On April 24, this company landed at Castle Garden, New York, and then continued on to Iowa City, Iowa, by rail, arriving there May 1. This town was their outfitting point. Church leaders assigned Russell K. Homer to guide some of the emigrants, plus a group of Mormon missionaries, westward. The latter had been called home because of the Utah War. Captain Homer was an experienced plains traveler. In 1849, he, with his brother and others, drove seven wagons filled with freight to Salt Lake City for Livingston and Kincaid, St. Louis merchants, who were opening a store among the Mormons. Russell Homer returned east that fall, accompanied by Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt. There were 60 people in Homer's 1858 train; this consisted of 15 ox-drawn wagons, some of them loaded with merchandise belonging to the Captain. Homer also had a light wagon for his own family. All the emigrants had good equipment.
The train left Iowa City on June 19; it left Florence, Nebraska Territory, on July 20. At Genoa, a Mormon settlement on the Loup Fork, the river was running too high for fording, so the company returned to Columbus and used the ferry. About August 10, as the emigrants camped just above the Grand Island of the Platte, a violent storm burst upon them, with thunder, lightning, and pouring rain. More than a dozen people crowded into the cook tent, seeking shelter. Suddenly, lightening struck the tent. Everyone inside it was stunned (one boy did not recover until the next day), but the most severely injured was Captain Homer's wife, whose shoes were torn off and whose feet, legs, and clothing were burned.
On another occasion, a war party of Sioux surrounded the train. Captain Homer sent one of his men out with a white flag, indicating the company's peaceful intentions. Later the captain himself met with the Indian leader, giving him numerous gifts. The natives were grateful and danced for the travelers; then they provided an escort for them. From time to time, the company saw long wagon trains hauling supplies for Johnston's Army. At Green River the emigrants camped near Jim Bridger, the mountain man, and his family and did some trading. The company arrived in Salt Lake City on October 7. One person had died; there were two births.