Don Wildman

Contaminated water sources, the source of that dysentery, I'm sure.

Lots of accidents, river crossings.

Heavy wagons, there are accidents all the time, I suppose.

I mean, probably not as much as the movies would, you know, it doesn't happen as often as we think, but certainly a big factor.

You mentioned these diaries.

I want to read an excerpt from one of those diaries.

Her name is Eliza Ann McCauley, dated May 11th, 1852.

which is towards the later part of the story and the Oregon Trail.

So bear with me as I read a little bit of what she has written.

"...got up early and took the wagons down a little nearer the ferry so as to take advantage of the first opportunity to cross.

A dreadful accident happened here today.

A boat manned by green hands was taking a boat of cattle across.

The cattle rushed to one end of the boat, causing it to tip, and in a moment there was a mass of struggling men and animals in the water."

One man drowned.

Another, who was a good swimmer, remembering that he had left his whip, coolly turned around and swam back for it.

One can assume this sort of thing happened often enough to really at least a few times during these trips to leave quite an impression on these folks.

Yeah, as long as they're heading out of town, you know, you're just here for the day, go, move on.

Yeah.

Never mind the pile of trash you left behind.

Thank you very much.