View in San Juan Oil Country

FROM NAUVOO TO SALT LAKE. 411 Here I overtook them, and here they were compelled to remain until the 16th. During; this time it rained almost incessantly, the roads were rendered almost impassable, and our encampment being trodden into a perfect mortar bed by ourselves and stock, was far from being a pleasant one. To remain longer we could not, and to make ourselves comfortable in this situation was very difficult. Yet, the many visitors we received from the surrounding country spread abroad the report that we were cheerful and apparently happy. This was not lost time, however, for our extra men (of whom we had many along as pioneers and guards) were doing jobs of work for the surrounding inhabitants, for which we obtained provisions for the men, and grain and forage for our teams. A great many of the brethren improved the time by exchanging horses for oxen and cows, as thereby they increased the strength of their teams, and it was believed also that the cattle would be far more service- able upon the journey than horses. On the 16th, the weather and roads being much improved, it was thought practicable to start, but one of my oxen became sick, and I was under the necessity of staying two days longer. The ox died; I purchase 1 another and followed the camp. We journeyed up Fox river to what was called the old "Mormon" trail, it being the trail of a party of brethren who made their escape from their enemies at Far West, Missouri, in November, 1838, and traveled through a then trackless and uninhabited country to the Mississippi river. Finding it impracticable for us to haul grain for our teams, owing to the bad condition of the roads, we thought it expedient to deviate from the direct course which we had intended to travel, and bear further south, so as to keep near the border settlements where we could obtain feed for our teams. In pursuance of thi counsel, we took the old "Mormon" trail, crossed Fox river a few miles above Bloomfield, and followed it to the ford of the Chariton river, a distance of forty-five miles from Richardson's Point. The forward teams, being considerably in advance of the rest, forded the stream, but the equinoxial storms starting in, raised the river so that the rear of the company had to ferry it. Here we were again weather-bound in an extensive wilderness on the Chariton, from six to ten miles from settlements. We had snow