b'DID YOU KNOW, IN THE OLD WEST.By Lee Anderson, Old West Living Historian, Award Winning Author, and Old School HorsemanLee Anderson and his horse, Concho, are well known around the state doing presentations in schools, corporate events, and civic events. Learn more about them and his book on his website. historicaloldwest.orgI magine packingher fellow travelersmalaria, dysentery, measles, and variousonly whattemporarily lostaccidents involving firearms, horses, mules,would fit in atheir bearings whileoxen, and wagons.horse, mule, orcrossing theox drawn wagon, leaving family andGreat Plains. I t was a journey of 3 to 6 (or more) months.friends behind, and heading west.There were no doctors or medicine and those According to TV and the movies,All I hope for is to getwho got sick or badly hurt usually died. A outside of fighting a few Indians, takinghome, alive, as soon ascommon entry in old diaries was a daily count a wagon west in the 1800s was somepossible, so that I canof the number of graves passed. The journey was kind of a glorious 6 or 8 month long adventure. forget it.A disenchanted Forty-niner fromespecially hard on women and children. It was As a living historian I do a lot of research and oftentheCaliforniaGold Rush absolutely brutal if a womans husband died or come across some very sobering and heartbreakingwas killed. She was suddenly left in the middle of accounts of what the journey west entailed in realThe mosquitoes continue to infest us in suchnowhere, hundreds of miles from home, and with life. Id like to share a little of it with you. manner that we can scarcely exist. My dogfull responsibility for not just herself but her even howls with the torture hechildren (if any), the livestock, the wagon, and Starting out ahead of the team and my men folks,experiences. Meriwether Lewisany personal belongings.when I thought I had gone beyond hearing distance,during the Lewis and Clark I would throw myself down on the unfriendly desertexpedition west. O ne of the best accounts of just how and give way like a child to sobs and tears, wishingprimitive life was in early Arizona is the myself back home with my friends.A youngA vailable records indicate that1908 book written by Martha Sommerhayes womans diary entry on the trailwestin 1860. between 1867 and 1887, Nativetitled Vanished Arizona (ISBN 1-59605-Americans killed somewhere551-0) in which she vividly describes her Of all the eerie, frightening experiences, to be lostaround 400 (+/-) immigrantsexperiences in moving from high society at night on the prairiethen to hear the chorus oftraveling the Oregon Trail. DuringBoston to the early Arizona Territory in the coyotes, like hyenas, laughing at ones predicament.that same 20 year period, nearlycompany of her husband who was in theAn emigrant recalling her fear when she and30,000 immigrants died of cholera,military. As stated, it was brutal. Enjoy the new8acre addition to ourDont Miss Not valid with any other discountsOur New Off Admission Per Person/$20 Value20 new species, including 3 new Rhinos!Zoo, aquarium and safari parkwith 6,000 animals, Baby Giraffe,Austin!8 shows daily,tons of rides,a thousand thrillsand a million smiles.All in One Day!Dont MissOur NewBaby Sea Lion, Sunny!5Arizonas Ultimate, Year-Round Family Fun Destination. Arizonas Largest Collection of Exotic Animals.Northern Ave. and the 303 Freeway623-935-WILD (9453)WildlifeWorld.com$26 February 2020'