Transcript

….up the river to where Omaha now is, there we waited 34 days while the merchant Thomas Taylor from Salt Lake City got 45, 3-3/4 Schuttler wagons shipped from Chicago, and got them set up and loaded with 3,500 pounds of freight each, and ten emigrants could go with each wagon and was aloud [allowed] 50 pounds of freight each, and then walk, The Merchants bought eight steers, (called four yoke) of wild steers for each wagon, which the cow boys run in from the Nebraska and Iowa prairies, so they were loaded to their full capacity for such motive power, The church teams did not come after emigrants this year, so all had to come by the freight teams, an old plains man by the name of Minor G Atwood, was chosen to be our captain, and when Mr Taylor asked him how long it would take him to cross, he said eight weeks, but the Merchant did not think it could be done in so short a time, so he said, to make sure I will give you provisions for ten weeks, the Captain said, that would be plenty.

We got started July 31st and it took fifteen weeks, so when we got past Fort Laramie, we were put on half rations, and that was the coldest and hardest half of the trip, it got late and stormy as we were crossing the rockies, every night some weary traveler would lie down to sleep and wake up no more. It got to be a regular thing to bury one and often two every morning before starting. Of our company of 557 only 400 got to Salt Lake City the others are buried along the old trail. Mother and us two boys walked every step of the way from Omaha, waded all the streams ex[c]ept Green River, that was too deep and swift for us to wade. Our shoes was worn out and we walked with our bare feet in the snow and mud through the mountains on half rations.

On Nov 9^th 1865 we arrived in Salt Lake City, it was not much of a place, but we thought it was the nicest place we had ever seen----