Travelling to the West

I found some more background information on travelling to the West for Americans and I wanted to share it with the class. This website (at the end) clarified a few things from the readings such as what a Captain did on the journey to the West. The Captain was basically in charge of the whole journey and he usually made sure everyone was ready to go and decided when it was best to rest or camp out for the night. Another topic was about which wagons were used to go West. The best wagon to travel to the West was the Prairie Schooner. It required less animals to pull which made the cost overall less, but it could only contain 1600 pounds. It also gave some interesting facts such as the cost of a mule, which was $90 and an oxen was $60 in the 1840s. These were just some of the topics given on the website and the article was pretty short.

Website: http://americanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_wagon_train

Reference:
Dollman, Darla S. "The Wagon Train: Emigrant Travel in the American West." American History. 12 Mar. 2009. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .