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Show MAP,TP7 HANSEN 13 XIEMINISCENT OF PIONEER DAYS Karali Clii'i:!Lin Wln.-n I asked .Mr. I!iin:;oii, i( during tlie toilsome westward journey, the immiVraiils ever regret led their undertaking, he fiaid, "Looking at it now, I believe that even in tlio midst of the sorest trials, they never regretted. Their one desire was to reaeh Salt Lake." At the age of ten, in 1857, Martin Hansen left Denmark. The sailing vessel "Westmoreland" wnri almost eonfinnaliy the toy of adverse winds, and the thirteen weeks spent In crossing the ocean, helped to prepare the Westward West-ward destined passengers for later hardships. This boy who had tended the delicate (lowers of his native 1; nil saw deaih, grief and despair among the passengers. lie told the following incident which happened during the trip across the o-.ean: "( remember being very sick. Father brought me up on the deck. I yiuh nearly choking for a drink, and as we were out of drinking water I begged father to get me some out of the ocean, lie told me I couldn't could-n't drink that water because it was salty. I kept insisting, and finally just to please me he tied a string to a can and letting it down into the ocean brought it up full of water. One sip was enough to strangle me, and father laughed a great deal at my expense. Soon after this I was all right, and, as I remember cured of sea-sickness." that sad news greeted us. The saints had been delayed on the ocean and because of bad drinking water had contracted, cholera. Many of them were very sick and we rested a few days before starting on our journey, but some died on the camping grounds and were buried there. The season was getting late and we concluded it was time to be moving, and we started start-ed for Utah. The trip back was very hard on the sick ones. They died in our wagons every day, and the teamsters had to dig graves and bury them. Sometimes there were as high as seven in one grave, with only a little writing on an old buffalo head, or anything we could find, to mark the lonely spot. As we neared Salt Lake the saints began to get better and there were no more deaths. Among those who came with us to American Fork were the two Johnson John-son families. "I joined the first Brass Band in American Fork. William Grant was the teacher and leader. I played solo cornet in the band for eighteen years, and we sorely had nany enjoyable, and never to be forgotten, times. F. Pulley and I are the only two left of the first old organization. I also played the violin for the dances and entertainments of the town, and we all had wonderful times together." Martin Hansen discovered the cave in American Fork canyon which bears his name. In a cupboard, made especially for the purpose, he had many splendid specimens of stalagmites stalag-mites and crystals. He held one beautiful piece in his hand and said, "If I knew the story of this I could tell you much." The Hansen family left Iowa with a hand-cart company in June, 1857. The burden of pushing the hand-cart was lessened from time to time by leaving many prized and valuable he-longings he-longings on the camping grounds. When they arrived in Omaha, Ole Peterson, who was in the company, could go no farther, so he and his family stayed in Omaha, while those who remained in the company started start-ed the journey onward. One-hundred and twenty miles west of Omaha, on a branch of the Missouri River, the two elder Hansen's collapsed and could not go on. A man from a settlement (Genoa) across the river wanted to go to Utah. He had one-hundred one-hundred and sixty acres of land which he gave to the Hansen family for their place in the company. Once more the train went on without one of the original members. The three weeks following this stop were cruelly hard . Of this time Mr. Hansen says, "Father had to go back to Omaha to find work. Our diet for three weeks consisted of squash and potatoes, which had been planted plant-ed on a few acres of land by the original owner. We nearly starved before we heard from father, but at last one-hundred pounds of flour and a piece of bacon came. I will never forget, how, when mother opened the sack we all stood around and ate dry flour until we nearly choked. Mother Moth-er soon mixed up some of the flour without any salt or "rising" and baked it in a skillet on the fireplace." fire-place." It was not until four years later, 18GS, that Martin Hansen came to American Fork. The old mud wall was still around the town, and what people there were here lived inside the wall. "We had been advised by Brigham Young to come to American Fork, and coming around the point of the mountain we met Bishop. Hunter who told us that there was lots of hay in American Fork and plenty of feed for cattle." In 18G8 Martin Hansen, Amos Wag-staff, Wag-staff, William Ovard, Niels Christen-sen, Christen-sen, George Baker, Thorns? Withma, of Alpine, Jacob Beck and Fred Clark were asked by Bishop L. E. Harrington Harring-ton to go back to the Missouri river for a train load of saints. Each was equipped with a covered wagon, three yoke of cattle and supplies for the trip. Speaking of this journey, Mr. Hansen says, "The first day we got as far as the mouth of Cottonwood Cotton-wood canyon. The next day we left Salt Lake Valley, and when we got through the mountains to the plain our troubles were practically over so far as traveling was concerned. All went well the rest of the way until we got to our journey's end. We camped on the bank of the Missouri river waiting for the Saints to come. They did not arrive, however, until seven weeks later and it was then |