Mules also charge about 3 occasions as considerably as oxen, a selecting variable for many emigrants. In 1855, the regular cost of meals for 4 persons for six months was about $150 which would cost practically $5,000 now. 1840s and later gave similar assistance to migrants on what foods to just take. Joseph Ware's 1849 guideline endorses that travelers consider for every single person a barrel of flour or a hundred and eighty lbs .