Transcript

Transcript for Linford, Amasa Christian, [Autobiography], in James Henry Linford, Autobiography of James Henry Linford [1919], 63-67

We arrived in Iowa City June 26th but were compelled to wait a month for hand-carts and provisions, leaving for Utah about the middle of July. The first three hundred miles of the journey were covered in one month.

The company was divided into hundreds with a captain over each hundred, the hundreds were divided into twenties which was the number allotted to each tent. My father was appointed to look after one tent. There were twenty carts to each hundred, five tents and three or four milch [milk] cows. There was one wagon with three yoke of oxen to each hundred. Each hand-cart carried about one hundred pounds of food, cooking utensils and miscellaneous supplies.

The company reached Winter Quarters about August 15th where a council was held to decided whether to continue their journey that season or to camp for the winter, it being so late as to make it impossible to reach their destination before cold weather came on; all of the Elders excepting Levi Savage were in favor of going on, so they overruled him and continued the journey, starting from Winter Quarters about August 18.

We traveled about fifteen miles a day at first. On reaching Wood River, most of the cattle stampeded and left camp, leaving only one yoke to each wagon. Just previous to the stampede, we passed the remains of an emigrant company that had been massacred by the Indians. The train was on its way to Salt Lake City with merchandise for Almond [Almon W.] Babbett [Babbitt] of that place. After losing the oxen our hand-carts were loaded with an extra hundred pounds of flour. About this time cold weather commenced and our supplies began to run low, making a cut in the rations necessary; twelve ounces of flour were allowed to each man, nine ounces to each woman, and four to eight ounces to each child a day.

While on the North Fork of the Platt River, we were overtaken by Franklin D. Richards, W.H. Kimball, and George D. Grant, with a party returning from foreign missions, who gave us some encouragement, promising to have provisions at Fort Laramie if possible, and to send aid from Salt Lake City.

On reaching Fort Laramie, no provisions were found, making another reduction in rations necessary. The beef supply was entirely cut off.

While traveling on the banks of the Sweetwater the nights began to be severe, and having insufficient bedding, the old and infirm began to droop and soon deaths became frequent. The emigrants seldom left a camp ground without burying some of their number. It was not long before the able bodied men began to die.

With the first snow storm, the last ration of flour was issued, and a march of sixteen miles lay before us, to the nearest camping ground on the Sweetwater. This seemed almost a hopeless task, but about noon of that day, Joseph A. Young and Stephen Taylor met us with a wagon, telling us that there was a train of provisions enroute from Salt Lake.

We finally reached camp where some five died the first night; fifteen died the second, among whom was my father, John Linford. Fifteen were put in one grave. While father was sick and just before he died of starvation, Levi Savage emptied his flour sack to make him some skilly as it was called; after eating this he died.

After waiting several days in a starving condition for help from Utah, the train arrived with what supplies they could bring; it was divided at our camp, part remaining with us and part going onto meet the last company.

The teams were only able to haul the sick and the helpless, the remainder having to pull their hand-carts as before, until they reached Fort Bridger where we met a sufficient number of teams and conveyances to haul the company from there to Salt Lake City, where we arrived on the ninth of November, 1856.