Hyrum North Trek 2016

There is a monument marking the Sixth Crossing of the Sweetwater River and the rescue site of the Willie Handcart Company.  John Linford and eight other members of that company are buried there.

On the night of October 14, the Willie Company camped at Independence Rock.  A 17-year old girl, Caroline Reeder, died.  Flour rations were reduced even further.  Men received 10 oz., women 9 oz., children 6 oz., and infants 3 oz.

October 15 had them camped at Devil's Gate.   On the 17th, they departed camp along the Sweetwater.  Four more had died.  Their seventeen pounds of clothing and bedding was now altogether insufficient for their comfort.  Nearly all suffered at night from the cold.  Cold weather, scarcity of food, and fatigue from overexertion were all reasons the Saints were suffering.  Old and infirm people began to drop.  At first the deaths occurred slowly and irregularly, but in a few days at more frequent intervals, until  it became unusual to leave a campground without burying one or more persons. The young and strong also became victims.  They were worn down by hunger, scarcity of clothing and bedding, and too much labor from helping their families.  Dysentery was also a factor in their suffering and deaths.  Many fathers pulled his family's cart until the day preceding his death.  Some pulled their carts in the morning, gave out during the day, and died before next morning.

On October 18 the camp rolled on again to the Sweetwater and camped after crossing it.  One more died today--James Henderson, aged 27.  Eighteen year old Sarah James recorded they were cold all the time.  There was either rain or snow or wind.  Even when you wrapped up in a blanket, your teeth chattered.  Mary Hurren said she ate her three daily ounces of flour cooked as a gruel in a communal family pot.  For her hunger pains, she, her sister, and her brother chewed on pieces of rawhide stripped from the cart wheels.  Her shoes were torn at the seams and had holes in the bottoms, and at night there was very little bedding with which to bundle up.  Everyone's clothing was in rags; for shoes many tied strips of burlap or canvas about their feet.  Since leaving Florence, Nebraska, 22 people have died.

On Sunday, October 19, they rolled out of the camp at the Fifth Crossing of the Sweetwater.  They passed Ice Springs and Ice Slough about noon, and were soon in a snowstorm.  The news they had been hoping and praying for came when they were met by four brethren from the valley telling them that assistance was near at hand within a day's drive.  Four died before the day was over.  The party endured a sixteen mile grueling trek to water, where they didn't arrive until after dark.  A wagon took a wrong road and didn't arrive until after 11:00 p.m.  This was the Sixth Crossing of the Sweetwater.  The camp laid over until the 22nd of October, waiting for the rescue wagons.  The company was exhausted, freezing, sick and starving.  Four inches of new snow fell that morning; there was now more than a foot of snow on the ground.  Five more people died.

John Chislett recorded, "On the evening of the third day after Captain Willie's departure, just as the sun was sinking beautifully behind the distant hills, on an eminence immediately west of our camp several covered wagons, each drawn by four horses, were seen coming towards us.  The news ran through the camp like wildfire, and all who were able to leave their beds turned out en masse to see them.  A few minutes brought them sufficiently near to reveal our faithful captain slightly in advance of the train.  Shouts of joy rent the air; strong men wept till tears ran freely down their furrowed and sunburned cheeks; and little children partook of the joy which some of them hardly understood, and fairly danced around with gladness.  Restraint was set aside in the general rejoicing, and as the brethren entered our camp the sisters fell upon them and deluged them with kisses.  The brethren were so overcome that they could not for some time utter a word, but in choking silence repressed all demonstration of these emotions that evidently mastered them.  Soon, however, feeling was somewhat abated and such a shaking of hands, such words of welcome, and such invocation of God's blessing have seldom been witnessed.  May God ever bless them for their generous, unselfish kindness and their manly fortitude!"

The fourteen wagons carried flour, onions, bedding, and some clothing.

On the 22nd of October the company traveled eleven miles and camped near the Sweetwater River at the base of Rocky Ridge.  Despite the immediate relief, conditions remained drastic.  The weather was bad and there was little firewood at the new campsite.  The ground was either frozen or wet and muddy, making sleep a near impossibility.  Most slept wrapped only in a blanket or quilt and laid directly on the ground.

October 23rd found the Saints crossing Rocky Ridge.  Levi Savage wrote, "We buried our dead, got up our teams and about 9:00 a.m. commenced ascending he Rocky Ridge.  This was a severe day.  The wind blew hard and cold.  The ascent was some five miles long and in some places steep and covered with deep snow.  We became weary, set down to rest, and some became chilled and commenced to freeze.  The teams were perfectly loaded down with the sick and children, so thickly stacked I was fearful some would smother.  About 10 or 11:00 in the night we came to a creek that we did not like to attempt to cross without help, it being full of ice and freezing cold.  I left two others with the teams and started to the camp for help, but few tents were pitched.  Men, women, and children sat shivering with cold around their small fires.  Just before daylight they returned, bringing all with them.  Some were badly frozen, some dying, and some dead.  It was certainly heart rendering to hear children crying for mothers and mothers crying for children."  This night they camped at Rock Creek Hollow.

On the morning of October 24, thirteen more had died and were buried in a mass grave at Rock Creek.  The Saints remained to bury the dead and rest.

- Hyrum North Stake 2016 Trek History Committee