So you’re a Mormon convert from one of the European cities or some American seaport. You’ve gathered as far as the frontier, and for the first time in your life you are faced with a team of oxen whose backs are about even with your head. You might welcome this advice from Asa G. Sheldon (1788-1870) of Massachusetts, whose 1862 autobiography Life of Asa G. Sheldon, Wilmington Farmer inspires you with confidence — he worked with oxen all his long life on enormous excavating and construction jobs: he even leveled Boston’s Pemberton Hill and carted away the earth by oxcart.

Selection and Management of Working Oxen.

A good ox should have a long, lean face, and bright hazel eye, which show capability to receive instruction and disposition to obey it. Large nostrils denote the capacity of an ox to work in a hot day. Very large horns at the base denote laziness. Continue reading How to Handle Your Oxen When You Cross the Plains →