What Pioneers ate on the Oregon Trail

I cannot believe Max neglected to mention that the pioneers would sometimes eschew their wagons and instead ride large rocks for miles across the prairie.

You are on the Oregon Trail and meet a strange man. He says, "Hi, my name is Terry." You laugh and say, "Terry is a girl's name." Terry shoots you. You have died of Dissin' Terry.

My great-great-grandmother was 14 when she married my 16-year-old great-great-grandfather. The first year of their marriage included traveling across the plains to their new life in Nebraska from the east coast. They worked a farm together and, by all accounts, had lives they were happy with and proud of. They were married for over 75 years. I cannot imagine to this day how tough they were. My grandma was born too early and g-g-grandmother was the midwife. She realized by grandma was too weak so she warmed up the old stove they used to incubate animals and put her in it and kept her alive. I literally wouldn't be here without that woman. Her name was Nancy Anne.

I live near the end of the trail; all over the place people STILL have the original covered wagons their families brought here 170 years ago. Someone actually refurbished one & modernized it & they rent it out on airbnb! I stayed in it for my birthday

" Yes honey. I had no intentions of partaking in the boy's actions, I went back to my tent and spent the day writing to you" - most believable boys night out text home

There once was a Max with a knack, For videos that featured hard tack, He mentions the quip, And then shows the clip, And his viewers all say KLACK KLACK

The story about Smith having to give up his mother’s rolling pin brought tears to my eyes. I know, it’s not as bad as dying of dysentery, but it still hurts.

The meat was often salted in old times and packed in ceramic jars. Salt, meat, salt, meat, all the way to the top. This kept meat from spoiling and had to be soaked in water a few times before use. My Uncle Don told me, when he was a kid, the pork was kept in barrels with salt water and lasted a year.

That man with the rolling pin. That grown man crying because he had to leave his mother's rolling pin and he missed her... He's like me. Like us. Every now and then I hear or read something that makes me realize on a deep level that everyone that ever existed was a person. All the heroes and villains of history, sure. But every single one of the common folk was as much a fully realized person as me. They all had dreams and memories and childhoods and dreams and happiness and misery. Tens of thousands of years of human experience. An ocean full of people that lived full lives not unlike mine. It's gut wrenching every time.

I'm a scientist that indirectly studies shigella (the bacteria that causes dysentery), and I always include that death screen as a a part of my background and significance when I present my work.

I have a friend who has potato starter that her ancestors first made over a hundred years ago, and she still makes bread with it.

18:42 The importance of lemon extract may not just be about flavouring the water to give it a nicer taste, but to prevent the onset of scurvy.

My great-great-great-great grandfather came along the Oregon trail with his family when he was just three years old. This was in the late 1850's, so a little later than the stories you usually hear about. At this point there were a few more checkpoint settlements along the trail which made getting supplies a little easier. He passed down a story about how on one of the legs they'd misjudged how many rations they needed and had to scrape by on foraging off the land. His sister who was 12 at the time was off foraging when she ran into a Native American. In broken English he asked what a young white girl was doing so far out by herself. She told him of her family's situation, and after listening to her story he reached into his bag and gave her a large handful of the his buffalo jerkey to take back. That handful of dried meat managed to stretch their rations out a few more days and they were able to make it to the checkpoint a week later. Unfortunately she forgot to ask his name, but this stranger's generosity likely saved the lives of the younger siblings, including my great-great-great-great grandpa.

Sweetie: I got your four food groups Beans 🫘 Bacon 🥓 Whisky 🥃 And lard 🧈

My grandmother came over in covered wagons. From Wyoming to Colorado. She was very young when she married grandpa Bates. She had 5 kids one was my father. He joined the Army and was sent to Harley Davidson to learn how to repair motorcycles. That’s where he met my mother. 1942 married then had my brother in 1944 sister in 1952 and me 1955. Then my youngest brother in 1956. What a story for the grandchildren.

Hey man, Nebraskan native here! Just wanted to say thank you for showcasing such a monumental part of our history. Fyi, Kearny is pronounced Car-Knee. The fort never rally had much for travelers as it was an outpost rather than a supply depot. Town legend says there were so many pianos, potbelly stoves, and bookcases dumped by the pioneers that when the city was founded, all the citizens just grabbed them off the side of the road.

Fun fact for anybody who’s never eaten those Camas bulbs Max mentions. They have a prune-y kind of taste and a texture similar to fruit leather when cooked. It’s also a mild laxative until your system gets used to it… to quote William Clark about eating camas: “it filled us so full of wind we were scarce able to breathe all night.”

As an Oregonian and a member of the Oglala Lakota, I'd like to see you do an episode on Wohanpi, which is a bison stew beloved by my ancestors, and maybe highlight some of the other tribes of Turtle Island. <3

I love that Max shouted out Townsends! There needs to be a huge mashup of the best historical food channels. Max and Townsdends make early 19th century, historical accurate MREs, then have Steve1989MRE eat them while Steve Wallis does a stealth camp near a wagon train.

As a historian and someone who works for a museum/interpretive center that deals with the Oregon Trail, I want to say thank you for the interesting and very accurate information in your video.