Don Wildman

Stephen, when we speak of the Oregon Trail, was it a singular thing or more of a general route?

What was the trail physically and geographically?

Depending on which trail you were on, I guess, generally speaking, they were all about 2,000 miles long, right?

And you would leave generally from the state of Missouri and then head northwest.

As you say, there are various routes that you could take on that thing, but it would take about four to six months.

Is that fair to say?

And I suppose the further they went, the more confirmed they were in that feeling.

I mean, it's hard life, those four or five months that you're in the middle there.

The sweet spot, I guess, was March, April, and May.

That's when you would leave so that you were getting there, as you say, not too late, not too early.

These trains did not leave alone, right?

You hired those handsome guides we saw in the movies.

John Wayne.

Moral background.

Yeah, they were courageous.

But seriously, though, there must have been companies that serviced this opportunity, right?

But the organization is what I'm always curious about, you know, because this is a vast operation.

You have how many wagons made up the average train?

It.

I do want to get to that, but I can understand the potential stench that's coming off of one of these dragon shells might be enough for Native Americans to say, yeah, go about your business.