16 



LIFE SKETCHES OF A JAYHAWKER 



In walking past his place of residence I saw about seven or eight wagon 

 bodies with covers on, all in a row, ranged in his back yard, and was told 

 these were occupied by his wives. Across the square from where I boarded 

 were two more, and these I knew quite well. 



The warm springs were there at that time, in an open plain and we all 

 thoroughly enjoyed the bathing. One day there was a dozen of us enjoying 

 our bath when along came a wagon, drove up to almost thirty paces of us 

 and the driver asked if we didn't know this was the ladies bath day. We 

 told him we were entirely ignorant, and would immediately get into our 

 clothes and give them full possession. Which we did. 



Many Mormons had been to California and returned with gold from 

 the mines, and had it coined at Salt Lake into five dollar gold pieces. On 

 one side was printed the All Seeing Eye, and on the other side the Bee Hive. 

 But most of the currency consisted of shin plasters written on paper and 

 signed by Brigham, and circulated only amongst themselves, for all things 

 bought from emigrants was paid for in gold coin. The gold was soft, no 

 alloy being used, so lasted but a short time. 



CHAPTER II. 



We commenced to think of leaving, and inquired the best route out. 

 The Mormons tcld us of the Donner party being snowed in in the Sierra 

 Nevada Mountains, and that it was too late now for us to undertake any 

 route but the Southern route. This sounded plausible to us, but there was 

 a motive back of this that we didn't comprehend. The Southern route was 

 the old Santa Fe trail, and it was policy for them to have a travelled trail 

 to the coast, rather than go back to the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers for 

 supplies. 



About the latter part of September we started the organization of a 

 company, and by the first of October we had gathered one hundred and five 

 wagons, and a guide, a Mormon, who claimed to know the road well, and 

 he did prove to be competent. Our contract with the guide. Captain Hunt, 

 called for a thousand dollars to Los Angeles, or ten dollars a wagon. As 

 soon as the wagons were in readiness, the start was made on the first day 

 of October, from a place called Provo, where we congregated, fifty miles 

 from Salt Lake. 



We were divided into seven divisions, each division had a captain, and 

 a name coined to suit the fancy of the division. Some of them were "Bug 

 Smashers", "Buck Skins", "Wolverine", "Hawk Eye", etc. The one to 

 which I belonged was styled the "Jay Hawkers of Forty Nine", the party 

 that plays the prominent part in this narrative. 



Every day we took turns leading the train as it was styled. That is, the 

 division that led the train one day fell into the rear next day, for the leader 

 always had the hardest work, for the road had to be broken. The first part 

 of the journey was through the sage brush, and proved difficult traveling, 

 and with such a large company we made but a few miles a day. The trail 

 was over low rolling hills covered with scrub cedars, and somewhat sandy 

 soil in places. The grass and water became scarcer every day, but we man- 

 aged fairly well until we passed Little Salt Lake, where three Mormons 

 made their appearance on horseback. The leader and spokesman said his 



