Saga of the Sanpitch Volume 17, 1985 - Sanpete County

shearing sheep of their wool and making our clothes; plowing, planting, irrigating and harvesting our food; and
hauling wood from the mountains for constructing and heating our homes.
In the afternoon of a bright, crisp Monday, the 15th of November, 1880, we started our journey to St.
George, expecting to be back home by the first of December. There was Charles (Charles Adelbert Cox) and
Ellie (Sabra Ellen Stringham), age 18; Vet (Sylvester Hulet Cox) and Mary (Mary Ellen Parry), age 18; Brig
(Brigham James Peacock) and Eleanor (Sarah Eleanor Cox), age 20; Bert (Albert M. Tuttle) and Lue (Lucia
Isabelle Cox) , age 20; Hart (Horton Tuttle) and Mandy (Amanda Cox), age 20. Those answering to the name of
Cox had one thing in common, the same father, Fredrick Walter Cox.2
We were a happy, excited group when we started from the Big House on first north and first west in
Manti. There were five Conestoga Wagons, the same as those that had brought our families across the plains
in the early 1850s, all drawn by a team of horses. Each of the five girls took a load of flour to sell. It was packed
in hundred-pound sacks and would pay the expenses of our trip.
Huge sacks filled with hay were tied to the wagons, and grain boxes built along the sides were filled
with oats for the horses. The water barrels were lashed to the wagons, also. It was the first rule of survival.
Bert took a quarter of beef; he did all the frying. When we camped at night the beef hung from a tree .
During the day it was wrapped in a sack and layed between the quilts in a bed. We had a sour dough start,
eggs buried in the oats to keep them from breaking, a slab of salt pork, a bag each of dried beans and
cornmeal, and sorghum molasses. When we could get milk, the motion of the wagon churned butter and gave
us buttermilk to drink.
Campfires were built in the morning and evening. Fires were made over a trench in the ground filled
with rocks about six inches in diameter„ When we cooked breakfast we always made extra biscuits and fried
too much pork. That way we didn't have to stop to prepare lunch.
Every morning we were on the road by six o'clock while it was still dark. We rested the horses at
noon and stopped for ten minutes of each hour.3 When the wagons halted it was usually a signal for the girls
to retreat to any place most hidden from view. We formed a circle facing out, fanned our skirts wide making a
curtain, and each one took her turn inside the circle. Although it was never discussed, these long skirts were
the security women needed when traveling with men in wagon trains. 4 We expected to travel four miles an
hour, covering about 36 miles per day.
That first night we camped at Peacock Springs south of Sterling. 5 The fellows took care of their teams
and built the fires, then we all walked over to the home of John L. and Serena Peacock. We decided to
combine our evening meal and twelve of us enjoyed our supper together, but the company was the most
pleasureable. We had such a good time reminiscing, laughing and singing before we had to say goodnight.
Morning always came so early.
When we were back at the camp everyone loitered about the fire. We were unusually quiet after
having spent such a lighthearted time in the Peacock home. Then Vet relieved the tension when he announced
that there was safety in numbers; especially when their little sisters were watching their brothers' every move.
Each girl decided to sleep alone in a wagon box and the fellows would sleep under the wagons. They wrapped
the rocks in gunny sacks, replacing them with cold rocks in the fire, and took them to bed to keep warm. The
fires were banked and after calling goodnight to one another, everything was quiet.
The "Wake Up" call came too quickly but we were on our best behavior, so we didn't make too much
fuss. The first thing to be done upon arising was to stir the fire up and heat water for a cup of barley coffee or
Brigham Tea.
"Ellie, have you got the water on?" Charles would call out.
While the girls prepared breakfast, each fellow fed, watered and harnessed his own team. A horse
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