Transcript

Transcript for John W. Pickett, Life sketch, reel 14, box 19, fd. 9, item 2

The family left England while he was young, and reached Winter Quarters where they stayed for a while.

I shall tell in his own words of their trip to Utah and also of his first trip across the plains to aid emigrating saints.

"We crossed the plains in the Neil and Canfield Independent Co., Father had two yoke of cattle, and one yoke of cows and a wagon with a jack knife brake above the reach.

Nothing out of the ordinary occured until we reached the Raw Hide Creek. This creek took its name from an event which occurred there some time before our time. A man from the East declared he would kill the first Indian he saw, which he did. The Indians demanded the man who did the killing or they would massacre the entire company. The man was given into their hands, and the Indians skinned him alive.

When we were making camp that night the right wing of the train had formed as usual and we had unyoked the cattle, the cattle in the left wing stampeded. Cattle and wagons went pell-mell in all directions, women screamed, men shouted and children cried from fright. Fortunately the men succeeded in rounding up the cattle and calming them down without any serious accident.

We encountered some fierce tornadoes while in Nebraska. The thunder and lightning were so fierce that the cattle were frightened and ran bellowing in all directions. Tents were blown down, and the rain came down in torrents wetting our camp at night. Game of all kinds was abundant, buffalo, deer, elk, and antelope could be seen almost anytime. The Indians were very troublesome that year, killing people in trains before us and behind us. They burned the wagons and ran off with the cattle.

We arrived in Salt Lake Valley Oct. 16, 1862, on my brother Moroni's birthday, having been eleven weeks on the jroney [journey] from Winter Quarters.