The Covered Wagon by Emerson Hough is about two caravans of expatriates that unite in Kansas and travel 2,000 miles west to start a new life in Oregon. The leader of the settlers is the elderly father and natural authority Wingate. Scouts are the headstrong Sam Woodhull and the kind-hearted and talented Will Banion. Excerpt: "Look at 'em come, Jesse! More and more! Must be forty or fifty families." Molly Wingate, middle-aged, portly, dark-browed and strong, stood at the door of the rude tent which for the time made her home."