Lots of Fun in Wyoming

With my daughter, Kayla's help, I'm going to try and insert a slide show of some of the incredibly fun times we had in Wyoming. I can't begin to tell you how marvelous this vacation was!

Rocky Ridge and Modern Pioneer Wannabes

A taste of the handcart experience is available to anyone who wants to try it. We took pictures of young people from Sandy, Utah who were camping and pulling their carts. Lessons in history, perseverance, and sacrifice are waiting to be learned by all of us. Of the 3000 handcart pioneers, about 1/6 of them died before their journey's end in Zion. And yet, according to Handcarts to Zion, written by LeRoy r. and Ann W. Hafen in 1976, their progeny total half a million. My faith is strengthened by the example of these early saints in their willingness to presevere and endure for the unfathomable blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I continually pray I can endure the vicissitudes of life as valiantly.

Martin's Cove

The fatigued Saints finally reached the rescue wagons, encamped in the cove about 2-1/2 miles from Devil's Gate. This is a picture of Martin’s Cove where they rested a few days before continuing on the remainder of the grueling trip. Leaving Martin’s Cove, the rescue wagons stored the merchandise at Devil's Gate fort and used the wagons to haul the sick and incapacitated. All the handcarts were left behind. A delegation remained at the Fort to guard the goods during the winter. Ahead of the company stretched 325 miles of high, mountain desolation mantled in snow.

Crossing the Sweetwater

At Devil’s gate the rescuers decided that the handcart company, with the help from the rescue party and some wagons, should move on to find a sheltered place where wood was procurable. Loaded with the sick and dying, the wagons were to move along the Sweetwater and cross to a depression, later to be known as Martin's Cove. The handcarts moved November 3 and reached the river, floating with ice. To cross would require more courage and fortitude, it seemed, than human nature could muster.
"Three eighteen-year-old boys belonging to the relief party, came to the rescue; and to the astonishment of all who saw, carried nearly every member of that ill-fated handcart company across the snow-bound stream. The strain was so terrible and the exposure so great, that in later years all the boys died from the effects of it. When President Brigham Young heard of this heroic act, he wept like a child, and later declared publicly, 'That act alone with ensure . . [them] an everlasting salavation in the Celestial Kingdom of God, worlds without end.'"
There are three heart-breaking statues representing the young men carrying people across the Sweetwater at the Martin's Cove visitor's center. This is one of them.

The Rescue

Early in October President Brigham Young heard there were still pioneers on the trail. He knew they would have problems, so he called for volunteers to go to their aid. Horsemen, wagons, and supplies were sent. On 28 October three men from advance relief rescue party rode into the camp of the Martin Company.
These couriers later reported: “We found the Martin Company in a deplorable condition, they having lost 56 of their number since crossing the North Platte, nine days before. Their provisions were nearly gone, and their clothing almost worn out. Most of their bedding had been left behind, as they were unable to haul it, on account on their weakened condition. “
The deep snow had halted the rescue wagons, so the men told the emigrants their only hope was to keep moving to reach the rescue wagons camped at Devil’s Gate.

Martin's Cove

We were deeply touched with the tragic story of the prairie crossings of the Willie and the Martin handcart companies. Both parties of Mormon converts were late in sailing from England to join the Saints in Zion and didn't arrive in Iowa City until June 26 and July 8, 1956. After being outfitted by carts and tents, they left about three weeks later. One of the leaders, Levi Savage said that they "could not cross the mountains with a mixed company of aged people, women, and little children, so late in the season without much suffering, sickness, and death." Savage was voted down, the majority being against him. He then added: "Brethren and sisters, what I have said I know to be true; but seeing you are to go forward, I will go with you, will rest with you, will suffer with you, and, if necessary, I will die with you. May God in his mercy bless and preserve us."


The Martin Handcart Company was the last one to leave Iowa, and ran into freezing weather and early snowstorms in October in Wyoming. Their rations had been reduced to 1/4 pound of flour a day weakening them to the point of exhaustion.

Handcart Pioneers

From 1856-60, an experiment in travel with handcarts brought 3000 men, women and children pulling their worldly possessions in hand-made, two-wheeled carts. They trudged 1300 miles to Zion. Their fragile vehicles crossed prairies, mountains, rivers and deserts, motored by muscle and fueled by blood.