June 21^{st 1847} [FIGURE] INDEPENDANCE ROCK I arose early this morning
took breakfast And in
company with Br Brown
we rode clear around Independance Rock I should
Judge the distance to be about 3/4 of A mile, we exhamined the many
names & lists of names of the trappers, traders, travellers, & emegrants
which are painted upon those rocks nearly all the names were put
on with read, Black, & yellow paint, some had washed out & defaced
the greatest number was put on within A few Years some of them
were quite plain of about 30 years standing nearly all the comp[anies]

pass by put some of their names on the rock After going around and
exhamineding it we staked our horses And mounted the rock I
went forward & gained the highest point of the south end of the
Rock which containes the names. After exhamineing it I then went to
the North end which is the highest part of the rock, here is An opening
or cavern that would contain 30 or 40 persons And A rock stands on the
highest peak of about 3 tons wait. we got upon this rock & offered up
our prayers according to the order of the priesthood, we prayed earnestly
for the blessings of God to rest upon President Young & his brethrn
the Twelve & all of the Pioneer camp & the whole camp of
Israel & House of Israel, our wives & children, & relatives
the Mormon Battalion, all the churches Abroad And that the
Lord would hasten the time of the fulfillment of his prom-
ises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Lehi, Nephi, Alma, &
Moroni And all the sayings of the Lord of the Lord concerning
the building up of Zions in the last days And Avenging the
blood of the Prophets And while offering up our prayers
the spirit of the Lord desended upon us and we truly felt
to rejoice & while we were attending to our prayers the Missou-
rians was burying A woman A little distance from the
rock by the name of Rachel Morgan 25 years of Age being
the third one of the family buried on the road they were
supposed to be poisoned by cooking in new copper vessels
After surveying the rock what we wished we again
desended to the ground. I was the first Latter Day Saint
that ever went onto that rock or offered up prayers according to the
order of the Priesthood. We had A view of our camp from this rock And
expected they would noon there so we mounted our horses & concluded
to examine the country in the regions round about we rode to the North
East about 5 miles went to the top of a high bluff And saw the camp
in motion we then rode to the foot of the Mountain to the N.W. & followed
under the foot of the mountain All of the way to the Devils gate thrugh
which the Sweet water runs, while taking this circuitous rout
we passed A salt lake covering about 50 acres of Ground. We spent
but few minutes at the Devils gate at this time & Hurried on toback to
the rock as our camp had come up but before we could get to them
they had camped half a mile east of the rock I met Br Young
going up to the rock I related to him my travels since I left the camp
He asked me to go back with him to the rock, so I told turned out my
horse having rode all of 20 miles during the forenoon exhamining
bare rugged rocks & barren grounds & salt ponds &c And I returned
with President Young W. Richards G. A. Smith & others & we again
ascended the rock together & spent about half an hour upon it &
returned to camp mounted our horses & rode to the Devils gate which
is the name of the channel through the Mountain through which the
sweet waters run. It is 5 miles from Indipendance Rock &
while Approaching this place from the rock As is the case while approa[ch]-
ing the foot of any mountain through this country A person is
greatly decieved in the distance for while An object appears but a mile
Ahead of you you will have to ride 5 or 6 before you can reach it
we rode as far as we could into the gate hitched our horses & walked
into about the centre of the cavern. This opening or Devils gate is
400 feet high perpendicular rocks 120 feet wide & 50 rod's long
& the water rushes through it with A roar, the rocks are compo[se]d
[page worn] [of] coarse grey granite with A vein of Black trap rock runing

through it we spent about half an hour visiting this place then had to
back out & ride around it on the south side some of the footman
walked over the top of it we camped for the night on the bank of
the sweet water About one mile west of the Devils gate the camp having
travled during the day 15 1/4 miles And I 30 miles. Distance 15 1/4 m 30 miles

A guide board was put up at the gate saying it was
175 1/4 miles from the Fort Laramie, & 50 1/4 from the ford
22nd or ferry of the Platt River