The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
951 
Tbe Ox Team Express Heard From 
TAs most - of our readers will remember, 
Mr. and Mrs. .T. 0. Berrnng started from 
New York City about Christinas time, 
1920, to travel across the continent in an 
ox wagon. We have heard from them 
now land then. The following letter 
comes from Kansas City, and at this 
time the Berrangs are slowly making 
their way across Kansas. Onr people 
have been greatly interested in the trav¬ 
els of this worthy couple and we shall 
hear more of them soon.] 
The readers of The R. N.-Y. must 
stop in their haste to get through the 
world by electricity, gasoline and steam, 
and devote a silent half hour to deep 
thought of the changes in methods of 
travel in the last. 50 years, in order to 
appreciate the things we are accomplish¬ 
ing. Our log book now shows that we 
have traveled 4,000 miles, of course at a 
slow rate of speed, hut could you achieve 
what we have with so little change in 
your equipment? We have the same 
three oxen we started with. They have 
practically taken care of themselves, 
grazing as we progressed from day to 
day. Our wagons have cost us but very 
little for repairs, and this bright July 
morning finds Mrs. Berrnng and myself 
enjoying good health, and, as I told a 
man a few minutes ago. we enjoy our 
full quota of eight hours sleep, for ihe 
two reasons that our consciences are clear 
and that we are not suffering from indi¬ 
gestion. 
Our last close communication with you 
occurred about Thanksgiving time, 1921, 
at Dayton, O. Our travels until we went 
into Winter quarters at Olney, Ill., were 
without any important incidents. Roads 
became impassable at or near the town 
of Olney, and we concluded to stop for a 
few weeks, and eventually stayed two 
months, making our camp in the Fair 
Grounds of Richland County, with the 
approval of the mayor, Henry Gasman, 
and the citizens as well. We found this 
little city mostly made up of a class of 
people who, while they evidently made 
their alleged millions in agricultural pur¬ 
suits or avocations, seemed to have for¬ 
gotten that the soil was intended for 
others than themselves. I am compelled 
to refer to the attitude towards us by 
these rather ungrateful members of so¬ 
ciety. because they owed all they had to 
the land that we are trying to make more 
at.motive to the people at large. They 
grabbed theirs while the grabbing was 
good. 
Our next objective city Was St. Louis, 
Mo., and in view of the urgent invitations 
we had received along the road the pre¬ 
vious Summer from tourists belonging in 
this wonderful commercial city to take 
advantage of the very “classy” camp 
ground they had provided the traveling 
public, we looked forward with consider¬ 
able iuterest to what we bad a right to 
expect. In this we were Very much dis¬ 
appointed. as the very meager arrange¬ 
ments evidently are made for automobile 
gypsies, and not American ox travelers. 
Any comparison of the St. Louis camping 
ground with that of much smaller places 
where we were made especially welcome, 
such as St. Charles and Marshall. Mo.. 
is more of a contrast, and very much to 
tlie* discredit of the much-exploited city 
of commerce. 
The roads from St. Louis to Kansas 
Cii> are not the best. West to St. 
Charles is mostly concrete; from there on 
mostly dirt roads, except within the city 
limits of towns on the way. This dirt is 
a gumbo clay ; when wet is as sticky as 
glue, and when dry very dusty; and. by 
me way, they are scraped abominably. 
The reason for this bad condition is that 
nicy are a convex road with a crown of 
24 in. from center to gutter, so all traffic 
is in center of road, therefore making a 
single-track road, whereas, if the road 
were dragged nearly Hat. say 1 in. on a 
14-ft., 2 in. ou 20-ft., and .'1 in. on 30-ft. 
road, there would be enough drop to car¬ 
ry off all surplus water, but that bump 
is a crime. 
At St. I/ouis we equipped ourselves 
"i'ii a radiophone, so we sometimes, 
when convenient, listen on what is pass¬ 
ing Cuough the air Unseen. 
We are now about to start across the 
prairies of Kansas and through the moun¬ 
tains of ^Colorado, and should this letter 
prove of interest to your thousands of 
readers, we shall be glad to give you an¬ 
other communication that we trust may 
awaken the interest of home-makers 
having a desire to come out and get the 
blood of pioneers awakened to the neces¬ 
sity of producing more and squandering 
less. 
Wo found very early on our trip that 
few men were able to shoe our oxen, 
some knowing nothing about it what ever, 
while those who were equipped with 
“stocks" charged us such an exorbitant 
price rliat we were buying an equipped 
shoeing shop wherever the work was 
done. At Wheeling. W. Ya., I devised 
and designed a brass shoe with a rubber 
inset that has proven a success, and 
after leaving to throw the ox without 
pain to him, 1 am able to do all shoeing 
myself. This brass shoe lasts for MOO to 
500 miles, while the steel shoe only suf¬ 
ficed for 75 to 100 miles. 
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