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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;fiddlehead, post: 6079870, member: 31286&quot;]Read up - a lot of them were sponsored.&nbsp; They promised crops, resources, even future labor in exchange for the loans they needed to buy those oxen and wagons.&nbsp; And in every oxen and wagon were a whole lot of people.&nbsp; Friends, brothers and sisters, strangers who promised to help them establish a homestead.&nbsp; So you would have to consider many, if not most of those people moving west as pooling whatever wealth and promise they could to get a group of people West.&nbsp; And what percentage of Americans do you suppose were able and willing to do that?&nbsp; Yes, it was a lot people, but not so many in terms of total population.&nbsp; Empirical examples of a relatively small percentage of the population is not evidence that &quot;most&quot; people were able to save money.&nbsp; However, lest I be misunderstood, I am also in total awe of those who left everything they knew and took a huge risk to move West.&nbsp; In the end, a few made out well, but many did not.&nbsp; So, that is actually one of the reasons I am in awe of what they did.&nbsp; Were you thinking that they all made it?&nbsp; Even to their destinations, let alone to financial independence?&nbsp; Oh my.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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