almost destitute of clothing,[1] bedding, and household furniture, such articles as they possessed having been exchanged for food during their journey. In 1848 it had been prophesied by Heber C. Kimball that the commodities, known among the brethren as 'states goods,' would be as cheap in Salt Lake City as in New York; while Brigham Young, soon after setting forth from Nauvoo, had made a similar prediction, declaring that within five years his people would be more pros- perous than they had ever been. Both prophecies were fulfilled,[2] when, during the first years of the gold fever, company after company came pouring into Utah, which might now be termed the half-way house of the nation. Several hundred California-bound emigrants arrived in the valley in 1849, too late to continue their journey on the northern route, and proposed to spend the winter in the valley. There was scarcely provision enough for those already there, and as Jefferson Hunt of the battalion offered to pilot the company over the southern route, they decided to undertake the trip, and started on the 8th of October, arriving in California on the 22d of December.[3] On the 1st of December nineteen men came into the city on foot, nearly famished, having been two days making their way over Big Mountain. Their wagons had been left on Echo Creek, and their animals at Willow Springs, where the snow, they said, was six feet deep on a level. Though many of these adventurers were poor, some of the trains were loaded with valuable merchandise, for which their owners
- ↑ Parley relates that during 1848 he and his family were compelled to go barefooted for several months, reserving their Indian moccasins for extra occasions. Autobiog., 405.
- ↑ In the summer of 1849, almost every article except tea and coffee sold at 50 per cent below the prices ruling in eastern cities. Frontier Guardian, Sept. 5, 1849.
- ↑ 'The company became dissatisfied at the continued southern direction. At Beaver Creek, one Capt. Smith came up with a company of packers, saying that he had maps and charts of a new route, called Walker's cut-off. All the packers and most of Capt. Hunter's co. joined Smith. After wandering about the mountains for a time many turned back and took the southern route, while Capt. Smith and a few others struggled through and arrived in California on foot.' Hist. B. Young, MS., 1849, 167.
