May 19 1864

the mud holes I ever saw in my life & place them in a string
& then try to drive a team through them what made them
worse than then Illionis & Indianna mud Holes was they
were nothing but mud while these were full of trees stumps
& brush, both Horses & Mules struggled fearfully Belly deep
in mud to make advancement occasionally a pair of Horses or
Mules would fall & be buried all over except their Heads but
men would go in pry out the animals pull out the veacle with ropes
& start again some carriages were broaken in this way. we walked
through the mud untill 8 oclock in the Evening then we stoped
& baited our animals & then continued our Journey in bear
river Lake Valley by moon light & arived in Paris at 3 oclok
in the morning of the 20, having been 21 Hours on the road
of hard travelling making a distance of 50 miles &
the most bad road I ever travelled in one day in my life

May 20, 1864 ~ Friday

20. On our arival in Paris at 3 oclok in the morning we of
course found all abed & asleep. Brother C. C. Rich was keeping
Batchelors Hall. He got up & made the best provisions for
all the company that He could. The Presidency stoped with
Brother Rich. G. A. Smith myself & several others stoped with
David Savage we spent the day in Paris resting. We found
this to be a large valley good soil & water suffic[ien]t to irrig[at]e
the whole abundant timber & Handy a great stock range
and the finest Lake in Utah Terriotory & perhaps in America
for one of its size it was 30 miles long 10 wide, & through
the middle the bottom not yet found with 200 feet line the waters
are cold & vary clear & abound with the finest trout in
the world large streams inter into it from the mountains vast
numbers of trout go up these streams from the Lake the Brethren
kill them with clubs & spars & ketch them in nets they range
from 4 to 12 lbs wait though some have been seen in the
water supposed to weigh 50 or 75 lbs we had fish in plenty
to eat

May 21, 1864 ~ Saturday

21. The sun came out plesant we hitched up our teams & drove to
3 miles creek & found a small settlement in tents & waggons
we then rode To St Charles 7 miles. Here we found a large settlement in

May 19 1864

the mud holes I ever saw in my life & place them in a string & then try to drive a team through them what made them worse than the Illinois & Indianna mud Holes was they were nothing but mud while these were full of trees stumps & brush, both Horses & Mules struggled fearfully Belly deep in mud to make advancement occasionally a pair of Horses or Mules would fall & be buried all over Except their Heads but men would go in pry out the animals pull out the veacle with ropes & start again some carriages were broaken in this way we walked through the mud untill 8 oclock in the Evening then we stoped & baited our animals & then continued our Journey in bear river Lake Valley by moon light & arived in Paris at 3 oclok in the morning of the 20, having been 21 Hours on the road of hard travelling making a distance of 50 miles & the most bad road I ever travelled in one day in my life

May 20, 1864 ~ Friday

20. On our arival in Paris at 3 oclok in the morning we of course found all abed & asleep Brother C. C. Rich was keeping Batchelors Hall. He got up & made the best provisions for all the company that He could. The Presidency stoped with Brother Rich. G. A. Smith myself & several others stoped with David Savage we spent the day in Paris resting. We found this to be a large valley good soil & water sufficient to irrigate the whole abundant timber & Handy a great stock range and the finest Lake in Utah Territory & perhaps in America for one of its size it was 30 miles long 10 wide, & through the middle the bottom not yet found with 200 feet line the waters are cold & vary clear & abound with the finest trout in the world large streams inter into it from the mountains vast numbers of trout go up these streams from the Lake the Brethren kill them with clubs & spars & ketch them in nets they range from 4 to 12 lbs wait though some have been seen in the water supposed to weigh 50 or 75 lbs we had fish in plenty to eat

May 21, 1864 ~ Saturday

21. The sun came out plesant we hitched up our teams & drove to 3 miles creek & found a small settlement in tents & waggons we then rode To St Charles 7 miles Here we found a large settlement in