120 SALT LAKE CITY — INDIAN TRADING PARTY. 



CHAPTER VIL 



TERMINATION OP THE FIELD-WORK OF 1849 — A WINTER AMONG THE 



MORMONS. 



Upon my arrival at Salt Lake City, I found that the camp, under 

 Lieutenant Gunnison, waa^then about sixty miles to the southward, 

 upon Utah Lake. I accordingly joined him as soon as possible. 

 The work, during my absence, had been carried forward by that 

 officer with energy, industry, and judgment. 



I had hoped, from the representations which had been made to me 

 of the mildness of the two previous winters, that we should be able 

 to keep the field the greater part, if not the whole of the season; but, 

 in the latter part of November, the winter set in with great and un- 

 usual severity, accompanied by deep snows, which rendered any 

 farther prosecution of the work impracticable. I was therefore com- 

 pelled to break up my camp, and to seek for winter quarters in the 

 city. These were not obtained without some difficulty, as the tide of 

 emigration had been so great that houses were very scarce, and not 

 a small portion of the inhabitants, among whom was the president 

 himself, were forced to lodge portions of their families in wagons. 



Upon terminating the field-work for the season, I despatched 

 three men, one of whom was my guide and interpreter, with a small 

 invoice of goods, to trade for horses among the Uintah Utahs, with 

 directions to await my orders at Fort Bridger. Reports after- 

 ward reached us that a bloody fight had taken place between the 

 Sioux and the Yampah Utahs, which latter tribe reside in the 

 vicinity of the Uintahs, and great fears were entertained that the 

 little party had been cut off by one or the other of the contending 

 tribes. Such a calamity, aside from the loss of life, would have 

 been of serious consequence to the expedition, as the horses I ex- 

 pected to obtain were almost indispensable to the return of the 

 party to the States, the number of our animals having been much 

 diminished by death and robbery. 



It may as well be mentioned here, that the party thus des- 

 patched subsequently joined me in the spring, as soon as the melt- 

 ing of the snows rendered communication with Fort Bridger prac- 



