This is a continuation of George Q. Cannon's 1849 journey to California.
October 11, 1849 (Thursday):
Gruwell-Derr Wagon Train (White Sage Flats to Dog Valley): They went “south over a gravel ridge for about four miles, then left it” to their “right and crossed over” a “white sand plane to a rock ridge on the left.” They crossed this and went to the left “over white sand for ten miles to a high bench.” They crossed the bench and “continued down the valley to its termination.” They “camped without water or grass.”[1]
Hunt Company (Sevier River): They “lay in camp” all day “on account of two sick men not being able to travel.”[2] “Some Indians came” into camp and “sold” some “horses for rifles.” Addison Pratt took the “opportunity” to explore “the country.” He found it “a barren waste covered with sage brush, save the river bottoms” which were “covered with grass.” He determined that the Sevier River “discharges its waters into a dead lake” known as the Little Salt Lake. He noted “signs of beaver on its banks.” He also noted that the hills had some “dwarfish cedars.”[3]
Rich, Brown and Pomeroy (Spring Creek to beyond Chicken Creek): Rich, Brown and Pomeroy “passed the springs, Willow Creek, Salt Creek” and Toola Creek and “camped on a sage plain without water.” They covered about 44 miles.[4]
Bigler and Keeler (Great Salt Lake City to Big Cottonwood Creek): James Keeler was to go by Henry Bigler’s house with the wagon to pick him up. While waiting, Bigler “wrote a note and stuck it on the side” of his door for his brother-in-law “to take charge of some clothing” Bigler had “left in a sack.” Bigler “saw the wagon” coming and went out to meet Keeler. Keeler asked Bigler to get in, but Bigler, still struggling with his emotions, refused. Bigler insisted on walking to “the tin shop to buy” a canteen. At the tin shop he bought a canteen for “6 bits” and a “quart cup” for “2 bits.”[5] His emotions now under control, Bigler got in the wagon with Keeler and they drove to Brother Flakes[6] on Big Cottonwood Creek. When they arrived, all had “gone to bed.” Their wagon got “mired” in a “big field” and they had to get out and push. They put their “shoulders to the wheels” of the wagon and eventually “got out” of the mire. However, they were now “all wet and muddy.”[7]
Farrer and Cannon (Great Salt Lake City – Jordan River): There was a party given by Joseph Harker for John Taylor, who had been called on a mission to France, and for other missionaries going to France and England. It was held under “a large tent with [a] wagon cover” at the Harker farm, on the west side of the Jordan River, opposite Big Cottonwood Creek, and included dancing and dinner,[8] with a “profusion of everything eatable.”[9] About 100 people attended, including President Brigham Young and five or six of the gold missionaries. On his way to the party, George Cannon “met Bro. Brigham returning from the feast”. Brother Brigham “stopped his carriage to speak” to Cannon and Cannon got off his horse and “shook hands with him.” Brigham told Cannon that he would “be blessed and he would remember” him and pray for him. Cannon arrived in time for “the second table” and spent the night there.[10]
A year later, drinking from the water of the Jordan River, near its outlet from Utah Lake, Hamelin described the “smell” of the water as “quite disagreeable,” but “to the thirsty man quite palatable.”[11]
October 12, 1849 (Friday):
Gruwell-Derr Wagon Train (Cove Fort): The “passed over a rocky ridge and continued over an exceedingly rough road.” They “found water at the foot of a mountain” and “tolerable grass.” This was the spring near later Cove Fort.[12]
Rich, Brown and Pomeroy (Beyond Toola Creek to Sevier River): Brothers Rich, Brown and Pomeroy “overtook Brothers Addison Pratt and Hiram Blackwell” who were with Captain Hunt and “the main train camped on the Sevier River.”[13] They had “three horses and a mule” which gave all of them but the “teamster” (the one driving the wagon) “an animal to ride.”[14] They reached the wagon train “just as they were ready to move on.” James Brown noted that the emigrants were not “so full of glee as they were on the start.”[15] After breakfast, they “started on in company with the train” of wagons.[16]
Hunt Company (Sevier River to Cedar Creek): The wagon train ascended a “gradual slope of nearly three miles to the summit of a cedar covered mountain.” They kept “along the ridge for a short distance” and then “descended to and crossed a beautiful valley seven miles in width”[17][18] which they “called Rabbit Hollow.” Addison Pratt notes that up to that time, he had “shot no wild animals as the emigration was ahead” of them and “drove everything off the road.” Here “the hares were so plentiful” that “the ground” could be compared “with a sheep pasture.”[19] However, “notwithstanding the signs,” there were no hares in sight. “The valley was covered with grass, except the farther side,” which had “plenty of sage brush.” When they entered the sage brush “the hares commenced in every direction.” About “200 gunners were soon on the alert and rifles were popping and balls whizzing in every direction.” Brothers Rich and Pratt “stationed” themselves “to one side and soon shot five” hares.[20] A “great many” of the hares were killed by the company.[21] They “passed over another mountain” into “the Sevier Valley.”[22] “Water was scarce” which necessitated their traveling until “late in the evening” when they “camped on Cedar Creek.” They found “plenty of dry cedar wood” and “dressed and cooked” the hares they had shot earlier in the day “which made a feast for all hands.” Hiram Blackwell “found a cousin named Mastin among a company of wagons from Mississippi.” Because the wagon of Rich, Brown, Pratt and Blackwell had to be part of a company, they “chose that one.” A man by the name of Town was the Captain of the company. They found the men of the company to be “kind hearted” and “obliging” and “often messed [ate] with them, especially with Mastins wagon and one other named Martin.”[23] Sheldon Young noted that they traveled 23 ¾ miles that day and that the wagon train had “increased to 106 wagons.”[24]
Rabbit Hollow is now known as Round Valley and is where Scipio, Utah is located. Cedar Creek is now where Holden, Utah is located.
Bigler and Keeler (Big Cottonwood Creek to Jordan River): Bigler and Keeler “found that one of” their “horses was sick” with a “touch of the belly ache.” They “caught a mare” of Brother Flake’s, “paid $20 down,” and gave their “note for $100 with interest” at their return. They were on there way at 10:00 a.m. and camped “near the banks” of the Jordan River.[25]
Farrer, Cain and Cannon (Great Salt Lake City – Jordan River to Willow Creek): They were “detained rather late” in the “morning on account of Brother [Joseph] Cain” who got “sick on the road last night.” As “soon as he got ready,” they started from Harker’s farm “and traveled about four miles south and crossed” the Jordan River and “camped on Willow Creek.” It “rained nearly all night,” but they “slept comfortably considering the weather.”[26]
October 13, 1849 (Saturday):
Gruwell-Derr Wagon Train (Cove Fort to small stream): “They moved up a small valley” and camped “at a small creek which they called Dallas,” because Dallas’ wife gave birth to a “fine daughter.”[27]
Hunt Company (Cedar Creek to Potter’s Creek): They “had good roads” during the day, but it was “cool and chilly.” It was “snowing all day on the mountains” and “the mountains on each side” of them were “covered with snow.” They were “in a very large valley” that had “a quantity of wild flax.”[28] After traveling six miles they “camped on a fine stream, a tributary of the Sevier” River.[29] They called it “Potter’s Creek” from “the abundance of broken potter’s ware found on it.”[30] Over the “plain in every direction” were “specimens of broken pottery exhibiting” great “ingenuity in its carving and coloring, showing that the makers possessed much mechanical genius.”[31] Jacob Stover noted:
I saw pieces of crockery were sticking out of the ground, pieces of jugs in large quantities, so I came to conclude there had been people here before us. I spoke to Captain Hunt about what I had seen. He said, ‘I could take you south of here where there are old remains of stone foundations and relics, showing that there have been people living here hundreds of years ago. They have become extinct.’[32]
The “bottoms” of the creek were “covered with dwarf cedars” and they “killed” some sage hens and “about one hundred hares.” At the “headwaters” of the creek was “a tribe” of Pahvant Indians.[33]
Potter’s Creek or Camp Creek, is now known as Chalk Creek and runs through present day Fillmore, Utah. It was named because of a high grade gypsum which was found there.
Bigler and Keeler (Jordan River to Fort Utah): It “rained like Sam hill” during the night and in the morning the “tops of the mountains were white with snow.” At about 8:00 a.m., they were “on the march.” They traveled “six miles and called a halt and breakfasted.” By that time the weather had cleared. About 3:00 p.m., they “arrived at the Utah settlement.” They expected to “stay a day or two” for the rest of the company to arrive. During the evening Brother Whittle arrived.[34]
Farrer, Cain and Cannon (Willow Creek to American Fork Creek): Brothers Farrer, Cain, Cannon and other members of the gold mission “started from Willow Creek” and after traveling “five miles came to the ridge of mountains running between the” Salt Lake and Utah Valleys. They could “not see much of” Utah Valley “from the ridge, but after traveling a few miles farther” they were “more into the Valley and could see the lake in the distance.” They “crossed the dry bed of a creek” and eventually arrived at “the American Fork”, where they camped. The “creek was about a rod wide” with “very good water” and it was “very pretty.” It “rained during the night.”[35] This was the second night in a row it had rained on them and they “felt the want of waterproof blankets with which to cover” their “beds.”[36]
American Fork Creek is where the town of American Fork, Utah, now stands.
October 14, 1849 (Sunday):
Gruwell-Derr Wagon Train (Creek near Cove Fort): Had they “known it,” they “could have come a shorter route by leaving the route” they came “and bearing to the right instead of to the left, and finding the same place” after about 12 miles instead of 20 miles, “over a much better road.” The company “here divided, leaving” ten wagons for the rear group,[37] which will be referred to as the Shearer-Dallas wagon train, and 13 wagons for the forward group, which we will continue to refer to as the Gruwell-Derr wagon train.[38]
Hunt Company (Potter’s Creek): “As it was Sunday,”[39] they “lay in camp all day.”[40] Lewis Granger, “a Baptist minister, preached.”[41] Sheldon Young noted the discovery of “the ruins of an ancient city” about “five miles in extent” and finding “earthenware and glass.”[42] It is not clear if Young was referring to the stone foundations mentioned by Captain Hunt which were south of the camp.
Bigler and Keeler (Fort Utah): During the day “a lot of packers came in.”
Farrer, Cain and Cannon (American Fork Creek to Fort Utah): They left American Fork with the intent of reaching Fort Utah as soon as they could. As they got further into Utah Valley “the mountains on the east side of the Valley” were “higher than in the upper Valley,” but did not have as “much snow on them.” About noon they “crossed a small spring branch and in a few rods arrived at the Provo River.” The Provo “was a large rapid stream about 3 rods wide.” The “settlement” was on the banks of the Provo and they “had a fort.” They also had “a city laid out east of the fort”[43] containing about 150 people.[44] There was “a good deal of” cedar and cottonwood “timber” on the River “scattered through the bottom in the Valley.” Sister Parks cooked supper and breakfast for them and they slept at Brother Orr’s home.[45] George Cannon, in his reminiscent account, noted that “from the Cottonwoods to Provo the entire country was in a state of nature. Not one house” existed. “At Provo a small settlement had been formed, and the people lived in a fort. It was then the most distant settlement from” Salt Lake City.[46]
On March 17, 1849, a company of 30 men organized to settle Utah valley. John S. Higbee was chosen president and his brother, Isaac Higbee, and Dimick B. Huntington were chosen as first and second counselors. In April and May they built a fort on the Provo River.[47] The fort had several log houses and was surrounded by a 14 foot high rectangular log wall, 330 feet by 660 feet. A cannon sat on a tall deck in the middle.[48] In May, John S. Higbee requested release as president, as his family remained in Great Salt Lake, and Isaac Higbee was named president in his stead. In mid-September, Brigham Young and the rest of the first presidency visited Fort Utah and selected a site for the city of present-day Provo, about two miles southeast of Fort Utah. Provo was incorporated on February 6, 1851 and became a stake in March, 1851.[49] Today, a replica of Fort Utah is located at Fort Utah Park, at 200 N. Geneva Road, just north of Center Street. The Geneva Road location for the replica was determined in 1921. However, the site was excavated in 1968 and only smoking pipes and buffalo bones were found, indicating that only Indians had been present at the site in the past. A committee was assembled to research the fort’s original location for Provo’s sesquicentennial celebration. The committee believes that the fort was actually located at the intersection of the Provo River and I-15, right under the freeway, near the Lamplighter Estates mobile home park at 255 N. 1600 West.[50]
Flake Company (Fort Utah): In the evening the 20 gold missionaries[51] “had a meeting and appointed Brother Flake” as their Captain “until” they could catch up with Brother Rich.[52]
October 15, 1849 (Monday):
Shearer-Dallas Wagon Train (small stream to Sage Creek): They “continued up the valley about 4 miles to the foot of the mountain, the surface was smooth. The ascent” of the mountain was steep, “in one place, for “a short distance.” Then the “descent was gentle” for “some distance” until they had to turn “over a ridge to avoid a rocky place.” After about 9 miles, they stopped “in a cedar grove on a bench of the mountain,” where they “found good grass, but no water.” After descending a short distance further, they “fell into a valley” and followed it for “about 8 miles,” until they “found a small stream of water, but no grass.” This was Sage Creek, where they camped for the night. After establishing camp, they were able to find some bunch grass “at the foot of a ridge, ½ mile from camp.”[53]
Hunt Company (Potter’s Creek to Willow Flats): The Hunt company had “beautiful roads and plenty of grass and water.” About 8 3/8 miles from camp, they “came to quite a stream of water”[54] which is now known as Meadow Creek.[55] Four miles further they “camped on Willow Flats,” which was a “low prairie covered with immense quantities of grass.”[56] Here there was plenty of water[57] which sank into the ground a little east of the road.[58] Sheldon Young felt this was the “most pleasant valley” that they had “passed through.”[59] Addison Pratt noted that the “hares” continued to be “plentiful” and he killed some every day, but his “mess” was “getting tired of” eating them. He also noted that the Gruwell-Derr wagon train “reported to have found immense quantities of silver ore near” Willow Flats. However, the ore was “unobserved” by them.[60] Pratt does not indicate how this was communicated. It is possible an advance party may have met some stragglers of the Gruwell-Derr train. It rained that evening.[61]
Willow Flats was at Corn Creek, and is a little northwest of present day Kanosh, Utah. The name Corn Creek came from Indian farms which were found nearby.
Flake Company (Fort Utah to Spring Creek): At 9:00 a.m.[62] the 20 gold missionaries, with Brother J.M. Flake as their newly appointed captain, were on their way.[63] “About half a mile” from Fort Utah, one of Captain Flake’s “mules got scared” by “some Indians and threw his pack off.” This “detained” them “a short time.” George Cannon, in his reminiscent account, notes that when they left Fort Utah:
I felt somewhat as I would if I were pushing out to sea. Before us lay a country through which we intended to travel of which we knew but very little. At that time very few of the Saints had traveled south of [Fort Utah]. Bro. Peter Fife, who was with us, was the only man in our company who had ever been over the ground. He had been in the ‘Mormon Battalion,’ and after it had been discharged had traveled by this route from California to Salt Lake City. On many occasions we found his knowledge of the country of very great use to us, though sometimes his memory would fail him.[64]
They traveled 7 ¼ miles to Hobble Creek, then six miles further to Spanish Fork, then five miles further to Peteetneet Creek, and finally, another three miles to Spring Creek or Spring Lake, which they called “Clear Creek,”[65] where they camped. Spring Creek was “in the prairie without timber or brush of any consequence.” However, the “feed” for the animals was “excellent.”[66] Some of the travel during the day was “hard” as it was “very sandy.”[67] At night before going to sleep, the men “spread” their “beds on the ground” and put their “riding and pack saddles” at their heads.[68]
October 16, 1849 (Tuesday):
Shearer-Dallas Wagon Train (Sage Creek to foot of Black Mountains): They “crossed a ridge and came to a valley” they “supposed to be [the Little] Salt Lake Valley,” but found that “to be a mistake.” They “found three creeks running west through” the valley, “one of which,” the Beaver River, was “quite a stream.” They camped at the “foot of” the Black Mountains, without water, but “good bunch grass.”[69]
Hunt Company (Willow Flats to Emigrant’s Spring): The Hunt company passed over a mountain and “through a small valley”[70] “with beautiful rich bottoms covered with green grass” which was “uncommon” for this time of the year. They then traveled over “a high divide”[71] and “down a canyon”[72] “into a beautiful round valley.” There Addison Pratt “shot the largest hare” he had “ever seen.”[73] They “camped at the Emigrant’s Spring” where they had “good grass and water.”[74] They “had very good roads considering the country” and “found plenty of earthenware” along the way.[75] They traveled 25 miles during the day.[76]
Emigrant’s Spring is located near Cove Fort, Utah.
Flake Company (Spring Creek to Salt Creek): When George Cannon awoke in the morning, he found that coyotes “had been at work” on his pack saddle “during the night,” despite the close proximity of the saddle to his head and despite the presence of the guards that had been posted. The coyotes “had gnawed and carried off the rawhide straps with which” the pack saddle was fastened to his horse. Cannon surmised that the coyotes had come into camp while the guards “were either asleep or engaged in attending to the animals.”[77] Henry Bigler dreamed during the night that he “was not going for gold,” but was “going to the Islands on a mission to preach the gospel.”[78] The Flake company started about 8:00 a.m. and “reached Summit Creek” after traveling 3 ½ miles. Soon thereafter they “entered Juab Valley” and “passed some springs on the prairie.” Five miles from Summit Creek they “reached Slick creek”, now known as North Creek. Ten miles further they reached Salt Creek where they camped.[79] The road was better this day than the day before.[80]
October 17, 1849 (Wednesday):
Shearer-Dallas Wagon Train (Foot of Black Mountains to Parowan Valley): They “ascended the mountain… over a rough, and rocky road which had been badly located. On reaching the top,” they found their “descent to be steep and rocky, through a cedar grove that rendered it difficult.” They went “over a sage slope for some 2 or 3 miles – then had to cross several ridges to reach a can[y]on that led” them to the valley they “had been in search of.” Shearer noted that if they had varied their “course to the left,” they “could have escaped much of the rough road in ascending and des[c]ending the mountain. The valley… is covered with sage – a few springs, but no running water. Most of” the springs “are strongly impregnated with sulphure – there is no timber, the grass is poor, [and] the valley lays northeast by southwest. The [Little Salt Lake] appears to be… dried up – so much so that” they “were in doubt whether it was the proper one or not.”[81]
Hunt Company (Emigrant’s Spring to Sage Creek): After traveling five or six miles, they crossed[82] “a small creek” with “good grass and water”[83] which would have been a “good camping” spot. However, it was too early in the day so they continued on up a “very rough,” crooked road “over a mountain”[84] and “down a canyon.”[85] The “very dusty” roads contributed to the difficulty making it “a hard days travel.” That night[86] they “camped on a small,”[87] muddy creek with “but little grass.”[88] However, it did have “plenty of sage and willows” and was appropriately named Sage Creek.[89] Sage Creek was “a tributary of Beaver Creek,” with “high banks on each side” which gave the cattle trouble as they tried to get to the water to drink.[90] They traveled 22 ¼ miles during the day.[91]
Sage Creek was one of two tributaries of Beaver Creek which are now known as Wild Cat Creek and Indian Creek.
Flake Company (Salt Creek to Sevier River): They “started very early” in the morning “crossing a low ridge” and thereby leaving the “Juab Valley.” They “entered into a pleasant valley” with “no water” and “very little timber” although “the hills were covered with scrub cedar.” They “stopped at noon” at a “very clear” creek “called Chicken Creek” where they “unpacked” for “about 2 hours,” ate lunch and allowed their animals to eat and drink.[92] While resting, George Cannon talked with Henry Bigler about the discovery of gold at Coloma. Cannon thought that W. Sidney Willis was “the discoverer.” Bigler told Cannon that Brothers W. Sidney Willis and Wilford Hudson “were not the original discoverers, but that” James W. Marshall “first found it.” Bigler, James S. Brown and Alexander Stephens “were working at Marshall’s Mill”. Marshall was “letting down the gate in the morning” and “noticed… something glittering”. He picked “up a handful and told them that he believed it was gold; they tested it with a five dollar [gold] piece that one of them had and found that it was… heavy in proportion [and] they concluded it was gold”. They “did not pay much attention to it… until one morning after stopping the water in the race[,] Marshall looked and told the boys that he believed he could gather a peck [of gold] out of the race”. Marshall “enjoined” them to “secrecy” and went down to John Sutter’s, “his partner in the Mill,” to “have it tested.” It “stood the test and was actually gold.” Willis and Hudson “heard that there had been Gold found up at Marshall’s Mill and had been up to see it.” Willis and Hudson went “prospecting” on their own and “discovered a very rich placer” at Mormon Island where they “enriched themselves.”[93] After resting, the Flake Company continued on. “The road in the afternoon”[94] was sandy,[95] “hilly and dusty,” but they persevered on “until after sun down” when they “camped on the Sevier River.”[96]
October 18, 1849 (Thursday):
Shearer-Dallas Wagon Train (Parowan Valley to Buckhorn Spring): They “moved up the valley to” Buckhorn Spring, which had “good grass” and was a “very good camp.”[97]
Hunt Company (Indian Creek to Beaver Creek near Beaver): They traveled 5 1/8 miles[98] and camped on Beaver Creek in “a beautiful valley,”[99] near Greenville, about three miles below the present town of Beaver. As they arrived, they saw some of the wagons of the Gruwell-Derr wagon train “high up [in] the mountains” south of them. Beaver Creek had “wide bottoms on each side covered with good grass.”[100] It was “thirty feet wide, eighteen inches deep,” and was surrounded by “plenty of willows for fire” wood.[101] The creek had “the appearance of affording an abundance of trout in the summer” although “there were very few in it at” that time. Addison Pratt was able to catch a two pound trout. There were “a lot of hares and sage hens in the brush on each side of the creek”[102] and many of the men had “fine sport” hunting them.[103] Charles Rich and Addison Pratt both noted it would be a good place for a “settlement.”[104] Sheldon Young noted the presence of “some Indians.”[105] Captain Hunt gathered the “officers of the camp” and told them that he had been told of a better route.[106] Hunt knew that the year before, shortly after Hunt had taken the longer route, Porter Rockwell had successfully taken a wagon over a short-cut from Pinto Springs, across the Escalante Desert to Beaver Creek, below present day Minersville. This short-cut completely avoided the Little Salt Lake Valley and the mountain range they would have to cross to get there. It does not appear, however, that Hunt gave this specific information to the officers.[107] He told the officers that rather than crossing Beaver Creek and continuing south, which was the regular route they had seen the Gruwell-Derr wagon train taking, they would instead travel west, down Beaver Creek through the canyon, and then turn south once they reached a valley on the other side.[108] This route would avoid the mountains and be shorter. Hunt disclaimed knowing anything about “the camping or the road,…only that he knew a cut off could be made provided they could find water and grass.” If the company wanted to go that direction, they “must go on their own responsibility.”[109] The officers decided to take the short-cut and “exonerate” Captain Hunt “from all blame that might be attached…in case of failure.”[110] They decided to stop here for several days while Captain Hunt sent some men out to determine if the short-cut was a viable option.
Flake Company (Sevier River to Holden vicinity): Although “pretty deep,” the Flake company “crossed the Sevier” River “without any great difficulty.” During the morning they traveled over “hilly,” “rough, barren country.” Eight miles from camp they traveled through a “small valley,” perhaps the Scipio Valley, and two miles later “crossed the dry bed of a creek.” They “ascended a hill,” traveled 1 ½ miles up a canyon with “no water in it,” crossed the ridge, likely Scipio Pass, and descended “into a large wide canyon [with] feed growing very luxuriantly.” They passed “into an extensive valley” with “plentiful” sage brush, “little water,” and “pretty good” feed and arrived at some “mountain springs,” which they called “Cedar Springs,”[111] and camped, about 25 miles from the Sevier River. Henry Bigler “stood guard” for the night.[112]
ENDNOTES:
[1] Shearer
[2] Young
[3] Pratt
[4] Rich; Rich states they traveled 50 miles, but overestimated the distance.
[5] George Brewerton, who traveled the Old Spanish Trail in 1848, mentioned that he purchased a “tin-plate” and “a tin-cup, which might hold about a quart,” for his journey. (Brewerton, p. 39)
[6] Perhaps G. M. Flake, the same person Charles C. Rich stayed with on October 8, 1849.
[7] Bigler
[8] GQC Journal, p. 13, n. 32, and p. 90, citing Joseph Harker reminiscences and journal, 1855-1895, p. 44, LDS Church Archives; Farrer
[9] GQC Journal, p. 13
[10] GQC Journal, p. 13
[11] Hamelin (November 6, 1849)
[12] Shearer
[13] Rich
[14] Pratt
[15] Brown
[16] Rich; Rich states they traveled eight miles that morning.
[17] Hamelin (November 14, 1849); Rich stated that they “passed over a low mountain” and “then through a small valley.”
[18] Rich
[19] Both rabbits and sheep have round droppings, likely the “signs” that Pratt was referring to.
[20] Pratt
[21] Rich and Young
[22] Rich
[23] Pratt; Martin was likely Jim Martin of Mississippi (49ers, p. 72, n. 47)
[24] Young; the Mormon Way-Bill gives the distance of 25 ½ miles from the Sevier River to Cedar Creek. Young’s estimate would be consistent with the fact that they camped about two miles beyond their crossing of the Sevier.
[25] Bigler
[26] Farrer
[27] Shearer
[28] Young
[29] Pratt (who had the roadometer attached to his wagon); Rich estimated 9 miles and Young estimated 10 miles.
[30] Rich
[31] Pratt
[32] Stover
[33] Pratt; Pratt called the Indians “Parraances,” but they were Pahvants. (Indian Handbook, p. 340; 49ers, p. 73, n. 48) Hamelin says the Pomeroy wagon train also “killed any quantity of sage hens and large hare” in this same area. In fact, so many of the hare “were slaughtered they actually went begging for customers to devour them.” (November 17, 1849)
[34] Bigler
[35] Farrer; Farrer stated the distance between Willow Creek and American Fork was 16 miles, the Mormon Way-Bill gives the distance as 14 1/8 miles. Hamelin described American Fork as “10 rods in width,” although he was “traveling over below the road” along the “border” of Utah Lake and the creek may have gotten wider as it got closer to the lake.
[36] Cannon
[37] Shearer
[38] The Gruwell-Derr wagon train originally started with 23 wagons.
[39] Pratt
[40] Young
[41] Rich
[42] Young
[43] Farrer
[44] Hamelin (November 8, 1849)
[45] Farrer
[46] Cannon
[47] CHC, p. 479
[48] Romboy, Dennis, “Is replica at site of original fort?,” Deseret News, July 27, 1998
[49] CHC, pp. 479-480
[50] Romboy, Dennis, “Is replica at site of original fort?,” Deseret News, July 27, 1998
[51] Cannon
[52] Bigler
[53] Shearer
[54] Young
[55] 49ers, p. 65
[56] Pratt
[57] Rich
[58] The Mormon Way-Bill (Meadow Creek was referred to as the 4th stream south of the Sevier River and Willow Flats as being 3 5/8 miles from that stream).
[59] Young
[60] Pratt
[61] Young
[62] Bigler
[63] Farrer
[64] Cannon
[65] GQC Journal, p. 91
[66] Farrer. The mileages stated, except for that between Peteetneet Creek and Spring Creek, are from the Mormon Way-Bill and total 21 ¼ miles. Farrer actually estimated eight miles from Fort Utah to Hobble Creek, eight miles to Spanish Fork, six miles to a creek he did not name but which would have been Peteetneet Creek and then three miles to Clear Creek, for a total of 25 miles. The Mormon Way-Bill does not specify this creek, but rather identifies Salt Creek, which is 25 miles beyond Peteetneet Creek. The Mormon Way-Bill does state, however, that there are “several small streams between” them. Bigler estimated a total distance of 22 miles for the day.
[67] Bigler
[68] Cannon; George Brewerton, in 1848 while on the Old Spanish Trail, used “two Mexican blankets…at once for mattress, sheets, and pillow-cases, while my saddle gave a rude, but never-failing pillow.” (Brewerton, p. 40) Brewerton also mentioned that Kit Carson used his saddle as a pillow, “in such a manner as to form a barricade for his head; his pistols half cocked were laid above it, and his trusty rifle reposed beneath the blanket by his side, where it was not only ready for instant use, but perfectly protected from the damp.” (Brewerton, p. 65)
[69] Shearer, p. 34
[70] Young
[71] Pratt
[72] Rich
[73] Pratt
[74] Rich
[75] Young
[76] Mormon Way-Bill; Young estimated 21 miles and Pratt estimated 23 miles.
[77] Cannon
[78] Bigler; Addison Pratt, James Brown and Hiram Blackwell had been called to the Society Islands and were traveling ahead of them. At this point they still had made no contact and there is no reason to indicate that Bigler had the Society Islands on his mind. In fact, he was later asked by Pratt to accompany them to the Society Islands and Bigler declined the opportunity. See _________. Bigler eventually was called to go to the Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands and this he consented to do. This could possibly have been a premonition of what was to come.
[79] Farrer and GQC Journal, p. 84 (map) and 92 (Salt Creek flows west from the canyon east of Nephi); Bigler estimated their days travel at 20 miles, Farrer’s estimate is 18 ½ miles. The Mormon Way-Bill gives a distance of 25 miles between Peteetneet Creek and Salt Creek. If Spring Creek was three miles from Peteetneet Creek, it would have been a total of 22 miles for the day.
[80] Bigler
[81] Shearer, p. 34
[82] Young; Rich indicated five miles and Young indicated six miles.
[83] Rich
[84] Young
[85] Rich
[86] Pratt
[87] Young
[88] Pratt
[89] Young
[90] Pratt
[91] Mormon Way-Bill between Emigrant’s Spring and Sage Creek; Young and Rich estimated 23 miles and Pratt indicated 22 miles.
[92] Farrer
[93] GQC Journal, pp. 16-17
[94] Farrer
[95] Bigler
[96] Farrer
[97] Shearer, p. 34
[98] The Mormon Way-Bill lists the distance between Sage Creek (now known as Indian Creek) and Beaver Creek as 5 1/8 miles. Rich and Pratt indicated the distance as 5 miles and Young indicated the distance was 6 miles.
[99] Young, p. 65
[100] Pratt, p. 74
[101] Young, p. 65
[102] Pratt, p. 75
[103] Young, p. 65
[104] Rich, p. 182; Pratt, p. 75
[105] Young, p. 65
[106] Farrer
[107] Bad Judgement, p. 7; see the Background of Jefferson Hunt on page __. As noted by Heath, the Journal History of the Church states that Rockwell followed the “Old Spanish Trail from Williams’ Ranch, through the Cajon Pass, across the Mohave Desert to Las Vegas, up the Muddy Valley and across the Escalante Desert to Beaver Creek.” This could be interpreted as a trek up the Meadow Valley Wash and then turning northeast across the Escalante Desert. However, this interpretation is highly unlikely as it would have been a substantial deviation from the cited Old Spanish Trail and would have given Hunt a different attitude about the Walker Pass cut-off that was proposed several days later. There is also no record of Hunt specifically talking to Rockwell or other members of Rockwell’s party, but there is not much question that Hunt was relying on information gleaned from a member of that party.
[108] Farrer, p. 197
[109] Bigler, p. 5; Bigler stated, “When the train came to the forks of the road at Beaver Creek, they held a council among themselves to know which road they had better take…Captain Hunt…told them that there was a short way” but that he was “not acquainted with the route.”
[110] Farrer, p. 197; Farrer stated: “Captain Hunt had been told that by keeping down Beaver Creek and then striking across to the left it would save travel and be a better route: he had told this to the officers of the camp, who were formed into a council at the under the title of the Grand Council & said that if they chose to take the responsibility of going that route they might, but he knew nothing about it himself only what he had been told: They resolved to go the route and exonerate him from all blame that might be attached to the officers in case of failure.”
[111] Farrer, p. 195; Cedar Springs was named for its location in a stand of cedar trees. It flowed from Cedar Mountain in the vicinity of present-day Holden, Utah. (GQC Journal, p. 93 [ Landon notes])
[112] Bigler, p. 3
