8 Household Items Every Frontier Family Owned

While some of us grew up watching Little House on the Prairie or learning about the Mormon pioneers, most of our knowledge of life on the frontier probably came from The Oregon Trail computer game. People weren't dying of dysentery quite as often as the game made it seem, but the frontier wasn't exactly a picnic either.

Survival was the priority, and there was very little in the way of luxury while trying to make a home out of the wilderness. But with the right tools and everyone chipping in, life on the frontier could be as happy and wholesome as Laura Ingalls Wilder made it out to be.

These are the essential items every frontier household used to survive.

1. Axe/Hand Saw
2. Cast-Iron Skillet
3. Dutch Oven
4. Oil Lamps/Candles
5. Lye Soap
6. Sewing Kit
7. Guns
8. Farming/Gardening Tools

Axe/Hand Saw

If you’ve played any type of survival game, you know the first thing you need is a tool for chopping wood. Having wood for fire and shelter building were key to staying alive in the wilderness. An axe or a hand saw was an absolute necessity for anyone trying to make it on the frontier, and even children learned to chop wood as soon as they were old enough to swing such a heavy tool.

Cast-Iron Skillet

Cooking was a much more laborious process before our modern conveniences were invented, but families on the frontier still needed to eat, so they worked with what they had. A sturdy black iron frying pan lasted the longest and could be used to make a variety of foods, such as cornbread and fried chicken. Plus, they worked great as a self-defense tool in a pinch. Who knew, right?

Dutch Oven

If you’ve never had Dutch Oven stew or peach cobbler, you’re probably not much of a camper. The Dutch Oven is a black iron pot that we use today when camping, but it was an everyday item for frontier families. The pot could sit directly in the fire to cook delicious meals with relative ease because of its thick walls and lid.

Oil Lamps/Candles

Depending on how well-off a family was when they moved to the frontier, they would either have brought along oil lamps or candles for light. Candles were cheaper and easier to obtain, but also riskier when living in a wooden cabin. Oil lamps often used oil from whale blubber or other animal fats, but they really took off when petroleum was introduced as a fuel for the flame. If you were lucky enough to have such a luxury out on the frontier, you were the envy of your neighbors.

Lye Soap

Living on the frontier meant that you couldn't just stop into a store and buy things you were running low on. So, families learned to make their own soap to wash their clothes, dishes, and more. They would create lye by mixing wood ash with water, and then precisely adding other ingredients like lard and cooking it until it reached the consistency of a soap bar. It was a tricky process, but one that every frontier family learned through trial and error.

Sewing Kit

Just as there weren't grocery stores, clothing stores didn't exist in the wilderness. Frontier families made their own clothes and repaired holes and rips to make the clothing last as long as possible. A traditional sewing kit was not too different from our modern versions, and would have thread, needles of different sizes, and scissors, but could also include pins and measuring tape. The kits themselves were made with leftover fabric to hold everything in place.

Guns

A gun proved to be useful in multiple ways out on the frontier. Hunting your own food was necessary, especially during the winter when there weren't crops to eat. Plus, the frontier was filled with wild animals also looking for their meals. A gun, most often a shotgun or a rifle, could keep your family safe from the dangers lurking in the wild.

Farming/Gardening Tools

Just as hunting was necessary for food, every family who wanted to survive on the frontier had to learn to farm. If you didn't have the acreage for a full farm, you at least had a garden with enough fruits, vegetables, and herbs to feed your family. And to properly tend to your plants, you needed a hoe and a shovel. A shovel could also be used to dig a well or other irrigation methods, which was another important part of farming.

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