The Prairie Traveler: A Hand-book for Overland ExpeditionsMarcy, Randolph B. (Randolph Barnes)
History
The Prairie Traveler: A Hand-book for Overland Expeditions
Marcy, Randolph B. (Randolph Barnes)
Overland journeys to the Pacific; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
Animals should be herded during the day at such distances as to leave
sufficient grass undisturbed around and near the camp for grazing
through the night.
METHOD OF MARCHING.
Among men of limited experience in frontier life will be found a great
diversity of opinion regarding the best methods of marching, and of
treating animals in expeditions upon the prairies. Some will make late
starts and travel during the heat of the day without nooning, while
others will start early and make two marches, laying by during the
middle of the day; some will picket their animals continually in camp,
while others will herd them day and night, etc., etc. For mounted
troops, or, indeed, for any body of men traveling with horses and
mules, a few general rules may be specified which have the sanction of
mature experience, and a deviation from them will inevitably result in
consequences highly detrimental to the best interests of an expedition.
In ordinary marches through a country where grass and water are
abundant and good, animals receiving proper attention should not fall
away, even if they receive no grain; and, as I said before, they should
not be made to travel faster than a walk unless absolutely necessary;
neither should they be taken off the road for the purpose of hunting or
chasing buffalo, as one buffalo-chase injures them more than a week of
moderate riding. In the vicinity of hostile Indians, the animals must
be carefully herded and guarded within protection of the camp, while
those picketed should be changed as often as the grass is eaten off
within the circle described by the tether-rope. At night they should be
brought within the chain of sentinels and picketed as compactly as is
consistent with the space needed for grazing, and under no
circumstances, unless the Indians are known to be near and an attack is
to be expected, should they be tied up to a picket line where they can
get no grass. Unless allowed to graze at night they will fall away
rapidly, and soon become unserviceable. It is much better to march
after nightfall, turn some distance off the road, and to encamp without
fires in a depressed locality where the Indians can not track the
party, and the animals may be picketed without danger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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