September, Wednesday, 1st. An ox killed for beef.

This is the first time that John Bidwell records killing one of the oxen for meat. It’s another ominous sign — it means that hunting is poor and their other food has run out.

The orange arrow on the map below shows the location of their camp. They are in Utah, and still have to get themselves all the way across Nevada. They should get moving, but they are waiting for Captain Bartleson and Charles Hopper to come back with directions on how to get to Mary’s River.

The green line on this map is the Bidwell-Bartleson Trail. It is not the trail used by any other pioneer companies. The red line to the north and to the south of the Great Salt Lake shows two different California Trail routes.

Get a closer look at this National Parks map at https://www.nps.gov/cali/planyourvisit/upload/UTAH-ATR-map-final.pdf