By Ox Team to California: A Narrative of Crossing the

By Ox Team to California: A Narrative of Crossing the Plains in 1860

Lavinia Honeyman Porter, 1836â€“1910, was born in West Virginia in 1836, moved to Missouri in childhood, married in 1854, and went overland in 1860.

Lavinia writes:
"It WAS in the fall and winter of eighteen fifty-nine that my husband and I decided to emigrate to the far West. Imprudent speculations and other misfortunes had embarrassed us financially to such an extent that our prospects for the future looked dark and forbidding; we then determined to use the small remnant of our fortune to provide a suitable outfit for a lengthy journey toward the setting sun. We were both young and inexperienced, my husband still in his twenties, and I a young and immature girl scarce twenty years of age.

"A journey across the plains of the West was considered a great event in those early days. It was long thought of and planned seriously with and among the various members of the family to which the would be traveler belonged. Whoever had the temerity to propose turning their backs on civilized life and their faces toward the far-off Rocky mountains were supposed to be daring with a boldness bordering on recklessness. Emigration then meant the facing of unknown dangers in a half-savage country.

"After many lengthy debates over the manner of transportation, and a diversified quantity of advice from our numerous friends, as to the merits of horses, mules or oxen, we at last decided (and it proved to be a wise decision) to purchase three yoke of strong, sturdy oxen and a large well-built emigrant wagon; roomy enough to hold all we wanted to take with us, and in which we might travel with some degree of comfort."

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Preparations For A Journeyâ€”Bidding Farewellâ€”The Start

CHAPTER II.
Camping In Kansasâ€” A Novice With Camp Fires â€”Marching On Foot

CHAPTER III.
Fire And Fuelâ€”Storm Boundâ€”Fellow Emigrantsâ€”Settlers In Nebraska

CHAPTER IV.
Buffalo Countryâ€”Returning Gold Seekersâ€”Our Whiskey Barrel

CHAPTER V.
Indians

CHAPTER VI.
Trials Of The Spirit â€”Thirsting For Waterâ€”Gathering Buffalo Chipsâ€”Sick On The Desertâ€”Bay Rum, Bergamont, And Castor Oilâ€”Mirage

CHAPTER VII.
Infant Denverâ€”Hanging By The Vigilance Committeeâ€”An Indian And His Scalpsâ€”The Parting With My Brotherâ€”A Sale Of Glasswareâ€”On To California

CHAPTER VIII
Toward Laramieâ€”Fording A Dangerous Streamâ€”celebrating The Fourth Of Julyâ€”Entertaining Strangersâ€”An Indian Village On The Move

CHAPTER IX.
The Rocky Mountainsâ€”Cheyenne Passâ€”Lost Cattle Restoredâ€”Crossing The Chugwaterâ€”Shoeing Lame Oxenâ€”Arriving At Fort Laramie

CHAPTER X.
The Overland Roadâ€”Joining Company With A Band Of Emigrantsâ€”A Threatened Attack Of Indiansâ€”A Night Of Storm And Suspense Deserting The Company Of Emigrantsâ€”Independence Rockâ€”Mormon Emigrantsâ€”Meeting Fellow Travelers Who Passed On To Destructionâ€”Money Giving Outâ€”Philip

CHAPTER XI.
In Mormon Landâ€”The Trading Postâ€”Discarded Possessionsâ€”The Pony Expressâ€”Our Indian Protectorâ€”Amusing The Children .

CHAPTER XII.
Salt Lake Cityâ€”Disappointment At Fort Bridgerâ€”Letters From Homeâ€”An Old Acquaintance;â€”Mormon Women

CHAPTER XIII.
The Desertsâ€”Indescribable Sunsetsâ€”Alkau Dustâ€”Chance Acquaintancesâ€”The Welcome Sunday Morning Flap-jackâ€”Salt Wellâ€”Fish Springsâ€”Willow Springsâ€”The Humboldt Riverâ€”Graves On The Desert

CHAPTER XIV.
Meeting New Friendsâ€”The Pranks Of A Cookâ€”Leaving The Humboldt For Carson Valleyâ€”Climbing The Sierras

CHAPTER XV.
An Indian Funeralâ€”The Pack Trainâ€”Welcomed By Lumbermenâ€”Descending Into Californiaâ€”First Glimpses Of Miningâ€”We Sell Outâ€”The Journey's End

This book originally published in 1860 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
Country USA
Author Lavinia Honeyman Porter
Binding Kindle Edition
Format Kindle eBook
IsAdultProduct
NumberOfPages 156
PublicationDate 2015-10-12
ReleaseDate 2015-10-12

Country	USA
Author	Lavinia Honeyman Porter
Binding	Kindle Edition
Format	Kindle eBook
IsAdultProduct
NumberOfPages	156
PublicationDate	2015-10-12
ReleaseDate	2015-10-12

By Ox Team to California: A Narrative of Crossing the Plains in 1860