Along the way they dedicated, on the 17th of April, the new meeting-house in Springville, President D. H. Wells offering the dedicatory prayer. On reaching Nephi the authorities took up the Word of Wisdom and urged it most strenuously upon the Saints. The trip was attended by severe storms, rain, and snow. Almost all the way the roads were very disagreeable. When they reached Cove Creek Fort, a sort of half-way station between Kanosh and Beaver, the stopped for the night. The distance between Beaver and Kanosh was so great that it afforded the Indians an excellent opportunity to attack travelers and make good their escape.
Elder Woodruff's journal records the following description of it: "This Fort is a very substantial building. I think it is the best in the Territory. It is built of volcanic rock laid in with mortar. Each of the four walls is one hundred feet long on the outside, eighteen feet high from the foundation. On the east side is a gate way fourteen feet wide with a substantial arch six feet deep and three inches thick, set inside. Above this, preparations are being made for a look-out and telegraph office. On the west side is a gate way eight by four feet, with projections inside ten and one-half feet wide, ten feet high. The front contains twelve rooms, six on the north and six on the south side, ten of which are sixteen by fourteen feet, and two are sixteen by seventeen feet, and nine feet four inches high. There is a chimney to each room, three feet wide and two feet thick. The chimneys rise six feet above the top of the wall. The rooms are well lighted and have five panel doors. The roof is covered with good shaved pine shingles. The entire building contains two thousand two hundred and fifty perch of rock, one thousand nine hundred and seventy-five bushels of lime, and has cost to the present $22,690.00."
The Fort was a great protection in those days. It stood not far from the mouth of the canyon which ran up into Sevier Valley, and was a great necessity to all travelers, Mormon, Jew, or Gentile, who in those days went to California by what was called the Southern Route.
On reaching Toquerville, the company turned east and drove up the Virgin River as far as Rockville. "Here we found a beautiful place. A street one-half a mile long with rows of houses on each side and fine gardens and orchards running through the center of the town. The beautiful vineyards and the high mountains make the scene somewhat romantic."
On the 29th of April, the company returned to Toquerville where President Young, in a pronounced manner, depreciated the use of wine. "You put wine on your table morning and night and it will be an injury to you. Set a good example before all, and keep the Word of Wisdom; if you do not, you will soon be severed from the Church."
On leaving there they went directly to St. George. The town had grown wonderfully in those days, and had become one of the most flourishing towns in Utah. A number of most excellent families had been called to settle the place under the leadership of Erastus Snow, who had charge of the work in the southern part of the Territory. It was here that President Young recommended the establishment of wholesale stores for St. George and Parowan. When they had reached the latter place on their return, President Young suggested that an invitation be sent the Moquitche Indians to come and locate with the Saints, the report having reached him that these Indians felt desirous of so doing.
On their return, Elder Woodruff said: "On May 16th Apostle Cannon and myself spoke in the Tabernacle. We were followed by a Methodist minister, a Mr. Allen, a descendant of Col. Ethan Allen. Mr. Allen had also spoken in the morning. He was very favorably impressed with what he had seen and with the doctrines of the people."
On the 10th of May Elder Woodruff recorded what to him was a very sad event. His daughter Susan and children, obedient to the wishes of their husband and father, left Utah for the States. The husband had little or no faith and did not care to remain longer among the Saints. However, Elder Woodruff blessed his daughter and children and prophesied good things concerning them and lived to see his daughter and all her children but one return unto the fold and come back to Salt Lake City.
In the month of June Brigham Young and party started on another tour to the North. The pioneer work in the outposts of the Territory needed the watch care and encouragement of President Young, who gave detailed attention to everything which affected the welfare of the people. The Saints who located in these distant places were not permitted to settle down, by reason of their isolation, into a neglectful and indifferent life. They were unlike most pioneers on the outskirts of civilization, as their religious duties imposed upon them public obligations which were educational in their effect. In Bear Lake on this journey, a new stake organization was effected, with Elder David P. Kimball as president. Apostle Charles C. Rich had already located in Paris, Bear Lake, and was the general supervisor of the colonizing work in the far north.
On their return to Salt Lake City, Elder Woodruff took up his work on the farm, where he hoed corn, hauled hay, and harvested his wheat. On Pioneer Day, which was celebrated throughout the cities and towns of Utah, Elder Woodruff wrote meditatively as follows: "Twenty-two years ago today I drove the team which brought President Brigham Young from Emigration Canyon into this City. He lay upon a bed, sick in my carriage. As soon as his eyes rested upon the beautiful yet desert scene of the valley before us he said: 'This is the place; for the Lord has shown it to me in a vision.' We now number more than a hundred thousand souls. See what God hath wrought! Let His name be honored above all else!"