EARLY DAY STORIES. 59 



Knapp, had provided against this trouble by bringing along 

 a supply of ox shoes and nails for putting them on. Some, 

 however, did not think of this, or did not forsee such a 

 difficulty and did not provide themselves with ox shoes. 

 We lay over for two days when our oxen first began to have 

 tender feet, and shod all in our train that needed it, as some 

 had shoes, and Mr. Knapp fortunately had enough to supply 

 those who had none. In the lumber woods, and elsewhere 

 where it is necessary to shoe oxen, a frame is kept at every 

 blacksmith shop, into which the ox is led, where he is se- 

 cured and by means of a clutch, straps, ropes and pulleys 

 he is easily placed in position, and the work is quickly and 

 easily done. Out on the plains, however, it was different, 

 and was no easy job. Sometimes the front feet could be 

 shod with the ox standing if he was very quiet and gentle, 

 but to shoe the hind feet the ox had to be thrown on his 

 side, his head secured so he could not raise it ,and the hind 

 feet drawn forward up against the body and tied with ropes. 

 Our man, Jolly, mentioned in the last article, was a black- 

 smith, and expert at the business as soon as the best plan to 

 throw and hold the ox was discovered. Very many oxen 

 became so footsore that they could not travel and had to be 

 abandoned, to be devoured by the wolves. After crossing 

 the Rocky mountains there was a disease among the cattle 

 which was not understood, and which was incurable, that 

 took off a great many. From the summit of the Rocky 

 mountains west to the end of the journey the trail was 

 marked so thickly with dead cattle, that they were hardly 

 ever out of sight, and the wolves, buzzards and ravens at- 

 tracted by the carcasses upon which they feasted were more 

 numerous than I have ever seen them elsewhere. 



I wonder if any mother, who is a reader of these papers, 

 would be ambitious to make such a trip of almost 2800 miles 

 as the road runs, and taking from the middle of May to the 

 middle of October, or even a longer time, having in her care 



