Indians!

Only in the movies the Native Americans were portrayed as the bad guys. Pioneer diaries indicate just the oposite. Most of the time, Native Americans were very helpful. It was easy for a wagon to become separated from the company they belonged. Often, because of various reasons, there were long distances between the individual wagons. Can you imagine being all alone on the prairie without seeing another wagon in front of you or behind you. More often than not, a Native American would guide you back to the trail or to the company of wagons you belonged. For pay for this service they just wanted food.

Often, a Native American that belonged to a prairie tribe, would act as a guide for a wagon train to the next fort or all the way to Fort Bridger. These guides would not go any further west than Fort Bridger. There was a reason for this: while a great majority of the Native Americans pretty much left the wagons alone, there were numerous wars among the various tribes.

These Indian tribal wars were extremely brutal. Sometimes, these battles took place relatively close to a wagon train. Close enough where the emigrants in the wagons could hear the thuds of arrows or tomihawks hitting bodies. When the battle was over, often they would hoop and hollar around and through the wagon train as if they were showing off their victory.

Besides being guides, Native Americans would assist the wagon trains in hunting. Often there were contests between the Native Americans and the emigrants shooting at targets. One thing reflected by the emigrants was the accuaracy of the Indians. One thing was for sure, both the emigrant and Native American helped each other.