Heritage Gateways

Brent C (B.C.) Moore Journals

July 15, 1997

Location: Castle Rock Camp, Utah - Between Yellow Creek and Henefer

Summary: Yellow Creek to Castle Rock -- "... it's better than staying back home to rust"

Journal entry: We'll reach Salt Lake Tuesday or bust. That's our hope, at least.

One week. That's all that remains in our journey to the valley. We crossed the Utah border today, and it already seems different. As soon as we went over a rise this morning, we had a breathtaking view of the snow-covered Wasatch mountains and the canyon that we were going to follow down to Castle Rock. Somewhere over those mountains lies Salt Lake City.

Our new wagon master is Bob Lowe. He has been with us all the way from Omaha, and has constantly been riding up and down the line of wagons and handcarts giving support. From here on out, he has the responsibility of getting us safely to camp each day. He has already emphasized that he wants no support vehicles (horse trailers, RV's) near the wagons. It really ruins pictures to have them around, and there are LOTS of people coming out from Salt Lake to see the wagons and take pictures.

We had over a half hour break when we reached the summit this morning. I made use of the time to go poking around. There were lots of delicate white flowers around: sego lillies. Many pioneers, after arriving in the valley, ate the bulbs of the sego lilles for lack of other food. I probed around in the dirt, trying to dig up a bulb or two, but the dirt was hard and the stems kept on breaking. So, instead I nibbled on a couple of stems and even ate the petals and stamen. They tasted a bit like lettuce.

The dust today was bad. I was covered from head to toe when we got to camp. Our camp is near a reddish rock formation called Castle Rock. The wagons and handcarts are in a grassy field, and all the RV's and support vehicles are up on the hill. The Park City stake has taken charge of dinner and entertainment for tonight. There are lots of people from Park City. I even saw a few friends from Arizona and from the Canary Island mission tonight.

All is well.