Shopping List for Oregon Trail

Ezra Meeker’s 1852 Memorandum of Supplies¹

Tiger and Lion

Twist and Dave

Bright and Berry

Pollup and Popcorn²

 

150 pounds bacon,

flour, sugar, salt,

coffee, tea, and beans,

5 pounds saleratus,³

 

tin pans, tea kettles,

coffee pot and mill,

bake kettle, frying pan,

water keg and wooden pail

 

8 pounds of candles,

9 bars of soap,

6 woolen blankets,

2 pairs shoes apiece,

 

guidebooks and grammar books,

text of arithmetic,

the Holy Bible, heavy quilts,

3 rifles, ammunition,

 

sewing needles, pins, and thread,

mirrors in gilt frames,

dark-colored calico,

jeans and shirts for all,

 

box of physic pills,

quart of castor oil,

citric acid, laudanum,

peppermint and rum.

 

 

¹ from Seeing the Elephant: Voices from the Oregon Trail by Joyce Badgley Hunsaker, p. 15

² oxen

³ baking soda