rules and regulations on the santa fe trail

In 1866, (20 years after the US seized New Mexico) Tom C. Cranmer went to Kansas City where he had published the booklet Rules and Regulations, By Which To Conduct Wagon Trains, Drawn By Oxen on the Plains.

Cranmer starts with the suggestion that 26 wagons is a proper number for a wagon train. To manage one that size requires a crew of 32 men " including the wagon master and his assistant " 26 teamsters (also known as ox drovers or bullwhackers), and night herders.

A train that large, he continues, "should be divided into four masses, seven men in each. Each mass should select one of their number as cook, which relieves him of all other duties except yoke, drive, and unyoke his team."

Then the author describes how to handle the oxen, position them in the team, and use their yokes and chains.

As soon as the night herders bring in the cattle from their grazing ground, the wagon master, we are told, shouts "Yoke up!" Hearing that command, each teamster, carrying a yoke on his left shoulder and a wooden bow in his right hand, finds the first one of his team and begins yoking.

That job, Cranmer informs the reader, "should be carried out in as good humor as possible," no doubt a difficult task when dealing with cranky oxen.

One section in the booklet outlines the procedure for doubling teams. That is done when a wagon becomes stuck in sand or has to ford a river and needs the power of two ox teams.

Another section covers "Rules for Greasing." Every fourth day on the trail, the wheels of the heavy Santa Fe-style freight wagons had to be pulled and the axles greased with a mixture of pine tar and grease.

For my money, the most interesting pages are the final four in this little handbook. They appear under the heading "Wagon Master's Instructions" and contain not only explanations about the work, but important bits of professional ethics as well as moral lessons.

Remember, what is said here is meant to educate novice wagon masters, breaking them in, to become proficient at what they do.

For instance: "Set a good example before your men. Never allow card playing. Never call a teamster a son-of-a-b--h."

"Never have a pet, or favorite in the train, to whom you show partiality; treat every man alike."

In the 1870 U.S. Census, Tom C. Cranmer is listed as a resident of Otterville, Mo., having retired from the trail, acquired a wife and two children, and become a "house carpenter."