The people who had stores, livery stables, corrals and other essentials for sale made a fortune. People could not bring much by boat, and they could take very little besides food and farm implements and seed in their small wagons.
A lot of people did not have any idea of what it was to be like. So they bought too much and bought the wrong type of wagon to put it in.
What they needed was a small box wagon with a watertight box that would float across the rivers ahead.
