The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-01-29
1000 MILES BY WAGON.
From Texas to New Jersey and Back.
Philadelphia Times.

Robert Elder and his wife, who reside
near Brazoria, Texas, a town about sixty
miles west of Galveston, decided that
they would pay visit to friends, rcsid-
ing in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Years
ago, when Elder was young, he and his
wife travelled in wagon from Shreve-
port, Louisiana, TO the place in Texas
where they settled, and since then, hav-
ing no occasion to move, the uses Of rail-
roads and Pullman cars remained un-
known to them, whilst the possibilities
for "praire schooner" canvas covered
wagon) was bright memory They
recognized in it all that was necessary to
pleasantly journey 1000 miles from home
and back, and accordingly they hitched
up sorrel team, and on the 10Th of JAN
uary, 1879, they left Brozaria, and on the
I'd of August they arrived in Philadel-
phia. Yesterday they started on their
long journey home, drawn by the same
sorrel team and riding in the Identical
"prairie schooner" in which they left the
Lone Star State. Their friends had
moved from Norristown, and the main
object of their journey WIS not accom-.
plished. Nevertheless they had good
time, and drove down to Absecon, and
from there rode over to Atlantic City in
the cars, their first railroad experience,
to see the ocean. They spent day there
and drove back to Camden and encamped
at the foot of Spruce street for few days,
having the wagon repaired and laying in
supplies. They we're just two hundred
days on their trip, averaging ten miles
day on the road. If they make the same
time back the sorrel team will draw up
at Brazoria OIL the 10th of next March,
and the travellers will have been gone
just fourteen months. 1t is not many
years since "prairie schooners" in fleets
spotted the plains west of the Missouri,
and in the far West there is many fam
lily that journeyed across the Rockies and
Sierras to new home. But the compile
ton of the Central and Union Pacific
Railroads throttled the prosperity of the
"prairie schooner" and as an institution
it ceased to exist, although it is still used
to a limited extent. Two lines of rail-
road stretch from St. Louis to the Gulf,
and steamships ply between ports on the
Texan coast and New Orleans and New
York, so that Robert Elders method of
coming North was evidently chosen not
out or necessity.
THE JOURNEY BEGUN.
"My friends at home," he relates,
"tried to dissuade me from goin' in q
wagon, but l knowed what comfort is,
and 1 reckoned on havin' a good time,
not only when we got here, but on the
road; too. Well, we've had it. You see
1 am paralyzed in the right side, and
can't do much, and the old woman she
knows how to take care of horses, and
she bein' right keen to come, I says to
her, says I, well do it, We fitted up
the wagon with stove and cookin'
things, got the beddin', new harness for
the horses, and the boys gave us a send
off. We left our two sons and da'ter to
run the place, and on the 10th of Janu-
ary we started" The old man tells his
story with many deviation from the
necessary line of narrative. So blowing
away the chaff of his relation, the story
of the trip may be put in this condensed
form: The line. of route was north two
hundred miles to Dallas, on tho line of
the Texas Pacific Railroad, and thence
east to Shreveport, Louisiana, where they
crossed the Red River on the 1st of
March. The first part of the journey was
made in easy stages. The first day
eleven miles was accomplished, and du-
ring the entire trip the most ground
covered in one day was seventeen miles.
The start was usually made early in the
morning, and the six midday hours were
spent in the shade, where the horses
could forage. When the shadows grew
long they hitched the sorrels and "prairie
schooner" together again and logged
along. When it was necessary to reach
good camping ground, where there was
water, pasture and fuel, they frequently
drove the task of one day without stop
ping, and with the exception of the 4th
of April, when they rested twenty-four
hours and had their wagon repaired at
Chattanooga, they shifted ground daily.
Elder is not exactly clear as to his dates,
and he only remembers the day when
some of the S120 he started with was ex-
pended. Such occasions he has vivid
recollection of.
From Shreveport the route was across
the northern part of Louisiana, over bad
roads to Vicksburg, at which point the
Mississippi River was crossed, thence to
Jackson and the north to the State line
of Tennessee and Mississippi, near Cor
rinth, where they entered the valley of
the Tennessee River and followed its tor
tuous windings through Huntsville, Ala
bama; Chattanooga, Knoxville, Tennes.
see Bristol, Lynchburg, Virginia, strik-
ing the Potomac at Alexandria. They
stopped at Washington few hours and
visited the Capitol, and thence through
Baltimore, Havre de Grace and Will
mington.
A NEW ROUTE BACK.
"On the way back we think we will 20
by way of Baltimore, and over the old
national turnpike to Wheeling and Gin.
cinnati, through St. Louis, Little Rock,
Arkansas, to Shreveport, and down to
the mouth of the Brazos, where I reckon
the people will all turn out to see us, that
is if we ever get thar, and I don't see
why we shouldn't. We reckon we'll get
into the Ohio Valley before cold weather,
and get out of Missouri before winter
breaks So the roads will be all right.
We will be on the turnpike during the
fall, but we can keep warm in the wagon.
Oh I've figured it all out on this map"
Elder displayed thoroughly wrecked
sheet of paper, cut from an old atlas. 1t
was map of all the States, with the
principal towns given, and beyond the
answers to personal inquiries, it was the
only guide the sailors and passengers of
the "prairie schooner" have had.
CoSGREssMAS VooRHEEs-A WASH