They were organized extensively to furnish travel from one outpost to another.
The sleds of the pioneers were nearly all homemade affairs. Many of them were boxed or covered with canvas and some had stoves. When making long drives large stones kept for the purpose were heated and wrapped in blankets and placed in their rig as foot‑stools. Some carried lanterns between their feet which kept them warm all day.
Mrs. Berg tells this story: "Dad would put fresh straw in the bottom of the bob sled and we took heated flat irons heated on the kitchen range to keep our feet warm, then we wrapped ourselves in horsehide robes. Our horses sleigh always had bells on and sometime we kids would run along back of the sled or ride on the runners."
Riding horses was the way most people got around before the advent of the autos. Mrs. Posey has this account:
"The boys as a matter of course rode and a girl who could not was not counted much. That was the common mode on conveyance in those days. It seems as I look back that we all lived quite a distance from each other and from school.
"Most of us rode to school and at noon we rode to the nearest watering place, generally racing there and back. As there were some pretty good specimens of horseflesh our races were by no means tame affairs. The balance of the noon hour we rode some more but this was fancy riding standing up, lying down, backwards, sideways, and on our knees or picking up something from the ground while our horses were going at a gallop: One of the girls could ride her pony full gallop standing straight up. Although we were real envious and tried our best to follow her example, the best we could do was a trot.
"A 20 or 30 mile ride was nothing.
"Driving was another accomplishment in which girls were more proficient in the old days. We drove anything and everything. Our horses were mostly of the bronco breed, so we learned in the hard school but a good one. They were just as likely to jump over the neck‑yoke or straddle the tongue, or kick everything to pieces as to go as they were supposed to.
"There were always colts to break which added to the fun but as they were partly of eastern blood, they were comparatively tame. I remember one colt my sister and I broke to drive with a bronco pony. We hitched them to a hayrack and away they went. Just hit the high spots, as they say now. We dashed into a neighbor's yard where I managed to stop about a second, when away they flew. The farmer's wife saw us and ran yelling that we would be killed.
"By the time the men got out we were off on the prairie where the horses stopped of their own accord. My sister was sitting straddle of the reach, the rack was up on the colt's hips, and I nearly lost my brains when the heavy standard fell on my head. The men straightened us out and we started again. They ran but we had no more trouble and the colt turned out to be a fine dependable horse.
"Another time I started out to take the teacher to school with a pony I was breaking to drive single. She went all right until we reached the railroad. She jumped the firebreak then the track, then the other fire‑break in quick succession and then let out at about a three-minute gait, spilling books and dinner pails, and I'd have lost the teacher, too, if she had not held on like grim death. She was game and never said a word but was very glad to get out safely and did not care to ride behind that pony again. I never did get her broken so that she was safe.
"The funniest ride I ever took, though, was on a cow. I had taken the cattle to a neighbor's to water and when I jumped off the pony, neglected to throw the reins over her head. When I was through drawing water she was gone. Nothing but a young Holstein cow left. I though I would rather ride her than walk. I wished I had walked before I got home. She behaved very well until I met our chore boy (he always managed to lag behind, so I would have to draw the water) with the dog. The dog chased the cow awhile, then the cow chased the dog.
"Well, I kept sliding farther up on her neck all the time until I was sitting on her head. Then I dropped off. That boy certainly had a good laugh.
"Riding has always been one of my greatest pleasures and all of my girl friends rode so we had many pleasant and jolly rides together. We never stopped for roads. Western ponies rarely step in holes so we were safe enough. I have been bucked off and thrown off and just plain fallen off but never was badly hurt."
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 38