pastures and sell them at a considerable profit to emigrants following. Also he had had a sort of blacksmith's shop fixed up to repair wagons. In June, 1847, history tells, Bridger set out horseback with two of his men on a business trip to Fort Laramie. They had not gone far when at evening time they decried in the distance a caravan of wagons,—our "Mormon" Pioneers. As they drew near, President Young halted the trapper and invited him to camp with them over night. A careful account has been kept of what went on around the camp-fire that evening, and to us at this date is most interesting. I desire to reproduce a part of it as related in Whitney's History of Utah. It is from the pen of William Clay ton: There is no blacksmith shop at his fort. There was one but it was destroyed. From Bridger's fort to the Great Salt Lake, Hastings said, was about one hundred miles. Bridger himself had been through fifty times but could form no correct idea of the distance. There is no timber on the Utah Lake, but some on the streams emptying into it. In the valleys southeast of Utah Lake there is an abundance of blue grass and white clover. Some of his men have been around Salt Lake in canoes. But while they went out hunting, their horses were stolen by the Indians. They then spent three months going around the lake in canoes hunting beavers, the distance being five hundred and fifty miles. The Utah tribe of Indians live around the lake and are a bad people. If they catch a man alone they are sure to rob and abuse him, if they don't kill him, but parties of men are in no danger. The Indians are mostly armed with guns. There was a man who had opened a farm in Bear River Valley, where the soil is good and likely to produce grain, were it not for the excessive cold nights. He never saw any grapes on the Utah Lake, but there are plenty of cherries and berries of several kinds. He thinks the region around the Utah Lake is the best country in the vicinity of the Salt Lake, and the country is still better the farther south one goes until the desert is reached, which is upwards of two hundred miles. There is plenty of timber on all the streams and mountains and an abundance of fish in the streams. He passed through the country a year ago last summer in the month of July, there is gen erally one or two showers of rain every day, sometimes very heavy thunder showers but not accompanied by strong winds. He said we would find plenty of water from here to Bridger's fort, except after crossing the Green River, when we have to travel about twenty miles without water. But there is plenty of grass. We need not fear the Utah Indians for we could drive the whole of them in twenty-four hours. Mr. Bridger's theory was not to kill them, but make slaves of them. The Indians south of Utah Lake raise as good corn, wheat and pumpkins as were ever raised in old Kentucky. Then comes the oft repeated tale. The old trapper advised our Pioneers not to go to Salt Lake Valley. It was a barren, desert place and would not raise corn. Had they heeded him, might not the history of the West have been changed? "Too Much to Do" BY WM. HALLS I want to express to you my appreciation of the ERA. I am always glad to read it. I consider all the articles good, yet some interest me more than others. I was very much impressed by Dr. Gowan's address to the students of the University of Utah. I can see that as time rolls on, and conditions change, it will require intelligence and a strong will to see and choose the good and reject the evil. Last summer I traveled about six hundred miles from Mancos in a northwesterly direction, visiting parts of Utah, Colorado and Idaho and talked with many men and women, and nearly every man and woman complained of "too much to do." With all our mechanical devices and labor-saving inventions we are overworked. Since I have been unable to work hard and travel but very little I have had more time to read and study. I have tried to get a clearer conception of values, and I have concluded that there is something wrong with the person who has "too much to do." He who has no time to pray, nor to study the scripture, no time for spiritual development,-such a person is not in a normal condition. I believe in change, in progression, but with it, I want wisdom, intelligence to be able to separate the wheat from the tares. There is no need to be in a hurry, advance steadily, be moderate in all things. Never look backward and sigh for the "good old times;" they will never return. We can't see the old times as they really were. "Distance lends enchantment to the scene.' We don't want to travel over the rough roads our fathers traveled. Let us accept the light, the truth, the freedom transmitted to us, but seek inspiration to detect the darkness, the error, and the bondage. Let us "come out of Babylon." If we would profit by the advantages that we enjov, and exercise a little common-sense, what a good time we might have. I believe in some things as fundamental on which our happiness depends. Faith in God as our Father, in Jesus Christ as our Redeemer, in the efficacy of prayer, and in an ever-acting Providence. The man having this in good working order, is rich; all things essential are within his reach. MANCOS, COLORADO After traveling thirteen hundred miles in a little less than thrity-nine days, Franklin D. Richards' party reached Salt Lake City, October 4, 1856, having been absent from home about three years. Before they had fairly time to wash the dust from their sunburnt faces, they reported to President Brigham Young the precarious condition in which they found the Willie company when they passed them on the plains, three weeks before, on their journey from Iowa City to the Great Salt Lake Valley. As soon as these facts leaked out, the news spread like wildfire, and when the Monday conference convened, President Young said: "There are a number of our people on the plains who have started to come to Zion with handcarts, and they need help. We want twenty teams by tomorrow morning to go to their relief. It will be necessary to send two experienced men with each wagon. I will furnish three teams loaded with provisions, and send good men with them, and Brother Heber C. Kimball will do the same. If there are any brethren present who have suitable outfits for such a journey they will please make it known at once, so we will know what to depend upon." President Young then adjourned conference until 10 o'clock the next morning, so as to give all a chance to help get things. ready. Such a spirit of brotherly love as was shown forth by the Latter-day Saints on that occasion was perhaps never before wit nessed in a religious community. It seemed that every man, woman and child within the limits of Salt Lake was alive to the situation. While the men were going in every direction gathering up supplies, the women were making quilts, mending underwear, knitting mittens, darning socks, patching trousers, and even taking clothes from their own backs to send to the shivering pilgrims hundreds of miles out on the plains. The evening before the start was made, the twenty-seven young men who composed the relief party were called together by the authorities of the Church and given their final instructions, after which all of them received blessings that fairly made OLD FORT BRIDGER AS IT LOOKED IN PIONEER DAYS From a sketch by George M. Ottinger them quake. After an affectionate parting, the boys returned. to their homes for a good night's rest. About 9 o'clock next morning, sixteen first-class four-mule teams were seen wending their way towards Emigration Canyon, headed for the east. They were under the supervision of such men as George D. Grant, William H. Kimball, Joseph A. Young, Cyrus H. Wheelock, James Furguson and Chauncey G. Webb. With them were such noted scouts as Robert T. Burton, Charles F. Decker, Benjamin Hampton, Heber P. Kimball, Harvey H. Cluff, Thomas Alexander, Reddick N. Allred, Ira Nebeker, Thomas Ricks, Edward Peck, William Broomhead, Abel Garr, C. Allen Huntington, George W. Grant, David P. Kimball, Stephen Taylor, Joel Parish, Charles Grey, Amos Fairbanks, Daniel W. Jones and Thomas Bankhead. |