When you're burning 1600 calories per day, you need the right fuel. So how did the Oregon Trail pioneers pull off such a massive trek? #Pioneer #OregonTrail #Shorts
My great-great-grandparents walked that trail, and then took the California Trail following a mountain man by the name of Greenwood into Sacramento, California in 1845. Their memoirs and accounts in UCSB Library give a very vivid account of a very tough journey, and a very tough time once the arrived in California. I would say it was close to a hand to mouth existence for a long while. They ate what the natives ate and their own dwindling rancid supplies. I have multiple photographs of my great-great-grandmother Eliza's tent on Telegraph Hill, at Kearney and Vallejo St. in San Francisco in 1849. No Thanks.
You say 'No Thanks', but the simple fact is that you or I COULDN'T. There's no 'refusal' it's just the fact we could not handle it. That's how weak, fat and stupid we are as a society. You need to remember that these people worked from the time they awoke until the time it was dark, which made them twice the people we are. The rest of the day was spent eating, washing, and sleeping.....and that's it. If it wasn't practical, it sure wasn't needed.
My great great grandfather came to California overland when his stepfather kicked him out at 12 y.o. In 1850. He followed his brother who had come before him. Family stories are great to know.
The Oregon Trail center in Baker City, indicated there is one grave per mile on the Oregon Trail. A ton of people didn't make it. We've been here since 1866.
No one walks that fast for long distances. The normal pace is about 3 mph on roads in good condition. I would imagine a group like that travelling at closer to 2 mph.
@@tonymouannes the roads were beaten down within a couple of years making it much easier to walk at that speed. They walked as fast as the animals moved. You would wake up, eat and break down camp and be on the road by mid morning, then walk until early evening. That would mean walking for 6-9 hours a day and longer in the summer. Then set up camp and repeat. Also, anyone who has a place to actually gets to easily walks 4mph and usually more. Since has proven that two or men walking together walk the fastest, two or more women are second fastest and mixed gender are the slowest.
@@shelbyoffrink4424 you might be confusing miles/h and km/h. While people can go over 4 mph when walking, it's not a sustainable pace. You can't walk all day at that speed. Some people that fast when covering short distances or to exercise. Traveler can cover longer distances going slower at between 2 to 3 mph depending on the terrain. That's actually the speed that armys march at and the natural speed of that most people who walk long distances.
I would say they averaged 1.5mph. The trail was approx. 2170 miles took approx. 4 to 5 months so 144 days with math that's 15 miles a day walking just daylight hours ( because bad stuff comes out at night) 10 hours that's 1.5mph Edit probably less with more people. Only as fast as your slowest person and if someone turned an ankle or lost a wheel or horse or any number of things could slow you down rain was a big one im sure Faster if everybody could ride.
My grandmother was born in 1890 ,,, in 1900 they packed up their belongings in a covered wagon and came west from Pennsylvania on the Oregon Trail ,, she rode a horse the entire way ,, she told us stories of folks walking behind wagons hanging on to ropes to get pulled along ,, the family finally settled in California where most of them live today near Yuba City.
It is amazing to me the number of people I meet who don't understand that the pioneers that crossed the continent in covered wagons did NOT travel in covered wagons. They walked along side them. Except for the very young and very old, they walked the entire distance. Also, the wagons were pulled by oxen. But that wasn't because oxen could pull more or longer. It was because the natives that already lived on the land the settlers were stealing didn't care about them. They would attack a wagon pulled by horses and take them.
My great grandmother was in the last wagon train on the Oregon Trail. She had to walk the entire way knitting socks for the family, while making sure the cattle didn’t stray. She wasn’t even a teenager.
So, that is why the old Oregon Trail game had me hunting every other rest period. Can you imagine how much lead was consumed and deposited along the trail?
My dad's side of the family have been here in Florida since 1450 they founded pine castle FL my mom's side came to America in 1840 from Sweden they walked from NY to Florida I can't imagine how beautiful this country was back then
The pioneers and settlers had a pretty good traveling but one of the Travelers no one wants to talk about is the Trail of Tears how they forced and walked 2,000 miles they didn't have luxury my great great grandmother walked the Trail of Tears at 5 years Old in 1850s She died at the age of 115.
@@patricklucero6621 well the native Americans could have made the walk easier if they did not tahr their slaves. The truth period don't want to talk about
You forgot about the dysentery. The game always ends with the dysentery. And if you live in Oregon like I do the majority of it is desert on the east side. Water supplies are scarce and there's all sorts of nasty things in the water that even the average person can't just drink the water these days.
Dysentery is from poor hygiene. Like not being able to wash up after pooping in the great outdoors then eating with your hands because you lost your one fork. You don't get it from a mosquitoes
@@tbutcherfpv810 You're definitely not from my era. 😆. Me and many others are talking about the game "The Oregon Trail". However, as a medic I can tell you that yes you can get it from hygiene but, you can also get dysentery from water sources and many others.
@@llspragulus omg my bad I totally was confused when I read it and anyway um I bet I am ...born 1968 played it from a 💾. Oh and yes There are two main types of dysentery. The first type, amoebic dysentery or intestinal amoebiasis, is caused by a single-celled, microscopic parasite living in the large bowel. The second type, bacillary dysentery, is caused by invasive bacteria. Both kinds of dysentery occur mostly in hot countries. Poor hygiene and sanitation increase the risk of dysentery by spreading the parasite or bacteria that cause it through food or water contaminated from infected human feces.
my family founded certain parts of oregon.they came threw the oregon trail at the very begining..these people were tough..insanely tough..many died.my ggg whatever grandma made it to oregon with 5 kids.and her husband died on the trail from illness. her brother in law helped.but this woman was about as tough as u can get.mail or frmale...and my family is the founders of many parts of oregon as a result
I live now and have lived along other parts of the trail in Oregon for the last decade. The part near me now along with other wagon routes are still visible in a few spots. I can’t imagine traveling by wagon or foot in the mountains around here.
When we were cutting whear out in South Dakota a farmer showed us a area that was fenced off it looked like a monster truck ran thru it and muddied it up. He said that was the ruts of the wagon train on the original Oregon trail. He said it didn't rain a lot out there and they grow their wheat from the nitrogen out of snow but that particular year it rained a lot.
Some of the pioneer companies that ran into trouble had to cut rations to a few ounces of flour a day. And then there were the Willie and Martin companies, who got caught by winter and were reduced to measures like boiling the rawhide wrappings of their tent poles.
The wagons were mostly pulled by Oxen, not horses or mules as they were more expensive. Also they brought extra Oxen and harnesses, etc. Many also brought farming equipment with them. So these weren't poor people as it took as sizable investment to purchase all that was needed to immigrate westward.
"you have died from dysentery" I'll never forget that game and Odell Lake! There is no need for these ridiculously realistic video games when the goal is just an hr or so of entertainment
Enjoy reading some of the stories from other folks and these facts in this short video. And this is what helped make this country great and why we love this country.
My grandmother’s grandfather came to California in 1850, following the gold rush. Our family has watched people coming to California over the decades, over the generations… And the most recent three generations are what have ruined California, coming from everywhere across the United States. Soft. Incapable. Whining. Entitled.
There were often kegs of water strapped to the sides of wagons, and the humans were not the first to drink the mules were the most valuable items some family had
Whatever you do, don’t eat only wild rabbits. You’ll get protein poisoning because they don’t have fat on them, and you’d need 3 times as many carbs to process it safely if your out of fat.
Had they walked at 4mph, they would have been miles ahead of the lead, oxen towed wagon before lunch time. Think a lot closer to 2mph. That would alter your caloric estimate downward. But, walking rough terrain does consume more calories than on a paved path, or even a well beaten dirt path. Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
And a boom stick. Sometimes you have to blow something's or someone's head Clean Off. To neutralize the threat. You wouldn't even have to call anybody afterwards either..
If you’re hungry and outdoors everything tastes great. Some of the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had came out of a foil packet dumped into boiling water in my thermal cup in Death Valley.
bridget it wasn't about taste like today, today if it tastes good it's good for you and thats what "Kelloggs "etc . Want you to think while killing you ( grains, corn ,veg.oils, sugar &other garbage) plants are poisonous SO if you want to survive go the Proper Human Diet or die in pain and obesity
@@lovescoffee9780 Thank you. In my 70 years I have been accused of being very insensitive to others' feelings. I learned to be insensitive to California when I was stationed at Camp Pendleton. As for Oregon, I have friends who live there and they are extremely disillusioned by their state.
How did they deal with water because nowadays you cannot drink water without treating it unless it's from a deep natural spring or a deep well, (fracking land excluded) and all they had was Rivers and Creeks to collect their water from.
They drank from the same water the horses drank… A horse will not drink poisoned water. They drank from where the water flowed if they could, if not they drank whatever they could find.
I remember this story in the third grade we had to do this s*** I wound up getting enough cuz I put down from here I've always been from here I didn't come over from Europe
So it would be more economically sound to have oxygen that could eat more things and go further with less to eat and have one large wagon for people. Therefore the oxen could live off the grass or Anything else it could find, or people could collect and save all that food
How do you think you would have fared travelling on the Oregon trail?
I would have been one of the first ones to go due to health problems
@@tag_u_rit ĺ
L0
9⁹9⁹⁹⁹⁹98
90000990
Dysentery
@@randymagnum143 you have died…
Most North Americans today could do it with a 50lb pack. That's how obese they are. They have the 'fat f***er' reserve.
I burned 2000 calories once. I took a nap one day and left a pan of brownies in the oven too long.
Blasphemy
Lol--- Good one!!!!
That is to funny.
My great-great-grandparents walked that trail, and then took the California Trail following a mountain man by the name of Greenwood into Sacramento, California in 1845. Their memoirs and accounts in UCSB Library give a very vivid account of a very tough journey, and a very tough time once the arrived in California. I would say it was close to a hand to mouth existence for a long while. They ate what the natives ate and their own dwindling rancid supplies. I have multiple photographs of my great-great-grandmother Eliza's tent on Telegraph Hill, at Kearney and Vallejo St. in San Francisco in 1849. No Thanks.
That sounds badas I wish I had the history of my family. I have names and stuff but that's not the history
You say 'No Thanks', but the simple fact is that you or I COULDN'T. There's no 'refusal' it's just the fact we could not handle it. That's how weak, fat and stupid we are as a society.
You need to remember that these people worked from the time they awoke until the time it was dark, which made them twice the people we are. The rest of the day was spent eating, washing, and sleeping.....and that's it.
If it wasn't practical, it sure wasn't needed.
they paved the way for your existence..!
My great great grandfather came to California overland when his stepfather kicked him out at 12 y.o. In 1850. He followed his brother who had come before him.
Family stories are great to know.
Greenwood.... Ain't that a neighborhood in that town?
The ones that brought the dairy cows gave up 1/3 the way there and said "let's just be Wisconsin"
Lol
😂😂
The Oregon Trail center in Baker City, indicated there is one grave per mile on the Oregon Trail. A ton of people didn't make it. We've been here since 1866.
And the indigenous people had been there for nearly 300,000 years, and then European savages arrived.
If i remember i think its 2170 miles
4 mph is a really really fast pace. With a wagon and everything, they were lucky to make half that speed.
No one walks that fast for long distances. The normal pace is about 3 mph on roads in good condition. I would imagine a group like that travelling at closer to 2 mph.
@@tonymouannes the roads were beaten down within a couple of years making it much easier to walk at that speed. They walked as fast as the animals moved. You would wake up, eat and break down camp and be on the road by mid morning, then walk until early evening. That would mean walking for 6-9 hours a day and longer in the summer. Then set up camp and repeat.
Also, anyone who has a place to actually gets to easily walks 4mph and usually more. Since has proven that two or men walking together walk the fastest, two or more women are second fastest and mixed gender are the slowest.
@@shelbyoffrink4424 you might be confusing miles/h and km/h. While people can go over 4 mph when walking, it's not a sustainable pace. You can't walk all day at that speed. Some people that fast when covering short distances or to exercise. Traveler can cover longer distances going slower at between 2 to 3 mph depending on the terrain. That's actually the speed that armys march at and the natural speed of that most people who walk long distances.
I would say they averaged 1.5mph. The trail was approx. 2170 miles took approx. 4 to 5 months so 144 days with math that's 15 miles a day walking just daylight hours ( because bad stuff comes out at night) 10 hours that's 1.5mph
Edit probably less with more people. Only as fast as your slowest person and if someone turned an ankle or lost a wheel or horse or any number of things could slow you down rain was a big one im sure Faster if everybody could ride.
I was going to say, 3mph is a lot for experienced backpackers even with light packs.
My great grandmother walked from ohio to oklahoma. Said they ate anything they could find. Said if they could catch it they ate it.
Wonder how your grandma used to go to school though 🤔
I would have died of dysentery after caulking the wagon and trying to float across the river to avoid the costly ferry.
Another Apple Computer Game reference.
Don't Ford it! My son is now dead.
My grandmother was born in 1890 ,,, in 1900 they packed up their belongings in a covered wagon and came west from Pennsylvania on the Oregon Trail ,, she rode a horse the entire way ,, she told us stories of folks walking behind wagons hanging on to ropes to get pulled along ,, the family finally settled in California where most of them live today near Yuba City.
It is amazing to me the number of people I meet who don't understand that the pioneers that crossed the continent in covered wagons did NOT travel in covered wagons. They walked along side them. Except for the very young and very old, they walked the entire distance. Also, the wagons were pulled by oxen. But that wasn't because oxen could pull more or longer. It was because the natives that already lived on the land the settlers were stealing didn't care about them. They would attack a wagon pulled by horses and take them.
Natives say they didn’t own the land. 🤷🏻
Oxen where tougher and easier to handle.
My great grandmother was in the last wagon train on the Oregon Trail. She had to walk the entire way knitting socks for the family, while making sure the cattle didn’t stray. She wasn’t even a teenager.
That is a feat. Walking whilst knitting socks.
Did she also do it beer foot and with no clothes walking backwards?
@@saucegotti9416 oh yeah neked and "beer" footed.
@@saucegotti9416 darn right, up hill both ways too 😂
Don’t make Grandma Angry kids
If it was this bad for willing people, imagine how bad the trail of tears was. 😢
Save it for the people who’s ancestors participated
Yes, we all played this game, I just don’t remember the graphics being this good
"Medicinal purposes"
Gimme the bottle, I have a headache.
So, that is why the old Oregon Trail game had me hunting every other rest period. Can you imagine how much lead was consumed and deposited along the trail?
This society would fail immediately.
It would most definitely be a culling. That’s for sure.
We as a country are heading BACK in this direction. We will soon be there.
I think it will be more like Book of Eli. Self explanatory if you've seen it.
@@charlesdrake3125 I've seen a few times. Time will tell.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Can you count to three?
One, two...
... when a cowboy trades his spurs for wings... Very good flick
*im walking backwards
Today's 'entitled little darlings' have a meltdown if they have to walk to the fridge.
Stop yapping
My dad's side of the family have been here in Florida since 1450 they founded pine castle FL my mom's side came to America in 1840 from Sweden they walked from NY to Florida I can't imagine how beautiful this country was back then
The indigenous people thought it was beautiful until it was tainted by Europeans who stole their lands.
Yes , no pollution, no lights teeming with wildlife
I did 440 miles on the Florida trail this year. Big cypress oasis to Juniper Springs rec area. Got to see Florida in a way most will never know.
@@hopsta5628 you gotta fight for what you love
"1450?"
I'd die after the first 10 miles. Glad to see Sam Elliott doing well on the walk.
The pioneers and settlers had a pretty good traveling but one of the Travelers no one wants to talk about is the Trail of Tears how they forced and walked 2,000 miles they didn't have luxury my great great grandmother walked the Trail of Tears at 5 years Old in 1850s
She died at the age of 115.
Oh no why would U.S. citizens want to know the truth 😡
Pretty much White washed in the history books.
@@patricklucero6621 well the native Americans could have made the walk easier if they did not tahr their slaves. The truth period don't want to talk about
You forgot about the dysentery. The game always ends with the dysentery. And if you live in Oregon like I do the majority of it is desert on the east side. Water supplies are scarce and there's all sorts of nasty things in the water that even the average person can't just drink the water these days.
BAH HAHAHAHA!! I'm glad I wasn't the only one who posted that!
I live in eastern Oregon it was brutal
The film clip of the guy catching a catfish is Terrance Hill from the movie My Name is Nobody
This channel is just awesome
Rugged, Smart, and Strong people. ‼️
And racist. Hard core Judao-Christian racist. And if Stalin was alive then... he would be torturing Native and enslaving Afro.
they paved the way for all of us!
Let's take society back to those times. Cure all our problems. Too many weak minded sheeple these days..
You would probably die first
Then you see the pop-up, "you got bit by a mosquito and died of dysentery."
Dysentery is from poor hygiene. Like not being able to wash up after pooping in the great outdoors then eating with your hands because you lost your one fork. You don't get it from a mosquitoes
@@tbutcherfpv810 You're definitely not from my era. 😆. Me and many others are talking about the game "The Oregon Trail". However, as a medic I can tell you that yes you can get it from hygiene but, you can also get dysentery from water sources and many others.
@@llspragulus omg my bad I totally was confused when I read it and anyway um I bet I am ...born 1968 played it from a 💾. Oh and yes There are two main types of dysentery. The first type, amoebic dysentery or intestinal amoebiasis, is caused by a single-celled, microscopic parasite living in the large bowel. The second type, bacillary dysentery, is caused by invasive bacteria. Both kinds of dysentery occur mostly in hot countries. Poor hygiene and sanitation increase the risk of dysentery by spreading the parasite or bacteria that cause it through food or water contaminated from infected human feces.
@@tbutcherfpv810 No problem! We're about the same age 🤣 you're 2yrs older than me!
my family founded certain parts of oregon.they came threw the oregon trail at the very begining..these people were tough..insanely tough..many died.my ggg whatever grandma made it to oregon with 5 kids.and her husband died on the trail from illness. her brother in law helped.but this woman was about as tough as u can get.mail or frmale...and my family is the founders of many parts of oregon as a result
That's be heartbroken to see what has happened to Oregon.
Now that's exercise. And natives increases the speed.
Bacon brandy and whiskey would have been the only reason you could have gotten me to walk 2000 miles
I live now and have lived along other parts of the trail in Oregon for the last decade. The part near me now along with other wagon routes are still visible in a few spots. I can’t imagine traveling by wagon or foot in the mountains around here.
Thank you for your logical & more palatable revelation.🌞
Beans, Beef stew, bacon, and water.
I've walked from Tampa Florida to Daytona Florida
The old school game Oregon trail tells me all I know what would happen to me. Death by everything
The good old days...,.when men were men
I give those people alot of credit! I drove to California from ohio and that wore me out! To walk it would be quite the adventure.
love seeing the clip from "my name is nobody". great movie.
When we were cutting whear out in South Dakota a farmer showed us a area that was fenced off it looked like a monster truck ran thru it and muddied it up. He said that was the ruts of the wagon train on the original Oregon trail. He said it didn't rain a lot out there and they grow their wheat from the nitrogen out of snow but that particular year it rained a lot.
when Men were Men and they changed the world .. :)
400 lbs of bacon! Cool!
Gone in a year for just me!
Some of the pioneer companies that ran into trouble had to cut rations to a few ounces of flour a day. And then there were the Willie and Martin companies, who got caught by winter and were reduced to measures like boiling the rawhide wrappings of their tent poles.
Cows sheep or goats is a game changer makes a huge difference big time
Donner Party like it's 1869...
That's a hard one to beat. Back in my day I walked 2000 miles barefooted and you can't even take out the garbage?? 🤣
Thank you for sharing!
A day's travel was eight miles due to oxen being sterdy but not fast. Cavalry posts were positioned accordingly many are now small towns
The wagons were mostly pulled by Oxen, not horses or mules as they were more expensive. Also they brought extra Oxen and harnesses, etc. Many also brought farming equipment with them. So these weren't poor people as it took as sizable investment to purchase all that was needed to immigrate westward.
Legend of Buster Scruggs
Carrying all that, and making it through would be a story to tell.
That used to be a game when I was in school. The Oregon Trail.
"you have died from dysentery" I'll never forget that game and Odell Lake! There is no need for these ridiculously realistic video games when the goal is just an hr or so of entertainment
got about half way through this before I fell asleep 😴 💤
I read a pioneer's diary. Rancid flour etc. and any plants they could eat.
Enjoy reading some of the stories from other folks and these facts in this short video. And this is what helped make this country great and why we love this country.
Is it possible to recreate their journey in modern day backpacking and Hiking or what I need like a horse a good trusty Steed at my side
My grandmother’s grandfather came to California in 1850, following the gold rush. Our family has watched people coming to California over the decades, over the generations… And the most recent three generations are what have ruined California, coming from everywhere across the United States. Soft. Incapable. Whining. Entitled.
First off on the Oregon trail oxen pulled the wagons.
There were often kegs of water strapped to the sides of wagons, and the humans were not the first to drink the mules were the most valuable items some family had
Amazing facts.
Whatever you do, don’t eat only wild rabbits. You’ll get protein poisoning because they don’t have fat on them, and you’d need 3 times as many carbs to process it safely if your out of fat.
You forgot about Molasses. VERY IMPORTANT TO PIONEER SURVIVAL.
Not to mention,the heat ,the cold ,the wind dust storms ,wild animals , but catching fresh trout ? That would be a real treat.
1600 calories a day? No problem, that is just one Big Mac
More beans mr. Targert. Naw i think you boys had enough....
Clips from ballad of buster S. ?
Full hydration and a herd
History be like - in the days before railroad to -days before the Automobile to- days before airports to days before jet airliners and super highways!
Had they walked at 4mph, they would have been miles ahead of the lead, oxen towed wagon before lunch time. Think a lot closer to 2mph. That would alter your caloric estimate downward. But, walking rough terrain does consume more calories than on a paved path, or even a well beaten dirt path.
Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
And a boom stick. Sometimes you have to blow something's or someone's head Clean Off. To neutralize the threat. You wouldn't even have to call anybody afterwards either..
even that food tasted good when they were hungry.
If you’re hungry and outdoors everything tastes great.
Some of the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had came out of a foil packet dumped into boiling water in my thermal cup in Death Valley.
bridget it wasn't about taste like today, today if it tastes good it's good for you and thats what "Kelloggs "etc . Want you to think while killing you ( grains, corn ,veg.oils, sugar &other garbage) plants are poisonous SO if you want to survive go the Proper Human Diet or die in pain and obesity
Easier to just stop at Kroger or Publix and slide the Mastercard for something hot out of the deli.
They should have done that.
That's a lotta beans
A hiker covering unexplored/unimproved trail at 4mph is an idiot and unlikely to make it more than 6 hours without stress injuries.
If people were on the trail to Oregon or California today, they would be required by those states to only eat gluten free buffalo chips.
You are bad lol lol
@@lovescoffee9780 Thank you. In my 70 years I have been accused of being very insensitive to others' feelings. I learned to be insensitive to California when I was stationed at Camp Pendleton. As for Oregon, I have friends who live there and they are extremely disillusioned by their state.
Makes ya wonder how those small kids made it up to the US from south america , must of been the George soris express lol
Americans soon forget..... what a shame
No one walks 4 miles an hour, less on ruff terrain. I know. I hiked the whole AT. 2.65 miles per hour.
My whiskey is medicinal. Long lasting family secret. Broken arm, take a shot. Snake bite, take 4. 😋 😁🤣
But you could always raid the wagon of the family that died of dysentery on the Oregon Trail
How did they deal with water because nowadays you cannot drink water without treating it unless it's from a deep natural spring or a deep well, (fracking land excluded) and all they had was Rivers and Creeks to collect their water from.
They drank from the same water the horses drank… A horse will not drink poisoned water. They drank from where the water flowed if they could, if not they drank whatever they could find.
I remember this story in the third grade we had to do this s*** I wound up getting enough cuz I put down from here I've always been from here I didn't come over from Europe
Well your ppl walked from Atlan tho didn’t they. lol
Nobody is from here or there. EVERYBODY came here or there from somewhere. Even if an ancestral line is centuries old they came from somewhere.
I walk around 5 miles a day just to commute to work.
You are forgetting that there were trading posts out there for a couple hundred years already established, because of the fir trade
People were built different back then
Actual average 3 miles per hour for first three hours. Then 2-2 1/2 per.
Oh those little clips of The ballad of buster Scruggs bum you out
Can you imagine? The terrain was extremely difficult with a wagon..
I would be very interested in their shoes. These were not rich people, how did their shoes hold up. And how did they not get blisters?
This scene is from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs on Netflix.
They stopped at Arby's every 50 miles
When I did the Oregon trail I lost two oxen, broke a wagon wheel, and died of Dysentery!
Damn, I wouldn’t last two seconds on the Oregon Trail.
That grass would have been taller than corn.
What is the walking cow's caloric requirement per mile?
Rough times for sure, but the fish & game was bad ass that long ago. I hope they had tobacco also for a smoke or a chew in those hard times.
They had to bring alcoholic drinks because the water was bad. Same reason why travelers went to saloons when they got to town.
So it would be more economically sound to have oxygen that could eat more things and go further with less to eat and have one large wagon for people. Therefore the oxen could live off the grass or Anything else it could find, or people could collect and save all that food
Arthur Morgan would hunt to help sustain the community.