Transcript

As soon as practicable he [Marcus de Lafayette Shepherd] rejoined his people, who were settling on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Loading up his pack animals—nine horses and five mules—with a stock of groceries and clothing, he started in October, 1848, for Salt Lake valley. His company consisted of twelve persons, he being the leader. They came by way of Carson and the Humboldt to Ruby valley, thence across the desert and around the south side of the lake. They had a very prosperous journey, only one incident of an unusual character occurring on the way, when, to use his language, “Indians to the number of two or three hundred formed across the road, ten or twelve deep, and extending for a long way on each side. I saw it was fight or do worse, so we made a charge as fast as the packs could go, with myself and another ahead. We drove them from the ground without a shot.”