"Next day while we were still ferrying them over another large company arrived. We gathered our cattle at 10 o'clock and harnessed our horses, but did not start, as all were not ready, so we turned our teams out again.
"In the afternoon we held a council and resolved to leave nine men to conduct the ferry and to ford emigrant companies and also our own brethren who should come after us. The men were chosen and we met with them again in the evening.
"President Young rebuked one who had asked to stay, but who later wished to continue on with us. He also instructed the brethren who were to tarry to keep together and divide their means accumulated equally according to their labor, for each to esteem his brother as himself, in no wise to retain that which belonged to the traveler, to be careful of the lives and property of those they ferried, not to forget their prayers, and to come up after us with the next company of Saints.
"The men to remain at the ferry were Thomas Grover, captain; John S. Higbee, Luke Johnson, William Empy, Edmund Elsworth, Benjamin F. Stewart, Francis Pomeroy, James Davenport, and Appleton Harmon.
"After seven days we continued our journey, traveled during the day twenty and one-half miles, and had the most wretched camping ground at night we had found on the way. President Young thought it might properly be called 'Hell Gate.' The country abounded with alkali and the water was extremely nauseating. Our horses and cattle, being thirsty, drank some and left it. Some of the cattle got badly mired in the marshes. Our hunters brought in one buffalo, one deer, and three antelopes.
"Early on Sunday morning, the 20th, we hitched up without feed or water and left our encampment of death, poison waters, and alkaline marshes and drove three miles to a good camping ground and sweet water. This was on the Willow Spring branch, about three miles from the head.
"We halted two hours and took breakfast. President Young wished me to go on about fifteen miles and look up a camping ground for the night. So I went forward with George A. Smith to the head of the Willow Spring. Here he stopped with a doctor of a Missouri company, who had been attending a sick family, to wait for our wagons to come up, and I rode on alone. After traveling alone several miles, Brother John Brown came up, and we rode on together over a sandy, barren, sage country to a creek of good water about ten miles west of the Willow Spring. We arrived here at half past 1 o'clock, and turned our horses out to graze.
"Here we tarried till four o'clock and watched for our wagons to come in sight, but we could see none. At length two horsemen were seen approaching and we waved a small flag for them to come to us, supposing they were of our company, but they turned out to be two hunters of the Missouri company, carrying in buffalo meat to their camp. In the distance they thought we were Indians and made off.
"I mounted my horse and put after them and soon overtook them and made inquiries concerning our company. They said they had not seen it, but had seen about a dozen wagons coming by themselves.
"I then concluded that our camp had stopped at the Willow Spring. Captain Smith, who was of the Missouri company, invited us to go on and camp with them for the night, as they did not expect to go more than a few miles farther than the creek we were then on. We could see five miles on the road back, and no wagons were in sight; and as it was now five o'clock, I concluded our company would not come on, and if they did, they would come no farther than the creek.