Camp was accordingly made,
Bridger took supper with Brigham Young, and the information he had to
impart was given in the old trapper's usual irregular way. Learning
that the destination of the Mormons was in the Desert of the Salt Lake
Valley, Bridger offered to give one thousand dollars for the first ear
of corn raised there. ???Wait a little,??? said the president of the
Mormons, ???and we will show you.??? In describing to Brigham Young the
Great Salt Lake, which he called ???Sevier Lake,??? he said that some of
his men had spent three months going around it in canoes hunting
beaver, and that the distance was five hundred and fifty miles.
In 1856 thousands of European converts to the new religion emigrated
to Utah. On their arrival in this country, however, they had very
little spare cash. It was therefore decided by those in authority
that they should cross the plains with hand-carts, in which was to
be hauled their baggage. Wagons were provided for tents, provisions,
and those who were not able to walk.
In a circular published in Liverpool by the Presidency of the British
Isles, among other things it recited that ???The Lord, through his
Prophet, says of the poor, let them gird up their loins, and walk
through, and nothing shall hinder them.???
Iowa City was the point where the poor emigrants were outfitted and
received their hand-carts. These were somewhat primitive in
construction:
The shafts being about five feet long, and of hickory or oak,
with crosspieces, one of them serving for a handle, forming
the bed of the cart, under the centre of which was a wooden
axletree, the wheels being also made of wood, with a light
iron band, and the entire weight of the vehicle about sixty
pounds.
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