Collection of Nebraska Pioneer ReminiscencesDaughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska
History
Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences
Daughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska
Frontier and pioneer life -- Nebraska; Nebraska -- History
came within ten feet of our door, and our cows went away with them. The
children and I walked three miles before we came up to the cows and
could get them back home. We were near the river and it was not far down
to water. We dug holes in the ground and sunk five salt barrels. The
water came up in these and we always had plenty of water. Sometimes we
dipped the barrels dry, but they would be full the next morning. There
wasn't a pump in the country for years.
The people who kept the Pony Express station were named Humphries. These
stations were about fifty miles apart. There would be lots of people at
the station every night, for after the Indians became troublesome, the
people went in trains of about a hundred wagons. There were many six
oxen teams. The Indians never troubled anybody until the whites killed
so many buffalo and wasted so much. There were carcasses all over the
prairies. The Indians used every part, and they knew this great
slaughter of the buffalo meant starvation for them, so they went on the
warpath in self-defense. They would skulk on the river bank where the
trail came close, and would rush up and attack the travelers. The
soldiers were sent out as escorts and their families often went with
them. One night at Plum Creek Pony Express station twin babies were born
to the lieutenant and wife. I went over in the morning to see if I could
help them, but they were all cared for by the lieutenant. He had washed
the babies and had the tent in order. I do not remember his name now. We
often saw tiny babies with their mothers lying in the wagons that came
by. They would be wrapped up, and looked very comfortable. Water was so
scarce that they had to pay for enough to wash the babies.
Brigham Young made trip after trip with foreign people of all kinds but
blacks. Most of these could not speak English, and I don't think Brigham
bought any water for them, as they were filthy dirty. Brigham was a
great big fat man, and he kept himself pretty neat. He made just about
one trip a year. One company of these immigrants was walking through,
and the train was a couple of miles long. They went south of the river
on the Oregon trail. There was no other road then.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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