saw women or children in danger I done what I could
to rescue them little can be done at such times ownly for
each one to dodge the best He can & save his own life if possible
when I found I could do no more for the encampment in
general I run forward to see what state my carriage
& family waggons & family was in I found my Noble
Horse still A running but on three legs Rhoda was knocked
out of the carriage & Susan was lying flat upon the
Bottom with her feet hanging out between the wheels
& she was screaming aloud. I hollowed for her to
hold on untill I come she did so untill I caught the
Horse by the bit & stoped him & rescued Her. One of
the ox teams Had run onto the Horse & carriage Had
bent one of [the] exes [axles] smashed one of the Horses legs to
peaces & knocked Rhoda out of the carriage. As soon
As I got the Horse out of the carriage I went through
the encampment to see who was dead & maimed
And I was Asstonished to find that no one was
killed & but one badly wounded & but little damage
done to waggons or oxen And to look it all over it
looked liked like a miriacle to see how so many escap[ed]
I had to shoot my Horse to get him out of his misery
which was painful to me but I was thankful my wife children & friends were well & their lives preserved
~ Wednesday
31st Elder L. Hardy was vary low to day And aI am nearly
worn out with Hard labour & care we travled 21 miles
& camped on the Bank at the crossing of the south fork
of the Platt 20 miles from Ash Hollow
~ Thursday
Aug 1st We forded the Platt River with our teams to day
It was A Hard days work it required 8 or 10 yoke of oxen
to draw A Ton across the river it was about half a mile
across I got some goods wet.
~ Friday
2nd we lost 20 Head of oxen which detained A part
of the oxen waggon I started out all that were able
to go the rest of us went out to Hunt cattle I found
them in the bluffs in a bason & drove them into
camp the men many of them had gone Hunting cattle
I yoked the oxen & with the assistance of women & children
I drove the encampment on & soon the men returned
from Hunting oxen they found their encampment gone
& followed on & over took us we got along well untill
we came to go down those tremendious Bluffs into Ash Hollow. Here Watts & Bess both smashed each a
Hind wheel to peaces & broke evry spoke out I worked
untill eleven oclok at night to get the broken waggon
into camp & then left them by the way side & walked into
Ash Hollow & camped for the night wearied out. 20 m[iles]
~ Saturday
3rd the day was spent setting tire & mending waggons
~ Sunday
4th Sunday I spent the day in camp Had a meeting with the
Saints. As my men had broken down two wheels & I must stop
to mend them I Advised Elders Hardy & Petty to go on with
saw women or children in danger I done what I could
to rescue them little can be done at such times ownly for
each one to dodge the best he can & save his own life if possible
when I found I could do no more for the encampment in
general I run forward to see what state my carriage
& family waggons & family was in I found my noble
horse still a running but on three legs Rhoda was knocked
out of the Carriage & Susan was lying flat upon the
bottom with her feet hanging out between the wheels
& she was screaming aloud. I hollowed for her to
hold on untill I come she did so untill I caught the
horse by the bit & stoped him & rescued her. One of
the ox teams had run onto the horse & carriage had
bent one of the exles smashed one of the horses legs to
peaces & knocked Rhoda out of the carriage. As soon
as I got the horse out of the carriage I went through
the encampment to see who was dead & maimed
and I was asstonished to find that no one was
killed & but one badly wounded & but little damage
done to waggons or oxen and to look it all over it
looked like a miracle to see how so many escaped
I had to shoot my horse to get him out of his misery
which was painful to me but I was thankful my
wife children & friends were well & their lives preserved
~ Wednesday
31st Elder L Hardy was vary low to day and I am nearly
worn out with hard labour & care we travled 21 miles
& camped on the bank at the crossing of the south fork
of the Platt 20 miles from Ash Hollow
~ Thursday
Aug 1st We forded the Platt River with our teams to day
It was a hard days work it required 8 or 10 yoke of oxen
to draw a ton across the river it was about half a mile
across I got some goods wet.
~ Friday
2nd we lost 20 head of oxen which detained a part
of the waggon I started out all that were able
to go the rest of us went out to hunt cattle I found
them in the bluffs in a bason & drove them into
camp the men many of them had gone hunting cattle
I yoked the oxen & with the assistance of women & children
I drove the encampment on & soon the men returned
from hunting oxen they found their encampment gone
& followed on & over took us we got along well untill
we came to go down those tremendious bluffs into
Ash Hollow. Here Watts & Bess both smashed each a
hind wheel to peaces & broke evry spoke out I worked
untill eleven oclok at night to get the broken waggon
into camp & then left them by the way side & walked
into Ash Hollow & camped for the night wearied out. 20 m
~ Saturday
3rd the day was spent setting tire & mending waggons
~ Sunday
4th Sunday I spent the day in camp Had a meeting with the
Saints. As my men had broken down two wheels & I must stop
to mend them I advised Elders Hardy & Petty to go on with
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"Journal (January 1, 1847 – December 31, 1853)," July 3, 1850 - August 4, 1850, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed January 16, 2025, https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/pY6m