Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1850; the diary of Margaret A. Frink (Living Voices of the Past) (Living Voices of the Past)

My great-great grandparents with an infant daughter journeyed overland from Missouri to California in 1850 and I read this book to learn something of their experience.

As the editors point out few women made the crossing by land and thus their accounts have great significance. This book contains the diaries and letters of six women who traveled by wagon and horseback across the Great Plains and the mountains of the West to a new home in California, Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico in 1850. Amongst their descriptions of terror and hardship are also homely tales of life on the trail and often the generosity and nobility of many of their fellows.

I was impressed most by the sheer numbers of the overlanders. Some 50,000 people took the Western trails in 1850, drawn mostly by the promise of gold in California. Accounts of the dust, the crowded conditions, and the inevitable cholera caught my attention. The journey across the plains and mountains was, as the editors note, the longest voluntary migration in history and one has to wonder why so many people left comfortable homes to journey west. The westward urge -- "Manifest Destiny" -- or whatever it might be called was a powerful force in 19th century United States. Indians and buffalo play surprisingly small roles in the accounts of the crossing. They were perhaps wise enough to keep their distance from the overlanders.

The editors have contributed good introductions to the book and each of the women.

Smallchief

Meaningful, first-hand chronicles from six westward women pioneers of 1850.
As editor Dr. Holmes notes, Anna Maria Morris was the wife of a military commander and as a result was "treated with attention and care". Nonetheless, she describes the relentless heat, lack of water and wood, poor grass, etc. which was typical of travel to Santa Fe, along with daily routines.
Mary Colby, Margaret Frink, Sarah Davis, Sophia Goodridge and Lucena Parsons all traveled the northern ,more familiar, Oregon Trail. These women give stunning details of wagon travel including: the phenomenal numbers of graves along the trail due to cholera, daily chores and mishaps, the vast numbers of emigrants along the route, dry ponds, abandoned wagons and personal belongings, river crossings, cutting grass for future livestock feed, etc.
We feel the persistent, annoying stings of clouds of mosquitoes along the Platte, the disturbing sights of countless numbers of human graves, the unsettling smells of innumerable dead livestock left alongside the road, feel their Indian anxieties, the sounds of nerve-racking horrendous thunderstorms, the continual unwelcomed taste of trail dust. These women clearly illustrate what life was like traveling westward in 1850.
A pleasure to read.

As Americans we have heard many tales, true and false, of tales of, and about, those brave souls who migrated across the country in wagons and on foot in the 19th century. Beverly's LTD has recorded The personal diary of one such woman, Margaret A. Frink.

Mrs. Frink, along with her husband, whose first name we never know, and a boy named Robert leave their nice home in Martinsburg, Indiana, for the riches of the California territories. It's not only the promise of gold that spurs this couple on, but of the riches available to those who make the arduous trip.

Mrs. Frink keeps a detailed diary of the daily distances traveled (how did they m ark this?), the price of provisions along the way, the weather, the many people they run into, and an acute observation of the fashions on the trail. I found that quite interesting, those detailed descriptions of fashion, in clothing, transportation, and supplies, and the daily traveling distance. I also found myself amazed at the mileage the wagons were able to make each day and the price of provisions along the way. In 1851, one onion costs the Frink's one dollar, which is astronomically even in the 2002 market.

Susan Baxter, an actress at the Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado, gives life to Margaret. By the tone of voice she uses, I suspect that Margaret is a bit of a snob, but she handles the travails of the trail with remarkable good humor.

It is particularly interesting that the diary does not end with their arrival in Sacramento, but gives a hurried account of life for their life as hotel owners and diary farmers. It is also interesting that the home they dismantled in Indiana and ship by boat, arrived in the new state at almost the same time they did.

Thanks to the publication of this diary, I have a whole new appreciation of the Old West!

The second in the series is as interesting as the first.The immigrants now have a bit more knowledge as many have gone before them.There are still many misshaps, disease, lack of water and feed. We now are starting to see many oppertunists who prey on the people. It is interesting to note that the women and Indians seemed to get along quite well and shared hints about many things. We also see the diffrence in the trip for diffrent income levels.This is also where we start to see pollution,as the animals were allowed in the creeks and anything not needed was just left .These books show what life was really like on the trail and what the women went through each day.