25th Travled 18 miles & camped on the La Bonte Brother Stratton camped with us we travled together through the
day
~ Monday
26 Elder Whipple took some of my loading to carry, one
sack of coffee from Bess wagon 160 lbs 1 Box of paper
from Watts waggon 200 lbs. We travled over 17 miles of
the worst road on the Journey our oxen tiwearied out &
darkness overtook us in the Hills we camped on a Branch
or near the La Prele river we find but little of any grass for
cattle in this region & expect to find grass vary short on much
of the journey. The first & 2nd Division of our company was
camped on this creek they killed two Buffalo this evening
~ Tuesday
27thHardy & Morfet companies moved on we found
92 of our oxen gone this morning & knew not whare to
find them men went out in evry direction & returned
& could not find them two Horsmen went back on the
road 6 miles & tracked them back on the road to a small
creek & lost track of them returned at night & brought
3 oxen with them I went on to A High mountain & with my
glass could explore the country for many miles I saw many
Herds of Buffaloos on the platt Bottom Brother Stratton & Atwood
followed A grisley Bear A distance But did not kill him Sommers shot At A panther near camp did not kill him
the country abounds with Buffalo, Elk, Deer, Antilope
Bear, panther, woolves &c.
~ Wednesday
28th Our situation seems to be serious this morning Having
lost more than half our cattle Elders StrattonHanks
& Whipple started on Horsback after the oxen & 4 men
on foot to try once more what could be done I staid in
camp & took care of the Herd
~ Thursday
29th The brethren returned & brought in 39 of our oxen
~ Friday
30th The Brethren brought in the remainder of our
oxen all but 4 Brother A. O. Smoot brought in about
30 of them the other 4 could not be found I went out
with several of our men to get some meet I killed one Buffal[o]
& capt Bess & co one Buffalo I got mine into camp they did
not get any of theirs in & the wolves eat it up at night
we were all much rejoiced to Hear that our cattle were
found so that we could continue our Journey
Sept 1st Sunday we travled 13 miles & camped on ^crossed^ Deer Creek
& camped on muddy creek saw Br Smoot
~ Monday
2nd travled some with Brother Smoot we travled 13 miles
& camped near the upper crossing of the platt
~ Tuesday
3rd we forded the river without difficulty but for several
Days we have had much Difficulty in finding grass for our oxen
~ Sunday
25th Travled 18 miles & camped on the La Bonte Brother
Stratton camped with us we travled together through the
day
~ Monday
26 Elder Whipple took some of my loading to carry one
sack of coffee from Bess wagon 160 lbs 1 box of paper
from Watts waggon 200 lbs we travled over 17 miles of
the worst road on the Journey our oxen wearied out &
darkness overtook us in the Hills we camped on a Branch
or near the La Prele river we find but little of any grass for
cattle in this region & expect to find grass vary short on much
of the journey. The first & 2nd Division of our company was
camped on this creek they killed two buffalo this evening
~ Tuesday
27thHardy & Morfet companies moved on we found
92 of our oxen gone this morning & knew not whare to
find them men went out in evry direction & returned
& could not find them two horsmen went back on the
road 6 miles & tracked them back on the road to a small
creek & lost track of them returned at night & brought
3 oxen with them I went on to a high mountain & with my
glass could explore the country for many miles I saw many
Herds of Buffalo on the platt Bottom Brother Stratton & Atwood
followed a grisley bear a distance but did not kill him
Sommers shot at a panther near camp did not kill him
the country abounds with buffalo, elk, deer, antilope
bear, panther, woolves &c.
~ Wednesday
28th Our situation seems to be serious this morning having
lost more than half our cattle Elders StrattonHanks
& Whipple started on horsback after the oxen & 4 men
on foot to try once more what could be done I staid in
camp & took care of the herd
~ Thursday
29th The brethren returned & brought in 39 of our oxen
~ Friday
30th The Brethren brought in the remainder of our
Oxen all but 4 Brother A. O. Smoot brought in about
30 of them the other 4 could not be found I went out
with several of our men to get some meet I killed one buffalo
& capt Bess & co one buffalo I got mine into camp they did
not get any of theirs in & the wolves eat it up at night
we were all much rejoiced to hear that our cattle were
found so that we could continue our Journey
"Journal (January 1, 1847 – December 31, 1853)," August 25, 1850 - September 3, 1850, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed January 16, 2025, https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/v27M