Heritage Gateways

Pioneer Date Summary

Previous | Next

07/02/1847 - Crockett

Date: July 7, 1847

On the Green River, Wyoming:
Forty-seven wagons were crossed over the river during the day. The horse and cattle swam over the river during the morning with some difficulty. The day was very hot and the mosquitoes continued to be terrible. Several trout were caught in a slue near the ferry. One weighed more than seven pounds. Thomas Bullock saw a heap of nine buffalo skulls in one place. The Twelve and others met in council at a nearby grove and decided to send three or four men back to pilot the next pioneer company along their way. Each of the brethren wrote down their views regarding what counsel should be given to the second pioneer group. Samuel Brannan continued the promote California as being the promised land. He said the the oats grew wild and didn't need to be cultivated. Clovers grew as high as a horse's belly. Salmon in the San Joaquin River were 10-12 pounds.

Independence Rock, Wyoming:
Captain James Browns detachments of the Mormon Battalion and Mississippi Saints probably camped at Independence Rock on this day. Abner Blackburn noted that the rock was "a huge mass of granite which covers several acres of ground with hundreds of names marked on its huge sides."

Between Loup Fork and the Platte River, Nebraska:
The Perrigrin Sessions company traveled twenty miles during the day and camped without wood and water. A storm blew through, dropping some much needed rain water, but it also brought wind that beat against the wagons with force. Eliza R. Snow wrote: "The prairie very rolling we only ascend one ridge to come in sight of another, till about 2 o'clock when our gradual descent gave us a view of the tops of trees which skirt the river before us." The companies traveled six abreast part of the day.

Sources:

• Howard Egan Diary, Pioneering the West, 90
• Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 3:222
• Bagley, ed., The Pioneer Camp of the Saints, 216-17
• Smart, ed., Mormon Midwife, The 1846-1888 Diaries of Patty Bartlett Sessions, 89
• Beecher, ed., The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow, 182
• Bagley, ed., Frontiersman: Abner Blackburn's Narrative, 60

Source: 150 Years Ago Today ©These materials have been created by David R. Crockett. Copies of these materials may be reproduced for teacher and classroom use. When distributing these materials, credit must be given to David R. Crockett. These materials may not be published, in whole or part, or in any other format, without the written permission of Mr. Crockett, Tucson Az, crockett@goodnet.com.