Heritage Gateways

Pioneer Date Summary

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06/02/1847 - Crockett

Date: June 2, 1847

On the North Platte River, Wyoming:
The Twelve and others crossed the river and visited the deserted Fort Platte. It was 144 by 132 feet, with 30 rooms inside which had been burned. The Oregon Trail ran right by the fort.

The brethren next went to Fort Laramie which was occupied by French and Indians. James Bordeaux was the manager of the fort over thirty-eight men and their families associated with the American Fur Company. Twenty of the men were currently away on business. Many of the men were married to Sioux Indians.

Mr Bordeaux invited the brethren into his sitting room, up a flight of stairs. Appleton Harmon recorded: He invited us into a room upstairs which looked very much like a bar room of an Eastern hotel. It was ornamented with several drawings, portraits. A long desk, a settee, and some chairs constituted the principal furniture of the room."

He shared with them information about the route ahead and agreed to rent the pioneers a flatboat for fifteen dollars to ferry over all the wagons. He said there were buffalo two days ahead and there were also grizzly bears. He was expecting some Oregon emigrants to arrive soon. The next fort along the route would be Fort Bridger, over the mountains.

Bordeaux told them that Governor Lilburn Boggs, the former governor of Missouri, had passed by this way the previous year. He had tried to prejudice the men in the fort against the Mormons, telling them to make sure they watched their horses, because the Mormons would try to steal them. But the Boggs company had behaved terribly, and Bordeaux told him that the Mormons couldn't be any worse than his company was.

After their visit with Bordeaux, the brethren visited the trading post and found the provisions to be very expensive. All the goods had been brought in from other locations. Until recently there had not been rain at the fort for two years.

The brethren boarded the flatboat and floated down the river and returned to the pioneer camp at noon. They saw a bald eagle perched on top of a stump. Orson Pratt measured the river at the camp to be 108 yards wide and it flowed about three miles per hour.

During the day, the rest of the camp was very busy. They made a coal pit within the circle of wagons and set up three portable blacksmith shops for shoeing horses and repairing wagons. Others worked at digging at the river bank to prepare a place to ferry over the wagons. John Higbee and others went fishing and caught 60-70 fish with a net. They caught all kinds of fish including carp, catfish, salmon, pike, and others.

After dinner, the Twelve met in council and decided that Amasa Lyman, Roswell Stevens, John Tippetts, and Thomas Woosley, should travel to Pueblo to take instructions to the detachment of the battalion. They were to come and follow the pioneer company over the mountains. Brigham Young dictated a letter to the soldiers that included. "If experience has not already taught you, we would say, keep a sharp lookout for buffalo, Indian and bears, all of which may be met and endanger the life and liberty of men, women and children, beasts and property. Be wise, and watch as well as pray continually, and having done all you possibly can, and exercised all the skill, wisdom and prudence and care and strength that you possess, should you be overtaken with accidents or losses of any kind, take the spoil thereof patiently and cheerfully, and murmur not for Christ's sake. Let the unity of the Spirit and brotherly love abide in every heart, be made manifest in every action and reciprocated by every word, and our blessings, and the blessings of our Heavenly Father shall abide with you continually and you shall prosper."

Near Present-day Denver, Colorado:
A son, John Taylor Brown, was born to Captain James Brown and his wife Eunice Reaser Brown.

Winter Quarters, Nebraska:
It was a rainy day at Winter Quarters. Mary Richards was visited by the Robert Burton family, who she had stayed with several weeks during the winter on the Nishnabotna River, in Missouri.

Austin, Missouri:
John D. Lee visited the store in Austin to buy provisions. He returned to Hunsacker's ferry to spend the night with the family of Samuel. B. Frost. He found murmuring in the family, especially from Sister Rebecca Frost. He reasoned with them and preached to the until midnight.

Company B, Mormon Battalion, at San Diego, California:
Two ships were in the port loading up hides to be shipped back to the states. Robert Bliss was impressed by the oats which grew spontaneously. He believed the oats were as fine as any raised with great labor in the east.

Sources:

• James R. Clark, Messages of the First Presidency, Vol.1, p.322
• Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 3:194
• Erastus Snow Journal Excerpts, Improvement Era 15:55
• Appleton Milo Harmon Goes West, 27
• Bagley, ed., The Pioneer Camp of the Saints, 178
• Ward, ed., Winter Quarters, The 1846-1848 Life Writings of Mary Haskin Parker Richards, 145
• Kelly, ed., Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-1847 and 1859, 173
• The Journal of Robert S. Bliss, Utah Historical Quarterly, 4:94

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.