CHAPTER V

ACROSS THE PLAINS


The overland migration attracted the more hardy and experienced
pioneers, and also those whose assets lay in cattle and farm equipment
rather than in money. The majority came from the more western parts of
the then United States, and therefore comprised men who had already some
experience in pioneering. As far as the Mississippi or even Kansas these
parties generally traveled separately or in small groups from a single
locality. Before starting over the great plains, however, it became
necessary to combine into larger bands for mutual aid and protection.
Such recognized meeting-points were therefore generally in a state of
congestion. Thousands of people with their equipment and animals were
crowded together in some river-bottom awaiting the propitious moment for
setting forth.

The journey ordinarily required about five months, provided nothing
untoward happened in the way of delay. A start in the spring therefore
allowed the traveler to surmount the Sierra Nevada mountains before the
first heavy snowfalls. One of the inevitable anxieties was whether or
not this crossing could be safely accomplished. At first the migration
was thoroughly orderly and successful. As the stories from California
became more glowing, and as the fever for gold mounted higher, the pace
accelerated.

A book by a man named Harlan, written in the County Farm to which his