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Show Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us 'Together commence. What I have written so far was what I learned from my parents. At that time our family consisted of Father, Mother, and my sister, Elizabeth, three years older than myself. Father worked in a paper mill and we were treated well by the people. Soon after moving there I was taken sick with scarlet fever and almost died. I was once sliding on the ice on a mill pond close to our house when one of my playmates dared me to stand on a place where the ice was very thin. I took the dare and went down in about ten feet of water. Had I not been rescued by some men skating, I would have been a goner. In 1859 we made another start for Utah; we got as far as Florence, Nebraska. This was the place where all the emigrants for the west outfitted for crossing the plains. There could be seen frontiersmen of every type and the Pawnee Indian in all his glory. Father obtained employment with Mr. William Piper, a merchant, as a salesman in his store. In the latter part of summer, a way was opened for us to continue our journey to Utah. Ebenezer R. Young of Salt Lake City was loading an ox train of ten wagons with merchandise for Salt Lake and offered Father and Mother passage for their services. Father was to drive an ox team and Mother was to cook for half of the men. The offer was accepted and we were soon on our way to Utah. Up to that time I don't think Father had ever seen an ox team. After a tedious journey, we arrived in Salt Lake in the latter part of October. I remember seeing vast herds of buffalo as we traveled along the Platte River and across the Laramie plains. We averaged about twelve miles. One morning a fine mule was missing, also one of the teamsters. They had gone off together and never returned. Upon our arrival in Salt Lake City, we found Samuel Milliner of American Fork, who wanted to get a man to go down there and work for him. Father took the job, and on the same day we landed in Salt Lake we put our few effects in Milliner's wagon and started for American Fork. We stopped that night at Gardner's Mill on the stage road and the next day we arrived at our destination. There were a very few good houses at the time. They were principally log and adobe shacks. But we finally got a dugout just outside of the settlement and moved in. It was a hole dug in the ground about eight by ten feet with a fireplace dug out of the bank at one end, with a hole dug up through the surface for the smoke to escape. In the other end, a rough board floor was fitted into the bank with steps dug in the earth to ascend and descend. The roof was composed of willows and straw covered with a layer of dirt. When it rained, it was a question which was the driest, inside or out, but as it was warmer inside, we generally chose to be there. For fuel we had to burn sage brush that Father used to go out to the bench and gather with an ox team. We lived there about two months and then moved in to the settlement to an adobe shack belonging to Mr. Milliner. It consisted of one large room with a dirt roof and a fireplace at one end. Mother conceived the idea of teaching school to help make a living. She had only a common education. Our house was fitted out for a school room, three long slabs were obtained, two holes bored in each end and sticks sharpened at one end and driven into the holes for legs. These benches were placed on each side of the fire and the third bench was placed across the end forming a square. The pupils were facing inside, mother took the position inside the square and there she ruled supreme. As pay for Mother's services, we would receive some flour from one, some potatoes, or a little piece of meat and so on. Meat, butter and cheese were considered luxuries. I think Mother was paid about fifteen or twenty dollars a month. While crossing the plains, I was taken sick with ague, or chills and fever. Mother would put me to bed; our beds were made on the floor, and when the fevers left, Mother would resume her duties as school teacher. At that time, the U.S. Army under command of General Albert Sidney Johnston, was stationed at Camp Floyd, afterwards named Fort Crittenden, twenty miles west of American Fork. It created a ready market for hay, grain, and everything the farmers could produce. It was an extremely cold winter and the Utah Lake froze over so thick that teams could drive over the ice. One day a loaded wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen passed. I ran out and tried to climb on the hind end of the wagon to get a ride. In doing so, I shoved my leg between the spokes of the wheel, and if the driver had not stopped just in time, my leg would have been broken. I could not set my foot on the ground for six weeks. In 1860 Father obtained employment in Salt Lake City as a salesman in the store of Alexander Piper, I spent my days swimming in the Jordan River and we were always barefoot in the summer. Nearly every boy had a sore on one or both big toes all the time. We went bareheaded and as a result, we had freckled faces and sore lips. While living in Salt Lake, we encountered soldiers from Camp Floyd, saw lots of Indians, and was acquainted with Porter Rockwell. There were lots of adventures involving these people. When preparations were being made for the departure of the army, 52 |