Elizabeth Jane Bybee (1825 - 1908) Profile

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Elizabeth Jane Bybee

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Smith, Elizabeth J. Bybee, [Interview], in "Utah Pioneer Biographies," 44 vols., 26:51-53

Smith, Elizabeth J. Bybee, [Interview], in "Utah Pioneer Biographies," 44 vols., 26:51-53.

We finally started West again. In traveling up the Platte River, we found many Indians and buffalo by the thousands. The Indians didn't bother us as they thought the Mormon people were alright. The moving buffalo would make the earth shake, while the noise was deafening. My husband [Daniel] was appointed hunter of the company and always drove ahead of the rest of the wagons. I had to drive the team while he was out hunting.
Our baby girl took sick and died which was very grievous to us. She &lt;was&gt; 17 months old. We had to bury her on the desolate plains.
One morning my husband brought in a large buffalo calf. We drove several miles ahead of the rest of the company in search of water to dress the meat and finally saw a pond of water about a half of a mile from the main road. Turning the horses loose we dressed the meat. It was warm weather and the flies were very bad. The horese strayed to the foothills several miles away so that my husband had to go after them leaving me and two children alone. He didn't know whether we would be dead or alive when he returned. Before my husband reached the hills he met a large buffalo bull coming to water. He had left his rifle in the wagon and had nothing to protect him. After trying every way to scare him away my husband decided to take off his shoes and give the old fellow a race to the wagon. As luck would have it the buffalo suddenly decided to go the other way. During this time, a pack of wolves had smelled the fresh meat and were howling around on the other side of the pond several rods away. The sun was going down and it was a very gloomy and desolated sight. I saw a man going along the road not knowing whether he was an Indian or a white man. He went on without bothering us. By the time my husband returned with the horses it was so dark that we couldn't follow the road. Some of the men were searching for us, shooting their guns for a signal. We answered the shot and were soon reunited with the camp amid much rejoicing.
A few days later, when we were camped near a spring, we heard a terrible bellowing and roaring. The very ground that we were standing on shook. The men and boys went to a nearby hill and looking over the plains saw a herd of thousands of buffalo on the stampede for water. Most of the people were terribly frightened. Some were laughing, some singing some crying, others yelling and praying, while the more level headed brought torches to frighten the buffalo and held the horses and oxen to keep them from stampeding. The leaders of the herd seemed frightened when they saw us and turned off in another direction. I think the Lord was surely with us in protecting his pe[o]ple.
Farther west the Indians were fighting among themselves so Brigham Young <s>thou</s>ght it best to send word for the company to get together and look out for trouble. The Indians bothered no white people this time.
I was never happier in my life than the day we arrived in Utah and found peace, although, it was a terribly lonesome and desolate looking place.

Transcript for Smith, Elizabeth J. Bybee, [Interview], in "Utah Pioneer Biographies," 44 vols., 26:51-53

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