"Wagons Ho!”
150 years has changed things!
The couple dozen or so wagons and carriages in the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Wagon Train led by Wagon Master, Jon Olson, headed out from Cannon Falls on Monday, May 5, the first day of a 99 mile trek that would find them camping in other “villages” like Hay Creek, Hastings, and Inver Grove Heights before reaching their destination at the State Capitol in St. Paul last Sunday.
The sound of “Clip-Clop” from horses’ steel shoes hitting the roadway and the crunch of iron wheels on gravel roads blended in with the song of birds and a gentle breeze as they ground their way out of town.
Also heard along the way were friendly greetings from city folk and school kids - who were probably happy to get a break from their studies.
Kevin Perron from Elko, MN drove his carriage with a team of red sorrel Belgians, standing 17.3 hands. His sidekick was Darwin Sasse from New Prague.
But a problem that probably hindered a lot of the real wagon trains was “getting stuck”. The narrow iron wheels burrowed into the pasture provided for the morning break at the Ray and Toni Otto farm off C.R. 8 Blvd. A little more “horsepower” was needed so Ray got out his pickup truck to help out.
Another problem that was probably pretty common was protecting your clothing when you stepped out of the wagon! Although the “exhaust particles” of the power source pulling the wagons were natural and organic, it still meant that you were wise to watch where you stepped! How women folk managed to clear the wilderness, fight rattlesnakes, raise children, bake, cook and clean while wearing these long skirts, amazes me!
And it's with admiration for these pioneers that we take a trip into the past - via this Sesquicentennial Wagon Train - if only for a few hours on a lovely spring day in the year, 2008.
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