Golden Spike Historical Site

Wayne and I went to Promontory, to see where the first Intercontinental Railroad met on May 9, 1869.  It was better than I expected.  The trains were beautiful and the history was very interesting, reminding us of what a courageous, difficult and extraordinary feat this was, and what a great blessing it was to the people who traveled then.  Before the railroad was complete it took 6-9 months to travel from Omaha to California and 1 in 10 died in the attempt.  After the railroad it took 6-7 days and the worst thing that usually happened was you missed your Saturday night bath.  We owe much to the Chinese workers from the west and the Irish workers from the east who did this strenuous and dangerous work.  

When I saw this handcart I was reminded of the journey of our ancestors who came to Utah walking all the way, pulling a handcart.  In particular I thought of 30-year-old Elizabeth Uren Oulds who came with her three children, Mary Jane who was 9, Tom who was 5 and Susan, my great-grandmother, who was 4. Perhaps some will be interested in their experience in walking across the plains from Council Bluffs, Iowa to the Salt Lake Valley:

                        Elizabeth had one choice in how to travel to the Salt Lake Valley.  With a determination that could move mountains, she put her few possessions and 4-year-old Susan in a handcart, and with the help of the other two children they started on their trip to Utah, just three weeks after their arrival in St. Louis. 

                        At Council Bluffs they met with trouble and delay before finally being assigned to Captain Oscar O. Stoddard’s company which left on 6 July 1860.  This company consisted of 126 souls, and six wagons and the rest handcarts.  But then it was only 1200 miles to the Great Salt Lake Valley.  In Captain Stoddard’s diary he states that the Ould family from South Africa joined his company on their third day out, which indicates she may have traveled these three days alone.  In a council meeting before they departed on this eventful journey, the Saints were told that if they were humble, prayerful and faithful, they would all survive the journey and arrive safely in Salt Lake Valley.  This prophecy was fulfilled. 

                        It is not hard to imagine the worry and responsibility that were Elizabeth’s.  She must have had outstanding courage to be able to trudge on day after day, almost beyond human ability.  How frightening to be confronted by a river that must be crossed.  Calmly she would tie ropes around her children’s waists and then about her own, then plunge into the water.  Elizabeth was a gentle woman, used to comfortable surroundings.  How exhausting this traveling must have been for her.  Captain Stoddard states in his diary that this company never once camped in the same place twice during the entire journey.  They must have moved at a steady pace continually, because this trip required just 72 days of walking.  They averaged 15 to 20 miles each day, and this is a very long way to walk, and it is even longer to pull a cart full of your clothing, bedding and food, and it is even longer when you have three small youngsters who must be encouraged even after their little legs were so tied they could hardly move.  But they could not stop. Time was so important or they might be caught in the cold of winter. 

                        In this modern age of so many luxuries, we have often contemplated whether Elizabeth regretted leaving a comfortable home in South Africa for a bed on a snake-infested desert.  Surely as she laid her weary body upon a thin blanket under the open sky she would think of home and wonder about this decision she had made.  However, her children and grandchildren tell me that she never once regretted coming to Utah. 

                        The journey had many hazards.  The Civil War was brewing; hostile Indians often created problems; guerrilla warfare was being waged, particularly in the West; the bones of white men and women, scalped by Indians, were often found bleaching in the sun.  Scarcity of water; a never ending supply of dust; cloudbursts and nowhere to go for protection; and the endless sticky, impassable mud.  Early in the morning Elizabeth would awaken (it was not necessary to dress because they slept with their clothes on) and prepare breakfast.  The food was rationed and it must be cooked over a buffalo chip campfire.  The children would scurry around and collect the buffalo chips as soon as camp was made in the evening.  A noon meal must be prepared in much the same manner and again in the evening, Elizabeth would drag her tired body to prepare sleeping places for them, then cook the same tasteless meal on an inconvenient campfire.  Extra work was involved when a stream or river was near, because clothes must be washed, children must be bathed and containers filled to be carried along for use when water was not available.  Messages were written with charcoal on bleached buffalo skulls so that these could tell those following what to expect.  Elizabeth is known to have said that whenever she felt she couldn’t go another step, she would start to tell her children they would have to drop out; but the look of trust and faith in their eyes gave her the extra strength to trudge on.  She had taken the children from their father so now she could not let them down.  Food was never plentiful even though wagons were sent out from the Valley with flour to increase their low supplies. 

                        Many faith promoting incidents happened to the little Company as they trudged their way over hundreds of miles of untamed country.  Illness hit nearly every member of the company.  Elizabeth’s children became very ill, so she pulled them in the cart, but when the night stop was made she was so ill herself that she could hardly drag to make the necessary preparations for the night.  Panic struck her, and the fear that she might have to be left behind.  She sent Thomas to find someone holding the priesthood to come to administer to her.  True to her faith, she was made well, and the next morning she was pulling her handcart and her children were walking by her side. 

                        What a glorious sight met the eyes of these footsore pioneers as they viewed Salt Lake Valley from Little Mountain.  It had taken seven months of continuous travel by numerous vehicles to find this haven of rest.  Elizabeth had completely worn out two pairs of heavy shoes and was now barefoot.  Her children had been barefoot for most of the journey.  Now home at last were the weary travelers.  Many people came to meet them as they came into the city.  There was much shouting and embracing as loved ones met again.  Elizabeth was met by a few people she had known in South Africa.  However, when word spread that some people from South Africa were arriving, many came hurrying expecting to see Negroes, thinking that only Negroes came from South Africa. 

                        On the 24^th of September 1860, they arrived at the 8^th Ward square in Salt Lake City, and they were very well received.