What is "wagon master"

Wagon \Wag"on\, n. [D. wagen. [root]136. See Wain.]

1. A wheeled carriage; a vehicle on four wheels, and usually drawn by horses; especially, one used for carrying freight or merchandise.

   Note: In the United States, light wagons are used for the conveyance of persons and light commodities.

2. A freight car on a railway. [Eng.]

3. A chariot [Obs.]
   --Spenser.

4. (Astron.) The Dipper, or Charles's Wain.

   Note: This word and its compounds are often written with two g's (waggon, waggonage, etc.), chiefly in England. The forms wagon, wagonage, etc., are, however, etymologically preferable, and in the United States are almost universally used.

   Wagon boiler. See the Note under Boiler, 3.

   Wagon ceiling (Arch.), a semicircular, or wagon-headed, arch or ceiling; -- sometimes used also of a ceiling whose section is polygonal instead of semicircular.

   Wagon master, an officer or person in charge of one or more wagons, especially of those used for transporting freight, as the supplies of an army, and the like.

   Wagon shoe, a skid, or shoe, for retarding the motion of a wagon wheel; a drag.

   Wagon vault. (Arch.) See under 1st Vault.

A wagon master was the person hired to oversee the transportation of a group of wagons from one place to another. On the American frontier, the term usually applies to the person responsible for assisting groups of immigrants or pioneers from the eastern U.S. to the western U.S. Wagon masters were also hired to oversee shipments of cargo or mail. A group of wagons traveling together were referred to as a " train".

The trip across the western U.S. by wagon was long and very difficult. Typically, a wagon train would travel at around two miles an hour, which would only permit the train to average ten miles a day. Therefore, the 2,000 mile journey from Missouri to California or Oregon would take about five to six months depending on weather or other difficulties.