Many modern viewers contemplating the pioneer history have a somewhat distorted view of what was involved in driving a wagon pulled by an ox team across the plains.
Artists depict families sitting comfortably in the shaded wagon as the beasts dutifully plod onward.
Frederick Piercy, a young English emigrant in 1853, described the confused scene as the camp began its first day of travels from Council Bluffs. The day started with attempts to yoke the oxen to the wagons. When the teamster cries 'Haw,' it is usual with a lazy team to let them feel the whip over their necks, and when 'Gee,' over their backs. The consequence is that whenever a piece of rough or difficult road is encountered, the shouts and cries of 'geeing' and 'hawing' and the cracking of the whips are most terrific. In a large company voices of all kinds and modulations mix up in the most curious manner.