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Archiver > IOWA > 2001-03 > 0983810503


From: "juanita" <>
Subject: [IOWA] Travel by horses
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 10:41:43 -0600


In re how far a person could travel by horse in the late 1890's.

My Dad and his parents left Hardin Co. IA in 1909 going by train to
Craig, CO where they were to homestead some land. By Spring
1910 they decided it was too cold in Colorado and packed up to go
to KS. I have a diary my grandmother kept ea. day about their
travel. They had a wagon and and two teams of horses, plus their
household goods. There were 3 people, my Dad had his 17th
birthday enroute.
.
The first entry in the diary was dated Apr 23, 1910, saying they left
the ranch 8 mi. west of Craig at 10:20 AM. "After a strenuous
morning loading. Stopped for dinner 2 mi. north of town. Went into
camp at 6 P." (She didn't say where "camp" was, however).

The next morning they started their trip at 8 A and had "some pretty
rough roads. Stopped @ Davis Ranch on Fortification for dinner.
On the road again at 2:10." They had to change their route from
Baggs, WY and go by way of Dixon, arriving at 6 P on Four Mile,
after traveling rough roads.

The next day, they arrived at Dixon at 10:30 A where they bought
hay and supplies, "watered" and got direction. Passed a sheep
shearing camp, also a herder with about 1500 rams. Rough roads
and hot day, reaching the Muddy (presumably a river) where they
set up camp at 4 P.

The following morning they started at 7:00 A, saying it was a hot
drive over desert country to reach the Muddy again at noon. After
leaving there they had to drive 16 mi. to reach Willow Springs at
night. Roads were sand, nearly hub deep for about 6 mi.

Leaving Willow Springs at 7:00 A the next day they got into camp in
the evening, having a "feast" she says on rabbit they killed, about 4
mi. from Rawlins WY. They went into Rawlins the next day about 10
A for supplies. Here they found they'd have to go to Saratoga WY
because a bridge was out at Ft. Steele. They camped that night 7
mi. out of Rawlins.

The next morning they left at 6:30 A and drove 15 mi. to Sage
Creek where they stopped for dinner. They arrived at Saratoga at
7 P, driving 33 miles.

There's more to the diary when they left Pass Creek Basin, WY and
headed for Laramie. Road was hilly and after eating lunch at Rock
Creek, found it was 14 mi. from where they intended to camp that
night. They had to cross an irrigating ditch and "wandered around",
with a cold wind blowing. She said those 14 mi. were the longest,
not seeing a living soul. They arrived that evening at 6 PM at
Northrops' Ranch. They were 30 mi. from Laramie. They decided
to ship their horses and wagonload of belongings by rail from there
to KC.. My Dad and his father stayed with the train, until the freight
could be loaded and my grandmother took another train by herself
on to Kansas City to wait for them.

If someone knows where any of these places are that I named
perhaps they can figure how many mi. ea. day they traveled. It
looks to me like it was anywhere from around 12-15 mi. to 33-35
ea. day. Much depended on the weather and the roads.

juanita

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