Women on the Oregon Trail
Excerpts-
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Women on the Oregon Trail[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,helvetica,arial]It strikes me as I think of it now -- of course, I was a girl, too young then to know much about it -- but I think now the mothers on the road had to undergo more trial and suffering than anybody else. The men had a great deal of anxiety...but still, the mothers had the families.
- Martha Morrison Minto[/FONT][FONT=New York,MS Serif,Palatino,Times New Roman]
[/FONT][FONT=New York,MS Serif,Palatino,Times New Roman]Keeping everyone fed while traveling the Oregon Trail was no small challenge in an age when the first step in preparing fried chicken might very well have been to wring the chicken's neck. Women coped by sharing time-saving tricks such as using the embers of the campfire to slow-cook a kettle of beans for breakfast the next day or filling the butter churn before hanging it off the back of the wagon, as a rough road would bounce the wagon around enough to churn a small lump of butter for the evening meal. In the face of the limited kitchen facilities and ingredients available on the emigrant road, many women took a certain pride in springing culinary surprises such as preparing a birthday cake or a batch of cookies. Some were so pleased with themselves that they almost bragged to their diaries of small triumphs in the face of adversity.
[/FONT][FONT=verdana,helvetica,arial]...wet up some light dough and rolled it out with a bottle and spread the strawberries over it and then rolled it up in a cloth and boiled it, and then with the juice of the strawberries and a little sugar and the last bit of nutmeg I had made quite a cup full of sauce to eat upon the dumplings... the dumplings were light as a cork and made quite a dessert.
- Mary Powers[/FONT][FONT=New York,MS Serif,Palatino,Times New Roman]
[/FONT][FONT=verdana,helvetica,arial]...when danger threatened and my services needed, I knew that if I couldn't shoot straight I could at least sound the alarm. ... I put on my husband's hat and overcoat, then grasping our old flintlock between my shaking hands I went forth into the darkness.
- Margaret Hecox[/FONT][FONT=New York,MS Serif,Palatino,Times New Roman]
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