Transcript

And in the spring of 47 I was called by Brigham Young to go west with a company of Pioneers to surch out a location for the Saints to settle and make homes for our people[.] our company got ready and started on the sixth of April and we numbered one hundred-fourty four men three women and two children and all of us had guns and fourty rounds of amanission [ammunition] to the man to protect our selves from the Indians and wild Beasts of the plains! We had a boat along to ferry over streams. And we had road dometers on one of the wheels of my wagon placed there by Elder Clayton to measure the distance in the wilderness[.] our company along smoothly and had “no difficulty with Indians untill we came to the sough [Sioux] Tribe and they claimed presence [presents] of us for killing Their game to live on[.] so one night they came down on our herdsmen and took two of our best and we lost them.

we came to fort larime [Laramie] a station kept by the French traiders on the plat[te] river. After leaving larime station we had two [to] find our own rought [route] and make our own road the best we could through the black hills

we came two independence rock on the sweet water stream and we all wrote our names on this rock and passed on up that stream 80 miles and came two south pass and from here the waters all flowed towards the pac[i]fic Ocean

we came two greend [Green] river& and forded that stream and came on to fort bridger[.] this was a traiding post kept by the French mountainers and we told them that we was going to make a home for our people in the valley of the great Salt Lake. The traiders tryed to discourage us by telling us that we could not make a home in thoes [those] mountain valleys for there was frost every month in the year in that valley[.] they had tryed planting seeds several years but could not mature anything but Brigham Young said we will try it and call on god to help us.

So we came on to the Wasatch Range of mountains and had some difficulty in finding a pass over them and when we came to the summit of the largest mountains we could see great Salt Lake water glittering in the setting sun About 40 miles aways to the west the next day after seeing waters of the Salt Lake the most of our company came down and entered the Valley through emegration can[y]on[.] we left president Young over the mountain Sick

We came to City Creek near where the temple now Stands and pitched our tents. The next day president younge came in the valley and camped with us...