Edward Evans Speaks Up: short and brutal or long and safe?

Eighteen miles after we crossed the Continental Divide at South Pass, we came to a crucial decision: short and brutal, taking the Sublette cutoff, or long and safe, going to Fort Hall by way of Fort Bridger.

Most of the people on our wagon train were in favor the cutoff, and dismissed the dangers of forty-five miles with no water and little grass. All of us in the Evans section were in favor of taking the safer, though longer, route. We were voted down. My dad Richard was so disgusted, we thought he might insist on leaving the wagon train and going the longer route on our own. He spoke with the deep feelings of a reticent man who is forced by circumstance to declare himself. He reminded people of the value of even a single trained oxen, and added that it wasn't fair since they would do most of the suffering but they had no vote in the matter.

Snippet from: Oregon Trail Map; Encyclopædia Britannica;
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oregon-Trail#/media/1/431743/6781;
access Date: Jan 24, 2023.  Click on image for larger font.

I have increasing respect for my father, as I observe his wisdom and kindness every day on this journey. But I am a young, single, man on this train, even if I do have my own wagon.  I already spoke out once.  It's too bad others on our trip have not learned to value him properly. He recommended everyone add an extra barrel or two of water, strapped on the sides of the wagons, and reserved for the oxen.  He held out for starting each day of travel in the middle of the night, to spare the animals the heat of the day.

Two men with lanterns walked at the head of our wagon train during those nights we traversed the fort-five mile sagebrush desert. A more disgusting portion of the trail I hope to never see. There were so many dead oxen, mules and horses, that we were hard put to avoid their carcasses and stick to the trail. The dust was deep and tainted, making me wish I didn't have to breathe. [See John Steele, July 15th, 1850, cited in WyoHistory.org]

Our animals began that section in better shape than most, and all of them came through in good health, ready to pull our wagons the rest of the way to Oregon. Not so with some in our train. Haste truly does make waste. and they had to replace their trained oxen with half-trained, and more expensive, animals at Fort Hall.

At Fort Hall we said farewell to those in our wagon train who were going south to California, to seek their fortune in the gold fields. We preferred the black gold of the rich and fertile earth in Oregon, and we each likely thought the other was making a big mistake. As mother would say, "Time will tell."