Monthly Archives: September 2020

Friday, 10th. Traveled about 15 miles and encamped without water. No grass for the animals either. This is not good. Since they had met up with their scouts Bartleson and Hopper the day before, they felt that they had no … Continue reading →

Thursday, 9th. The part of the Company that remained yesterday went on and overtook the 2 wagons. Capt. Bartleson & Hopper returned, bringing intelligence that they had found the head of Mary’s river — distant about 5 days’ travel. Distance … Continue reading →

Wednesday, 8th. Exceedingly cold; ice in our water buckets. Part of the Company remained on account of the cold — 2 wagons with owners being contrary, went on. James John says that six wagons remained at the camp and two … Continue reading →

Tuesday, 7th. Traveled about 7 miles; antelope appeared to be plenty. James John has a little more to say about this day: On the 7th we traveled 6 miles and encamped at the foot of a mountain near a small … Continue reading →

Sunday, 5th. Grass having become scarce, we concluded to move on a little every day to meet Capt. B[artleson] & H[opper]. Traveled about 6 miles and encamped by a beautiful cedar grove. After a week at Tenmile Spring, the company … Continue reading →

Saturday, 4th. Bought a few serviceberries of the Indians. I have written about serviceberries before. They would have been a welcome addition, but probably didn’t satisfy the appetites of thirty men, plus a woman and child. Bidwell would later write … Continue reading →

Friday, 3rd. Four or 5 Indians came to camp — bought three horses of them. The previous Saturday they had gone looking for Indians who would sell them horses, but with no success. Now the Indians have the horses and … Continue reading →

Thursday, 2nd. Idle in camp. What does “idle in camp” mean? Maybe a few of the thirty men are out hunting, but they haven’t been having any success with that. The rest are perhaps discussing their situation, repairing harness or … Continue reading →