History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

428
MISSIONS AND IMMIGRATION.
frozen to death. Near South Pass another company
of the brethren met them, with supplies from Salt
Lake City, and from the trees near their camp several
quarters of fat beef were suspended— "a picture," says
Chislett, who had charge of one of the companies,
"that far surpassed the paintings of the ancient masters."
From this point warmer weather prevailed,
and fresh teams from the valley constantly met them,
distributing provisions sufficient for their needs, and
then travelling eastward to meet Martin's company.
On reaching Salt Lake City on the 9th of November,
it was found that sixty-seven out of a total of four
hundred and twenty had died on the journey. Of
the six hundred emigrants included in Martin's detachment,
which arrived three weeks later, a small percentage
perished, the storm which overtook Willie's
party on the Sweetwater reaching them on the North
Platte. There they encamped, and waited about ten
days for the weather to moderate. Their rations were
reduced to four ounces of flour per head per day, for a
few days, until relief came. On arriving at Salt Lake,
the survivors were received with the utmost kindness,
arrangements being made with the bishops of wards
to provide for those who had no relatives in the territory
;
and throughout the settlements, wherever it was
known that a family had crossed the plains with the
hand-cart companies, that alone was sufficient to insure
for them substantial aid from the brethren. 63
63 My account of the hand-cart emigration is taken principally from Mr
Chislett's narrative in Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 312-338. The story
as told in Stenhouse's Tell It All, 206-36, though it claims to have been written
by one of the women of the party, and perhaps was so written, is merely an
adaptation of the above. Another version will be found in Young's Wife No.
19, 206-21. For other mention of the hand-cart emigration, see Siskiyou Co.
Affairs, MS., 18; Paddock's La Tour, 343; Deseret News, Nov. 12, 19, 30,
1856; S. L. Herald, Jan. 4, 1S79; S. F. Alta, Nov. 12, 13, 1856; S. F. Bulletin,
Jan. 12, 1857. In hundreds of newspapers and magazines appeared
grossly exaggerated descriptions of this disaster, of which the following,
taken from the Or. Statesman, June 15, 1857, may serve as a specimen: ' Of
the 2,500 persons who started from the frontier, only about 200 frost-bitten,
starving, and emaciated beings lived to tell the tale of their sufferings. The
remaining 2,300 perished on the way of hunger, cold, and fatigue.' The emi-