Early in
the morning (Brigham Young’s forty‑sixth birthday) Wilford Woodruff
visited the company dentist, who tried to pull his tooth. The tooth broke off and the root was left in
his jaw, causing much pain.
The
pioneers traveled five and a half miles and halted for the noon rest across the
river from the ruins of an old trading post which still had a few chimneys
standing. The pioneers turned their
horses loose to feed in a luxurianty grassy ravine.
In the
afternoon they traveled six and a half miles and came to a point across from
Fort Platte, a vacant fort crumbling into ruins. Fort Laramie could also be seen on the north bank of Laramie
Fork, about two miles to the south. The
pioneer company decided to establish the camp at 5:45 in the form of a V, on
the bank of the North Platte.
Soon, two
men came from the fort and were seen across the river. “Revenue Cutter” was launched with Luke S.
Johnson, John Brown, Joseph Matthews and Porter Rockwell. With great joy, they learned that the two
men were Robert Crow and his son‑in‑law, George W. Therlkill, two
of the Mississippi company of Saints who spent the winter at Pueblo with the
sick detachments of the Mormon Battalion.1
The two
men were brought back across the river to meet with Brigham Young. They reported that they had been at Fort
Laramie since May 16. They also
reported that the detachments of the Mormon Battalion would shortly receive
their pay and planned to leave Pueblo about the first of June.2
William
Clayton wrote: “It caused us much joy
to meet with brethren in this wild region of country and also because we should
have some news from the brethren in the army.”
Wilford Woodruff added: “No one
can imagine the joy of friends on meeting each other under such circumstances
away from the abodes of white men where they are only visited by savages.”
Brother
Crow and Brother Therlkill shared sad news that Melcher Oyler, Arnold Stevens,
James Scott, and Mervin Blanchard had died since John Tippets and Thomas
Woolsey had left Pueblo during the winter to return to Winter Quarters. They also said that Solomon Tindall was near
death. Most of the other men were doing
well and had regained their health during the winter. The two men had no news from the rest of the Mormon Battalion in
California. They relayed news that
three traders from the mountains had arrived at Fort Laramie six days
earlier. The traders’ animals had
nearly starved to death because of lack of feed and there had been up to two
feet of snow at the Sweetwater River more than 150 miles to the west. After giving their report, Brothers Crow and
Therlkill returned to their families at the fort.
William
Clayton calculated that they were 543 1/4 miles from Winter Quarters. They had made the journey to Fort Laramie in
seven weeks. “We have arrived so far on
our journey without accident except the loss of two horses by Indians and two
killed. We have been prosperous on our
journey, the camp are all in better health than when we left Winter Quarters
and we see daily that the Lord blesses us and directs the movements of this
camp as seemeth Him good and as is for our good and prosperity.”
In the middle
of the camp, in a large ash tree, was the bundled body of an Indian baby. It was tied between the two highest limbs of
the treed. The bark was peeled off the
tree below to prevent wolves from getting up.
Porter
Rockwell visited Fort Laramie, then came back and told the brethren that there
were eighteen men with their families living there. They were mostly Frenchmen.
It was learned that about three weeks earlier, a larger number of Crow
Indians had come to the Fort in broad daylight and stolen many horses. Brigham Young called all the captains
together to give them instructions and to see that two men from each company of
ten stand on guard while they were camping at this location while they made
arrangements to cross the river. A
crossing at this point was needed because the Black Hills ahead made it
impossible for them to continue their journey on the north side of the North
Platte. He suggested that they leave
most of their plows at the fort and that they should do their blacksmithing to
mend their wagons as soon as possible.
James Case, Shadrach Roundy,3
and Seth Taft4 were
appointed to overhaul and select the plows to be taken ahead.
Eliza R.
Snow wrote: “This is truly a glorious
time with the mothers & daughters in Zion altho’ thrust out from the land
of our forefathers & from the endearments of civiliz’d life.” A great spiritual meeting was held during
the evening at Lyman Leonard’s home.
Brother Leonard spoke about the evils in the American government and
contrasted it with the happiness of the Saints. Sister Snow said, “Language cannot describe the scene.”
Lucy
Elvira Holmes, age one year, died. She
was the daughter of Jonathan H. and Elvira Cowles Holmes.
Robert S.
Bliss wrote: “June 1st 1847 ushers in
another Summer 1 month & 1/2 more and we bid good by to Unkle Sam having it
to say ‘You are the most exact Unkle we ever had.’”
Watson, ed., The
Orson Pratt Journals, 409; Our Pioneer Heritage, 2:432; William
Clayton’s Journal, 205‑08; Excerpts from the Hitherto Unpublished
Journal of Horace K. Whitney, Improvement Era, June, 1947, 371; “Erastus
Snow Journal Excerpts,” Improvement Era 15:54‑55; Kenney, ed., Wilford
Woodruff’s Journal, 3:192‑93; The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy
Snow, 176; “The Journal of Robert S. Bliss,” Utah Historical Quarterly,
4:94
The Twelve
and others crossed the river and visited the deserted Fort Platte. It was 144 by 132 feet, with 30 rooms inside
which had been burned. The Oregon Trail
ran right by the fort.
The
brethren next went to Fort Laramie (also called Fort John) which was occupied
by French and Indians. James Bordeaux
was the manager of the fort, including more than thirty‑eight men and
their families, associated with the American Fur Company. Twenty of the men were currently away on
business. Many of the men were married
to Sioux Indian women.
Mr.
Bordeaux invited the brethren into his sitting room, up a flight of
stairs. Appleton Harmon recorded: “He invited us into a room upstairs which
looked very much like a bar room of an Eastern hotel. It was ornamented with several drawings, portraits. A long desk, a settee, and some chairs
constituted the principal furniture of the room.”
Bordeaux
shared with them information about the route ahead and agreed to rent to the
pioneers a flatboat for fifteen dollars to ferry over all the wagons. He said there were buffalo two days ahead
and there were also grizzly bears. He
was expecting some Oregon emigrants to arrive soon. The next fort along the route would be Fort Bridger, over the
mountains.
Bordeaux
told them that Governor Lilburn Boggs, the former governor of Missouri, had
passed by this way the previous year.
He had tried to prejudice the men in the fort against the Mormons,
telling them to make sure they watched their horses, because the Mormons would
try to steal them. But the Boggs
company had behaved terribly, and Bordeaux told him that the Mormons could not
be any worse than his company was.
After
their visit with Bordeaux, the brethren visited the trading post and found the
provisions to be very expensive. All
the goods had been brought in from other locations. It was said that until recently there had not been rain at the
fort for two years.
The
brethren boarded the flatboat, floated down the river, and returned to the
pioneer camp at noon. They saw a bald
eagle perched on top of a stump. Orson
Pratt measured the river at the camp to be 108 yards wide and it flowed about
three miles per hour.
During the
day, the rest of the camp was very busy.
They made a coal pit within the circle of wagons and set up three
portable blacksmith shops for shoeing horses and repairing wagons. Others worked at digging at the river bank
to prepare a place to ferry over the wagons.
John Higbee and others went fishing and caught 60‑70 fish with a
net. They caught all kinds of fish
including carp, catfish, salmon, pike, and others.
After
dinner, the Twelve met in council and decided that Amasa Lyman, Roswell Stevens,
John Tippets, and Thomas Woosley should travel to Pueblo to take instructions
to the detachment of the battalion. The
soldiers were to come and follow the pioneer company over the mountains. Brigham Young dictated a letter to the
soldiers that included:
If
experience has not already taught you, we would say, keep a sharp lookout for
buffalo, Indian and bears, all of which may be met and endanger the life and
liberty of men, women and children, beasts and property. Be wise, and watch as well as pray continually,
and having done all you possibly can, and exercised all the skill, wisdom and
prudence and care and strength that you possess, should you be overtaken with
accidents or losses of any kind, take the spoil thereof patiently and
cheerfully, and murmur not for Christ’s sake.
Let the unity of the Spirit and brotherly love abide in every heart, be
made manifest in every action and reciprocated by every word, and our
blessings, and the blessings of our Heavenly Father shall abide with you
continually and you shall prosper.
A son,
John Taylor Brown, was born to Captain James Brown and his wife Eunice Reaser
Brown.
It was a
rainy day at Winter Quarters. Mary
Richards was visited by the Robert Burton family, whom she had stayed for
several weeks during the winter on the Nishnabotna River, in Missouri.
John D.
Lee visited the store in Austin to buy provisions. He returned to Hunsacker’s ferry to spend the night with the
family of Samuel B. Frost. He found
murmuring in the family, especially from Sister Rebecca Frost. He reasoned with them and preached to them
until midnight.
Two ships
were in the port, loading up hides to be shipped back to the states. Robert Bliss was impressed by the oats which
grew spontaneously. He believed the
oats were as fine as any raised with great labor in the east.
The
detachment camped in San Joaquin Valley.
James R. Clark, Messages
of the First Presidency, 1:322; Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,
3:194; “Erastus Snow Journal Excerpts,” Improvement Era 15:55; Appleton
Milo Harmon Goes West, 27; Bagley, ed., The Pioneer Camp of the Saints,
178; Ward, ed., Winter Quarters, 145; Kelly, ed., Journals of John D.
Lee, 173; “The Journal of Robert S. Bliss,” Utah Historical Quarterly,
4:94; “The Journal of Nathaniel V. Jones,” Utah Historical Quarterly,
4:18
During the
cold morning, the pioneers started to ferry the wagons across the North Platte
River. The wind blew strongly upriver,
which made the crossing easier. A wagon
could be ferried over in about fifteen minutes. The blacksmiths continued their hard work repairing wagons and
shoeing horses. They set up their shops
in the deserted Fort Platte. Charles
Barnum did some washing for Wilford Woodruff.
It was the first time Elder Woodruff had washed his clothes since leaving
Winter Quarters.
Albert P.
Rockwood wrote about an unusual form of amusement: “During this morning, many of the brethren were engaged in
gathering beads from the ant hill in the vicinity. The ants gather small gravel to butify their habitat or cities
and . . . they gather many beads of various colors which have been strewed by
the Indians or otherwise.”
At 11:15
a.m., Amasa Lyman, Roswell Stevens, John Tippets, and Thomas Woolsey started
their journey toward Pueblo to meet the men and families of the battalion sick
detachments. They would carry 349
letters to the soldiers. Brigham Young,
Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, and Orson Pratt rode with them as far as
Laramie Fork. The men sat down on a
large fallen tree and listened to President Young issue instructions. There were worries that Captain James Brown
was leading the battalion members to Santa Fe, rather than to the north. Firm instructions were given that the
battalion men must not follow Captain Brown to Mexico. Rather, they should follow the pioneers over
the mountains. If the officers would
not support this plan, Amasa Lyman would need to have those officers replaced
by men who would support this plan. If
the main companies of the battalion were still at Santa Fe, they should also be
retrieved and be brought back. They
knelt down, dedicated their mission to the Lord, and blessed each man.5
Porter
Rockwell, Thomas Brown, Joseph Matthews, and John Brown went ahead on horseback
to scout the road for the pioneer company.
At 1:40
p.m., a loud thunderstorm rolled through.
Rain fell for two hours. During
the storm, the horses were secured inside the deserted Fort Platte on the south
side of the river. After the storm, the
wagon crossings continued. They were
able to get a wagon across in eleven minutes.
At 7 p.m., again the work had to stop because of another storm, leaving
about seventeen wagons on the other side, unable to cross.
Four men
had been spotted the previous evening arriving at Fort Laramie on pack
horses. They came from the fort to
visit the brethren, and informed the pioneers that they were from St. Joseph,
Missouri. They reported that twenty wagons
were about three miles to the east.
Their company had traveled from Missouri in only seventeen days and had
passed about 600‑700 wagons during their journey west. They estimated that there would be about two
thousand wagons leaving the states this season, heading for Oregon and
California. A company would probably
arrive at Fort Laramie on each of the next three days.
Appleton
Harmon and others visited a French/Sioux burial. He recorded: “They had
set four forks into the ground about seven feet high and placed poles across,
and made a scaffold on which the corpses were deposited, wrapped in a skin, a
pillow under each head ornamented with beads.”
Wilford Woodruff wrote: “The
French were buried in the ground, strong pickets around, with a cross at the
head being Catholics.”
Elder
Lyman O. Littlefield continued his journey to his mission in England. He wrote:
The scenery
along the Ohio River in many places was very fine. Cincinnati is certainly a very tidy place, with streets clean and
neat. We left Cincinnati June 3rd. At the junction of the Erie and Cleveland
canals we parted company with Brother Campbell, daughter and sister Polly
Thompson. They followed up the Erie
canal and went up the Cleveland. We had
to pack our trunks three‑fourths of a mile before we could find a tavern,
which gave us a relish for our bed.
The
weather was pleasant. Mary Richards
stewed some apples, picked some gooseberries, and made some pies. She visited friends who were preparing to
leave with the next pioneer company.
Four Omaha Indians came near Winter Quarters and presented a letter from
Big Elk, stating that he was going out against the Pawnees and wanted to know
if and when he could meet with brethren and receive permission to enter the
city. In the evening, a problem with
the police guard arose. A meeting was
called by Marshal Horace S. Eldredge at Isaac Morley’s shop. The marshal wanted to induce the police to
reduce their wages. They firmly
refused. Brother Eldredge then accused
the police of not doing their duty.
Hosea Stout told him that the police matters were none of his
business. While they were having a
heated discussion, Elders Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor
arrived. Hosea Stout immediately
stopped talking and the brethren told him to continue. But the matter was dropped and the brethren
had come to ask about some property which had been stolen on the other side of
the river. Nothing was known about the
property.
A
daughter, Ann Elizabeth Riter, was born to Levi E. and Rebecca Dilworth Riter.
The
Catholics celebrated Saint Mary’s birthday.
Henry Standage recorded:
The
inhabitants of [Los Angeles] have been sweeping the public square fro 2 days
past, and this morning they erected 4 stages, one in each corner of the square,
also erecting an altar at each place, making it of green bushes, and decorated
with roses, strips of white cloth and very handsome serape or a kind of outside
covering thrown around the man while on horseback, were thrown on the ground.
The mass
started at 10 a.m. Colonel Stevenson
ordered that one of the cannons be brought to the square to show the Mexicans
that they would be protected during their celebration. After the mass, the priest came out to the
square to perform certain rites at each of the altars. A band belonging to the New York Volunteers
played while a procession marched from corner to corner. All the people continuously showered roses
down on the priest’s head. The cannon
fired at intervals as the procession moved from place to place.
Diary of Howard Egan, Pioneering
the West, 63‑4; Appleton Milo Harmon Goes West, 28; Watson,
ed., The Orson Pratt Journals, 417; “Excerpts from the Hitherto
Unpublished Journal of Horace K. Whitney,” Improvement Era, June, 1947,
407; Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 3:194‑95; Bagley,
ed., The Pioneer Camp of the Saints, 178‑79; “Lyman Littlefield
Reminiscences (1888),” 191‑92; Journal of Henry Standage in Golder, The
March of the Mormon Battalion, 224; The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy
Snow, 176; Ward, ed., Winter Quarters, 145; “Albert P. Rockwood
Journal,” typescript, BYU, 48
It was a
clear, pleasant morning. The snow‑capped
Laramie Peak could be seen clearly in the distance. The ferrying of wagons started early, at 4:30 a.m. The last of the wagons were brought over by
8:00 a.m. Brigham Young, Heber C.
Kimball, and others went up to Fort Laramie for one more visit. They brought back good reports from traders
about Bear River Valley. It was
described as well‑timbered, with plenty of grass, and mild winters. There were many fish in the streams. Wilford Woodruff recorded: “I conversed with a mountaineer who had
wintered at the great Basin of the Salt and Utah Lakes & he recommends the
country very highly for a healthy, fertile Country, the lakes and streams
abounding with trout and other fish, a good supply of sugar maple & other
timber &c.”
Levi
Jackman described the Fort Laramie:
“The walls are made of adobes with door attached to the walls on the
inside and one two stories high. A row
of houses also runs through the center of the fort.”
Porter
Rockwell traded a horse with James Bordeaux for two cows and calves, one
heifer, two pairs of moccasin shoes, and two lariats. John Pack traded a lame horse for three robes. Luke S. Johnson provided his dental services
to several people in the fort in exchange for some moccasins and skins. Many letters were left behind for loved‑ones
back at Winter Quarters. They would be
sent back to Peter Sarpy at Trader’s Point and then delivered to Winter
Quarters.6
Appleton
Harmon and Albert P. Rockwood used a yoke of oxen to tow the ferry boat back up
to the fort. Brother Rockwood paid the
fifteen-dollar fee, seven in cash, one dollar’s worth of potatoes, and Robert
Crow of the Mississippi Saints paid the other seven dollars. Mr. Bordeaux was very pleased to see that
the Saints settled up with him. He remarked
that he had never had a group of people pass Fort Laramie who first made sure
they had settled up with him. Albert P.
Rockwood wrote: “The keeper of the boat
said to me that this was the most gentlemen like company that had ever visited
the establishment. Other companies took
liberties to go in all and every bit of the fort with leave where as our people
asked to examine and look. . . . Every man of us had acted the part of a
gentleman which was not practised by other companies.”
At 11:30,
the three families from the Mississippi Saints came from the fort and took
their place in the pioneer company. The
seventeen new members of the camp were:
Robert Crow, Elizabeth Crow, Benjamin B. Crow, Harriet Crow, Elizabeth
Jane Crow, John McHenry Crow, Walter H. Crow, George W. Therlkill, Matills Jane
Therlkill, Milton Howard Therlkill, James William Therlkill, William Parker
Crow, Isa Vinda Exene Crow, Ira Minda Almarene Crow, Archibald Little, James
Chesney and Lewis B. Myers. This
increased the size of the pioneer camp to 161 (148 men, eight women, and five
children). Certainly the three sisters
traveling in the pioneer company were delighted to welcome five new sisters7 and three children. Lewis B. Myers was a valuable addition to
the pioneer company because he had in years past traveled in the rocky
mountains. The Mississippi Saints
brought five wagons, one cart, eleven horses, twenty‑four oxen, twenty‑two
cows, three bulls, and seven calves.
This brought the camp totals to ninety‑six horses, fifty‑one
mules, ninety oxen, forty‑three cows, nine calves, three bulls, sixteen
chickens, sixteen dogs, seventy‑nine wagons, and one cart.
William
Clayton put up a sign board at the ferry crossing that read: “Winter Quarters, 561 1/4 miles. 227 1/2 miles from the Junction of the
Platte. 142 1/4 miles from Ash
Hollow. 70 1/4 miles from Chimney
Rock. 50 1/2 miles from Scotts Bluff”
Harriet
Young spent the morning baking some bread and pies and frying some cakes.
At noon,
the pioneers again started their journey, now on the south side of the North
Platte River. After three miles, at
1:20, they halted to feed the cattle.
Horace K. Whitney wrote: “At
this place the grass was the most luxuriant that we have seen for a long time ‑‑
here to our right, a short distance, the river winding in a serpentine
direction, glides gracefully by, while immediately to our left are large crags
& masses of rock, as it were, suspended over our heads.”
As the
group traveled, they noticed Archibald Little, a newcomer and nonmember with the
Mississippi group, whipping his oxen very badly. Brigham Young and others went to help him, but he treated them
with contempt and continued to whip his animals. President Young commented that there had been more abuse of
cattle in those few minutes than by all the brethren since they left Winter
Quarters. President Young had Albert P.
Rockwood notify Robert Crow that he would not allow such abuse in the
camp. Robert Crow was to notify
Achibald Little that if he did not reform from this moment, he must leave the
camp. It was explained to Brother Crow
that even nonmembers in the pioneer company had to live by the camp rules. Brother Crow firmly agreed and received the
order well.
The
journey continued at 2:30. About eight
miles from Fort Laramie, they descended a very steep hill [Mexican Hill] and
had to lock the wheels on the wagons for the first time. At 5:30 the night’s camp was
established. Soon a heavy thunder shower
rolled through. Thomas Bullock
wrote: “We saw two perfect rainbows in
the heavens and an Eagle flying in the Air.”
The
weather was very warm. Mary Richards
traveled around the city with the Burtons.
“We went into store & traded, afterwards we went to the Mill and the
Miller took & shewed us through every department of the same, it was then
in Motion. We were well pleased with
our visit there.”
A son,
Lewis Oviatt, was born to Ira A. and Ruth Bennett Oviatt.8
The Pueblo
detachment was having trouble with mad wild dogs. A man had recently died because of a bite. Colonel Stevenson asked some men from the
battalion to go and kill all of the stray dogs that they could find.
A large
drove of horses was brought into town to sell to the battalion.
Diary of Howard Egan, Pioneering
the West, 64‑65; Appleton Milo Harmon Goes West, 28; “Excerpts
from the Hitherto Unpublished Journal of Horace K. Whitney,” Improvement Era,
June, 1947, 407; Watson ed., Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 557;
Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 3:196; Bagley, ed., The
Pioneer Camp of the Saints, 179‑81; “Levi Jackman Autobiography,”
typescript, BYU, 34; Ward, ed., Winter Quarters, 146; Brooks, ed., On
the Mormon Frontier, 1:258‑59; “The Journal of Robert S. Bliss,” Utah
Historical Quarterly, 4:94; Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon
Battalion, 290; “Diary of Lorenzo Dow Young,” Utah Historical Quarterly,
14:161; “Albert P. Rockwood Journal,” typescript, BYU, 49
The
company was delayed in the morning because of some missing oxen. After they were found, the pioneers traveled
up and down hills. Appleton Harmon
wrote that they “mounted the bluff in a gradual winding pass and then down a
steep hill making one‑half a mile over, then up a bed of a stream that is
now dry and from all appearance has long since ceased to pay its tribute to the
North Fork.” Near the bottom of the
hill, Robert Crow’s wagon tipped over, but there was no damage. William Clayton put up a guide board every
ten miles.
They soon
reached the intersection of two roads from Fort Laramie, where there was a warm
spring. They rested the animals and
some men went to see the spring. It
bubbled out of the bluff, but was not very hot. Orson Pratt recorded: “A
short distance from this spring, and on the opposite side, we saw an old lime
kiln, where probably lime had been procured for the uses of the Fort.”
Wilford
Woodruff penned: “The bluffs, peaks
& hills begin to be more lofty as we get unto the hills. We are beginning to come to an elk, bear
& mountain sheep country. We saw
their signs to day.” While they were
still resting, a company of Missouri emigrants with eleven wagons caught up and
passed them. They said that two more
companies arrived at Fort Laramie during the morning and three other companies
were within twenty miles of Laramie.
This company had traveled all the way from the fort on this day. They had taken the southern road from Fort
Laramie which turned out to be a shorter and better road.
The
pioneers traveled ten and a half miles in the afternoon and camped by a pure
stream of water with good feed. The
Missouri company camped a quarter mile behind on the same stream. Traveling with them, were four men from Fort
Laramie who were heading for Vancouver Island to obtain sea shells. Another thunder shower came through in the
evening.
It was
another historic day in Winter Quarters.
Pioneers who would be part of the second company of Saints left the city
to start the trek west, to follow the lead company to the mountains. Those who started the journey included: Parley P. Pratt, Perrigrine Sessions, and
Jesse W. Crosby. Parley P. Pratt later
recorded: “I loaded my goods and family
into my wagons, and, obtaining a few more cattle, started for the Rocky
Mountains; or rather the Elk Horn River, where we expected to form a
rendezvous, and establish a ferry, and wait the arrival of others, and the
organization of companies for the purpose of mutual safety in travelling.” Jesse Crosby left with a company of fifty
wagons.
Patty
Sessions wrote: “We start for the
mountains and leave Winter Quarters for the mountains or a resting place. Ten years to day since we left our home and
friends in Maine. We now leave many
good friends here and I hope they will soon follow on to us. I drive one four ox team.”
George
Whitaker described the required preparations:
We had to
get so many pounds of flour for each individual, 350 pounds for each person, if
not, we were not allowed to go. There
were men appointed to inspect each wagon to see if we had the requisite
quantity. We knew that we were going
into a country where we could not buy any.
We had to take enough to last us fifteen months, or until we could raise
it. We had to take our seed grain,
farming implements, cooking utensils, and such things that we could not do
without. Some would take a few chickens
fastened on behind the wagons, and some would take a pig. We had our wagons all loaded up and
inspected and pronounced all right.
Mary
Richards visited some new stores that had recently opened. She bought a tea bottle and a water
pail. From Brother Abel Lamb, she
bought a wash board. Then she went to
collect five dollars of groceries that had been brought for her from St. Louis.
A party of
eighty Omaha Indians came to Winter Quarters and Hosea Stout was asked to meet
with them six miles below the city. The
chiefs were introduced to Hosea Stout, whom they recognized as a war chief or
captain. They all came to shake his
hand. Brother Stout escorted the Indian
party into town and they camped on the first ridge west of the city. A council meeting was held with them in the
evening. Big Elk confirmed everything
that Young Elk had told the Saints during his visit on May 25. The meeting went well and good feelings
existed between the two parties. Some
beef was given to the Indians for supper.
A strong guard was raised for the evening to guard the city.
John D.
Lee returned from Missouri and arrived at the ferry crossing. He found sixty wagons waiting to cross over
to Winter Quarters. Many families were
planning to be part of the large second company of pioneers.
The sick
detachments of the Mormon Battalion and the rest of the Mississippi Saints
spent the day crossing the South Platte River near present‑day Greeley,
Colorado. The river was about three to
four feet deep, making the crossing difficult.
Wilford
Woodruff’s Journal, 3:196‑97; Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt,
358; Appleton Milo Harmon Goes West, 28‑9; Watson, ed., The
Orson Pratt Journals, 418‑19; Diary of Howard Egan, Pioneering the
West, 65‑6; William Clayton’s Journal, 216‑18; Ward,
ed., Winter Quarters, 146; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier,
1:259; Kelly, ed., Journals of John D. Lee, 173‑74; Yurtinus, A
Ram in the Thicket, 319; The History and Journal of Jesse W. Crosby,
typescript, BYU, 33; “Norton Jacob Journal,” typescript, 85; “Albert P.
Rockwood Journal,” typescript, BYU, 50; Smart, ed., Mormon Midwife, 84;
“Life of George Whitaker, A Pioneer, as written by himself,” in Madsen, Journey
to Zion, 85
In the morning, the wagon train from St. Joseph, Missouri, passed by the pioneer camp. Because it was Sunday, the camp of pioneers rested.