Most of the emigrants had to cover long distances in
overland travel before they reached the hospitable waterway;
some, especially in earlier times, made the entire journey by
land. Hundreds of the very poor went afoot, carrying all their
earthly possessions on their backs, or dragging them in rude
carts. But the usual conveyance was the canvas-covered wagon--
ancestor of the "prairie schooner" of the western plains--drawn
over the rough and muddy roads by four, or even six, horses. In
this vehicle the emigrants stowed their provisions, household
furniture and utensils, agricultural implements, looms, seeds,
medicines, and every sort of thing that the prudent householder
expected to need, and for which he could find space. Extra horses
or oxen sometimes drew an additional load; cattle, and even
flocks of sheep, were occasionally driven ahead or behind by some
member of the family.
In the years of heaviest migration the highways converging on
Pittsburgh and Wheeling were fairly crowded with westward-flowing
traffic. As a rule several families, perhaps from the same
neighborhood in the old home, traveled together; and in any case
the chance acquaintances of the road and of the wayside inns
broke the loneliness of the journey.
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