Transcript

We stayed at Omaha several days, getting tents and our wagons loaded and preparing for the long and hazardous journey across the plains to Utah. Mother’s [Elizabeth Peacock Sprunt] knee was worse and it was hard for her to get around. A bed was made for her in the wagon. My youngest brother [William Dow Sprunt] rode with mother and me, but the other three children with father [William Dow Sprunt], walked the whole distance of one thousand and thirty-two miles. The Elders administered to mother and she was promised that through her faith and prayers she would be able to walk into the Valley of Zion. During the long, bumpy ride which lasted eight weeks, this promise sustained her and helped to alleviate her suffering.

Our company was made up of sixty-six wagons drawn by oxen, three or four yoke to each wagon. At night when we stopped for camp, Captain [Joseph S.] Rawlins would give orders to form a circle with the wagons as a protection against the Indians. We met many Indians on the journey, and the captain always gave them a little sugar to keep peace with them. We had what they called a ‘good trip’ having had very few deaths, and arrived in Salt Lake City, September 20, 1864, just four months and two days from the time we left our home in Scotland.