Transcript

Not long after opening my shop I had a chance to sell to good advantage. I sold and bought three yolk of oxen and provisions to take us across the plains to Utah. I was now on the lookout for a man to drive us across the plains as I well knew that I could not drive oxen, it was not my trade and I had been brought up to think every man to his trade. In May 1850 I met a Mr. Hansen Tuttle. He was a member of the battalion, capable of driving the oxen and also very desirious of going to Utah. We went to a small place called Bethelhem [Bethlehem, Missouri] where a company of about fifty Latter-Day Saints was formed. The Captain of the company was Milo Andrew [Andrus].

We started on June 1, 1850. When we came to a river we couldn't cross we made rafts and pulled the wagons and people over. I took my turn standing guard at night. We made a circle of our wagons for better protection against Indian attacks, all the cattle where kept inside the enclosure. We gathered buffalo chips for fuel.

On August 1, 1850, we landed in Salt Lake City.