The cattle were quietly grazing near the wagons, while the emigrants were either resting or attending to camp duties.
A large number of the wagons, as I learned from my father, belonged to Majors & Russell, the great government freighters.

They had several trains there, each consisting of twenty-five wagons, heavily loaded with government supplies.

They were all camped and corraled in a circle.
While we were viewing this scene, a long wagon train came pulling up the hill, bound out from Fort Leavenworth to some distant frontier post.

The cattle were wild and the men were whipping them fearfully, the loud reports of the bull-whips sounding like gun-shots.

They were "doubling-up," and some of the wagons were being drawn by fifteen yokes of oxen.