Back in the old west days they used to gather dried buffalo chips to burn for heat and cooking. I can remember my grandmother telling stories about how they would gather dried cow dung in wash tubs and stockpile it in a shed for winter use when she was a little girl. There were very few trees in the Great Plains in the early 1900’s. Just curious if anyone on this forum has ever tried to burn cow chips in their stove???
I will be honest, I remember learning about it from the old PC game Oregon Trail....right before I died of dysentery
Never burned my in my stove, but I recall it being done at several muzzle loading shoots as a young’n.
We used to flop the dried patties with a stick to find worms. Never tried burning one. The food cooked over one couldn't taste too good.....
When they were fresh, we would walk thru them barefoot. Amazing what it looked like as it squished up between our toes. Good times.
I’ve waded and swam in a cattle pond. Seemed like at least 2’ of squishy goo in the bottom and it hasn’t affected me a bit.
They must burn like chit!? Make sure to disinfect your moisture meter when you check the MC! Ill leave now!
I haven’t heard about that game in years. We had one computer in the school library & it was a race to get there first.
I find the old west fascinating! My Great Great Grandpa ran cargo from the East (I assume PA) to Colorado for few years late 1850's-1861 'ish with a 6 horse wagon. Guessing they used dead trees for fires at night. I also read some things of people S of the equator and also way north where it's freezing collecting dung, not necessarily Buffalo but same idea for cooking and heating. As a kid I was fortunate to spend some summers on the last 40 acres left of the 160 acres he bought in 1871, built a home, removed the cactus and shrubs, moved there in 1876. Could you imagine riding a horse and wagon there from town for 17 miles one way all those years?!? So, wonder if buffalo dung is better than other dung, maybe density or heat? Wonder what the difference is between them, cows and horses.
It was a computer game on which you tried to make your way west on the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon. It was about 2 steps maybe 3 above Pong.
Here is a brief simulation of the game. We didn’t have color though ours was just green pixels if I remember correctly. Ok, maybe it was 4 steps above pong…
A few years ago, I found an online version of the original Oregon Trail. I showed my son, who was probably 11 at the time and he got hooked. He played it for 3 days straight and beat it with all 4 occupations...I don't remember ever winning when I was a kid. This Christmas, my wife found a board game version....not as fun as the PC one.
