GQC: Meadow Valley Wash to Kane Springs Valley

On Monday, November 12, 1849, Henry Bigler noted changing his “shirt and garment” and “tore them up and buried them in the sand” as “they were in rags.” The companies “left camp about” 9:00 a.m. “with the intention” of traveling south. They “backtracked” a “few miles” down Meadow Valley Wash.[1] Below, Meadow Valley Wash at the intersection with the entrance into Kane Springs Valley.

Then they went in “a southwest direction down a narrow valley” Below, leaving Meadow Valley Wash up to the saddle that leads into Kane Springs Valley.

which is now known as Kane Springs Valley,[2] headed for the “lowlands.”[3] Below, looking west down Kane Springs Valley.

Before leaving Meadow Valley Wash, Henry Bigler “went to look for the two horses” he left the day before and could find no sign of them.[4] The men “followed Brother Rich’s counsel” and took “all the water” they “could carry.” They “found excellent grass for the animals” where they “stopped for an hour about sunset,” but found no water.[5] Captain Flake and Smith went “ahead looking for water” but were unsuccessful in finding any.[6] The two companies continued on again until 10:00 p.m. “without finding either water or grass, and, being tired out, were compelled to camp.”[7] One of Captain Smith’s men did not make it into camp that night.[8] Cannon noted that “when Smith was on the lead nobody blamed him if” they “did not make much progress or did not find feed or water. But with Brother Rich it was different. These men would not acknowledge that he had any more authority or knowledge than they had, yet they expected more from him than they did from one of themselves. In their hearts they felt there was an authority which their mouths denied.”[9] Bigler and Farrer estimated they traveled 32 miles, while Rich estimated 30 miles for the day. Rich says they started southwest down to a narrow valley and traveled until ten that night, traveling 30 miles. It matches a route down Kane Springs Valley. The estimated distances are somewhat high.[10]

ENDNOTES:
[1]  Bigler

[2]  Rich
[3]  Cannon
[4]  Bigler
[5]  Cannon
[6]  Bigler
[7]  Cannon
[8]  Bigler
[9]  Cannon

[10]  Landon, Michael N. (editor), The Journals of George Q. Cannon, Volume 1, To California in ’49, (Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, Utah: 1999), p. 106