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Author Ahmad, Diana L., 1953-

Title Success depends on the animals : emigrants, livestock, and wild animals on the Overland Trails, 1840-1869 / Diana L. Ahmad.

Publication Info. Reno : University of Nevada Press, 2016.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource
text file
Contents Going west -- Emigrants take more than livestock west -- Preparation for the journey west -- On the trails -- Caring for the four-footed overlanders -- Encounters with wild animals -- End of the trail.
Summary "Between the 1840s and 1860s, thousands of emigrants crossed the Great Plains to California, Oregon, and Utah. They learned how to deal with many new situations, including how to work with the animals they brought with them on the journey. Although many emigrants knew how to take care of the livestock on their family farms, travel on the overland trails forced them to look at their animals in a different light as their lives now depended on their livestock in an unprecedented way. Many of the emigrants had never ridden a horse before, let alone hitched an ox to a wagon filled with the family's possessions, or relied upon a mule to get them through the deserts and over the mountains. The travelers also encountered wild animals new to them, such as buffalo and prairie dogs. The emigrants sometimes even attributed human characteristics to the animals. Prior to leaving their homes, the travelers had been told by the philosophers that animals were little more than beasts of burden and some ministers said that caring for the animals took time away from God. Despite that, the sentimental literature of the era encouraged the overlanders to treat their animals well and the humans would be repaid by how the animals helped the emigrants achieve their goals. Unexpectedly, many emigrants often befriended the domestic, as well as the wild animals, along the way and by the end of the trail, humans and animals alike had become overlanders"--Provided by publisher.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.)
Frontier and pioneer life.
Overland Trails -- History.
Overland journeys to the Pacific.
Overland journeys to the Pacific.
Pioneers -- West (U.S.) -- History -- 19th century.
Pioneers.
History.
Chronological Term 19th century
Subject Human-animal relationships -- West (U.S.) -- History -- 19th century.
Human-animal relationships.
Livestock -- West (U.S.) -- History -- 19th century.
Animals -- West (U.S.) -- History -- 19th century.
West (U.S.) -- History -- 1848-1860.
West (U.S.) -- History -- 1860-1890.
Livestock.
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX)
Animals.
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY)
United States -- Overland Trails.
West United States.
Chronological Term 1800-1899
Genre/Form Electronic books.
History.
Other Form: Print version: Ahmad, Diana L., 1953- Success depends on the animals. Reno : University of Nevada Press, 2016 9780874179972 0874179971 (DLC) 2015036824 (OCoLC)928888722
ISBN 9781943859108 (electronic book)
1943859108 (electronic book)
9780874179972 (alkaline paper)
0874179971 (alkaline paper)