following you even the fruits of your own labour & you would
be putting them after you, & not drawing back that which is
before you, the Lord is determined to esstablish his kingdom in
the last days & He will have a faithful diligent & obedient people
and He chastizes the Saints to keep them humble & make them do
thereir duty if we had not been mobed & afflicted but always
been in prosperity we should have been lifted up in the pride of
our hearts & not gathered together & built up Zion as we ought to
have done, so that these trials will work together for our good.
Instructions was also given to the Brethren who were to tarry to keep
to gether & be united, divide the means equally among yourselves
according to your labour, let each essteem his brother as himself. In no
wise retain that which belongeth to the traveller, steal not at all, be
careful of the lives & property of those you ferry over, & forget not
your prayers keep together & come up with the next company of Saints
19th we parted with the brethren who were to att
end the ferry & the camp moved on having been
one week we travled through a barren country
to willow springs ^a spring of water^ & nooned being 12 miles, we
past the red butes & many rough picturesque
sceneries & camped at night by the poison waters
travled 9 1/2 miles in the afternoon whole distance 21 1/2
Our camping place for the night was the most wretched of any ground
we have found on the way President Young thought it might properly
be called Hell gate. All the water tasted as though it run through
a bed of salt, salts, saltpeter, sulpher the it was naucious horrible
the ground in the valleys & marshes was apparently one half of it
composed of the saline floresance or salty substance of which this
country abounds. Our horses & cattle being thirsty drank a
little of the watter & quit it some of the cattle got badly miered
in the marshes. The traiders informed us these grounds wers
poison & would kill cattle but ours did not drink much or feed
long we tied them up. The hunters brought in one buffalo &
one deer & 3 antelope
~ Sunday
19 20th Sunday we hitched up early in the morning without feed
or watering & left our encampment of death, poison waters,
salt marshes &c & rode 3 miles to a good camp ground & sweet
water & turned out & bated 2 hours & took breakfast. this
camp ground was on the willow spring branch about 3 miles from
the head, President Young wished me to go on about 15
miles & look up a camp ground for the night, so I went forw[ar]d G. A. Smith went with me to the head of the willow springs
we there found a doctor belonging to a Missouri company who
had been doctoring a sick family in a company that was
forward. He was of opinion that the willow springs were
still 10 miles ahead which was incorrect as he was then
sitting at the head of them. Br Smith stoped with the dDr to wait for our waggons to come up & I rode on alone
After travling several miles Br John Brown came up
with me & we rode on together over a sandy barren, sage
country to a creek of good water containing some small
fish about 10 miles west of the willow springs we arived here
following you even the fruits of your own labour & you would
be putting them after you, & not drawing back that which is
before you, the Lord is determined to esstablish his kingdom in
the last days & He will have a faithful diligent & obedient people
and He chastizes the Saints to keep them humble & make them do
their duty if we had not been mobed & afflicted but always
been in prosperity we should have been lifted up in the pride of
our hearts & not gathered together & built up Zion as we ought to
have done, so that these trials will work together for our good.
Instructions was also given to the Brethren who were to tarry to keep
to gether & be united, divide the means equally among yourselves
according to your labour, let each essteem his brother as himself. In no
wise retain that which belongeth to the traveller, steal not at all, be
careful of the lives & property of those you ferry over, & forget not
your prayers keep together & come up with the next company of Saints
19th we parted with the brethren who were to att
end the ferry & the camp moved on having been
one week we travled through a barren country
to a spring of water & nooned being 12 miles, we
past the red butes & many rough picturesque
sceneries & camped at night by the poison waters
travled 9 1/2 miles in the afternoon whole distance 21 1/2
Our camping place for the night was the most wretched of any ground
we have found on the way President Young thought it might properly
be called Hell gate. All the water tasted as though it run through
a bed of salt, salts, saltpeter, sulpher it was naucious horrible
the ground in the valleys & marshes was apparently one half of it
composed of the saline floresance or salty substance of which this
country abounds. Our horses & cattle being thirsty drank a
little of the watter & quit it some of the cattle got badly miered
in the marshes. The traiders informed us these grounds wers
poison & would kill cattle but ours did not drink much or feed
long we tied them up. The hunters brought in one buffalo &
one deer & 3 antelope
~ Sunday
20th Sunday we hitched up early in the morning without feed
or watering & left our encampment of death, poison waters,
salt marshes &c & rode 3 miles to a good camp ground & sweet
water & turned out & bated 2 hours & took breakfast. this
camp ground was on the willow spring branch about 3 miles from
the head, President Young wished me to go on about 15
miles & look up a camp ground for the night, so I went forward
G. A. Smith went with me to the head of the willow springs
we there found a doctor belonging to a Missouri company who
had been doctoring a sick family in a company that was
forward. He was of opinion that the willow springs were
still 10 miles ahead which was incorrect as he was then
sitting at the head of them. Br Smith stoped with the
Dr to wait for our waggons to come up & I rode on alone
After travling several miles Br John Brown came up
with me & we rode on together over a sandy barren, sage
country to a creek of good water containing some small
fish about 10 miles west of the willow springs we arived here
"Journal (January 1, 1847 – December 31, 1853)," June 19, 1847 - June 20, 1847, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed April 20, 2024, https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/DkVK