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Show Mormons Made First Roadometer In 1847 S The following story came from Nebraska, prepared by James C. Olson, superintendent superintend-ent of the Nebraska State Historical Society, for Nebraska Ne-braska newspapers. To descendants de-scendants of those same pioneers, anticipating the celebration, cele-bration, July 24, of the first companies to arrive in Utah, the article should be especially interesting. One of the earliest inventions ever produced in Nebraska was the "roadometer", a device developed de-veloped in 1847 by the Mormons under Brigham Young, making their long trek from Winter Quarters (now Florence, a suburb of Omaha) to Utah. Those pioneer Mormons who struck out from the Missouri in the spring of 1947 Wednesday, April 14th, to be exact were sufe that they were but the first of a great throng who would cross the plains and mountains to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Holding these views (which proved to be absolutely correct), they were exceedingly ex-ceedingly anxious to provide information in-formation as accurate as possible for those who would follow. Particularly concerned was Elder William Clayton, who as, clerk of the company kept a detailed de-tailed journal on the trip. He believed be-lieved it especially important to maintain ah accurate record of mileage, and out of that belief the roadometer was developed. At first Elder Clayton contented himself with estimating the distance dis-tance travelled each day. He found this unsatisfactory, though, because others in the company also estimated distances and almost al-most invariably believed that his estimates were too low. Being a patient, conscientious, determined man, Elder Clayton decided that he would remove all doubt of an exact calculation. So he measured the circumference of, "the nigh hind wheel of one of Brother Kimball's wagons," being the one in which he slept, and calculated the number of revolutions revolu-tions it would make in a mile. He found it to be exactly 360, which, as he wrote in his journal, "somewhat "some-what astonished" him. Having done that, the good Elder proceeded to count every revolution made by Kimball's "nigh hind wheel." Imagine, if you can, marching along, day after weary day, counting the revolutions revolu-tions made by a wagon wheel. This method silenced Elder Clayton's critics, but it was wearisome weari-some almost beyond endurance. Consequently, he kept urging that some member of the company rig up a device that automatically would count the number of revolutions revolu-tions made by the wheel. Finally, on May 17th, the roadometer roado-meter was completed and attached to the wagon. It was an ingenious device consisting of cog-wheels made of wood which not only counted the wheel's revolutions but registered the distance travelled. travel-led. It must have been with a great sense of relief that Clayton wrote in his journal, "We are now prepared to tell accurately the distance we travel from day to day which will supercede the "idea of guessing, and be a satisfaction not only to this camp, but to al who hereafter travel this way." |