A Landmark of Pioneer Days

A Landmark of Pioneer Days By Frank D. Adams

These pictures will probably illustrate a tale of hardship and suffering endured by some immigrant on his westward journey across the American Desert. The old storm-beaten wagon bed shown in the top picture lies on a barren stretch of desert several miles east of the Nevada line and south from the present course of the Southern Pacific railroad. It rests beside the immigrant trail which, in early days, led from Salt Lake City, through Grantsville, then in a northwesterly direction to the present site of Wendover, Utah, and thence on its meandering journey to the Pacific. This wagon-bed landmark of pioneer days is remembered by sheepmen who traveled over this desert in the early '70's; no one seems to know how many years it had been there prior to that. The platform on the left made it convenient in entering the wagon and also alighting. This projection extended almost to the "doubletrees." The wagon-bed has traveled many a hundred miles, for the standards which hold the bed in place have worn more than half way through its sides. One may wonder why this necessary part of a wagon was left in such a forsaken and desolate place. My theory is this: The oxen which had drawn this wagon for weary weeks and months, on their westward journey, had lost the greater part of their strength and brawn, and in crossing this desert waste both wagon and team became hopelessly mired in the sticky, clinging alkali mud. The driver had fallen far behind the base of Newfoundland mountain, where water, grass and wood were obtainable, but between himself and the night's camp ground lay, as it were, a vast sea of mud. He became desperate, darkness was approaching, his load was too heavy for the weakened oxen; so, as a last resort, the wagon-bed was removed, the necessities of life were bound to the running-gears, mud was shoveled from the wheels; thus, with a minimum load, the oxen and immigrant party plodded wearily onward. The accompanying photograph, below, will support my theory to a certain degree, for it illustrates how this same desert mud clings to the wagon wheels of the present day traveler. The wagon with the desert mud clinging to the wheels is the commissary wagon belonging to the Adams Sheep Outfit, of Layton, which outfit recently crossed the desert where the aband-

On the Great American Desert oned immigrant wagon-bed, shown in the top picture, still remains. The wood of the abandoned wagon-bed is remarkably preserved by the salt and alkali which it has absorbed during the many years it has lain there unprotected from bleak winter winds and the burning rays of the summer sun. The dog in the central background was used in caring for the sheep. It is perfectly level where he stands. On the distant horizon can be seen the outline of a camp and horses which were accompanying a herd of sheep across the desert, in 1920. Alkali storms frequently sweep this desert during the hot summer months, which fact accounts for the mound on the right. The white alkali surface of these vast stretches of mud is deceiving to the eye, and are also entirely barren of any form of life, being as level as the surface of the Great Salt Lake on a calm day. Layton, Utah