158 Years Ago TODAY - October 28, 1856

158 years ago TODAY - October 28, 1856

RESCUE for the MARTIN HANDCART COMPANY

Crossing the Platte River on October 19, 1856, in the area of present-day Casper, Wyoming, had sapped the last remaining strength of many in the Martin Handcart Company.   Fourteen people died that night.

  For five days they struggled along in the wind and snow but were able to go only ten miles, eventually becoming snowbound for six days in the area of Bessemer Bend and Red Buttes.

During those six days (between October 24 - October 29) 
56 people died, many of whom were men who had given away their ration of food to their struggling wives and crying children.  

As a result they were too weak to endure the harsh conditions.

On Sunday, October 26, John Rodwell, a 55 year old man in the Martin Company, told of a dream he had that they would all be rescued within two days. 

 

He told of seeing ". . . three Californians, wearing blue soldier overcoats, riding mules or horses.  They . . . told us of teams and relief from the valley . . . " 

 

For 2 days this dream was the talk of the camp and gave them hope for a rescue.

 

The following night  Elizabeth Horrocks Jackson also had a dream in which she saw her husband Aaron, who had passed away from exposure the night after the company crossed the Platte River. 

 

In the dream Aaron appeared to her and said, "Cheer up, Elizabeth, deliverance it at hand."

Meanwhile, three express riders had ridden east from Devil's Gate, still searching for the missing handcart company.  After a day and a half of hard riding, they spied a shoe footprint in the road as they neared Bessemer Bend.  They rode hard and soon found the camp.   

Abel Garr, Daniel W. Jones, and Joseph A. Young, who was clothed in a blue soldier's overcoat and riding a white mule, rode into camp - just as Rodwell had dreamed and confirming Elizabeth Jackson's dream.

 Their joy was inexpressible and tears coursed down their cold, gaunt cheeks.

This was the last good place to camp before the trail would leave the Platte River for a difficult span of 40 miles with little water.

 

 

Because of the number of deaths, this part of the journey was described by one member of the Martin Handcart Company as

"one long funeral march."

 

October 23, 1856 - 158 YEARS AGO TODAY!

CROSSING ROCKY RIDGE
The Most Disastrous Day!

 

As the Willie Handcart Company continued along the trail they took refuge from the snowstorms in some willows close to the Sixth Crossing of the Sweetwater River.  They were completely out of food, but had gained some hope when express riders found them the day before. 

The supply wagons were told that the Willie Company had been found, and they proceded eastward to reach them.  However, they were eventually caught in the same snowstorms that hit all the companies, and not knowing the desperate situation of the Willie Company, they also took refuge in willows several miles off the trail.

Captain James G. Willie could not wait for the supply wagons to find his freezing, starving company of saints, so he and Joseph Elder rode their horses over Rocky Ridge to find them.   Instead of going the 12 miles they had expected, they had to ride 27 miles in a blizzard to find the supply wagons.

Thanks to a rescuer named Harvey Cluff, who wisely followed a prompting to place a sign on the trail pointing to the camp of the rescuers, Captain Willie and Joseph Elder found them, and early the next morning they hurried back to find the Willie Company.

The morning of October 23, 1856, began a day that would test the Willie Handcart Company like no other!  They started from camp early that morning and for some, the day would not end for 27 hours - until almost sunrise of the following day.

It began with the climb up and over Rocky Ridge, a climb of 600 vertical feet and a distance of about 16 miles.  They were cautioned not to stop to rest, as they would surely freeze to death.

 

When they finally arrived at their campsite, the situation was grim.  Few tents were pitched.  Wagons continued bringing all those they could throughout the night.  Some were badly frozen, some were dying, and some were already dead.

 

The following morning it was discovered that 13 people had died during the ordeal, including four children: 

Samuel Gadd, age 10,

Niels Nielsen, age 6,

 Bodil Mortensen, age 10 - a young girl traveling with the Nielsen family and helping to care for their little son . . .

. . . and James Kirkwood, age 11, who carried his younger brother Joseph, age 4, much of the way over Rocky Ridge and then collapsed at his family's campfire and died.

A mass grave was dug and the bodies were all placed into it.  Two of the men who assisted with the digging of that grave died later on that same day and are buried nearby.

In spite of this tragic loss of life, the company had to continue westward.  As they did so, more and more supply wagons met them, and eventually they were all able to ride into the Salt Lake Valley, arriving on November 9, 1856.

About 67 members of the Willie Handcart Company died along the trail at some point.

 

 

OCTOBER 19, 1856 * SNOW * SNOW * SNOW!

SNOW!!

On this date in 1856 snow began falling on both the Willie Handcart Company at Ice Slough, and on the Martin Company as they crossed the North Platte River for the last time in the area of present-day Casper, Wyoming. 

The Martin Company lost 14 people after that cold river crossing, many of them men who had given their meager ration of flour to their starving wives and children.  

The company continued pushing westward in the snow, and after five freezing, stormy days they had only gone 10 miles to the area of Bessemer Bend and Red Buttes.  They could go no further, and as they camped there in the snow, 56 members of their company died.

 

 

After searching for nearly 50 miles beyond Devil's Gate, express riders finally saw a footprint in the snow that led them to the Martin Company. 

Although they had no supplies to offer the starving pioneers, they gave them HOPE, and let them know that rescue wagons loaded with food and other supplies were on the way . . .

IF they could just keep going!

158 YEARS AGO - SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1856 - GENERAL CONFERENCE

158 years ago - also on a Sunday - President Brigham Young stood up in front of the congregation and pleaded with them to prepare to give all they could in the form of food, blankets, clothing and shoes to send to the two handcart companies out on the plains.

The previous day Franklin D. Richards had brought him the message that they were on their way, but until his arrival in Salt Lake and his report to President Brigham Young, no one knew they were coming and there had been no provisions left anywhere along the trail for their resupply.

 The Willie Company, led by Captain James G. Willie, was first along the way, but buffalo and a lightning storm had stampeded and scattered their cattle causing them to travel so slowly that they would run out of food well before reaching the Salt Lake Valley.

The Martin Handcart Company, led by Captain Edward Martin, was weeks behind them, also traveling slowly because there were so many elderly pioneers and so many young children with them.  They too were fast running out of food.

 As the Prophet and Seer, Brigham Young must have known the fate of these two large handcart companies when he appealed to the congregation to "save the people" and "bring them in from the plains."

After that meeting women stood up and removed their petticoats, stockings and even their shoes to donate to the pioneers out on the plains.  The following day 20 wagons were loaded and on October 6, 1856 they headed east to find the Willie and the Martin Handcart Companies and rescue them.

My great, great grandfather Reddick Newton Allred was among them and so was my husband's great, great grandfather Joel Parrish.

158 years ago today that great rescue effort began . . . and we tell the rest of the story here at Martin's Cove!