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Woman Remembers Exciting Covered Wagon Days

I am 81 years old, and I can
remember many things from the ox team and covered wagon days. One of the ideas
people have now is that things were pretty slow and dull then, but I know we
had excitement every time we drove an ox team to church and had to pass cattle
on the way. The herds of cattle would come on a run to the fence to see the
strange oxen on the road and would cause us trouble.

One time we were going to a picnic
and had to pass a herd of cattle. The bull jumped the fence and came pawing and
bellowing to fight our oxen. My father unhitched the chain but left the oxen
yoked because they could fight better in the yoke. He had a heavy ox whip, and
he stood by with it to help his team.

There was half a wagonload of us
children. We jumped down and ran around like scared chickens. I have no idea
how it would have ended if the bull’s owner had not come riding up at a hard
gallop with his big bull whip. My, were we relieved! Yes, we had excitement
even with a dull, plodding team of oxen.

Mrs. T.K. Mannon
Brown Branch, Missouri


Back in 1955 a call
went out from the editors of the then
CAPPER’S WEEKLY asking for readers to send
in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early
settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from
grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were
received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first
My
Folks title – My Folks Came in a
Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine
other books have since been published in the
My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from CAPPER’s readers, and we are proud to
make those stories available to our growing online community.