What is a typical day like on the journey? Be as descriptive as possible and don't leave out the dangers you'll face. Include images and facts from Gregg’s Commerce of the Prairies. Why does riding the trail seem to have a “sanative” or healing effect on health problems?
Use/depict some of these words and phrases, and add your own:
wagon corral/hollow square (p. 43)
cholera
prairie
cache (p. 47)
dashboard
buffalo wallows
traders escorted only as far as Arkansas River (p. 19)
dressing for the prairie (p.33)
driver’s phrases: “Go! Catch up! All set!” (p. 35)
kitchenware (skillet, frying pan, campkettle, coffee pot, tin cup, butcher’s knife) (p. 39)
mirage
canteens
Cimarron River
caravan
oxen, mules or horses?
bustle in Santa Fe when caravan arrives (p. 80)
Since we'll be visiting Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, include what you learn there in your diary.
Bent's Old Fort area map.
Pressure on the plains.The Indian Removal Act of 1830.
Map: PBS.org
