Author Spotlight - Food on the Oregon Trail

Now that we've dined on Thanksgiving dinner and started the hunt for Christmas gifts by hitting all the after Thanksgiving sales, I thought we might take a look at where those on the Oregon Trail might do their shopping.

Of course many of them hoped to over the mountains and into Oregon before the snows came, so they wouldn't be out looking for Christmas gifts, but they did have to stop at some of the towns and Forts along the way to replenish supplies.

As you know, those traveling on the trail loaded their wagons with many of their supplies for the trip. Early guidebooks advocated teach emigrant carry 200 pounds of flour, 150 pounds of bacon, 10 pounds of coffee, 20 pounds of sugar, and 10 pounds of salt. Basic kitchenware was a cooking kettle, fry pan, coffee pot, tin plates, cups, knives, and forks.

A daily menu might consist of the following: for breakfast, coffee, bacon, dry or pilot bread; for dinner, coffee, cold beans, bacon or buffalo meat; for supper, tea, boiled rice, and dried beef or codfish'. Because of the inability to carry fresh fruits and vegetables, scurvy became a big problem on the trail.

Dairy was usually gathered from the family cow or goat that traveled with the wagon.

Early on those who traveled the trail didn't have as many places to stop. They relied on the good graces of the Indians, and mountain men who passed. They caught fresh meat to add to their stores of grains and dried vegetables.

By the time Matthew and Rebekah joined the wagon train in 1863, they still had to make sure they loaded their wagons with many of the staples they might need and they might trade with Indians, trappers and mountain men along the way. But a few towns and Forts had sprung up along the trail where they could stop and replenish their stores if necessary.

Sometimes, due to high pricing, it was better not to stop at some of the stores and continue on to the next town or Fort. At the forts, like Kearney and Laramie, they not only found a place to rest with some protection, they were able to trade with several traders and tribes that came to the fort to sell their wares as well.

If the travelers had the chance to restock, they certainly tried because it could be weeks for before they reached another place with the necessities they might need.

It was most important how they stored their food and how they used it. They lived by the adage 'waste not, want not'.

We on the other hand, load up our refrigerators and freezers, we stock our pantries with dried good and canned goods, and when we run out of something, we get in our car, and drive a couple mile in any direction and run into a grocery store.

Thinking of your all the foodstuffs in your house. If you had to take a trip across country without a cooler, without the stores to stop at, and could only take 2500 pounds on your wagon, what would carry?
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Tina Pinson resides in Mesa, Arizona with her husband of thirty plus years, Danny. They are blessed to have three sons, and six grandchildren with another on the way.
Tina started her writing in elementary school. Her love of writing has caused her to seek creative outlets be it writing poetry, songs, or stories. Her WWII story Trail of the Sandpiper won third place in the Genesis in 2003. In the Manor of the Ghost and Touched By Mercy and When Shadows Fall Book 1 in the Shadows Series are available through Desert Breeze Publishers.

To Catch a Shadow the next installment of the Shadow Series about the civil war and the Oregon Trail, will be available, June 2013. To Carry her Cross will be available January 2013 and Then There was Grace a Sept 9/11 type story will be available Sept. 2013 and Christmas in Shades of Gray an offbeat Dickens type tale releases December 2013.

Blurb:
Matthew has braved the war and near death with one thought in mind… Rebekah. He won her hand in marriage, and now he has a few short months to make her see how much he loves her. How much he needs her. Given the wall she's put up between them, he prays he'll have enough time.

After fleeing the war, Rebekah is determined to go west to Oregon, only to be turned down when she tries to join the train. Matthew's proposal of marriage, in name only to help her west, becomes the miracle she needs. Loving him as she does, she dreads the idea of letting him go once they reach Oregon, but how can she ask him to stay with her, to love her? How could he love her once he's found out her secret? She must guard her heart and his.

My website -- http://www.tinapinson.com/
Twitter:@Tina_Pinson
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Purchase my books at:

Desert Breeze Bookstore.
When Shadows Fall
Touched By Mercy
In the Manor of the Ghost
Shadowed Dreams

Amazon:
Touched By Mercy
In the Manor of the Ghost
When Shadows Fall
Shadowed Dreams

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Touched By Mercy
In the Manor of the Ghost
When Shadows Fall
Shadowed Dreams

Christian Books Distributors
Touched By Mercy
In the Manor of the Ghost
When Shadows Fall



Tina E. Pinson--
Touched By Mercy, In the Manor of the Ghost, When Shadows Fall
Shadowed Dreams Twitter @Tina_Pinson My Website, My Blog
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD... " Jer. 29:11