Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1913-08-05

furnish team, and Mr.. Titus agree
ing to drive it out and back, I en-
gagged him too. l now secured five
teams, and at once began to get to
mill, anxious to get started as soon
as possible, for fear the market
might drop before we could get
there. 1t required but a few days
to get everything ready, and having
loaded each wagon with ton of
-four, we started off.
All men had horses except me, and
I had two yoke of excellent oxen.
The others objected very strongly
to my taking oxen as they wanted
all horse teams so as to push right
along, and they declared they would
not wait for me but would go on
and / could come along at an OK
pace if I wanted to-. Accordingly at
noon we all started off in good spir-
its, having come to think the trip
would be jolly holiday. The horse
teams struck out and soon left me
out of sight, and after going about
ten miles camped for the night. /
came up to them about dark and
turned my oxen out to grass. The
next morning, not having to stop to
feed,I got started ahead of the others
and only had gone a short distance
when 1 crossed slough about 10 rods
wide. 1t was one of those sloughs
that shake all around and the wagon
went in to the EEK" but I crossed
all right and went ahead. Having
gone a couple of miles heard some
one calling and looking back saw
one of the men on hsrse back CON-
ing as fast as he could ride. When
he came up he said they were all
stuck in that shaky slough and the
horses we're all down and one team
couldn't get out and that | must go
back and help them through. Il
went back and helped draw all the
loads across and we struck pretty
fair roads that day and soon the men
all left me in the rear. We covered
about Is miles that day. The third
day the horse teams again left me,
but about two o'clock in the after
noon / overlook them all stuck in
slough was mad because they
wouldn't help me and drove right
through the slough and was going on
when they asked me if l wasn't go
ing to help them out, but I couldn't
afford to stop and pull every team
through the sloughs. They promis-
ed if I would help them out, they
would stay by me and l helped them
out. They didn't try to run away
from me again. We made our way
at the rate of about fifteen miles
day without getting stuck more
than once or twice a day until we
got to Eldora and without incident
worth recounting except that one
morning a woman came driving up
in a terrible state of mind,
saying the oxen had eaten up all
her cabbage. l was greatly surpris-
ed, for we had not seen house all
the day before and there was not
a sign of a settlement in sight.
Soon her husband came, and as
hadn't cent of money, I finally
settled with them by giving them a
sack (1OO lbs) of -four. After leav-
ing Eldora, our misery began in
We seemed to be stuck all
the time and such sloughs! Often
we hitched to wagon box and
loaded three or four hundred lbs. in
to it, drew it across a long stretch
of slough and finally brought the
wagons over in sections. 1t was all
the horses could do to get through
without being incumbered in any
way. Every night the men threat
ened to pile out their loads on the
prairie and go back and leave me.
the trip I had been compelled to
take two hundred pounds off Of
each of the other wagons. We fin
ally reached Skunk Grove (Rose
Grove) where we put up with Uncle
John Bonner, living there. Here
the men declared they would go no
further but Mr.. Bonner assisted me
in persuading them to go on to Web
ster City. Mr.. Bonner said it was
only about fifteen miles over and
that there was only one slough to
cross and they finally consented to
90 ahead. But that zone slough"
seemed to be all the way and we
were three days coming across. In
the afternoon of the second day
from Skunk Grove, my uncle Johns !
horses got away from him. 1t was
l very foggy day and he followed 1
n an Snme distance north wast opd