IX. 



(sKmoncr tfie Mormoi^ ^e^^^emenXA, 



E staid in Salt Lake City until the 12th of No- 

 vember. We were paid off on the 10th. It was 

 optional wdth us whether to take our discharge 

 at $40 per month or make the round trip at $26. I hesitated 

 a while, but a glance at the snowy range to the eastward, and 

 the knowledge that the trip to the Missouri would take two of 

 the coldest of winter months, even if we could make twenty 

 miles a day, soon decided my course. I would go on to Cali- 

 fornia. About half, mainly Missourians, with one or two 

 Kansans, returned and, we heard, underwent much suffering. 

 Our party of twenty made arrangements wdth some Mormon 

 freighters, w^ho were going to Southern California for goods, to 

 convey themselves, provisions and baggage to the Pacific. 

 Their charge was $80 a piece. My wages amounted to $140, 

 after my outfit was deducted. Much of this was spent for 

 needed clothing and my share of utensils and provisions for 

 our mess. I also bought a rifle which I thought I would need, 

 but which I had better have left, as I so much needed after- 

 wards the money it cost. 



Our means of conveyance were three four-horse springless 

 wagons, in charge of Sydney Tanner, a veteran Mormon. 

 The other teams were owned by the drivers. We got along 



(120) 



