Transcript

Stopping in New York over night, we resumed our journey on June 8th by Boat and Railroad, our immediate objective being Wyoming. There we had to wait a considerable time for the company to go on to the "Valley"—Salt Lake City, Utah; but on July 6th we made the start in the Thomas E. Ricks company, my mother [Mary Spencer Sugden] and daughters; Sister Susan Nichols, an emmigrating saint; C. [Charles] W. Staynor, a returning elder; being assigned to a wagon drawn by four mules with Jonah Nuttall Beck, a returning elder, as teamster. The wagon being heavily loaded, we were forced to walk most of the way.

The journey from there on had its ups and downs, its fine weather and its rough weather, which all had to be taken as it came. It revealed many sights and scenes and the most of which were new and interesting to us. One death and burial took place on the plains; but all in all I enjoyed the trip and do not now or never did look back on it as a great hardship. The season of the year was favorable, we had quite a plenty of food and clothing and did not suffer as many companies did coming to Utah.

We arrived in Salt lake City on August 29, 1866.