| Show Martins Handcart Company Compa y 1856 BY JOSIAH ROGERSON No 8 I Article No 5 concluded with ith the en entry e etry n i itry try In General R It T Burtons relief party patty Journal Monday Oct 27 re remained remained In hi the same place feed toler tolerably tolerably ably good etc but before proceeding on our journey a few more entries from the same Journal are necessary as will willbe willbe willbe be seen to make connection Tuesday Oct 28 Remained In the same camp weather fine tine snow going gome away At St night cloudy snow now began to fall tall fast L After prayers prayers It ceased snowing It must be remembered that the day before Monday Oct 27 Gen General General General eral Burton had not up to that date heard anything of ot our company and the second express was sent Bent east with i orders to continue till they found us Wednesday Oct 29 In same camp amp Fine warm morning and continued so through the day da Thursday Oat OeL 30 Good weather snow now going slowly Remained In Inthe Inthe inthe the same camp today The express re returned returned returned turned tonight at 7 Reported the companies on the Platte river had been camped there hare to six days dars not far apart Here Mere Historian John Jaques Taques makes manes an interline tIon in red Ink In General Burtons Journal Three days Is wrong It was eight or ten days da No o doubt it seemed that length of time to Brother Jaques Taques and longer for his strength and nerve were nearly nearl gone The return of this after find finding findIng fIndIng ing Us s at th Red Buttes and previous previously ly 1 recorded In our last chapter shows that from some time on Monday y morn mornIng mornIng morning Ing till Thursday at 7 p m in they had traveled trav led through the snow and storms day and night nearly miles mUes re regardless regardless regardless of exposure and their lives Who shall ever write and record the them meed m ed of praise due these three brave men Deaths and Burials at Red Buttes Butte I would readily pick up my m cart care and an roll on from t ere without writing an In another another other line as to our fatalities and the dying of many of our martyrs here but my would be incomplete without some more nore mention of these losses losse Brother diary says After the express cam came into camp as heretofore written our losses by death since nce leaving Florence Neb eb Vere were only fiftysix Since writing this para pars paragraph paragraph graph in my m last Jast chapter I have hare given It further consideration Not by any means desiring to aug augment augment ment mont or increase the death roll of ot our company compan yet et we must now come to the fact and the writer is certain that this tills number of ot fiftysix was misunderstood d dand and that at least it meant fiftysix that died here during the six ix days we were snowbound at the Red Buttes If It this latter conclusion be not correct then we did not lose lIose during the whole Journey and anu the tile has nas Been neen I made by several of our moss intelli intelligent intelligent gent survivors and among the die num number number ber her Historian Bleak that we lost r li or nearly nearl that number In Jn support of this statement from the day we 10 left Fort Laramie till we reached the Buttes there certainly a night when our deaths were less than three to six and eight and andone andone andone one evening more and on the Monday Monda of ot Oct 27 21 previous to Wed Wednesday Wednesday ed when we ah again started west the writer remembers eighteen adults 1 that were buried burled in three graves side sideby sideby sideby by side for I assisted in the digging and the Interments How easily death can come to the exhausted will be seen by the following brief incident One morning while at the Buttes the wife wile of Samuel about 56 or 60 years ears of age from the branch Lancashire England came to out tent and pushing aside the cloth door said calling to my mother Mary our Sams her husband dead and Ill not be long after atter him When hen Im do thee take care of my m two lassies after thou gets to the valley end nd be a good mother to em emIll emIll emIll Ill not reach No words of mother could cheer her up or dispel her conclusion The next morning after afterward afterward afterward ward not later than the second she had gone to her Sam and if possible they were laid side by side St ft t my m moth mothers mothers r ers request The two daughters Mar Margaret Margaret garet and Helen went with my mother to Parowan Iron county Utah the same winter ana and have nave been residents of ot Cedar City Utah for the last forty fort five years and well known as Mrs John Walker and Mrs Mra Irs Their mother and father just referred to were among the first members of the Preston branch of the church Lan Lancashire LancashIre Lancashire England organized there in July 1837 by President Heber Hober C Kim Kimball Kimball Kimball ball and others and I have It from my mother that Sister I l think her name was wes Margaret argaret at one time hearing that some of ot the six or eight associate elders of President Kimball anything to eat one day took one of ot her skirts and pawned it for enough to buy a loaf of bread a few ounces of tea and sugar and half haIr a I pound of ot butter which she took to the elders ciders begging them to accept the do donation donation donation nation The youngest Helen of the family tien about 12 years of age arrived in Salt Lake with her feet so badly frozen that both were Amputated soon afterward Of such I Saints and graduates in the primitive Jove love of the gospel was Captain Edward Martins handcart company composed I J shall shoAl not depict further here our sufferings deaths and the increasing and exceeding hunger that prevailed in the camp but leave this task to sur surviving survIvIng surviving comrades to tell to their off oft offspring offspring spring as the hour may ma suit the re recital recital recital cital at their own firesides and I shall set down the total of our death dt ath list up to this date at 15 On the Devils Gate And now we must go o on again as we have hare yet between to miles to tomake tomake make before the valley valle is reached Brother Bother Bleak says sas Wednesday Oct 26 Traveled ten mil Going in the direction of ot Strawberry valley and Greasewood creek 0 Thursday Oct 30 Traveled nine miles The roads yesterday and today were very muddy and slushy slush and the carts pulled hard Friday Oct 31 Traveled eleven miles and were met by General G D Grant and his relief company during the day from whom we received addi additional additional additional supplies of flour and our rations were raised to one pound for tor adults and anda a half pound for children and we will not further forget to state here that when the relief express found us at the i Red Buttes we had only six days ra rations rations I lef Iett in camp at one pound of flour per head for tor adults and one alf pound per head for tor children Saturday Nov No 1 Traveled ten miles today with considerable snow this aft afternoon afternoon afternoon and camped near Independence I rock a few tew miles east of the fatal Devils Gate G te Sunday Nov 2 Traveled six miles I J today passing pa sing Independence rock and through the Devis Gate Gat I I Monday Nov 3 In amp camp weather I r very ch ery b bat bad 3 H Here frt re we left all the uncovered I ered x f f 1 A frS U ss a Possibly this is true as Brother rother Bleak has It recorded but the writer r remembers remembers remembers bers that he and his brother pulled a cart most of the way to Willow Springs beyond the three crossings of ot Sweetwater Snowbound at Devils Gate Our camp campat at the fort at Devils Dels Gate which as I remember and corroborated by Elder Eider Samuel S Jones Tones of Provo Utah was by two sides or wings of a stockade fence tence inside of which were eight or ten log cabins con constructed constructed constructed of dry balsam We Vo reached there between 4 1 and 5 p p m in Sunday Nov No 2 possibly earlier and the relief r boys 1 Os from Utah soon were pulling up and chopping down the stockade posts for tor fires tires As the night came on n it was getting bitterly coM cold col and the wind had hada a full sweep at all aU of us CS that get shelter In the cabins It had been cloudy all the during our traveling today and I remember well that we had only once seen the disc of or the sun Min un as we were passing through Devils Gate The next day da I and the three succeeding days not a glimpse of the sun and the weather Increased In cold and severity as will willbe wIllbe willbe be seen een from General Burtons and I Brother journals and during this period the two wagon companies had bad come up to our camp here and with General Burtons relief relict teams formed quite a camp Brother Bleak says gays ys Tuesday Nov 4 In camp Wednesday Nov No 5 No travel wea weather weather ther thee very Severe evere Sister Mary Jary Harper died aged 64 Ration of ot flour was re reduced reduced dUed to four ounces for adults and two ounces for r the children and mak making makIng making ing a pound o ot flour a day for the six of us Brother family f yet ot we were as contented as when wh n we e had one pound per head Thursday Nov XO 6 Xo traveling tr weather ather bound Friday FrIda Nov Nor NO 7 iThe The same as yester ester yesterday yesterday esterday day weather eather bound f Saturday Nov No but the weather more m r favora favorable favorable favorable ble Genera Gener l Burtons Journal Again 1 shall now Insert eight days das record from General Burtons journal which our readers will find invaluable and in inter ter Friday Oct 31 U Fine and arid clear Started this morning to meet the our handcart Met Ilet them on Oil Greasewood creek Camped with them tonight and dealt out to them flour clothing etc tc Saturday Nov o 1 Started back to the valley Utah Brothers Grant and andR andR andR R T Burton went back to meet Broth Brother er Hodgetts company compan four our or live lWe miles back About It commenced snowing snowed until late at night Camped near Independence rock Sunday Sunda Nov 2 Camped tonight at atthe atthe atthe the Devils Gate Snow deep and very ver cold I ask our surviving comrades to now note closely the length of time Wt stopped st here I Monday Nov 3 Remained at place so cold that the thc companies could not move mOe Sent on an express to Salt Lake City today tOd Joseph A Young and Abe Garr to report our OUI situation and get counsel ami anil an help h lp Tuesday Nov 4 Cold continued very ver severe People could not move moe Stowed away aa the goods of the train of af th tl th wagon companies in the log hous housAnd And now comes the record of our di dl diverging diverging verging from the old Pioneer road three to four miles west we and across the Sweetwater into Martins cove First Lieutenant of tire Guard Brother Sam S Jones of Provo and of whom wh m I 1 shall have several paragraphs to record be fore I finish mv my narrative calls it Martins ravine and well may ma he re remember remember remember member it as it came within a haIrs hair 3 breadth of being his mountain grave grae through hunger exhaustion and cold I Note ote the next sentence from General Burtons Journal of ot which there Is no record In Captain Hunts or Brother journal Captain Martins company moved across the Sweetwater west to a cove in ill the mountains three miles today and camped This cove or ravine was indeed our C Valley Forge M L C Valley Forge M L or graveyard and though some have censured Captain Martin for taking us there yet if we had stayed at lit the Devils Gate fort It would have been more fatal tatal on account of the full sweep the bitter cold winds had on us there and one day or night with the thermometer 11 degrees below zero Here we had plenty of cedar wood and shelter on three sides Again I resume General Burtons journal at Devils Gate Wednesday Nov 5 Weather con ed cold neither of af the companies moved Captain Hunts wagon com corn pany p ny arrived here at 8 p m Thursday Nov 6 Colder than ever eer Thermometer 11 ii degrees below zero Stowed away the goods of Captain Hunts train None of ot the companies moved so very cold the people could not travel Friday Nov No 7 Remained here to I day so very cold could not travel Stowed away goods trying to save the people stock etc Saturday Nov 8 Wind did not blow so hard Some warmer this morning Hunting up tip lp the horses and cattle to move moe on tomorrow Camped here to day Sunday Sunda Nov 9 Fine warm arm morning The handcart Martins Martinis and Captain Hodgetts company moved on at 11 a m ru Captain Hunts company not yet done caching goods goads at the Devils Gate i I I I I This evening we had a meeting of the officers of or the companies to appoint brethren to remain with the goods left here by Captain Hodgetts and Hunts companies Dan Jones Tones was left lett in charge or president F M I Alexander and Benjamin Hampton his counsel ors with seventeen other brethren from the two companies The brethren were Instructed in their duties During our stay here we had meet ings every evening to counsel together and ask sk the Lord to turn away the cold and storm so that the people might live Monday Nov 10 Very fine morning Captain Hunts H company fixing to start getting up cattle etc The last wagon moved on about 2 p m Captain George D Grant Cyrus H Wheelock Steve Taylor and R T P Bur ton moved On at 3 p m in Camped tonight with Captain Hodgett Tuesday Nov 11 Started early this morning Overtook Overt k the handcart com corn pany at 10 chock a m Brother Eph i raim Hanks flanks was with them from the valley and brought good news Camped tonight on Bitter Cottonwood And now flOW the writer must return to t his handcart company In Martins ra vine after having detailed General Burtons stopping at the Devils Gate since Sunday evening Nov 2 ten nights and eight days butas as I have had In my mind for tor the la the veteran mall mail carrier Charl Dick Deck Dicker Decker De er tr was here with General Burton all bil 11 c the time and he lw said that during all his to thirty trips across the plains plain since coming to Utah in I ISH he had never seen the snow so deep here before nor the cold so In Intense Intense I tense In fact I also remember it be ing said here for the first four or five days the snow was fo so drifted and deep that they could not locate the road ahead Crossing the Sweetwater I ITU Tuesday TU Nov 4 Martins hand com corn company company pany left the camp at Devils Gate some time in the forenoon for noon making straight west to the Sweetwater The creek here was at least two rods wide and from two to three feet deep with plenty of ice and snow so as to carve the recollection forever In the minds of ot all that waded that stream Our few wagons helped to carry tarry all aIt al the children they could the aged and and I many a child was pulled across across in the fathers covered cart but we had one hero on this occasion whose name de deserves deserves deserves serves to be chiseled on the pedestal of the throne in heaven he ven and that was Vas Daniel H Grant the son of General D Grant of FarmIngton Utah about 18 or 21 years of age who jumped into that cold icy stream and for nearly two hours carried across on his back backwith backwIth backwith with their arms clasped around his neck fully children young ladies and the aged of box sexes When we were all across he walked in his suit suito of o ice some two and nd a half miles to the camp at the Gate where his father did all ail possible for him that night but he told me ten or twelve years after afterward afterward afterward ward In Utah that his services that day da daIn In the Sweetwater had made him an Invalid for life and a permanent rheu rheumatic rheumatic matic matle and so far as health and strength a u ruined man Snowbound in n Martins Ravine We Ve reached the tile cove coe or ravine in time to get our |
