After the usual medical and baggage checks, our group began the next leg of our journey on the 17th of June.  Our destination was Dunkirk, New York, almost 160 miles away.  We traveled by freight car pulled by a steam engine.  

If we thought conditions on the ship were crowded and poor, this was even worse.  Each freight car was about 12 feet wide and 35 feet long.  It held 80-85 people and had room for sitting and standing only.  It was very hot, hard to breathe, dirty from cinders, and almost impossible to sleep in.  Lack of sanitation facilities created an additional problem, as did lice.  Luckily, we only had to spend two days on the train.  On the 19th, our company boarded the steamship Jeresey at Dunkirk and sailed 280 miles across Lake Erie to Toledo, Ohio.  Although we didn't relish sailing on a ship again, anything was better than those freight cars.  On this voyage, at least, we could see land most of the time.  We arrived in Toledo on the 21st of June.  

(Image - Freight Train, New York, circa 1850s)

We took another freight train to cover the 260 miles from Toledo to Iowa City, with the same difficulties mentioned earlier.  It was very, very hot, between 90-100 degrees during the day, when we arrived in Iowa City on the 26th of June.  We found out that the third Handcart Company had left Iowa City just three days earlier.  However, due to problems with slow mail, the Church Agents responsible for outfitting the handcart companies had no idea we were coming and were not prepared for us.  It took us 19 days. Days we didn't have to spare, to make all the tents and handcarts necessary for our journey.  We had sewn a few tents on the ship, but for many of us, we had to sleep out under the stars, often for the very first time.  The beauty of the heavens was breathtaking, as was the vastness of America and the breadth of the Mississippi River.  

(Image - Iowa City, 1856)

This week was very pleasant and warm.  After weeks at sea, we finally sighted land on the 28th of June and were soon anchored in Boson Harbor.  We are so excited to see America!  

(Image - Boston Harbor, circa 1850s)

We spent this week continuing our preparations for our journey.  We had to sew more tents, make handcarts, and obtain food and other items essential for our trip.  Some were assigned to cut down trees to be used for the handcarts, while others helped build the carts.  Still, others helped sew the thick canvas tents.  Others helped haul the 8 tons of flour needed to make the first 300 miles of the trip.  There was little or no cured lumber available to us, so we made our handcarts out of 'green' or 'wet' lumber.  As the wood dried over the next several weeks, it often warped or split, so many carts broke down and had to be repaired.  Each handcard weighed about 60 pounds when it was finished.

Our company has been divided into 'Hundreds.' There are four English-speaking 'Hundreds' and one Scandinavian speaking 'Hundred.'  When we try to communicate with those from other countries, it is very difficult.  The weather continues to be very, very hot.  

At our final meeting aboard the ship, our captain reported that we were the best group of passengers he had ever brought across the sea.  On the 30th of June, we were finally able to get off the ship and set our feet on solid land again.  On July 2nd, we boarded a train going to Iowa City.  We traveled in cramped, dirty freight cars - feeling somewhat like cattle.  We traveled by way of Albany, Buffalo, and Cleveland.  We arrived in Toledo on Saturday, the 5th of July.  

We continued our preparations this week.  Along with a shortage of lumber, there was a shortage of tin to cover the axles and of grease to lubricate them.  We found out later that this was a big problem.  Without tin to cover the axles, the axle hubs could be ground away within a couple of days if a lot of sand got between the axle and the hub.  

We learned how to build fires, cook over fires, slaughter and prepare beef cattle, yoke and drive oxen, and do laundry in the wilderness.  This was such a change from what all of us were used to in our homelands. 

Each of us was allotted 16 ounces of flour per day for food, plus a little milk, some bacon, and occasional beef.  Some of our fellow Saints, like Francis Webster and Jens Neilson, sacrificed their plans to cross the plains by wagon - a much ore comfortable yet more expensive method  - and have joined our handcart company.  They consecrated their extra resources to help those who were less fortunate so they too could come to Zion.  We were touched to witness their faith, generosity, and charity.  

We arrived in Chicago at 5 pm on the 6th of July and spent the night there.  Later in the evening, a large fire occurred in the city.  Some of the company went to see it and were able to help put it out.  

We arrived in Iowa City on July 8th.  The Church Agents responsible for outfitting us were busily helping the Willie Company prepare and hadn't had time to prepare for us.   Though we had sewn some tents while crossing the sea, there was much that needed to be done, including sewing additional tents, building handcarts, and preparing food just as others had done before us.  The weather is stifling hot.  Many are from more mild climates in Europe and are not accustomed to this kind of heat.  

We knew we wouldn't be able to take much with us when we crossed the plains.  However, when the reality of only taking 17 pounds set in, including clothing, bedding, tools, and cooking utensils, it was so hard for most of us to get down to our limit!  We had to decide what was absolutely essential and what we could get along without.  It was so hard to add cherished heirlooms, family pictures, need clothing to the huge 'to be left behind' pile.  For some, it was relatively easy, but for others, it was really hard.  Such is the price of discipleship.  We have 5 wagons assigned to our company to carry our tents, food, and tools .  We have 120 handcarts and about 500 people in our group. Twenty of us are assigned to each tent.  We left Iowa City on the 15th of July 1856, heading for Florence, about 280 miles away. We are so excited to finally be on our way to Zion again!  Then hard reality set in.  We only traveled a mile or two before we made camp.  We are all so very tired and in such awful pain. 

The sore, cramped muscles and blisters seemed to all but kill us. We thought pulling a handcart would be easy, but it wasn't, even for those who were strong and healthy.  We were so grateful we only went that far.  However, we still have 1,399 miles left.  On the 16th, we traveled three miles.   The muscle pain, blisters, and sunburn are excruciating.   We rested all day on the 17th.  We are so grateful for rest, even though it was after only two days.  Every muscle in our bodies ached, including lots of muscles we didn't know existed.  The blisters on our blisters were painful too.  On the 18th, we got up at 4 am, but it took us 7 hours to get ready, so we didn't leave camp until 11 am.  

Our captains were not happy about that. We traveled a whopping six miles and were completely, utterly exhausted.  The next day on Saturday the 19th, we traveled 12 miles an didn't make camp until 7 pm.  Oh, it was such a long, long, long day!  The pain was almost unbearable.  Sadly, it has been so hard that several Saints have dropped out already.  

Sunday!  We have never enjoyed a Sabbath as much as this one.  We all really wanted a 'day of rest.'  We spent the day at Brushrow Creek.  It was very hot - about 100 degrees - and very dusty.  Everything is covered in dust, inside and out.  We alternate which company gets to go first and are so glad when our company is out in front.  Sometimes we spread out as much as a mile wide, looking for good places to travel and to get out of the dust.  We traveled approximately 60 miles this week.  More of our company has dropped out. 

There are quite a few who were sick this week.  Captain Willie and Brother Griffiths spent most of the evening administering to the sick.  Our carts are breaking down because of the green wood. 

We often pass by towns and villages along the way.  Sometimes local citizens treat us well, while other times, they harass us. On Monday, our guards actually had to get their guns out to protect us from the hecklers.  On Friday, a search party stopped us and checked every handcart and wagon to see if there were any women being held captive against their will.  

By the end of the week, we camped near Timber Point, Iowa.  We are starting to make better time, and we traveled 80 miles this week, despite the stifling hot weather.  Several people fainted while pulling their carts.  

The carts continue  to break down, and we have to stop and fix them the best we can.  We had to reduce our rations slightly so we have enough food to get to Florence.  To live off a pound of flour a day isn't quite enough, and we are always just a little hungry.  

Our company leaders have done all they can to help us and have tried to balance the strength of the company by assigning young men to help pull carts for families who need them.  However, some carts are pulled exclusively by young women.  

Hooray!  We have finally left Iowa City.  There are 576 Saints in our company.  It was sad to leave our campground strewn with precious family heirlooms and items too heavy to take on the trip—jewelry, pictures, clothes, bedding, tools, furniture, china, mirrors, etc.   Many of us tried selling things to gain extra money to buy food later on in the trip, but the local people know we can't take it with us and often don't pay us much for our belongings.  

Others will wait until we go so they can simply take whatever we have left behind.  We experience the same terrible aches and pains as the other companies while learning to pull our handcarts.  With what little we are able to take, it sure doesn't seem like a typically loaded handcart could possibly weigh only 200-400 pounds.  It seems more like a ton. 
We lost eight head of cattle this week.  

We continued  across Iowa this week, passing several towns, traveling approximately 110 miles in hot, hot weather.  Despite the rigors of the journey, we are cheerful, buoyant, and happy - because we are going to Zion.  Our rations were further reduced to 10 ounces of flour per day so that we can make it to Florence, our next supply point.  We are so hungry.  It is so much harder to pull the cart when there isn't enough to eat.  Some members of the group have private food supplies that help supplement the reduced rations.  They often share what they have with the rest of us, which is helpful.  Our leaders reproved us for being selfish.  We tried to be better and noticed a much better spirit in our camp by the end of the week.  

We continued across Iowa in the stifling heat.  While we were traveling through a wooded area, one of our group accidentally ran his handcard into a stump which caused the wheel to break off.  It took us a while to repair the handcart.  We got so thirsty in the heat.  We traveled through a beautiful country, where we could stand and gaze upon prairies as far as the eye could see, this is nothing like the cramped cities and villages of Europe.