When the Saints landed at New York, they met with Latter-day Saint agents who received them and transferred them on “to steam boats and railcars to continue their journey west.” (Woods). On July 21st at 6 a.m., they took a steamboat up the Hudson river. They then transferred to the “Hudson River Railroad” at 9 a.m. Elijah Larkin, who was on the trip, makes mention of the “mountains, hills and valleys” they passed by. He thought the scenery quite nice. After being at sea for over a month and coming to a whole new country, he was eager to see all he could. At 4:45 p.m. the train stopped at Poughkeepsie.
William's daughter, Harriet wrote in her Autobiography, “Father still took care of a certain number of the Saints all through the States. Some people seem so helpless, in a strange place. He was always busy getting food, helping to get the people in as comfortable places as possible “ At each stop the leaders would get out and buy as many provisions as they could.
They never knew exactly when the train would leave so children had to be kept very close to the train or left onboard whenever it stopped. Ellen was very good at watching out for her children and they behaved well. Many Saints were “scared at being left behind” (West). One group of leaders, out looking for food to buy, actually missed the train at one stop and had to catch the next train to catch up. The conductor was not very happy with them.
They left Poughkeepsie at 4:30 am on the 22nd and passed the “Catskill Mountains” where Elijah Larkin noted the “grape, holly hock” and other plants “that are cultivated in England, growing wild on both sides of [the train]”. The train made another stop at Strivesent Landing, which was unplanned. It seems that there had been some heavy floods recently and it had washed out at least one bridge. At 2 p.m. the train arrived in Albany, NY. Many leaders got off the train to look for food to buy, but found all the stores closed. The “citizens” were feeling hostile toward the “soldiers” stationed there and had closed all the stores.
Harriet wrote “It was during the Civil War in the United States, and the accommodations for the Saints were poor. Sometimes we were put in cattle cars, no seats, nor any comforts at all. Just our bedrolls and canvas trunks for seats and no place to cook, only as we could stop sometimes to change cars”(Allen).
The “women were afraid that their husbands would be drafted for the war every day” says William McLachlan, a fellow immigrant. Charles West, another immigrant in the group, reported that “on account of the Civil War going on we had to rough it. While traveling part of the time in sheep cars.”
They obviously were able to ride in passenger cars some of the time but had to go on the cattle (sheep) cars as well. Because of the Civil War passenger cars were not always available. The railroad people were “afraid of good cars being burned by Confederates” (West). The cattle cars were just swept out and they had straw on the floor.
A fellow passenger by the name of Naomi D. Dowden reported that at Albany they were loaded onto cattle cars. At 6 p.m. the train left Albany and stopped the next day the 23rd in Rochester for another engine. They stopped again in Albion for two hours. The leaders bought food while there. Here they saw “Niagara Falls about 12 miles up the river” (Larkin).
About 4:30 p.m. a luggage car caught fire and damaged quite a bit of luggage. The railroad company paid 200$ in compensation to the Saints. They left the damaged car in Hamilton and traveled on. William Fowler's luggage was not among those listed as damaged.
On July 24th at 12 p.m. the Saints arrived in Detroit. In the evening they “crossed [the] Detroit river in a steamer” (Larkin). On the other side of the river they found that there was a “shortage of carriages [railroad cars]” and it caused a bit of confusion.
The train arrived in Chicago at 1 p.m. on the 25th of July.
On the 26th they arrived in Quincy. The people were low on food, especially bread. The leaders bought some bread at the depo at Quincy. However all other stores were closed because it was Sunday.
From Quincy they “crossed the Mississippi River in two companies on the ferry boat” (Larkin). On the other side in the town of Hannibal, the Saints were put on “cattle cars” for the 16 miles to Palmyra. From there the passengers took one train and the baggage came on another. The trip was very rough and “tiresome” since the “rails having been tore up by the Army and only a temporary road laid” (Larkin).
Charles West says that because of the war there was not all that much food available at the stops and that they had to “rough it” by going short. The train stopped at St. Joseph at midnight (just as it became the 28th). The leaders got out and “purchased all the bread for sale in the city”(Larkin). At 7 a.m. 2/3rds of the immigrant Saints got on the steamboat “Hudson” while the others got on the next steamboat. They would stop at a German village along the way and buy all the “crackers, cheese, butter and eggs they could.” The Saints were very grateful because they were “very hungry” but it was only half what they needed (Larkin).
On the 29th they stopped at Nebraska City and again bought food. At daybreak on the 30* they made a stop at Council Bluffs. This location was of interest to the Saints since it used to be the place from which the Saints set off for the Rockies. However they would continue on to the new jumping off place, Florence,(Nebraska). On the 31st at Sam they made it to Florence landing.
A fellow passenger, William Mclachlan, was very sad. His son who had been sick for the entire journey, died during the last leg of the train trip. Here he found a place to bury him. He records that William Fowler offered the prayer over the grave of his son William Gilbert McLachlan.
They then made the short trip to Florence proper. Once in Florence they were greeted with a good meal by the Saints assigned there. They found that the teamsters from Zion had been waiting for them for two or three weeks. From here the immigrants would be assigned to different wagon companies and set up camp around Florence. William Fowler was probably assigned to the Dixie train led by Daniel McArthur.
No comments:
Post a Comment