Q&A Questions and Answers:
Hi, Bob.
My family's story that's been passed down generation to generation is about the clan's journey from OK to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in covered wagons in 1923. [Some roads were paved, some were gravel, others were plain dirt, and little more than a cattle trail along one stretch.]
I'm a historical novelist and am including parts of this trip (beginning in Winters, Texas) in Book One of a new series. But I can't make the numbers add up reasonably. Here are the "facts":
It's 520 miles from Winters to Port Mansfield, Texas along present-day highways. The terrain is flat except for rolling hills along winding roads for 70 miles of the trip. They made the trip in 40 days. But that works out to averaging 13 mi/day with horses (and much less if they switched to oxen along the way--which I could swear I remember hearing).
That's impossible, isn't it? Family lore loses accuracy over the years, so I'm thinking I need to make this journey over a longer period of time.
Also, would they have to take extra horses? If so, how many for 4 wagons? And would they tie them to the backs of the wagons?
What about feed?
Can you help me figure this out?
Thank you, Bob.
P.S. I forgot this ... The trip from Winters to Port Mansfield in the RGV of TX was from Dec 27, 1923 to February 4, 1924. So they didn't have much to forage most of the trip.
What's the problem?
Even if they rested on Sunday, which many travelers did, they'd only need to average a leisurely 15 miles a day. I'd guess that their day was at least 12 to 14 hours long, so they'd only need to average a little over one mile per hour.
Military regulations normally limited patrols to about 25 miles per day. On the wagon train trips to Effie we covered about 21 miles a day -- 64 miles in
3 days. Our group included saddle horses and horse-drawn wagons, and the travelers ranged from pre-schoolers to senior citizens. The route included both paved and gravel roads with several twisting and hilly stretches. We had plenty of time for meal and rest breaks - as well as time to pitch camp and take it down.
When using oxen, a human usuually walked next to the team. My normal walking rate - when wearing a full backpack - was about 3.5 MPH. At that rate, a team of oxen and I would cover more than 15 miles in less than 4-1/2 hours.
At the slow pace of their trip, your family may not have needed extra stock, but they could have trailed some surplus critters along just in case something went wrong. Tying them to the wagons was an option, although the horses probably wouldn't stray far from the rest of the herd.
Since the trip was made during the "Dust Bowl" era, I'd guess they would have packed some water and feed on a supply wagon or two.
On the Effie trip, we had a wagon with hay bales, grain sacks annd 55 gallon barrels of water. You can see it behind the first wagon on the left in the photo. In the picture, folks were giving the horses some buckets of water during a rest stop.
In January and February in that part of Texas, the temperatures would have ranged from freezing to the 60s, so they would have needed less water but more high-energy feed (i.e. grain and alfalfa hay).
I hope this puts your mind at ease.
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