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William Clayton Journals

August 21, 1847

Location: Salt Lake Valley (the right place), Utah - The end destination for the trek across the plains.

Summary: The Brethren find oil and coal near Bear River.

Journal entry: SATURDAY, 21ST. Started at 7:30 a. m. and traveled till 12:00 then baited an hour. We found Bear River not over fifteen inches deep.

We camped on Sulphur Creek at five o'clock having traveled sixteen and a half miles and after camping I went with the brethren to fill their tar buckets at the oil spring. We followed a wagon trail made by a part of Hasting's company last year about a mile and found the spring situated in a ravine a little to the left of the road just at the edge of a high bench of land. The ground is black over with the oil for several rods but it is baked hard by exposure to the sun. It is difficult to get the clear oil, most of it being filled with dust and gravel. It smells much like British oil and is said to do well for greasing wagons. John Gleason has found a coal bed in the edge of the mountain across the creek. The coal looks good and burns freely.

Source: William Clayton's Journal

Published by the Clayton Family Association, and edited by Lawrence Clayton. To the best of our research, this contents of this book are no longer under copyright.