I've often been asked the below information - so I thought I'd share it here. When we think about how far and fast (with air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter) we travel across the land now days - it boggles the mind to think what it truly was like in the 1800s.
A horse can walk about 4 miles per
hour comfortably... so let's say not over an hour and a half for 5 miles
Now, if what you are REALLY asking is, how long did it take to travel 5 miles with an ox cart or a covered wagon, the wagon trains could make from 15 to 20 miles a day and, unlike what they show in the movies... the PEOPLE WALKED they DID NOT RIDE in the WAGONS... so if you were MOVING and you had a covered wagon full of your stuff, then that 5 miles would maybe take 2 hours.
An average
wagon train could travel 20-40 miles a day depending on weight and how many in
the party were walking or driving etc. My guess would be that on a horse you
could go 5 miles in an hour or less easy, and with wagons five miles might take
closer to two hours. I think wagons would travel at about 20 minutes per mile
if there were no stops for broken wheels and other stuff.
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