Day in the Life

Jul 12, 1847

Journal Entry

July 12, 1847 ~ Monday

12th [FIGURE] I started early in the morning & rode to bear
River And for the first time I saw the long looked
for Bear River valley yet the spot whare we stuck it
was nothing vary interesting there was considerable
grass in the valley & some timber & thick bushes on
the bank of the river my object in visiting the
river before the camp was to try my luck in ketching
trout as it was A stream famed for containing that
kind of fish. it was cloudy & cool but I found
it A difficult stream to fish in with the fly in
consequence of the thick underbrush. I fished several
hours & had all sorts of luck good bad and i
indiferent. I some of the time would fish half an
hour & could not start a fish, then I would find an
eddy with 3 or 4 trout in it & they would jump at
the hooks as though there was A bushel of trout in
the hole, And in one instance I caught two at a time
I fished some of the time on horsback riding in the
middle of the stream which was about 3 rode wide
& when I could not desend longer in the stream
for swift & deep water I would have to plunge
my horse through the bear thickets which was
hard work to penetrate And I knew not at
what moment I would have A griselly bear upon
my back or An Indian Arrow in my side
for I was in danger of both some of the time
I would have A dozen bites at my hook in one
& nearly drown 3 or 4 trout & not get one. I fin[ally]
wound up my fishing & started after the camp

Having caught [ink blot] troot in all the camp travled
9 miles & nooned in a valley I found President
Young vary sick with the fever. The camp started on
But President Young being so sick concluded not to move from whare
He was Brs Kimball, Benson, Rockwood & others stoped with him with
there waggons, we drove without any road over Hills & dales had to
make our own road as we went along, we camped at night in Mathews
valley by the side of Reddings Cave, this cave is about 20 feet wide
at its mouth 7 feet high & 30 feet long, at the back part of the cave
Are large wolf dens or other Animals the cave is composed of
light coulored sand stone vary somft many of us cut our name
in it there are many curious rocks that surround it we passed
by A mountain of pudding stone composed of gravel sand
sement &c its spires were reaching up like the pyramids of Egypt
The valleys begin to grow more fertile & the Air more pacific than in
the wind River country. Professor Pratt informed me that his
Barometrical [FIGURE] observation made the South pass to be 7085 feet
above the level of the sea. Also it was 280 miles from Laramie
the distance of the day 16 3/4 mile

People

Browse people Wilford Woodruff mentioned on this day in his journal. Click on the person's name to view a short bio and other pages they are mentioned on or click on "View in Family Search" to view their FamilySearch profile.

Rockwood, Albert Perry
9 Jun 1805 - 26 Nov 1879
130 mentions
Young, Brigham
1 Jun 1801 - 29 Aug 1877
3427 mentions
Apostle, Family
Benson, Ezra Taft
22 Feb 1811 - 3 Sep 1869
378 mentions
Apostle
Kimball, Heber Chase
14 Jun 1801 - 22 Jun 1868
1455 mentions
Apostle
Pratt, Orson
19 Sep 1811 - 3 Oct 1881
1082 mentions
Apostle

Events

View selected events in the two months surrounding this date in Wilford Woodruff's life. Click on the dates to jump to that day in Wilford Woodruff's journal.

Jul 12, 1847