Pioneer Day Countdown: July 9th, 1847 (Friday)

They had been traveling since April 5th, from Winter's Quarters. The day's rest gave the pioneers a chance to prepare for the last leg of their trip: the last 100 miles to Salt Lake City.

The Morning:

The morning bugle alarmed the camp to awake, breakfast was served, and the company hitched their wagons. By 8 a.m., the trek had resumed.

As the team moved away from Fort Bridger, they had to leave behind the smooth, heavily used Oregon Trail.  Instead, they took the Hastings track (the same path took by the Donner Party a year earlier). The Route follows closely to our present-day I-80.

Hastings is the Red Line

However, the Saints didn't have a river to follow, or an easy trail for a guide; instead, all they had were some vague maps, written descriptions, and some wagon tracks from the Donner Party a year prior.

Erastus Snow commented: Fortunately for us, the earlier travelers left behind a faint track, though their trail in many places is scarcely discernible."

Erastus Snow 1850

Afternoon:

The pioneers reached a spring from which Three Mile Creek sprang, and decided to rest a bit. Their next obstacle was pulling their wagons over a large hill on a rough road.

Orson Pratt climbed onto a high ridge near the top of the bluff, and used his sextant to measure the pioneer's position.  Orson did this every day to measure the latitude and longitude, and then proceeded to write the coordinates in his journal.

Orson Pratt, 1852

A sextant.

Orson Pratt did this, because the pioneers were concerned about making a reliable and detailed map of the route.  This would later serve as a guide for other emigrant parties. 

Then, the company descended the bluffs.  According to William Clayton (the author of Come, Come Ye Saints) the bluffs were "the steepest and most difficult we have ever met, being almost perpendicular." To do this, the pioneers locked the rear wheels and restrained the wagons by ropes. 

William Clayton

This is from Hole in the Rock (1879), but illustrates restraining the wagons by rope. 

Mid-Afternoon:

After crossing creeks, rivers, and seemingly never-ending hills, the pioneers stopped for the day around 3 p.m. . They pitched their tents and set-up camp.  From the morning, they had traversed 13 miles.

They stopped early because it was good for cattle grazing. "There is plenty of tall bunch (like wheat) grass, and a good chance for our teams [to eat], " Clayton explained.

Bunch grass was much more nutritious than prairie grass, which had been the cattle's main diet for most of the trip.  Luckily, bunch grass would become more common as they travelled towards Utah. 

Bunch Grass

Sickness Began:

Mountain fever began to be reported throughout the camp.  Mountain fever happens from being bitten by an infected tick, and can be fatal. Symptoms are large areas spotted with rashes, intense headaches, joint pain, cold chills, and hot flashes.  Two of the individuals affected were William Carter and Wilford Woodruff.

History: William Carter was a glass/blacksmith.  Joined the church while a teenager in England. He was the first to plow the soil in the Salt Lake Valley.  Later, he settled in St. George and worked as a temple worker. 

William Carter later in life.

Evening:

The pioneers were enjoying the warm, and nice weather. A number of men gathered near Brigham Young's wagon and serenaded him with hymns. 

Source: Knight and Kimball. 111 Days to Zion. Deseret News. Salt Lake City, 1978.