My favorite genre of book is historical fiction. I wish my school textbooks had been written in this type of story form. So, recently I read a book that mentioned “hard tack”. I had to look it up. It was a hard bread that could last up to 25 years. How did it not mold?! Because it was made of three ingredients: flour, water, and salt. And, of course, salt is the consummate preservative. Then I decided I wanted to see hard tack in person. Oh how happy I was to discover a museum within driving distance that had a replica. So off I went to the National Frontier Trails Museum in Independence, Missouri.
The viewing route inside the museum takes the visitor into a theater first, for a brief movie about the three main trails west. The wagon trains started in the Kansas City area and then departed for Santa Fe, New Mexico, Oregon, and California, as delineated in the above mural. Melissa Brown, the Museum Services Supervisor, explained to us the lure of the different destinations: Oregon offered free land, California struck gold, and Santa Fe was for those involved in the trading industry.
The emigration all began with the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Louisiana Purchase. The country opened up and offered limitless possibilities. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to find a trail to the Pacific Ocean. These two men were in their early 30’s. They recruited 44 men with diverse skills including blacksmithing, familiarity with the language of indigenous tribes, and hunting. Lewis, himself, took crash courses in medicine and celestial navigation. But guess who were two major players on the team: a pregnant 16 year old girl, Sacagawea, and a Newfoundland dog! That is my favorite part of the story. Truth is always way better than fiction. The journey took just over two years, and they covered 8,000 miles. Surprisingly only one member of the expedition died, a Sgt. Charles Floyd.
It didn’t take long, thereafter, for the rush across the country. Those in the east chased the dream in the west. Melissa explained that the Prairie Schooner (above) would be like our modern-day minivan. And the Canostoga Wagon (below) would be similar to an 18-wheeler today.
I can’t even begin to imagine who would take a four-month venture in such seemingly-inadequate transports. That feeling was intensified when I arrived at the Donner Party display. One group of emigrants, consisting of 80 wagons, were encouraged to take a shortcut across the mountains, by promoter Lansford W. Hastings. We know how that ended. He didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, and the group got stuck in the mountains under multiple blizzards for four months. Several resorted to cannibalism, and nearly half of them died. What became of Landsford Hastings??! He sailed on through life to become an attorney, a judge, a Major in the Confederate Army, and then to Brazil, and finally to the Virgin Islands where he died. I was hoping to discover some Karma in there. Those poor people suffered horribly because of his nonsense.
Well thankfully, the railroad completed crossing the country in 1869. The wagon train era lasted from 1840 – 1869. I think I would have waited for the train tracks to be laid.
I finally found what I came looking for. Melissa had an example of a piece of hard tack and even gave me a recipe for it. A huge caution is to soak it for at least 10 minutes in a stew before eating, or it could chip teeth. The pioneers made the cheap biscuit and carried it all across the prairie. Apparently it dates back to use by Roman soldiers, the Crusaders, and Civil War soldiers. I believe I will make some for my next meeting of our Literary Society – to go with a book I purchased in the Museum gift shop!
Come visit this fascinating museum. Melissa says the staff can usually guess what drew you in. There are four typical reasons: the people played the old Oregon Trail video game, they watch the Yellowstone/1883 show, they have read “The Oregon Trail” book by Rinker Buck, or they are just pure history lovers (like me). Isn’t that interesting?! So be sure to chat with the staff. They have fascinating insights to share.