Transcript

 

I made up my mind to leave home and school and come to the mountains. So on the first of July I crossed the Missouri river near Nebraska City and went to a big mule train camped on the prairies and asked for a job but was too young. But I finally got a job to drive two harses and one wagon for my board.

 

There was sixty wagons with 4 mules to the wagon and a teamster. That made sixty men, a wagon boss and assistant wagon boss, the captain of the train and a night herder and myself which made 65 men, and myself a boy. They were waiting for the steamboat to come with their freight from the east. Lo and behold when the boat arrived there was 360 Mormon Emigrants from all parts of Europe. Men, Women and children, Scotch, English, Welch, Dutch and a dozen other nationalities all speaking different languages and was all Mormons and I was fraider of Mormons than I would of been of the Indians. I was the only gentile in the company so you can imigine how my hair stood on end, but here was no backing out. We soon got them, or their baggage aboard and started out. All we hauled was their luggage and grub and the helpless, so it was a merry party. There was 3 splendid choirs, one scotch, one english and one welch and they all sang well their old mormon hymns “Come Come Ye Saints and Oh My Father and all the Way to Zion”.

 

They sounded the bell at 8 o’clock and all came to the middle of the corral and knelt down and had prayer and two hymns, one before and one after prayer and the captain would outline our next day’s march and general instructions which had to be carried out to the letter. The discipline was good and very strict.