The forts also provided a safe place to relax. However, if the fort traders were not buying, many supplies had to be discarded. The forts were also a good place for the emigrants to sell any excess supplies. The forts would supply the emigrants, often at a high price with wagon parts, tools, food, clothes, and other essential supplies. Forts and trading posts were set up to help supply wagon trains and to help protect them along their journey. A lot of these supplies came from frontier forts along the trail. No matter how prepared the emigrants were at the start of their journey, they were always in need of new supplies. Miscellaneous items: Surgical instruments, liniments, bandages, camp stool, chamber pot, washbowl, lanterns, candle molds, tallow, spyglasses, scissors, needles, pins, thread, toothbrushes, soap, comb, brush, and towels. Luxuries: Canned goods, plant cuttings, books, musical instruments, dolls and toys, family albums, jewelry, China, silverware, fine linens, iron stoves and furniture. Everything an emigrant needed could be found in these towns: tools, food, wagons, and animals were for sale. Independence, Missouri was also an important town for wagon trains. Joseph early in April to start their journey west by the middle of the month. Weapons: Rifle, shotgun, pistols, knife, hatchet, powder, lead, bullet mold, powder horn, bullet pouch, and holster.Ĭlothing: Wool coats, rubber coats, cotton dresses, buckskin pants, duck trousers, cotton shirts, woolen undershirts, cotton drawers, flannel shirts, cotton socks, boots, shoes, ponchos, felt hats and sunbonnets.īedding and tents: Blankets, ground cloths, pillows, tent, poles, stakes, ropes. A New Beginning Emigrants needed to be in St. Tools and equipment: Plow, shovel, rake, hoe, carpentry tools, saw, mallet, ax, plane, spade, whetstone, axles, kingbolt (joins the body of a wagon to its front axle), ox or mule shoes, spokes, ropes and chains.Ĭooking utensils: Oven, skillet, kettle, coffee grinder, teapot, knife, ladle, tin tableware, water keg, and matches. Also corn meal, hard-tack, dried beef, molasses, vinegar, eggs, and beans. Louis, suggested the following supplies for three people headed west on the Oregon Trail:įood: Flour (1,080 lbs), bacon (600 lbs), coffee (100 lbs), tea (5 lbs), sugar (150 lbs), rice (75 lbs), dried fruit (50 lbs), salt and pepper (50 lbs), saleratus (baking soda) (10 lbs), and lard (50 lbs). The Emigrant's Guide, published in 1849 in St. In today's dollars, this would be equivalent to $26,700 to $40,000. In 1850, it cost roughly $800 to $1,200 to obtain a proper outfit and get by for a whole year without harvesting a crop.
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