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Eleven years after two skeletons were found near where they were last seen and identified by the guns and powder flasks lying by them as the remains of Johnson and Burkholder.*
The main body of the expedition which had gone back to the Irish colony experienced no trouble until near night of the second day’s march. Having a very small supply of provisions they were put upon short allowance. The water in the river was now very high and the melting snow was filling the creeks and sloughs. When the command reached Cylinder Creek, late in the afternoon of April 4th, it had overflowed its banks and had spread out over the valley a mile in width and twelve feet deep, with a strong current in the channel. All efforts to find a place where it could be crossed failed. The wind had now suddenly changed to the northwest and it was rapidly growing cold. Captains Richards and Buncombe saw serious work and danger before them and sent Major Williams and Mr. Dawson (both of whom were old men) back to the settlement, while they sought for a way to get the men across the flooded stream. An effort was made to convert the
* Capt. J. C. Johnson had recently come to Webster City from Pennsylvania, a young man who was universally esteemed. His courage, patient endurance and considerate care for his men on that long fearful march, had endeared him to every member of his company.
Wm. E. Burkholder had recently been elected Treasurer of Webster County and was a young man of great promise. He had cheerfully shared all the hardships of this winter campaign, volunteering to go on to the lakes to bury the dead. He was a brother of Governor Carpenter’s wife.