ONWARD...

You're right, how could I not finish the story now...
There's more in the book than I share here, but time and space win out. So I'll post some most everyday until I've told of the story. There will be times now and then that you'll hear something about either one or both of them and know just who I'm talking about. If you've just started reading about them. you'll need to go back and start at the post titled "Canaute and Sarah." For those of you waiting for more.....


 The next day they resumed their journey. The wedding had created a welcome diversion but they knew they still had a long way to go. They come to the upper crossing of the Missouri River and crossed it with no problems. Then after about thirty more miles, they came to the Elkhorn River and found two large companies of wagon trains gathered. They hadn't been able to cross the river because the ferry had been left on the other side. Storms had swollen the river to 12 feet above normal. Someone had to swim across and get the ferry. Canute knew how to swim so he and another friend volunteered. It took some strength and Canute even had to pull Ira up from the water once before they got to the other side. But they made it, got the ferry across, and by evening they had quite a number of wagons safely on the other side...one at a time. By nightfall the next day all the wagons and people were across the river and proceeding on their journey the next morning.

 The company then traveled along the Platte River for many weeks. There was an abundance of game for the men to hunt and provide meat. Canute became known as a successful hunter as well as a swimmer.

When they reached Independence Rock. they were met by men from the Salt Lake Valley who had come to help them, providing cattle and wagons to replace those that had given out on the trip. As they traveled farther up the Sweetwater, the weather changed and become stormy and windy. The going got rather rough but they still made good progress until they came to the Wind River Mountains. Here they were within 7 or 8 miles from the last crossing of the Sweetwater. But they were blockaded by a heavy snowstorm that lasted about 40 hours. All they could do was huddle in the wagons and wait for the storm to pass.


When the snow finally ceased, Canute, Sarah and the others climbed out of their wagons and shoveled snow away until they had a dry space. Then everyone got enough dry wood out of the wagons to build a fire. Canute and another man went to see how many cattle had survived and to see if everyone else was alright. They found that the greater number of cattle had perished in the storm. Then they thought they'd better go check on another company of wagons about 3 miles back on Strawberry Creek, to see what condition the people were in.

The journey had to be made on foot in snow almost waist deep. They finally got there and found the conditions not as good as their own.

They stayed on to help as much as possible, then headed back through the snow. When they got back, they learned some of the other men had gone down the creek to look for more cattle. They were excited to see some of them survived by finding an abundance of large willows, which had given them both food and shelter. This news lifted everyone's spirits.

They stayed there for three days longer, gathering up all the cattle they could find. They found between 70 and 80 that had perished, so they had to yolk up every available animal that could be put into service. Getting loose from the snow and on the move again was a tremendous task.  But after traveling about 10 miles in this heavy snow, they came to bare ground again which made traveling much easier, and reached Pacific Springs where the livestock could get food again.

From there they traveled on with no further problems. And on October 25, 1849 they reached their destination...Salt Lake City.

 

And I'll be back again yesterday..... 

*note* Someday I won't have to work to support myself

and I'll write all day!! 

Until then, some of these posts will be shorter...