This is the first major river crossing.

Six or seven Mormon families are settled near the river to assist those traveling to Council Bluffs and Winter Quarters. On the hills above the crossing there is a large Pottawatamie Indian village. The waters of the Nishnabotna are high, and the river is too broad to be bridged. Benjamin Chamberlain Critchlow, who was fifteen at the time, writes in his account that "the men had to cut down large trees, cut them into a sort of canoe, joining them together making a kind of boat or raft on which our wagons were floated across the stream." We don't know if Chamberlain counted himself among "the men" but there were at least thirty five men in the company between the ages of fifteen and fifty to do this work.

It could easily have taken a week to get the sixty wagons in the company across the river. I've tried to imagine this in modern terms. It would probably be comparable to building a raft and floating a dangerously overloaded pickup truck across a swiftly flowing river. I don't think I know any modern men foolhardy enough to try it.

The difficulty in getting across the Nishnabotna was compounded because the wagons would have been filled with supplies and especially heavy. Since they were still at the beginning of the journey, few of the provisions stored in the wagons would have been used. In 1850, an article in the Frontier Guardian stated that the average fully loaded wagon weighed about 1,850 pounds. For each person, old or young, it was recommended that one hundred and twenty five pounds of flour be taken, "plus bacon, sugar, coffee, tea, rice, dried fruit and other necessaries in proportion."

We don't know how much the Carsons had been able to provide for themselves, but it was probably something less than what had been recommended. Our family stories tell us that John and Elvira will use all of their flour and biscuits by the end August.

Each family would also have stocked their wagons with clothing, household goods, cooking utensils, tools, farming equipment and seeds.

George A. Smith sent a letter to Orson Pratt from Sandy Bluffs (280 miles from Winter Quarters) dated 12 August 1849, in which he gives the following advice. "We would suggest the propriety, and recommend the same to all the Saints that propose emigrating, to provide themselves with plenty of good grass rope, one half or five-eights in diameter for tying up, about ten feet to an ox, or steer, or cow, and also to provide some good heavy ox chains." One of the few things we know about the provisions which the Carsons made, is that William Huff Carson has taken this advice and has procured the necessary rope. He will put it to good use a few weeks from now.

The article in the Frontier Guardian also recommended that for each wagon, the family should have "two good yoke of oxen and from one to three yoke of cows." If those traveling in the company have even four or five oxen, or cows with them, it means they are moving at least three hundred head of livestock. Most families also have several horses. Herding this large group of animals, finding food for them, and keeping them safe from the Indians is a daunting task that requires a good portion of the labor each day.

Next week we will meet a few of the other families, and learn what types of wagons and provisions they have with them, also more about the difficult four years for the family in Garden Grove as they prepared for the trek west.

 

Part 1

Part 3