We rode a wagon replicated to the size that the pioneers would have had, only about 3 feet wide. It was pulled by a team of oxen.
The pioneers used oxen instead of horses to pull their wagons for a number of reasons. They were much less expensive to purchase. They walked more slowly, at the same pace as a family walking along side their wagon would go. They could eat and digest a much broader diet than horses, since they are ruminants. And, the Indians were not interested in stealing oxen, just horses.
The home of Lucy Mack Smith:
Heber C. Kimball's house:
Wilford Woodruff's Home:
The kids had fun learning about the various kitchen items that pioneer's used: spiders, strange looking toasters, and the like.
Elder Grandpa was working at the Browning Gun and Blacksmith home and store that day. He told us all about how this famous gun making family got started.
Elder Grandpa also showed us how guns were made back then.
The Stoddard Tinshop and Home:
I really enjoyed visiting the Tinsmith's shop and General Store. We learned all the different things that the pioneers used tin for, from stove pipes to bread pans. And we saw a demonstration of how the tinsmith might have shaped his wares.
We learned how the postal system worked in the mid-1800s and how expensive it was to send a one page letter, a quarter to half the average day's wage. People wrote lines of text horizontally and then crisscrossed them vertically to get the most text possible on each side. It was very hard for us to read!
At the printing office we learned about how upper and lower case letters got their names (organization of printers boxes).
The kids got to see (and experience first hand) how type was set, inked, and then pressed to make each page.
At the Riser Boot and Shoe shop we learned how the shoe maker measured each person's size, made the 2 layers of the sole, and sewed or pegged the leather pieces together.
Our very own Sunset on the Mississippi:
Saturday morning we took some family pictures before we left:
No comments:
Post a Comment