Overland Wagon

An authentic overland wagon on display in the Museum of Westward Expansion. This museum closed in 2015. This wagon is currently stored in our archives to protect and preserve it.

The overland wagon came in many varieties, ranging from the reinforced farm wagon to the specifically designed Murphywagon. The typical covered wagon used in the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s was nicknamed a "prairie schooner". Anyone traveling west on a trail was outfitted with heavy supplies that slowed the speed of the trip. The general rule was to carry no more than 2,500 pounds of supplies. The basic staples were flour, bacon, coffee, sugar, and salt. The wagon also carried cooking equipment and bedding, as well as tools, farm equipment, and personal possessions. All of these varied supplies left little or no space for travelers, who usually walked the distance. Quite often the trails were littered with debris of abandoned supplies thrown out to lighten loads and make better time.

Trail travel to Oregon or California generally took four to six months and the average distance covered was 10-15 miles per day. Pioneers traveled in groups and often cut a swath of up to twenty-five wagons across the trail. In inclement weather travelers slept underneath the wagon. Oxen more often than mules pulled the wagons. When overlanders made camp in the evening, they formed a circle with the wagons to corral their animals.

Overland travel was difficult and the wagons served as "ships" across a "sea" of land. Mormons, mountain men, forty-niners, and other dream seekers followed trails west. The end of trail travel came as the railroads were built across the country. The tedious task of crossing the Great American Desert and western mountains had come to an end.

 

The covered wagon exhibit in our new Gateway Arch Museum