The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-11-25

Travellers Graphic Description He Found
River Iowa Adde'S Of Thomas l. Kane Before the Historical
Society Of Pennsylvania, March 26 1850

OF Pennsylvania, March 70
who had put out their flres, who had
eaten their food, spoiled their ORCH
ards, and trampled under foot their
thousands OF acres OF unharyested
bread; these were the keepers Of
their dwellings, the carousens in
their temple whose drunken riot In
suited the ears of their dying.
They were, all told, not more than
six hundred and forty persons who
We're thus lying on the river fats.
But the Mormons in Nauvoo and its
| dependencies had been numbered
the year before at over 10000. Where
were they? They had last been seen
carrying in raournful trains their sick
! and wounded, halt and blind, to dis
appear behind the western horizon,
pursuing the phantom OF another
known Of them; and people asked
with curiosity, what had besn their
fate what their fortunes?
The party encountered by me at
the river shore we're the last OF the
Mornons that left the city. They
had all OF them engaged the year be-
fore. that they would vacate their
homes and seek some other place Of
refuge. 1t had been the condition OF
a truce between them and their as
sailants; and as an earnest OF their
good faith; the chief elders and some
others OF obnoxious standing with
their families were to set out for thu
west in the spring of 1916. 1t hao
been stipulated in return, that the
rest Of the Mormous might remain
behind in their peaceful enjoyment OF
their Illinois abode, until their lead
ers, with their exploring party couf.
with all diligence select for them a
new place of settlement beyond the
Rocky mountains, in California, or
elsewhere, and until they had oppor-
tunity to dispose to the best advan,
| tage of the property which they wers
to leave.
Some renewed symptoms of hostile
feeling had, however, determined the
pioneer party to begin their work be-
! fore the spring. 1t was, of course,
anticipated that this would be a per
! ilous service, but 1t was regarded as
a matter OF self-denying duty.
| They began their march In nlid-win
ter, and by the beginning of February
I nearly all of them were on the roao,
many Of the wagons having crossed
/ the Mississippi ON the ice.
/ Under the most favorable circum
i stances an exhibition Of this sort
/ undertaken at such season of the
4 year, could scarcely fail to be disas
4 trous. But the pioneer company hac
tc set out in haste and were yer,
i ;mperfectly suppl ed with nscessaries
The cold was intense. They movet
in the teeth OF keen-edged northwest
winds, such as sweep down the Iowa
peninsula from the ice bound regions
Of the timbershaded Slave lake, ane
Lake of the Woods; on the bald prai
RE there, nothing above the dea.
grass breaks their free course owe
the hard rolled hills Even along tn,
scattered water courses, where the.
4 broke ice to give their cattle drink
the annual autumn fires had left It'll
wood OF value The party, therefore
often wanted for coed campfires, tn
first luxury of all travellers; but t
: L. - %lx, P,,r fct, ea1
: tents and other appliances Of shelter
J almost an essential to life Ate
days OF fatigue, their nights wer
often passed in restless efforts to saw
themselves from freezing. Thei
: stock of food also proved inadequate
and as their systems became impoy
I erished their suffering from cold II
creased.
The spring came at last. 1t oye1
took them in the Sac and Fox cour
try still on the naked prairie, nor We
half way over the trail they wer
following between the ss,ssippi an
Missouri rivers. But 1t bought II
5 own share of troubles with it. TIL
months with which it opened prove
. nearly as trying as the worst Of vii
: ter.
!. The Mormons outside Nauvoo wer
indeed hard pressed; but inside th
city they maintained themselves yer
, we'll two or three months longer.
: 1t was this day saw the departur
, OF the last elders and the la ger
( band that moved in one company t
gether. The people of Iowa have tol
: me that from morning to night the
passed westward like an endless pr
2 cession. They did not seem great
q out of heart, they said; but at the to
: OF every hill before they disappeare
t were to be seen looking back, Lii
i banished Moors, on their abandone
J. homes and the far-seen temple an
Y its glittering spire.
Delayed thus by their own wan
!. and by their exertions to provide II
g tho u,o,,to rf cAI,orr 10 ,,,,a 49, 4