34 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



not repulsive., only by association, and I have seen " Pikers " 

 roasting hoe cakes in their embers, with mouths a-water. 

 " Pikers " and Missourians were synonymous. 



Our train was No. 54 ; how many followed I do not know. 

 They, as well as hundreds of others, were owned by Eussel, 

 Majors and Waddell, government contractors, a part of which 

 firm embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars of Indian 

 trust funds at the outbreak of the civil war. We were carry- 

 ing army supplies to Salt. Lake for the soldiers sent out under 

 Albert Sydney Johnston (who was killed at Shiloh) for the sup- 

 pression of the Mormon Rebellion. Twenty cents per pound 

 was the rate of freight, though when we got out there the 

 troubles were over, and the Government bought all the flour 

 wanted for $5.00 per hundred. Our train, when in close order, 

 was a half mile long, but it often reached from one to three 

 miles. On our way we overtook a train whose, men had mu- 

 tinied against the wagon-master, and this afterwards traveled 

 with us, making our train twice the above length. The wagon- 

 masters and extras rode horses, the drivers all walked, as it 

 was impossible otherwise to keep the oxen to their work. 



The cattle, on account of the immense demand, were mainly 

 unbroken. We aimed to get two good Missouri oxen for 

 wheelers and leaders, size being required for the former and 

 intelligence for the latter. The next grade were the " pointers," 

 which were hooked next the tongue. Between these and the 

 leaders were the " swing," composed of the " scallawags " — the 

 weak, lazy and unbroken. To show how few stood the twelve 

 hundred miles journey, I will state that but two of my twelve got 

 through, the rest having died or given out from time to time. 

 They were replaced by others from returning trains, or by the 

 best in what we called our " calf yard," or loose cattle. This was 

 a corruption of the Spanish word caballada, although the 

 "Pikers" did not know it, and, in fact, did not bother them- 

 selves about its origin, as " calf yard " seemed the natural term 



