LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 187 



commenced in the year 1845 ; but it was not till the fol- 

 lowing year that the great body of the Mormons turned 

 their backs upon the settlements of the United States, and 

 launched boldly out into the vast and barren prairies, with- 

 out any fixed destination as a goal to their endless jour- 

 ney. For many months long strings of Pittsburg and 

 Conostoga waggons, with herds of horses and domestic 

 cattle, wound their way towards the Indian frontier, with 

 the intention of rendezvousing at Council Bluffs on the 

 Upper Missouri. Here thousands of waggons were con- 

 gregated, with their tens of thousands of men, women, and 

 children, anxiously waiting the route from the elders of the 

 Church, who on their parts scarcely knew whither to direct 

 the steps of the vast crowd they had set in motion. At length 

 the indefinite destination of Oregon and California was pro- 

 claimed, and the long train of emigrants took up the line 

 of march. It was believed the Indian tribes would im- 

 mediately fraternise with the Mormons on their approach- 

 ing their country ; but the Pawnees quickly undeceived 

 them by running off with their stock on every opportunity. 

 Besides these losses, at every camp, horses, sheep, and oxen 

 strayed away and were not recovered, and numbers died 

 from fatigue and want of provender ; so that, before they 

 had been many weeks on their journey, nearly all their 

 cattle, which they had brought to stock their new country, 

 were dead or missing, and those that were left were in most 

 miserable condition. 



They had started so late in the season that the greater 

 part were compelled to winter on the Platte, on Grand 

 Island, and in the vicinity, where they endured the great- 

 est privations and suffering from cold and hunger. Many 

 who had lost their stock lived upon roots and pig-nuts ; and 

 scurvy, in a most malignant form, and other disorders, 

 carried off numbers of the wretched fanatics. 



Amongst them were many substantial farmers from all 

 parts of the United States, who had given up their valu- 

 able farms, sold off all their property, and were dragging 

 their irresponsible and unfortunate families into the wil- 

 derness carried away by their blind and fanatic zeal in 



