"Monday night 15th [ ] I passed in great pain with the fever but next day I began to recover my health"
***************
"The pioneers felt lost without the dynamic presence of Brigham".
I would imagine so. When push comes to shove, they depended on him. They depended on his leadership, his skills, his faith, his closeness to the Lord .... his knowledge......he was the reason they were where they were. They all had faith in the Lord that this was their direction, but they really had very strong faith in Brigham. He was the one whose coattails they were holding on to and in whose belief, they held tight with their own. And now that he was so sick, they were a little lost and praying for the best outcome for him and they were scared to death he was going to die. Would there have been a Salt Lake City had he done so? Without Brigham, I can't imagine it would have. But people thought the same thing when Joseph was killed. The church and the gospel continued and will always. (111 Days to Zion)
Brigham and Albert Rockwood were the sickest that the disease had hit in the entire company while on the journey. But they needed to be moving. They couldn't stay where they were. This delay was causing problems. Wilford Woodruff had a carriage and took it back to them. When they seemed to be a little better, he fixed up a mattress or a bed of some kind and put both of them in his carriage and brought them up to where the main party was camped. When they reached the camp, they all pushed forward again. It was not easy traveling now as in the plains of Nebraska and Wyoming. These were real mountains and not what they were used to. The mountains that they all came from in the east and mid-west were nothing like these. Two hours equaled about 4 miles. And that was probably good timing.
Orson Pratt Journal of July 15th:
"July 15th [ ] we resumed our journey down Weber's Fork [ ] crossing on to the left bank [ ] travelled about 6 miles and encamped about one mile above the kanyon which at the entrance is impassable for wagons [ ] the road crossing the river to the right bank makes a circuit of about 2 miles and enters the kanyon at the junction of a stream putting in from the right bank about one-third as large as Weber's Fork [ ] I rode on horseback in company with Mr. Brown about 5 miles down from our encampment and being convinced that this was the 10 mile kanyon which had been spoken of we returned to camp [ ] in the meantime Mr Markham with one or two others had gone up the river on the right bank in search of Reid's trail across the mountains leading down to the south eastern shores of the Salt Lake [ ] Mr. Brown and I also went in search travelling along the bluffs on the south [ ] We soon struck the trail although so dimly seen that it only now and then could be discerned [ ] only a few wagons having passed here one year ago and the grass having grown up leaving scarcely a trace [ ] I followed this trail about 6 miles up a ravine to where it attained the dividing ridge leading down into another ravine in a southerly direction and returned again into camp [ ] There is some cotton-wood timber fringing the shores of Weber's Fork and also thick clusters of willows making very close thickets for bears which from their large tracks and the large holes they have made in digging for roots must be very numerous"
Mr. Brown was John Brown. Reid's trail was James F. Reed of the Donner Party.
It's been well documented that Charles was in the advance party of Orson's when they came into the Salt Lake Valley on July 22 and started planting crops while waiting for Brigham to come. But I don't know the exact point as to where and why he went ahead and joined that party. It seems to be around the 21st. Right now, he is also sick and with the party behind that Brigham has finally joined up with thus making now two wagon parties. It doesn't ever sound like Charles was as sick as some of the others. So, when he actually joined Orson's advance party will be coming up in a few days. There just isn't much on why he joined them and when. It seems to have just happened.
Photo above is about where they are on the Weber River.
There was a beautiful image I found with the high mountains in the background showing exactly where the advance party camped. But it had a copyright, and the owner wouldn't let me post it. So, the above will have to do. Beautiful mountains. They are very near where Henefer, Utah is today.
