Oaks on the North side of the road in the hills, we kept
out a gard through the night as we were in danger
of the Sioux on one side, and the Pawnees on the other
President Young addressed the Camp. & told them
when they left in the morning not to take away any
thing ownly what they brought with them unless it was
sold them by Brother Case who had had charge of the
Station for a long time & the goverment was owing
him a good deal & if he felt disposed to sell any thing
that he had in his possession & report to Goverment
he could do so. during the evening Professer Pratt
took made some observation at 15 m pas 7 oclok the
barometer stood at 28.7 inches attached Thermometer
64° detached Thermometer 60° North wind & fair
the same Also at 8 oclok 52 m found the double altitude
of the pole star to be 80° 20' 35" from which the
lattitude was deduced viz. O, Pratt. Also took the angular
distance of sun & moon for the Longitude at Beaver Creek ford also
the altitude of the moon for the tru time

April 23, 1847 ~ Friday

23rd At 6 oclok O Pratt made a barometrical observation
mercury standing at 28.697 inch attached Thermometer
36° detached thermometer 34° vary little wind from
west fair. Also took an altitude of the sun for the time, and
also A Meridan Altitude of the sun for the latitude found it
to be 41° 24' 29". While wattering the horses
at a creek at the station last evening Brother G. A. Smiths horse
mired & pitched foreward & Jumped onto him trod upon his
feet & breast & held him fast in the mud untill I caught
him by the bit & backed him off I was fearful he was badly
injured but at last found that he was but little hurt

[FIGURE] This was a day of adventures to the pioner camp in
the morning 12 of us started on horsback to search
out a ford across the dangerous difficult & troublesom loup
fork of the Patt river we went down the stream some
distance & several men waided across the stream & found
the water so deep & so much quick sand we concluded
to drive Hier up to the old Pawnee village so we returned
to the camp harnessed up our horses, my gray horse named
Titus had the belly ake or bots yet I started out with him
& the camp drove up with some little difficulty to the
old Indian village or a little below it & men commenced
searching out a ford & found the whole bed of the river
one universal dody [body] of quick sand which if a horse or
waggon stoped it would begin to sink down we
had two channels of water to cross with a sand bar in
in the middle the deepest water was from 3 to 4 feet deedp &
vary rapid & about 300 ^yards^ strait across some places of quick
sand was found so soft as to sink man or beast instantly in
& the more he strugled to get out the more he would sink
but we calculated to avoid such places as much as possible
As I was forward with my 10 or the first ten it fell to me to
make the trial professor Pratt having a strong pair of horses
went forward and I followed him I had two yoke of
cattle & my horses on my carriage with about 10 hundred