Father Bundy and the All-Wood Wagon

FATHER BUNDY AND THE ALL-WOOD WAGON. BY JOB SMITH. [In 1843, the author came to America, and direct to Nauvoo, from Deerhurst, England, where he was born December 2, 1828. At Nauvoo he formed the acquaintance of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and passed through the trying experiences of the expulsion and the exodus. He is a Utah pioneer, having crossed the plains in 1848 to Salt Lake Valley, where he has resided most of the time since, and is now a resident of Sugar ward. He writes from personal knowledge. — Editors.] Among the interesting and pathetic stories connected with the exodus of the Latter-day Saints from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City, the story of Father Bundy and his all-wood wagon is worth being made a matter of memory. During the spring of 1846, after the authorities of the Church had left Nauvoo, as the vanguard of the movement west, mob forces began to be active, by threats and violence, at scattered points, a few miles from Nauvoo where settlement had been made by members of the Church. Father Bundy lived about five miles from town, in a small settlement of English converts from Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, all well acquainted with each other in England, and now living near each other. No actual mob violence was offered them; but a cool threat was made that if they were not moved out before a certain date in May, they would be "burned out" as had been some others, more distant from Nauvoo. Most of the families in this group had teams of some sort, mostly oxen. But Father Bundy had none. Neither team nor wagon, nor money, nor means to purchase one. Even his little home could not be sold or traded away, it simply had to be aban-

170 IMPROVEMENT ERA. (ioned without consideration, except the threat of being burned out. The word had gone forth that the place had to be vacated, and only three weeks before the day of grace remained. Renounce "Mormonism" and they could stay, and all would be well. But no; no such thought could be entertained; they had taken hold of the gospel plough and could not look back, come what may. God was relied upon for help, and help came. An opportunity was unexpectedly offered, over the river in Iowa, to do some ditching, and to receive a yoke, or pair, of three-year-old steers for pay. Two hundred rods of ditch, to be made with sod bank, were the terms. Needless to say, these, or any possible terms, were gladly accepted. The time being short, one of the neighbors offered to help do the work; so at once Father Bundy, Robert Harris, and this writer, who was then a boy of seventeen, crossed the river and walked twenty miles west to the place where the work had to be done, and in about ten days half of it had been performed . Having obtained consent of the owner, the steers were brought back over the river to help fetch the threatened family away, with the understanding they were to stop on the way westward to finish the ditching. Two weeks of the allotted time had now expired, and only one week was left. Still no wagon. But a report came that a man named Slater (the same after whom Slaterville, in Weber county, is named), had an old wagon that had no tires upon it, and which the owner did not think was at all available for further use as an emigrant wagon. But as this seemed to be the only possible opening for conveyance for even a short distance away from the threatened settlement over the river into Iowa, where we could finish the ditching, and considering that we were but a small family— just Father and Mother Bundy, myself and younger sister— it might carry us farther than seemed probable from reports. Of course, we would have to walk and make the load as light as possible. So Father Bundy and I, taking the steers with us, went to inspect the unpromising conveyance. No tires — never had any— felloes clumsy looking, and already considerably worn by use, hickory pins for bolts, a split pole for a tongue, pinned onto the axle, no body, and three dollars the price. Having no money, the

FATHER BUNDY AND THE ALL-WOOD WAGON. 171 deal was closed by Brother Slater humanely accepting a vest pattern, and some other small articles, as pay in full for his claim upon the wagon. The steers did their first service by hauling the concern home. The remaining time was occupied in building a wagon box out of lumber from the soon-to-be deserted dwelling. We split and shaved hickory wagon-bows for the covering; and so, with bed sheets for a wagon cover, we were nearly ready for a start. A sack or two of corn meal, a few tools, all our clothing, cooking utensils, and all other worldly possessions (except furniture, farm tools, and home) were carefully packed into the wagon, and we were ready to start with the balance of the members of the settlement, which we did on the 15th day of May of that year, 1846. Crossing the river on that day, we soon reached Mr. Brownlee's place where we remained until the contract was filled, and the steers thus paid for. The journey westward was now commenced. We stopped only at places in this friendly state of Iowa where -employment could be obtained, to secure flour or other necessaries for future use, for a journey of unknown distance and destination. Reaching Mount Pisgah, the members of the little company that started together from Illinois became re-united, they having been separated on the way by each family stopping over a few days, at different places, to earn things which they needed. Here were camped also a large number of other families who had arrived from Nauvoo, some stopping for repairs, and some attending the temporary farm that had been fenced and planted gratuitously for the benefit of the late arrivals from Nauvoo. To this place, at this time, came President Brigham Young, accompanied by a recruiting officer of the United States army. A demand having been made by the government for five hundred men to join the army, in Mexico, it was necessary to call upon the different traveling camps to furnish a quota. A meeting was immediately called, and an earnest appeal made by the President for as many able-bodied men as could possibly be spared, to enlist. A large number responded, including every middle aged man of the small company in which we started. Father Bundy, being too old, and myself too young, for enlistment, we were left; and upon us came the obligation to care for the families of our old and dear

172 IMPROVEMENT ERA. friends, left without male help, to continue a journey the length of which at that time had not been revealed. Herding by night, and yoking and hitching up in the morning, assisting during the day the mothers who were driving their respective teams, as occasion or difficult places might require, these duties and every other duty, requiring manual assistance , fell upon F'ather Bundy and myself. The names of these brethren who enlisted, and whose families were left in our care were Roberts, Cox, Harris, Pixton, Slater and Browett, and also a widow named Moseley . These duties were faithfully performed, the remaining distance to Council Bluffs where, from anxiety, hard work and still harder li\nng, Father Bundy and myself fell sick of ague and fever, and were unable to help ourselves. Sheltered only by the venerable old wagon, we remained in this helpless condition until winter set in. As is well understood, a large majority of the traveling Saints had to remain at a temporarily built town called Winter Quarters, over one traveling season, while the 147 pioneers should penetrate westward to find the place for the final settlement of the Saints and return. Sick and helpless as we were, we were unable to build any kind of a cabin, dugout, or shelter, for the winter. Sister Cox's husband had sent her a few dollars from Fort Leavenworth with which she hired a Brother Warner Porter to build her a log cabin, ten feet square. It was late in December when it was finished and she could move in. Her family consisted of herself and four small children, but she kindly consented to divide her shelter with us, making the total number of occupants nine. Soon the lack of provisions of all kinds, except a little coarsely-ground corn meal, with fever and ague, and general exhaustion, brought everyone of the household, except two, down with a new complaint called "black scurvy." One of Sister Cox's children died. Mother Bundy and Sister Ann (afterwards Jenkins) were the only ones able to wait upon the others, which duty they cheerfully did. The way to the burial place being near the cabin, almost every day numbers of corpses were noticed being carried to their graves. There were said to have been four hundred funerals during that winter. Considering that every family in the settlement had their own troubles to meet, and few, if any, had any surplus of common necessaries of

FATHER Bl'NDY AND THE ALL-WOOD WAGON. 178 life, the angel of good followship prevailed, and was made manifest in many ways in the assistance received during the long and dreary winter. Dreary and trying as was the winter, it finally passed, and early sprouts of edible and medical plants were sought, and, with potatoes brought from Missouri, eaten raw, which proved to be of the highest medical value in restoring to health the many who had been afflicted. During the following summer, with faith, hope and co-operation, corn, buckwheat and v^egetables, were raised on unoccupied public lands, so that the following spring, of 1848, we had the amount of breadstuff on hand necessary for those who should undertake the further journey of over one thousand miles to Salt Lake Valley, where, of course, at that time, no provisions could pe purchased. As time approached for starting, the wagon question arose again to the front. Usage for different kinds of local needs, as well as the journey from Illinois, showed up the lack of iron in the different parts of the wooden wagon, and it was again regarded unfit for so long a journey as was now known to be necessary. No effort of the family was equal to the task of securing either a new or second-hand wagon, ironed in the ordinary manner, neither had they means to purchase iron to bind the wheels of their old friend. Nothing was left but to mend up the old wagon and try it again. A large-hearted mechanic, named John Alger, took the job of repairs in hand, and made every part "as good as new," except, of course, the wear and tear of wheels and axles. AM once more all the worldly goods of the family were stowed therein, together with the required quantity of a year and a half's breadstuff for the members of the family. Breadstuff for the other two was hauled, in my case, by driving a team of another family, and, in my sister's case, traveling as a servant in another family. So Father Bundy and wife started again in Zerah Pulsipher's company for Salt Lake Valley. The road, the first five hundred miles, being chiefly along the Platte and other river bottoms, though being new, very rough and lumpy, was not rocky or gravelly, so the felloes, having been made of the best white oak and about double the width of the common two-horse wagon felloes, suffered but little abrasion so far. The spokes also were

174 IMPROVEMENT ERA. large, and were said to have been driven in hot rosin into the ample hubs. The latter half of the journey being over hills and mountains, where rocks and gravel formed the principal road-bed, the abrasion of the felloes began gradually to become serious, so that the expedient of using buffalo raw-hide to wrap around them became necessary, and was used with considerable success; but the hard condition of the roads towards the latter part of the journey reduced at last the straight grained part of each felloe very thin, so that in the last canyon one of them was said to have broken, but the wheels held out to safely convey its load to the place of destination . But at present, just to think of it! To travel through a wild uninhabited country over a road but recently tracked, and with such an outfit, and such a distance! Nobody else but Latter-day Saints, full of faith and virtue , would have thought of such an undertaking, without new, first-class outfits, and the- best teams obtainable; but here was Father Bundy, with many others, toiling slowly along, singing around the evening camp-fires, "Though hard to you this journey may appear, Grace shall be as your day," and ''We'll find the place which God for us prepared," and sure enough they did find the place, for the gentle steers, with their gentle driver, brought the extraordinary outfit safely across the plains, over the Black Hills and Rocky Mountains, from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City. The fame of Father Bundy and his all-wood wagon must live , and all those who are now living, who are directly or indirectly indebted for their very existence to the success attending that remarkable adventure, should give thanks, honor and praise to the Father in Heaven who made such things possible in those days of expatriation and trial. The two other members of the family also reached the valley safely, and were re-united in their new home. It may be added also that each of the men whose names are mentioned as enlisting in the Mormon Battalion safely returned to their families, except Daniel Browett, who was killed by Indians in the Sierra mountains, while on his way back to his family; and I believe all of the families, except Browett, are now represented in some of the settlements of the Saints in these mountains. Sugar, Utah.