Cooking with Poop along the Oregon Trail
The pioneers had to cross long stretches of land with no trees. Hauling firewood in the wagons would have added weight, adding to the oxen’s already h load. The travelers found another way to build fires using a source that was all around them: Poop. Wild animal poop, to be precise, preferably from a grass eating animal like buffalo.
When feces was dried out in the sun, it was reasonably clean and had no odor. The chewed-up grasses and organic material would burn slowly, like charcoal. One pioneer noted, “Young ladies who in the commencement of the journey would hardly look at a chip, were now seen coming into the camp with as many as they could carry.”
