Chapter 1: Preparations

Miriam Johnson, Miri to her friends, was seven years old when her parents decided to leave the family farm in Ohio, the year was 1858. The primary reason for leaving was that Jeremiah was the third son of Abraham Johnson and he would not be inheriting any part of the 640 acre farm outside of Mount Vernon, Illinois. He wanted a farm that was his, his decisions, his methods, his equipment, his sweat, and his blood. A secondary reason, perhaps a very close second, was the looming war over who ruled the country, did the States laws take precedence over National laws, which held sway. The issue was slavery, but did a State have the right to determine what was legal or illegal in their State or did Laws made by the National government determine what the State could or could not do? The rhetoric was becoming more and more heated, it looked like war was inevitable. He didn’t want to fight in a war, he had a wife and three kids. Another reason to go west was that his oldest brother had started trying to woo Elisabeth, his wife, even though he was married and had six kids. No, it was definitely better to leave, before he had to kill his own brother.

Jeremiah spent several months tracking down criminals for their rewards, commonly known as a Bounty Hunter. He was uniquely qualified, his Grandfather had been a Ranger and fought Indians for twenty years. He had been extensively trained in unconventional tactics and fighting. He trained his Grandson extensively. Jeremiah collected bounties on twenty five outlaws in Missouri. He collected $1,500 for the trip west

So they were able to buy a used Conestoga wagon from a neighbor that had kept it in a barn for the last twenty some years. It was eighteen feet long and the bed was four feet wide, it could haul twelve thousand pounds of cargo. He and his brothers went over the entire wagon looking for weak, broken or rotted wood. Any problems were fixed or patched. The seams of the wagon box were re-caulked with tar coated rope. Storage boxes were made and attached to the box. Two thirty gallon water barrels were added, one on each side, just behind the storage boxes and in front of the rear wheels. Originally the driver walked or rode one of the draft animals, some would ride boards on the left side of the wagon which were called lazyboards. Jeremiah added a drivers seat and a kids seat behind it, both mounted on springs from two old buckboard wagons. Elisabeth made cushions for both. A rope was fashioned from the original mid mount brake lever to another lever next to the new seat. More hoops were added to be able to support the weight of multiple sheets of canvas over Buffalo skins.