
quite otherwise during a tour of camping. Besides this, it is hardly
possible for a dozen young men to be gone a fortnight on a trip of this
kind without some quarrelling; and, as this mars the sport so much, all
should be careful not to give or take offence. If you are starting out
on your first tour, keep this fact constantly in mind.
Perhaps I can illustrate this division of labor.
We will suppose a party of twelve with one horse and an open wagon, four
tents, a stove, and other baggage. First, number the party, and assign
to each the duties for the first day.
1. Captain. Care of horse and wagon; loading and unloading wagon.
2. Jack. Loading and unloading wagon.
3. Joe. Captain's assistant and errand-boy; currying horse.
4. Mr. Smith. Cooking and purchasing.
5. Sam. Wood, water, fire, setting of table.
6. Tom. " " " " "
7. Mr. Jones.
8. Henry.
9. Bob.
10. Senior.
11. William.
12. Jake.
The party is thus arranged in four squads of three men each, the oldest
at the heads. One half of the party is actively engaged for to-day,
while the other half has little to do of a general nature, except that
all must take turns in leading the horse, and marching behind the wagon.
It is essential that this be done, and it is best that only the stronger
members lead the horse.
To-morrow No. 7 takes No. 1's place, No. 8 takes No. 2's, and so on; and
the first six have their semi-holiday.
In a few days each man will have shown a special willingness for
some duty, which by common consent and the captain's approval he is
permitted to take. The party then is re-organized as follows:--
1. Captain. General oversight; provider of food and provender.
2. Jack. Washing and the care of dishes.
3. Joe. (Worthless.)
4. Mr. Smith. Getting breakfast daily, and doing all of the
cooking on Sunday.
5. Sam. (Gone home, sick of camping.)
6. Tom. Wood, water, fire, setting and clearing table.
7. Mr. Jones. Getting supper all alone.
8. Henry. Jack's partner. Care of food.
9. Bob. Currying horse, oiling axles, care of harness and wagon.
10. Senior. Packing wagon. Marching behind.
11. William. " " " "
12. Jake. Running errands.
The daily detail for leading the horse will have to be made, as before,
from the stronger members of the party; and if any special duty arises
it must still be done by volunteering, or by the captain's suggestion.
In this arrangement there is nothing to prevent one member from aiding
another; in fact, where all are employed, a better feeling prevails,
and, the work being done more quickly, there is more time for rest and
enjoyment.
To get a horse will perhaps tax your judgment and capability as much as
any thing in all your preparation; and on this point, where you need so
much good advice, I can only give you that of a general nature.
The time for camping out is when horses are in greatest demand for
farming purposes; and you will find it difficult to hire of any one
except livery-stable men, whose charges are so high that you cannot
afford to deal with them. You will have to hunt a long time, and in many
places, before you will find your animal. It is not prudent to take a
valuable horse, and I advise you not to do so unless the owner or a man
_thoroughly_ acquainted with horses is in the party. You may perhaps be
able to hire horse, wagon, and driver; but a hired man is an
objectionable feature, for, besides the expense, such a man is usually
disagreeable company.
My own experience is, that it is cheaper to buy a horse outright, and to
hire a harness and wagon; and, since I am not a judge of horse-flesh, I
get some friend who is, to go with me and advise. I find that I can
almost always buy a horse, even when I cannot hire. Twenty to fifty
dollars will bring as good an animal as I need. He may be old, broken
down, spavined, wind-broken, or lame; but if he is not sickly, or if his
lameness is not from recent injury, it is not hard for him to haul a
fair load ten or fifteen miles a day, when he is helped over the hard
places.
So now, if you pay fifty dollars for a horse, you can expect to sell him
for about twenty or twenty-five dollars, unless you were greatly
cheated, or have abused your brute while on the trip, both of which
errors you must be careful to avoid. It is a simple matter of arithmetic
to calculate what is best for you to do; but I hope on this horse
question you may have the benefit of advice from some one who has had
experience with the ways of the world. You will need it very much.
WAGONS.
If you have the choice of wagons, take one that is made for carrying
light, bulky goods, for your baggage will be of that order. One with a
large body and high sides, or a covered wagon, will answer. In districts
where the roads are mountainous, rough, and rocky, wagons hung on
thoroughbraces appear to suit the people the best; but you will have no
serious difficulty with good steel springs if you put in rubber bumpers,
and also strap the body to the axles, thus preventing the violent
shutting and opening of the springs; for you must bear in mind that the
main leaf of a steel spring is apt to break by the sudden pitching
upward of the wagon-body.
It has been my fortune twice to have to carry large loads in small
low-sided wagons; and it proved very convenient to have two or three
half-barrels to keep food and small articles in, and to roll the bedding
in rolls three or four feet wide, which were packed in the wagon upon
their ends. The private baggage was carried in meal-bags, and the tents
in bags made expressly to hold them; we could thus load the wagon
securely with but little tying.
For wagons with small and low bodies, it would be well to put a light
rail fourteen to eighteen inches above the sides, and hold it there by
six or eight posts resting on the floor, and confined to the sides of
the body.
Drive carefully and slowly over bad places. It makes a great deal of
difference whether a wheel strikes a rock with the horse going at a
trot, or at a walk.
HARNESS.
If your load is heavy, and the roads very hard, or the daily distance
long, you had better have a collar for the horse: otherwise a
breastplate-harness will do. In your kit of tools it is well to have a
few straps, an awl, and waxed ends, against the time that something
breaks. Oil the harness before you start, and carry about a pint of
neat's-foot oil, which you can also use upon the men's boots. At night
look out that the harness and all of your baggage are sheltered from dew
and rain, rats and mice.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THIS MODE OF TRAVEL.
This way of travelling is peculiarly adapted to a party of different
ages, rather than for one exclusively of young men. It is especially
suitable where there are ladies who wish to walk and camp, or for an
entire family, or for a school with its teachers. The necessity of a
head to a party will hardly be recognized by young men; and, even if it
is, they are still unwilling, as a general rule, to submit to
unaccustomed restraint.
The way out of this difficulty is for one man to invite his comrades to
join his party, and to make all the others understand, from first to
last, that they are indebted to him for the privilege of going. It is
then somewhat natural for the invited guests to look to their leader,
and to be content with his decisions.
The best of men get into foolish dissensions when off on a jaunt, unless
there is one, whose voice has authority in it, to direct the movements.
I knew a party of twenty or more that travelled in this way, and were
directed by a trio composed of two gentlemen and one lady. This
arrangement proved satisfactory to all concerned.[5]
It has been assumed in all cases that some one will lead the horse,--not
ride in the loaded wagon,--and that two others will go behind and not
far off, to help the horse over the very difficult places, as well as to
have an eye on the load, that none of it is lost off, or scrapes against
the wheels. Whoever leads must be careful not to fall under the horse or
wagon, nor to fall under the horse's feet, should he stumble. These are
daily and hourly risks: hence no small boy should take this duty.[6]
FOOTNOTES:
[5] I never heard of a party exclusively of young men going on a tour of
this kind, and consequently I cannot write their experiences; but I can
easily imagine their troubles, quarrels, and separation into cliques. I
once went as captain of a party of ten, composed of ladies, gentlemen,
and schoolboys. We walked around the White Mountains from North Conway
to Jefferson and back, by way of Jackson. It cost each of us a dollar
and thirty-two cents a day for sixteen days, including railroad fares to
and from Portland, but excluding the cost of clothes, tents, and
cooking-utensils. Another time a similar party of twelve walked from
Centre Harbor, N.H., to Bethel, Me., in seventeen days, at a daily cost
of a dollar and two cents, reckoning as before. In both cases, "my right
there was none to dispute;" and by borrowing a horse the first time, and
selling at a loss of only five dollars the second, our expenses for the
horse were small.
[6] In one of my tours around the mountains, a lad of sixteen, in
attempting to hold up the horse's head as they were running down hill,
was hit by the horse's fore-leg, knocked down, and run over by both
wheels.