Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); West (U.S.) -- Social life and customs
As was the custom with all large outfits, the train, although moving in
an unbroken line, consisted of two divisions. On being ordered to
corral, the head wagon of the first division made a sharp _detour_ to
the right, followed by the succeeding teams, and finally turning to the
left, that division formed a great semi-circle. The first team was
halted at a designated point at which was to be the opening of the
proposed corral; and each of the mules of the succeeding teams of that
division was made to swing suddenly to the left after bringing the great
wagons rather close together. On reaching the point from which the first
division made its _detour_, the head team in the second division swung
sharply out in the opposite direction, turning again as it advanced to
meet the leading team in the first division, and before stopping, each
of the teams of the second division was also made to swing suddenly
toward the center of what became a great circle or enclosure in which
all the mules were unharnessed and temporarily confined. This method of
corralling was universal with western freighters.
In case of an unexpected attack, or for other obvious reasons a
fortification of wagons was quickly made, with all the stock massed
within the enclosure, and the work was accomplished in the time required
for the train to travel its own length. The immense wagons of this train
were of the type known as the Espenschied, a kind largely used by the
Government. They were heavily built, with very high boxes projecting
slightly both at the front and rear, like the ends of a scow boat, and
like all wagons used on the plains, were roofed with regulation canvas
tops supported by bows. After the three hundred or more mules of this
train had been unharnessed, they were driven in a herd from the mouth of
the corral several miles from camp, to a place where they might find
some feed in the valleys, there to be guarded through the night by
herders. All the processes in these evolutions were commonplace to any
plainsman, but may not be entirely familiar to modern palace car
travelers.
There also rolled round the Kearney reservation closely in the wake of
the big train, a small outfit consisting of half a dozen wagons with
horse teams. Under directions from the post, it also camped on the
barren bottom land west of the fort. There was, therefore, now camped
upon the arid plain beyond Dobytown a sufficient number of armed men and
wagons to meet the requirements of the War Department for two trains. It
was accordingly ordered that the big mule train should pull out in the
morning, and the remaining outfits should unite and follow in another
body.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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