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mount pisgah io

6 posts

    ROBERTS, Levi

    After travelling over the mountains one day we met with some of our brethren from the Valley. This was a time of rejoicing. Captain Brown who left us at Santa Fe with the sick which went by the way of Fort Kearney and a few brethren with him from the Valley, brought news that we were not to go to the Valley, and told us we had better stay another year in California. So the company divided right where we met each other; some went on to Winter Quarters; some to the Valley, and some turned back. Daniel Browett, Slater, Cox, Levi Roberts and myself turned back to Sacramento and went to work for Mr. Sutter who treated us very kindly. I sent a mule to my wife with Brother Harris, which she got…. We all went to work at the same place for Captain Sutter. We took the work of cutting a millrace. Brother Browett went [p.379] to work with the millwright, this was in September and later on in the fall, I and two others took sick with the bilious fever. We were so sick we couldn't help each other to a drink of water. We lay under some ties and had to crawl around with the sun to keep from making us chill…. Our appetites were very poor, and our food was flour, water and squash. Had it not been for the thoughts of my wife and family I could have died, but we all three recovered after awhile and went to work on the millrace again and worked all winter. Sometime in the winter two of the brethren who were working for Mr. Sutter in the mountains found gold in a tailrace they were making. Mr. Sutter let me see the first gold they found before sending it to San Francisco to get it tested. In May 1848 some of the brethren and myself made a trip in the mountains to try and find a road over (instead of going down Truckee River, as we had to cross it about 20 times) but when we got in the mountains we found so much snow we had to return, and on our way back I stopped at what we called the Mormon Island, where there was some of the brethren at work getting gold, Brother Sidney Willis and his brother; also Brother Hudson. I stayed here for a short time and got some gold.
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      COX, Orville Sutherland

      Being successful in disposing of their chairs, and securing loads of bacon and corn, they were almost home when an Iowa blizzard, or Hurricane, or cyclone, or all in one, struck them. Clouds and Egyptian darkness settled suddenly around them. They had no modern "tornado cellars", to flee into and no manner of shelter of any kind. The cold was intense; the wind came from every direction; they were all skilled backwoodsmen and knew they were very close to their homes; but they also knew that they were hopelessly lost in that swirling wind and those black clouds of snow. They and their oxen were freezing, and their only hope of life was in making a fire and camping where they were.
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        FREESTONE, Thomas and Ann Fall: Perseverance!

        Their journey across the plains was an arduous one, but late in 1853 they arrived in American Fork. One year later the family moved to “Mountainville” (later named Alpine) where they lived in the fort for protection against the Indians, while they began to re-establish their affairs. Exerting all their efforts, they partially overcame their hunger by eating roots, pigweed and wild onions, and beat back enough crickets to raise a full crop of grain. In spite of their many trials the hardy family hung on to their testimonies and endured.
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