Paso community since before 1836, and are second only to the Bilbrey family in this respect. The Biggers, Mohrs, and Messers have been here since 1836.

The greater number of families arriving in the 1850's were really settlers, not pioneers, and they built their homes of lumber, not logs. They had reaped the benefits of railroad freight and travel by the summer of 1853, and had a Peoria rail connection by 1856. Crude though these trains may have been, they were a great boon to the country, and they also brought mail, newspapers and periodicals from the east with a frequency not possible before. Railroads brought better living for all those who had pioneered.

It is not enough to write that pioneer life was arduous. The real facts must not be dismissed with a one word description, though it implies much. Again, it must not be taken for granted that difficult conditions meant that these folks were a depressed and an unhappy people. There must have been those who loved adventure, and others who had the spirit to accept the rigorous life; then again, there were both men and women who were not made of the physical endurance which would withstand so demanding a life. The spirit with which they met such uncompromising demands was a personal thing, a very quality of soul. We have read that there were those who never faltered, who never complained, that there were both men and women whose patience endured. It cannot be decided who had the more difficult duties, the father or the mother, for there was endless labor for both.

The father first had to somehow secure money with which to buy a team and wagon. It took money to buy many of the bare necessities: an axe, a gun, blankets, kettles, extra clothing, jars of food, shawls, flints, axle grease, gunpowder, pails, ladles, hoes, shovels, and a rope for the well and the beds. These things would be needed and could be brought overland if coming by wagon train, but if one came on horseback the list was even more limited. Ida C. Hagman, economist of the University of Kentucky wrote that a century ago the average person had about seventy-two wants, of which sixteen were considered absolute necessities. Today ninety-four are considered minimum for the average person, though "today's buyer is faced with more than 32,000 articles from which to choose," all of which explains some of the changes since pioneer days.

These travelers had to think of every circumstance that might arise. If they were coming by flatboat how could they get their few possessions to the boat, and again from the boat to the place of settlement? In 1814 there was published and sold in Pittsburgh the eighth edition since 1801 of The Navigator with "directions for navigating the Monongahela, Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers ... with description of their towns, villages, harbors, settlements and with maps." This compared with the Blue Book for early automobile travel and with today's road maps and guides.

Page 24

Go to previous page

Go to next page

Go to El Paso Story gateway page