170 years ago today - Apr 23, 1847

[Wilford Woodruff]
While wattering the Horses at a creek at the station last evening Brother G. A. Smiths Horse mired & pitched foreward & Jumped onto him trod upon his feet & breast & held him fast in the mud untill I caught him by the bit & backed him off. ...

Some places [crossing the Platt River] of quick sand was found so soft as to sink man or beast instantly in & the more He strugled to get out the more He would sink. But we calculated to avoid such places as much as possible.

... For O Pratt in trying to cross the second stream had sunk into a bed of quick sand and all men had to go to his relief to get his Horses & waggon out.

... I took off a part of my load or most of it in a boat & went through the second stream empty & got out two other waggons done in the same way. But it was so tarrific the rest of the camp would not follow suit.

So their were 6 men of us in all to spend the night to gether without horses & waggons to guard against the whole Pawnee band that were Camped below us on the same side of the river should they feel disposed to come upon us. There numbers were not known but it was supposed they numbered over 600 warriors. We divided our company which made ownly three of us on guard at a time. ...

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

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