It is the week of July 20th 1851, the tenth week of the journey.

Over the last few days, the Company has had to cross the Loup River three times, first the north branch, then the main branch, and finally the west branch of the river. The entire region is covered with a fine, silty sand, making it extremely difficult for the heavy wagons. The Critchlow family history records "I remember while crossing the Loup Fork of the Platte River that while the stream was a shallow one, its bottom was composed of a kind of quicksand so that unless constantly on the move, wagon and team would settle in the sand and become immovable. The movement of the wheels through the sand would cause a continual jarring or shaking of the wagon."

The pioneers were far to the north of the route normally traveled, and were farther from "civilization" than they would be at any other part of the trip. The cattle and oxen were exhausted from the difficulties of the trail. Quite often several teams had to be hitched together to get the wagons through the worst areas of sand. Critchlow wrote "we were now in a wild uninhabited country, and the cattle manifested an uneasy and restless feeling. [Our] oxen became frightened without any known cause and would start up with full speed, sometimes breaking wagons and causing other damage." The Zimmermans remembered that their "cattle got so they could hardly be controlled. There were a good many stampedes."

On July 21st, there was a stampede in the Allred company which was traveling near by. It was the first daytime stampede the company had seen. A woman was killed, and while the Allred company was stopped to bury her, the Garden Grove Company passed them.

On the 22nd, the pioneers discovered why their cattle had been so nervous.

From a distance miles away, they heard a roaring noise that slowly grew louder and louder. Then, thousands of buffalo came into view. Zimmerman wrote that "there must have been five thousand of them." Critchlow recorded "There appeared to be hundreds of thousands of them passing to the North across our road."

The train was on the crest of a hill, with no possibility for all of their wagons to get out of the way of the oncoming herds, so they separated the train into sections that would allow the buffalo to pass between the wagons. The women and children got into the wagons for safety. It took several hours for the buffalo to pass. William Critchlow, age 12, stood "on the back part of our wagon ...using the ox whip to keep the buffalo from crowding against us." Zimmerman writes "it was a fine sight to look at... [but] it was scary at times, even the cattle were frightened."

That afternoon there was a "fine shower of rain."

At seven o’clock in the morning of the July 23rd, they started on their journey again, hoping that they had witnessed their last stampede. They had not proceed far on their way however, when some of the cattle got scared, and all in an instant, thirty of the sixty teams stampeded, running afoul of some of the wagons. Zimmerman wrote that "two tens" or twenty wagons ran.

Only the Carsons have preserved a reason for this sudden, daytime stampede. William Huff Carson, recounted that "the men had been killing buffalo, and the oxen smelling the fresh blood became frightened and ran wildly away."

What happened next is the single event that is mentioned in every account we have of the trek of the Garden Grove Company.

A young woman named Elenor Kingsley was killed. Ellen, as she was called, was riding in one of the stampeding wagons. In her fright, and endeavoring to make her escape from danger, she jumped from the back of the wagon and fell into the path of the oncoming team. All of the accounts use the word "jump" in describing the accident.

When she jumped, she fell and was trampled by the oxen, and then crushed under the wheels of the oncoming wagon. "She never breathed again."

The teamster of the wagon behind the one that ran over her pulled Ellen out from under his team. Crooks recorded that she died within a few minutes of the accident, but the other accounts all state that she was killed instantly.

The wagon that ran over her was driven by John Anderson West, age 30. His sister, Sarah Esther and her husband, William Barton, were also members of the Garden Grove Company.

We know very little about Elenor Kingsley. Susan Zimmerman remembered that she was a young mother with a small baby, and that her only other relative was a sister, also traveling with the company. This may not be entirely accurate.

By examining family and church records, it appears that Elenor Kingsley was 31 when the accident occurred. She was traveling with her sister Flora Kingsley Hughes, a widow, with a four year old son, Ross Burton Hughes, Jr. There is no record of a small baby.

Elvira Carson, in her account of the tragic event, turns the story into a cautionary tale. In her telling of the story she adds that the pioneers had been advised that in the event of a stampede they should stay with their wagons and not attempt to jump out. Throughout her life, she taught her family the importance of following instructions, especially those given by Church leaders.

Not everyone followed this advice to stay in the wagon.

At the time Sister Kingsley was about to jump from her wagon, another drama was unfolding in the Barton wagon, probably just behind John West’s outfit.

As William Barton was running alongside his oxen as they rushed forward in the stampede, his wife Sarah, who was riding in the wagon, grabbed their three year old son Alma, and clutching him to her breast, climbed out on the tongue between the oxen. She tossed the boy over the near oxen to her husband who safely caught him. Then Sarah jumped clear of the wagon.

Critchlow reports that their family’s team was the hindmost among those stampeding and consisted of one yoke of oxen, two yokes of cows, and a mare hitched on the lead. Instead of following the other teams ahead, the mare led the team in a half circle towards the rear of the train and came to stand without damage to their family.

Susan Zimmerman reported that many more of the wagons would have run that morning but for the heroics of Frank Owen and his sister Emeline. When they saw the first teams start to run, they had the presence of mind to leap from their wagon and throw a quilt over the heads of their oxen which kept them from running. "As the team ahead was a span of blind horses, on a large buggy, they stopped the train." Perhaps someone in the family knows something of oxen and horses, and could explain to us what Zimmerman has described.

Frank was Francis Marion Owen, age 19, a young man of great athletic ability. His family history says the while at school he successfully swam the Mississippi River at a point where it was a mile wide.

Captain William Huff Carson’s team was also one of those that did not stampede. He had taken the precaution to adjust some lines of rope and with these he succeeded in controlling his oxen.

After the animals had been brought back under control and the company reorganized it was discovered that three wagons had been broken. Camp was made so the wagons could be repaired, and Sister Kingsly could be properly buried.

The men dug a grave in the sandy soil, and lined it with wood taken from empty goods boxes. The sisters washed and dressed the body. Sister Kingsley had been among those who had received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple, just before the Saints were driven out of Illinois. Jane Telford recorded that during the journey she and her daughter, Anna, "made four Temple Suits for burial out of the linens they were bringing to the valley. They sewed all the time when they were not busy with camp duties." It is likely, I think, that Sister Kingsley was buried in one of these "suits."

The members of the Garden Grove Company probably stood around the grave, sang a song together, and heard some words of comfort. The grave would have then been dedicated.

Susan Zimmerman said that "it was hard to leave her body in that lonely spot."

The next day was the 24th of July. The company resumed its journey "all the time on the lookout for possibly more stampeding."

Meanwhile in Great Salt Lake City, Pioneer Day was celebrated "in great style."

 

Part 6

Part 8