February, 1919 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
77 
Sept. 1. It took 15 yoke of 
oxen to draw one half loaded wa- 
gon up the mountain and we cut 
and chained tree tops to the wa- 
gons to let thew down. W e came 
to a river and saw many beaver 
dams and Indian fish traps. 
Passed through Canyon walls 400 
feet high and crossed the river 
sixteen times. 
Sept. 29. G-ood spring, but no 
grass. Slept out with cattle, miles 
off the trail. 
Oct. 5. Ice two inches thick ; 
cattle frozen down. 
Oct. 7. Went to Big Meadows 
on Sunday and heard my Uncle 
Whitcomb preach. Still throwing 
away everything to lighten wa- 
gons. We see many men on foot 
who have lost everything. Snow 
three inches deep. Drinking 
water sold at fifty cents a drink. 
In climbing a big hill one ox 
dropped dead in the yoke. 
Oct. 18. Arrived at Lawson’s 
on Sacramento river in California, 
having traveled 2,066 miles from 
Omaha, averaging a little over 
forirteen miles a day during 147 
days, and 2,416 miles from start- 
ing point in Illinois. Time, 197 
days. Average for the whole trip, 
twelve and one quarter miles per 
day. 
We cut up one ox-voke in Iowa 
for wood and on the plains when 
we could not get sage brush, we 
used Buffalo chips to bake our 
bread. 
I have a diary of my entire 
trip — weather notes, storms, rec- 
ord of newly made graves by the 
trail, many from cholera, some 
killed by Indians, some shot by ac- 
cident. One man shot his part- 
ner, supposing him an Indian. 
This paper is devoid of fun. 
There was no fun driving five 
yokes of oxen all day and taking 
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them off the trail five miles for 
grass, and sleep on the cold, cold 
ground, watching all the time for 
your scalp. There was more fun 
and profit in the next three years 
digging gold. 
Truck Farming on Ten Acres. 
J. W. Roe. 
I am asked to make some sug- 
gestions as to what a young man 
should grow, starting on a tract 
of ten acres which is to be devot- 
ed to vegetables and fruit. I im- 
agine our secretary means for me 
to talk about making a home and 
a living from a tract of ten acres. 
This is being done by thousands 
throughout the country. Wis- 
consin offers as great inducements 
to the truck gardener and small 
fruit grower as any of the states. 
1 am satisfied that Wisconsin of- 
fers a safer bet for the small 
truckers than does Florida, Texas, 
California or any of the much ad- 
vertised and alluring green pas- 
tures of the south and west. 
Here, should the main crops 
fail, a catch crop of some kind 
will go far toward keeping the 
wolf from the door. A market 
is near by and will take anything 
from a dozen of eggs to a bunch 
of green onions. 
The yo\ing man who is going to 
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