Anton Andersen Janson (1826) Profile

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Anton Andersen Janson

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Anton Jansen diaries, 1855-1875

Anton Jansen diaries, 1855-1875, Vol. 2, Page 97-101.

Tuesday, June 1 [1858] We finished our preparations and our 4 wagons began their trip. We met up with some who had left before us on our second day out so there were 12 wagons in all.



Wednesday, June 2 There was heavy rain last night so travel went slowly. We camped at Elkhorn. 14 miles today.



Thursday, June 3 We drove along the Platte River, past an Indian town and another town. An Indian came and ate dinner with us. 20 miles.



Friday, June 4 Along the Platte River and across a stream that was clear full of water. 25 miles.



Saturday, June 5 Across two bodies of water, so we had a lot of work. We camped outside of Columbus Town. 18 miles.



Sunday, June 6 We met a group coming from Zion. They gave us information and said things should go fairly well. They said some were being moved out of Zion. There were 6 brethren and a Major Ken, who had been sent to Utah from Washington to investigate conditions there. He seemed to be a liberal man. We camped and the members held an evening meeting in the field. 17 miles.



Monday, June 7 Had a lot of work crossing the Platte River. But, luckily, everything went well. We finished and rested.



Tuesday, June 8 We continued on our journey. The Company was organized. Eldridge [Horace S. Eldredge] was made Captain and Joseph Y[o]ung his aide, and Haight is Chaplain. There are 37 men, 13 wagons, 29 horses, and 17 mules—46 in all went from the river and up the bank to the left. 20 miles today.



Wednesday, June 9 We crossed a lot of water, but it went well. 26 miles.



Thursday, June 10 We saw a lot of animals today. Everything went well. 26 miles.



Friday, June 11 We got to the Waad [Wood] River about 10:00 A.M. The bridge was gone, so we made a new one. We ate lunch and went over by 3:00 P.M. 28 miles.



Saturday, June 12 31 miles.



Sunday, June 13 We had beautiful weather and a smooth day traveling. 44 miles.



Monday, June 14 Very dry weather. 25 miles.



Tuesday, June 15 We met several Indians and gave them some bread. We saw a large company on the other side of the river. They had many animals and looked ready to assemble. 28 miles.



Wednesday, June 16 We met two Indian tribes. 30 miles.



Thursday, June 17 We saw a train traveling toward the States on the other side of the river. 30 miles.



Friday, June 18 We saw a large and a small company heading toward the States. We also passed a large Indian camp. They had many horses and colts. 35 miles.



Saturday, June 19 We saw two large trains heading toward the States. 35 miles.



Sunday, June 20 20 miles.



Monday, June 21 We passed the wagons traveling back to the states. 32 miles.



Tuesday, June 22 We passed Fort Laramie this afternoon and got into a very hilly region. 35 miles.



Wednesday, June 23 26 miles.



Thursday, June 24 30 miles.



Friday, June 25 28 miles.



Saturday, June 26 In the morning we passed Deer Creek. There was a settlement of Mountain Men on the other side of the river. They came over and we traded them buffalo hides for provisions. 26 miles.



Sunday, June 27 In the morning we came to another settlement of mountain men and traded for some more provisions. There were also a few Indians. There was a bridge over the Platte River and the North and South trails joined. Two wagons left the company. In the afternoon we passed another settlement. In the night the two wagons camped along side of us. 24 miles.



Monday, June 28 We left the Platte River and found the trail quite sandy. We met two wagons coming from Salt Lake. 32 miles.



Tuesday, June 29 In the morning we drove past a settlement that looked very peaceful. We came to the Devil’s Peak, where there was a settlement. We passed about 20 wagons which were trying to get provisions. There was a large cliff along the right side of the wagon. 34 miles.



Wednesday, June 30 In the morning we passed a small company which had a great number of livestock. But I don’t know where they were going. 34 miles.



Thursday, July 1 Very rocky and hilly area. Loud thunder and rain in the evening. But it let up in the night. 28 miles.



Friday, July 2 Good weather. We had lunch near Sweet Water. I had been very sick with fever and have laid in the wagon for about 14 days. But I am beginning to get my strength back and feel better. Thunder and rain in the afternoon. We drove until 1:00 A.M. and then camped alongside a little creek. 34 miles.



Saturday, July 3 Very sandy trail. We had lunch at Little Sandy, where there was good graas [grass]. We veered to the left and finally camped at Big Sandy, having crossed them both. The grass for the horses here was terrible. 24 miles.



Sunday, July 4 We drove on this morning. At lunchtime we encountered a wagon train of apostates. There were about 16 wagons. We crossed the water. Later in the day we met another 2 wagons and several men who were laden with provisions. In the late afternoon we came to Green River. There were many tents and people there. We crossed the river on a ferry—it cost $6.00 for 4 people. The traveling went very well today. 24 miles.



Monday, July 5 Early in the morning a messenger from the army came by with some information about the soldiers going into Salt Lake. Later in the day, when we came to Hensfork [Ham’s Fork] River, there were about 10 soldiers who stood watach at a bridge. They didn’t say anything to us except that we should be on careful guard for Mormons. They said Johnson had gone into Salt Lake and that we should go straight to him and get 300 to 400 men to protect us from the Mormons. They thought we were going on to Karlefornien [California]. We met another messenger later in the morning. We crossed the Hensfork River twice today. 40 miles.



Tuesday, July 6 Around noon we drove past Fort Bridger and a little farther on we met another messenger from Salt Lake. He told us that peace had been arranged and that everything was in good order. Later we passed some men and a wagon. 36 miles.



Wednesday, July 7 We met and passed several wagons. We’ve gone about half-way through the mountains. We drove as quickly as possible because of overhanging banks. 35 miles.



Thursday, July 8 We met several brethren and others. We drove around through much water. There were steep cliffs, expecially on one side, but the brethren had built guardrails there. 33 miles.



Friday, July 9 We had very steep cliffs to contend with, but we drove all the way into Salt Lake City because there was no grass for our animals. We arrived about midnight and spent our first night camped in the street. 30 miles.

Transcript for Anton Jansen diaries, 1855-1875, fd. 2, 97-101

Anton Jansen diaries, 1855-1875.

Hans P. Lund journals, 1854-1880

Hans P. Lund journals, 1854-1880, Page 29.

Tuesday june 1 we left Florents [Florence] and started to cross the plains. Some waggons came later on so at last we were a company of 13 waggons, 33 brethern, 46 horses and mules. Several times we had to cross the river.



June 6 we met some brethern who came express from Utah. They told us from B. Young that we had to be careful, because soldiers, indians and mountaineers were inimical to us. Same day we arrived in Genua [Genoa] River Settlement which is established by Mormons. Here I found my brother-in-law Thuesen and we were so Happy, from him I got a gun with powder and 12 bullets,



June 7 I left and crossed Platte River which is really wide, we got over in a barge and the horses swam.



June 8 we travelled till the afternoon then we gathered together and we decided that Eldrige [Horace S. Eldredge] is our captain, [Hector C.] Haight assistent, I. W. Iversen Guard and G. as clerc.



June 11 we came to a wide River, there was no bridge so we had to swim and that was a hard job. We met some indians who was friendly and we gave them some food. We met some federal provisiontrain on our way.



June 19 we shot an antilope and we got some meat. When we arrived at the campground we found 2 wheels from a hand-cart. They came at the right moment because we had no firewood.



Sunday june 20 we rested for 6 hours and we had a meeting. Andersen [Jansen]was sick so Poulsen had to help Hoier [Hoyer] and I was the cook



june 22 we came to Fort Larami[e], the road was hilly and sandy,



june 26 we came to a bridge over River Platte. We sold some meat and bisquits and got 2 buffaloskin for $4 each and 4 bread. 2 waggons went forward and we came to Sweet Water. June 30 we saw the mountains with snow, the road was good and we went about 40 miles a day.



July 2 we reached the highest point of America. Several times we went on till 11-12 in the night and started again at 2-3 am.



July 3 we crossed Sandy River



july 4 we came to Big River, where we met 13 waggons (apostats) among them was rope—maker Andersen from Norway, we stayed overnight near Green River which we crossed by boat, each crossing cost $6.



July 5 we came to Fort Hamis near River Motte where we saw the first soldiers[.] we passed the bridge which the soldiers made. We started in the morning at 3



july 6 we came to Fort Bri[d]ger (about 600 soldiers) it is a beautiful place with bare plains, we met some who brought news from Utah



july 7 we crossed some high mountains where it was difficult to travel, we saw beautiful valleys where the road is good



july 8 we met 20-30 brethern who went to Bri[d]ger for goods. The old brother Madsen was buried here. We saw 50 mules from Zion.



July 9 the route was hard because we had to cross the high mountains from where we could see Salt Lake. We went down the longest hill we have ever seen, we had to cross several little rivers and in the evening we arrived to Salt Lake.

Transcript for Hans P. Lund journals, 1854-1880, 29

Hans P. Lund journals, 1854-1880.

Jenson, Andrew, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia [1971], 4:428

Jenson, Andrew, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia [1971], 4:428.

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