Category Archives: Bidwell-Bartleson Party

John Bidwell waxes poetical in the Bear River Valley: Saturday, 7th. This morning we were obliged to make an inland circuit from the river, the bluffs approaching so near the river as to rend it impossible to continue along its … Continue reading →

Friday, 6th. Had a fine road down the valley of the Bear river and made about 25 miles during the day. Found many kinds of wild currants, red, black, yellow, &c., some of which were of excellent quality. John Bidwell … Continue reading →

Thursday, 5th. Proceeded down stream about 18 miles. “Downstream” in this case means northward. They are about to cross, or have already crossed, over into Idaho, but of course this was not yet a state. The only reason they know … Continue reading →

Monday, 2nd. Retraced about 2 miles of yesterday’s travel, and went up another defile, in order to find a practicable route across the divide between the waters of the Green and Bear rivers; plenty of grass, good spring water, distance … Continue reading →

Sunday, August 1. Ascended Black’s fork about 12 miles. They are now in the present-day southwest corner of Wyoming, near the border with Utah. Black’s Fork is a 175 mile-long tributary of the Green River. It was here in 1843, … Continue reading →

Saturday, 31st. Left Ham’s fork this morning. A distance of 14 miles, over an uncommonly hilly road, took us to Black’s fork of Green river, on which we encamped. Here we found a little grass and no wood. The hills, … Continue reading →

Tuesday, 27th. Advanced upstream about 12 miles. Wednesday, 28th. do [ditto] do. 12 do. Thursday, 29th. do do. 12 do. Nothing exciting going on here, so Bidwell just “dittos” his entries. They were in the southwest corner of what is … Continue reading →