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Position:Home>History> How did covered wagons get through forested/mountainous areas?Question: How did covered wagons get through forested/mountainous areas!? This is a pretty ridiculous question, but my boyfriend asked me about it today and we both had a chuckle and wondered if this attribute to westward expansion was in fact a sham!.
I guess I don't expect that scientific of an answer!.!.!. just putting it out there hehe!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It's not a ridiculous question!. It was the only way the settlers could transport any of their belongings!. They tried to stick to trails, hence no breaking through virgin forest, but the mountains were a b****!. And when the trails got muddy, they bogged down!. When they hit a rock funny, they broke a wheel or an axle!. When the snow came - they often died!. Or got out and pushed!. That's not counting the "hostiles" of course!. It is NOT a sham!. Go to a museum and see one!. Google "Conestoga Wagon!."Www@QuestionHome@Com Verrry Carefully!Www@QuestionHome@Com If they couldn't make it they went around!. You do know that the cover can come down right!? Westward expansion was mostly done on existing trails that the Natives used!. Sometimes things like trees & rocks were cut down or blown to bits in order to make passage easier!.Www@QuestionHome@Com It was rough!. The mountains can be steep!. They had bovine and horses pulling them!.Www@QuestionHome@Com They followed established trails (hence the need for a Wagon Master and guides), and they pulled, and pushed, and humped them up and over ! It was hard, back breaking work for those that had wagons and horses!. It was not a sham, Some used "push carts" (wheelbarrows), some came with what they could carry on their backs!. In the mid-west, some wives went crazy and killed themselves from loneliness and the constant howling and whistling of the wind that drove them mad, living in holes in the ground with walls made of dirt ("Soders"), as the men were out working from sun-up to sun-down!. Your daily caloric needs, in today's society, are around 1800 - 2400 calories a day from your diet!. There are some estimates that a single farm worker, in that time, could consume and burn up to 12,000 to 13,000 calories a day (that is enough food for a family of 5, for a day)! It was a hard life that broke people, and made them old before their time - He HeWww@QuestionHome@Com |