PIONEER S W HITER reminiscences ot of the great overhand Oter Ove lanil journey and ot of pioneer days Joi ains the church joicine Join Joi nine inc the saints at nauvoo grossing the plains arrival in salt lake valley scarcity of rood the th crickets and gulls galls first pioneer celebration I 1 have been asked to contribute a L few e reminiscences of pioneer life t to 0 the readers of tim THE JOURNAL and in starting out to do so I 1 would say that thai I 1 will avoid as much as pos eible the making of myself a hero here of thoe early times as I 1 see gee others have done for I 1 i ully ally realize we all fared as nearly as possible alike 7 hey who were well to do or as the term went had a good outfit suffered Euffe red about as much as they who were not well supplied for they deemed it almost if not quite sinful to enjoy a sufficiency of lires while their brethren around them were tightening lightening their belts another hole ti t keep the pans pan of hunger bunger from being BO 80 severely felt fell a trick learned from t he red man mail of the west and one on I 1 know from experience which did not put llesh on ones ribs I 1 was born on the day of september 1835 1833 in the township of Uw chlan chester county pennsylvania vani a along in 1838 or early in 1839 39 joseph smith in making a tour of the east stopped slopped and preached in our neighborhood neighbor hood and among others to go and hear him was mv mother who in course of time lime became converted to mormon ism isna or what was then called a new religion on the ath of april my father took his family coo sistine sistina of my mother my b brother AV AV riter and my myself elf I 1 to nauva whither we went to unite with tha main body of th the saints and with them to share their b hardships ard ships and trials and aej or on the of trie ane following june we crossed the mississippi and corn merced our journey across the state of ohio to winter quarters now florence nebraska in lauvon we began to witness scenes entirely new to us th saints were extremely poor in this worlds goods but their undertakings at that time lima and under such adverse circumstances ed beyond a doubt that in sublime faith they were incomparably rich had they not been they never would have undertaken fo BO illy prepared the march perosa across the plains to the rocky hocky mountains we left winter quarters on the of june just one year to the day after leaving nauvoo and then it was that I 1 gained my first experience peri ence as ag a bull whacker I 1 was hardly twelve years old but I 1 re member taking my turn standing anding el guard morning mornine and evening though I 1 was considered too young to stand guard during the night night we were in uncle jolt johns ayoung c company som oni pany parly Jelle jedediah dial A st grant was captain of the hundred bates noble captain over our fifty I 1 and amos nell now of mill kill creek was captain of our ten tea upon our arrival iu in silt salt lake valley which occurred on the 9 ard 3rd of october 1847 1841 xe we pitched our camp just northeast of f the springs in what is now flow charles taylors lot in in the southwest out hovest corner of the fourteenth ward and the next day in company with joseph evington byington I 1 gained my first ex peri ence lit in wood hauling with a team each we went south to mill creek about a half a mile east of what is s now the county road and where it crosses the stream and here wo we suen bik carded Med in getting two load i ot ol wood during the fall I 1 drove a plough team and wo we were successful in planting seven even acres of wheat i juat abt south of where bishop Rali eglis now stands I 1 also assisted my father in building 0 a two roomed house bouse in what was called the south fort I 1 ahall never forset forget how low sore gore find and tired I 1 became in he helping pi ng with a crosscut cross cut saw to saw the timber for the tha building I 1 continued helping my father in improving the place in cutting curing hay etc etc until the new year I 1 then went to it a taught by ju julian ian moie moe until about the middle of february in 0 our r struggle for food and clothing in in those days education became a secondary consideration the main thought was as of something to eat and at times the outlook was very serious serious indeed inde ei I 1 can look bask now aud and see the old cow coming coining homed home to be iu milked and I 1 can 8 see ee th 1 I rn 1 lk used in aking m aking a very thin pari pancake cake or converted convert pd into thickened milk with the thinnest thick on it you ever heard ot in we commenced to plough again and succeeded in planting g about acres of corn on mill creek a half a mile mie west of mill used to stand after the corn was well up the crickets cricket cime came by millions and attacked everything that hat was green those farmers above us left the field clear for the crickets and aad as a can consequence sequence of c curse arse our farm was aoun on the ener enemies nies frontier I 1 my iv father succeeded in getting gelling a ditch made on the eael cast end 0 of our corn ard and in this thia way we played the enemas march marc and then with diligent ind and hard fighting we succeeded in killing off all the crickets thai had pt got into the corn before the ditch was made and in consequence we had tatt th satisfaction of it i vesting st a fair crop of corn at this place blare the cricket siege lasted three days and during daring this time our diet consisted of a little dried beef upon our return ho home me we found the crickets in larger numbers than ever in our wheat they were very destructive and try as we would we could not drive thern them out our oar cause seemed hopeless hop when fortunately the gulls came in large numbers and our cr crops aps cps were saved by them and there never was a more grateful people than the pioneers when these birds carne came and devoured their common enemy the crickets oar celebration in took place in au august gust that we might fe feast ast upon something bore inspiring than water cress and thistle tops our feast was a grand one consisting of bread from home grown wheat cakes etc the liberty pole stood in the center of the now old fort block in the sixth ward and on that occasion it was decorated with wilh sheaves of wheat and barley and stalks of corn all raised amid the thundering of cannon I 1 remember a woman standing by that pole with a babe in her arms aras and another clinging to her skirts tears of joy illy and gratitude streamed down her happy face as she looked upon these evidences of life and plenty for herself and children one ona more word it has often been charged against the leaders of this people that they have played upon the peoples ignorance have duped them and sought fought to keep them in the dark but after a close observation exter extending odin over a period of fifty two years I 1 want to say that this i wrong our leaders have and always have had bad the welfare of the people at heart and they hive have ever sought 0 to elevate them morally te temp mp orally orall and spiritually S W V boax july 9