Leon Reporter, Leon, Iowa
Thursday, June l6, l904

Mr. Benjamin Bellamy, of California, while looking over some old papers at the Bellamy home west of Leon last week, came across an original manuscript which was written for the old Leon Pioneer, now The Reporter, over fifty years ago by GEO. W. BIBBEY, but for some reason was never completed or published, and brought it to our office. It tells of an exciting journey across the great plains in l850 and we regret that the writer did not complete the narrative. We give all that was written and it will be read with interest by many of the older residents of this county who were acquainted with MR BIBBEY.

Editor Leon Pioneer:

In the spring of l850 we left Mercer County, Mo., and set out on our way bound for California. Our company consisted of eighteen men. We were all well armed and had a good outfit for the trip. We crossed the Missouri River on the 8th day of May and proceeded on our way westwardly. We passed on fine and made good time until we met a train of government wagons from Ft. Laramie and Ft. Kearney, some l50 miles this side of Ft. Kearney and 25 miles east of the Platte River. The teamsters directed us to take a left hand road, the emigration ahead of us having taken the right hand road and misled us and the first thing that we knew we were in plain view of a large Indian village of the Pawnee tribe. This village is situated on Honey Creek, it being past fording at the time of our arrival. By 3 o'clock in the evening about one hundred wagons had stopped there and the Indians came out and demanded pay for the grass our stock was consuming. At first we concluded that we would stand them battle before we would pay them for the grass. At that time some four or five Indian chiefs came forward and made some lengthy speeches and frightened the women and children. We finally concluded to treat with them and formed our wagons in a corral enclosing about an acre of ground and each company paid them some flour, meal, coffee, sugar, rice, fruit, tobacco, etc., such as they could spare and the chiefs distributed their mite to each family. We left there next morning. Nothing more of importance occurred until we reached Fort Kearney, where we found the cholera raging in all its fury and we passed through where they were dying on every side.

We reached Salt Lake Valley on July 22d and left July 27th. We took the south route there and had to cross a salt desert 9l miles in width. On this desert there was a great deal of suffering both by man and beast. I saw men offer to give good farms or mortgage their farm for any price a man would mention just for one pint of water. Many had to have water hauled to them. This lays directly south of the Great Salt Lake. After we left this desert we traveled about l50 or 200 miles when we came to a spur of the mountains running south. In going around this spur it required four days travel. On going down the east side we came up to a train of five or six wagons and two carts. This train consisted of five men and eight steers. They ventured to camp by themselves and during the night the Indians stole their cattle. The morning following the men were trying to track the cattle when two Indian men and a boy came running down from the mountain and said their cattle were up in a canon and that the Indians who stole them were asleep at that time. There were twenty men there and leaving one man to guard the teams the other nineteen went up into the mountains with their guides. They found no cattle or any trail thereof and the guides took them to the top of the mountain to their wigwams and sat down. The white men insisted on the guides showing them their cattle and they got stubborn and shook their heads and would go no farther. The men stated that there were two rifles discharged of their contents and they left the boy sitting there. Some of the men came back on the east side while the rest of the company crossed over to intersect the road on the other side. After returning to their teams they discovered, by means of a spy glass, two of their cattle some two and a half miles in a different direction. After we left there and passed around the point of the spur of the mountain, had camped and put our stock out to graze, there came a man on horseback in a long hand gallop who appeared to be in great trouble. On inquiring of him what was the matter he said that there were six of them traveling together; they had started from Pleasant Grove, Illinois, together and when they got to this mountain they had but two horses and only one gun and that was a shot gun. He said, "We started to go through a canon where we would have saved about three days travel. On going through this canon we met with some twelve Indians and they appeared friendly and offered their services to pilot us."

Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert