An Oregon Trail Country Store · 1849

Trailhead
Merchant

Sweetwater Crossing · On the Westward Road

You keep the only general store for a hundred miles of wagon ruts. Stock the shelves, set fair prices, make change at the counter, and read the boom-and-bust of the trail. Buy low, sell smart, and don't let your storehouse run dry.

Supply & demand Making change Limited storage Shortages Boom & bust Reinvesting profit

Apprentice

The register shows the change due — you just count it out. Gentle demand, 14 weeks.

Shop Clerk

Compute the change yourself. Real freight delays and a full boom-bust. 18 weeks.

Proprietor

Ring up each order and beat the clock. Tight money, harsh trail. 20 weeks.

Sweetwater Crossing is a fictional outpost, but the wares, prices, and hardships are drawn from real general stores and "sutlers" that supplied emigrants along the Oregon and California Trails between the 1840s and 1860s.

Order the Freight

Wholesale = what the freighter charges you Bulk = shelf space each unit eats Arrives next week — order ahead of demand

Order cost: $0.00 · Space after delivery: —

Chalk the Prices

Demand reads the trail this week — brisk steady slow Price high and fewer buy · price low and you sell out fast

Goods on hand worth $0.00 at your prices

The Store is Open

Customers are coming up the trail…

The Day's Ledger

Build Up the Storehouse

Reinvest your profit — or hold cash for the lean weeks.

Cash on hand: $0.00

The Season Closes

B

A Steady Hand

TrailheadMerchant