CHAPTER III 



WE FIND AN OUTFIT 



TXTHEN the dusty bull train came rolling along 

 * ^ the road past the garrison it found us wait- 

 ing. Our property was stowed in an empty wagon, 

 and, again shouting good-bys to the comrades who 

 had come out to see us off, we began our tedious, 

 dusty, dirty march with the bull train. 



At that time Majors & Russell, of Leavenworth, 

 Kansas, had the contract for transporting govern- 

 ment supplies to all frontier posts. Mr. Majors 

 had the reputation of being a very religious man, 

 and in fitting out trains required all wagon-masters 

 and teamsters to sign a written contract agreeing to 

 use no profane language and not to gamble or to 

 travel on Sundays. At starting he furnished each 

 man with a Bible and hymn-book, and exhorted 

 him to read the gospel and hold religious services 

 on the Sabbath. This statement is regarded by 

 many people of the present day as an old frontier 

 joke, but it is actual fact. 



The wagons — called prairie-schooners — ^were 

 large and heavy and usually drawn by six yoke 

 of oxen to the team. When outward bound they 

 were loaded at the rate of one thousand pounds 

 of freight to the yoke. Twenty-five such teams 



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