278 EQUIPMENT FOR EMIGRANTS. 



the Rocky Mountains to the falls of the Columbia, (a project quite practi- 

 cable, and even now seriously contemplated,) will open a new channel for 

 commerce, and then our merchantmen and whalers, instead of performing 

 a dangerous homeward-bound voyage of twelve thousand miles, by doubling 

 the southern extremity of Africa, or that of the American continent, will 

 discharge their cargoes at the ports of Oregon for a re-shipment to every 

 part of the Union, and thus unite their aid in the magic work of up-build- 

 ing the Great West. 



It is then that the mighty resources of our national confederacy will be- 

 gin more fully to develop themselves, and exhibit to an admiring world the 

 giant strides of civilization and improvement, when liberty is their birth- 

 right, and freemen are their nursing fathers. It needs no prophetic eye to 

 foresee all this, nor the effort of centuries to transform this rough sketch of 

 fancy into a more than sober reality. 



The over-land route, from Independence, Mo., to Fort Hall, affords a 

 good waggon-road ; but that from Fort Hall to Vancouvre is generally con- 

 sidered impassable for other than pack-animals. It is said, however, that 

 a new route has recently been discovered, by which waggons may be taken, 

 without much difficulty, the entire distance. Should this report prove true, 

 the emigrant may convey everything needed for his comfort during the 

 long journey before him. 



Emigrants should never go in companies exceeding one hundred and 

 fifty or two hundred persons. The reason for this is obvious, — they 

 will proceed more harmoniously ; there will be less difficulty in obtaining 

 food for their animals; less delays en route; a better opportunity for the 

 procurement of provisions by hunting, and the number is amply sufficient 

 for mutual defence. 



From my own experience and observation, I would advise the use of 

 pack-mules or horses altogether, instead of waggons. One pack-horse, 

 suitably laden, would convey an ample supply of provisions and other ne- 

 cessaries for two individuals, if recruited by occasional levies upon the 

 game that, in many cases, throng their course. 



A company thus equiped, can travel with far greater expedition and 

 even more comfortably. 



In case of sickness, a litter might easily be constructed for the convey- 

 ance of the invalid by affixing to a horse two light poles, some twelve or 

 fifteen feet in length, like the shafts of a wagon, the smaller extremities 

 being fastened to the saddle and the larger ones left to drag upon the ground, 

 while two short pieces placed transversely upon them, astern the horse, 

 present the framework for a bed in which the sufferer may repose or lie 

 at his ease, with as much quiet as the tender object of a mother's care in 

 its infantile cradle. 



A company acting upon the above suggestions (numbering say two 

 hundred) should employ an efficient pilot, with a commandant and six- 

 teen skilful hunters. 



Strict regulations for its government must also be adf)pted and en- 

 forced. Each individual should be furnished with a good riding horse or a 

 mule, a good percussion rifle, (bore thirty or thirty-five balls per lb.,) am- 



