One of the first things that I had to do was make a wagon cover. I had to sew it by hand as well as all the clothes for our journey. I used sacks that I spun at night while my husband read to me, and other women that were planning to leave with us would gathered with me during the months before and sew quilts with me. It was a great bonding event while we sewed quilts together and brought closer together. When it came time for us to leave it was very sad. Some friends spend the night with us and others arrived at daylight. All places of business and the schools were closed and everyone came to say goodbye. We gathered along the Oregon Trail at small towns along the Missouri River call “jumping off points”, Independence St. Joseph and Council Bluffs were among these small towns. Our wagon was made of seasoned wood to withstand extreme temperatures and was hauled by four oxen. Tools and spare parts were stored under our wagon. We had utensils including forks and knives, plates, cups, a kettle, frypan, a coffee pot that were packed inside. Our food consisted of about 200 pounds of flour 150 pounds of bacon, 10 pounds coffee, 20 pounds of sugar, and 10 pounds of salt chips, beef, rice, dried beans, dried fruits, pickles, and other foods were also packed. Our wagon trains arrive at a jumping point in March and left in April when the snow melted enough, hopefully we will arrive in Oregon before winter. Starting the 2400 mile journey in Missouri are wagons would continue along the Missouri River to the Plateau River. We followed this wide and mighty river through Nebraska and halfway through Wyoming. We stopped in Fort Laramie in Wyoming to rest and buy provisions. It was summer by then and the days were very hot and the nights were very cold. Once over the pass we traveled to Fort hall. At Fort Hall the migrants split, those going to California headed south, and us going to Oregon headed north, the trail still had it many hardships for us heading to Oregon. We traveled along the Snake River to Fort Boise, then we have had to cross the Blue Mountains which required us to haul the wagons at bridges with ropes and pulleys. We traveled on until we reached the Columbia River which we had to use a ferry to cross, we then traveled the remaining 100 miles to Willamette Valley. The overland journey was the most dangerous one. We passed numerous gravesites along the trail often several graves stood together as people became sick on warm days and warm weather seem to increase sickness. I was very scared that one of my children or my husband would become ill or injured along the way. Children, women, and men in our wagon train were becoming ill or injured, some passed away, it was very scary. There is a young woman on our wagon train with us who gave birth one day and passed away two days later, along with her child, she was buried along with her child leaving behind her husband and a 2 year old little boy. The husband was crazy with sorrow. Once we arrived in Oregon during our first winter we had to camp in our wagon until we can find some land, then we built a cabin this was no easy task to not having the proper tools and nails. Our cabin was small made with a dirt floor and round logs with bark on them, are beds were nailed to the walls and handcrafted since our furniture was abandoned along the way of the Oregon Trail. During our first year in Oregon we relied on the crops in our garden which was my responsibility but our animals are tired from the journey and all our tools and plows are not very good and so are garden was small. In addition to tending the garden I had other responsibilities like cooking washing and taking care of the children. Since we got rid of our stove along the way I cooked on an open fire, hand washing rinsing and drying the clothes took all day I was lucky I had help with Labor by hiring a Chinese cook or Indian laundress. In addition to the chores at the house I earnt extra money by selling eggs, vegetables, and handmade items such as blankets. When we did not have extra help on the farm, I had to help during harvest time or for a roundup on the ranch. I remember days of shoveling and hauling wagon loads of manure. I was so tired. Then I had to go home and cook supper, milk all the cows and tend to the rest of the homestead. As time went on I tended to more and more responsibilities and my social responsibilities got greater also.