Show K fti 175 valley Their trail was still visible when the arrived the next year 12 Near the Jordan John Har- the Salt Lake Mormons of "typhoid pneumonia" and was buried near its "a prayer was said and a hymn sung""-This was the grave died banks 3 first emigrant grave in the Salt Lake valley The wagons rolled westward from the Jordan breaking a trail to be followed by the Donner party a few weeks later At Skull valley they made preparations for crossing the Salt Desert After laying in an ample supply of grass and water for the horses as well as fresh water for themselves the party set out on what turned out to be two days and nights of suffer- desert Hastings learned from personal experience how difficult his cut-o- ff was when wagons were involved The story of the Donner party and its disaster in the Sierra Nevadas is well known to every school boy What needs to be pointed out here is that the Donner tragedy came about as a result of the long delays suffered on the eastern end of the Hastings Cut-o- ff (in the Wasatch mountains) and in crossing the Salt Desert Against the advice of James Clyman who had just guided Hastings over the desert from west to east the leaders of the Donner Party decided to take the ill- ing on the ! fated cut-o- ff Bather than undertake the hardship of trail - I i s Willi am Clayton William Clayton s Journal 13 Allen wrifl Avery California Gold Book 65 12 14 Clyman James Clyman - t American Frontiersman j 325 229 |