Pioneer Day Countdown: July 17, 1847 (Saturday)

Progress from the company was limited today, because President Young became sick again.

The Morning:

They started delayed this morning. When the Saints woke up, nine of their horses were missing. Blacksmith's set up a forge, and fixed Chamberlain's axle, broken from yesterday's rugged travel.
Wilford reported Brigham Young looked "poorly this morning."

The animals in the camp were on edge. They "seemed very uneasy and continue lowing and braying all the morning," William Clayton noted, "I suppose it is in consequence of the echoes, they [the cattle] no doubt thinking they are answered by others over the mountains."

Around 9:40 a.m. the company assembled and moved out, while some looked for the missing horses.
The wagons reached the Red Fork of the Weber River after a mile, and walked a little further. They set up camp a fews miles from present-day Henefer, UT.

"The reason for our stopping so soon was in consequence of President Young being suddenly taken quite ill and he could not endure any further travel today," Howard Egan explained.

In the meantime, the missing horses were found about 10 miles from camp.

The Afternoon:

From the new camp, William Clayton surveyed the area, and could see the first mountain pass they would take to the Valley (Dixie Hollow to East Canyon).

It was a hot day, and the mosquitos were all over the place. Some men, especially Woodruff, spent time fishing and caught some trout.

A prayer group of several men "went into the mountaintops to pray for the president and those that are sick," Clayton said. The men were: Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards (witnessed Prophet Joseph's martyrdom) Ezra T. Benson, George A. Smith (Prophet Joseph's cousin), John Pack, Howard Egan, Thomas Bullock, Erastus Snow (soon to be the first in the SL Valley with Orson Pratt), Lorenzo Young, and Albert Carrington.

After the prayer, they let their inner-child come out, and the men "rolled many large rocks from the top of the mountain, to witness the velocity of their descent." Many of the rocks were smashed to pieces.

The Evening:

Kimball, Smith, and Egan travelled ahead to explore the canyon, but did not return until after 10 p.m., "which caused some uneasiness in the camp," Bullock wrote.

John Dixon, also, had been out exploring and found an unusual plant he had "never before seen or read about." History Highlight: John Dixon would later be the first missionary in Hawaii in 1850. Three years later, he was hauling wood in the Wasatch Mountains and was killed by Indians.

Today was William Clayton's 33rd birthday, and he sat musing about his family back at Winters Quarters, living in unknown circumstances.

The Advance Company:

The company was a few days ahead, preparing a better path for the Saints.
Tonight, they were camped on the banks of East Canyon Creek (which is gone today, replaced by the East Canyon Reservoir).

East Canyon Reservoir.
You can almost imagine what it would've
looked like without the lake. 

The travel had been so difficult today, that Orson Pratt (the leader of the party) went back on foot to "see if there was a more practical route...than the one we had come." Later, he was satisfied and said "we had taken the best and only practical route."

He ordered the Advance Party to work on the road they had taken today and yesterday, while he rode ahead on the trail. Pratt found things up front were just as bad, "almost impassible and requiring much labor." For example, a stream had to be crossed 13 times, and the banks were covered in willows.

Pratt climbed a mountain for a better view, but it was only more discouraging. "The country exhibited a broken succession of hills piled on hills, and mountains on mountains in every direction," he observed.

This was taken on a mountain at East Canyon Reservoir.
Looking West.
What Orson would have seen.