5. Women and Girls Had Hardships, Too
Women and girls often had a tougher time on the trail than the males. Some of this was because the wives had not to say whether they wanted to go on the path or not. However, many other factors played into this. Not only did women tend to the children, take care of the cooking and the cleaning, but they would also have to tend to the sick and injured. On top of this, it was often the women who would be busy unloading the wagon for the night because the men would go off to hunt for food.
Then again in the morning, it was often the women’s jobs to get up early enough, so they could make breakfast and pack up the wagon. All the carts had to be packed up and ready to go by the time the leader of the wagon train announced the start of their journey. This announcement often came as a whistle or another loud noise that would alert all the wagons that it was time to move out. If a cart was not ready by this time, which was usually around 7:00 in the morning, they were going to be left behind.
If it were left behind, the wagon would either have to catch up or just travel along the rest of the way. Like the older women on the wagon train, teenage girls often had a variety of chores during their journals. Not only did they have the traditional duties of cooking, cleaning, and helping look after the young children but some were also given other tasks. A couple of these tasks could be learning how to drive the wagons and ride the horses.