SET APART BY ELDER HYDE FOR OUR SPECIAL MISSION—BLESSING CONFERRED ON THE WRITER—DISCONTENT IN CAMP—UNITY AGAIN PREVAILS—START ON OUR JOURNEY—WARNED AT GREEN RIVER TO GO NO FARTHER—NOT DETERRED FROM PERFORMING OUR MISSION—PROCEED ON OUR JOURNEY—FUTILE CHASE AFTER BUFFALO—SCARCITY OF WATER—A WELCOME SNOW STORM—REACH THE CAMP OF WASHAKIE, THE SHOSHONE CHIEF—RECEIVED WITH CAUTION—TELL THE CHIEF THE OBJECT OF OUR VISIT—GIVE HIM BREAD AND SUGAR—BOILED BUFFALO FOR AN EPICURE—INDIAN POWWOW CALLED—PROCEEDINGS AT THE COUNCIL—OBJECTION TO ONE OF OUR PROPOSITIONS, WHICH WE WERE NOT ANNOYED AT—RECITAL OF HOW GOVERNMENT AGENTS SOUGHT TO SUPPLANT WASHAKIE AS CHIEF—WASHAKIE A GREAT ORATOR.
ANOTHER meeting was held on the 10th of May, and Elder Hyde preached again. Then he called on those who had been selected for the mission, told us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, to be cautious and do all the good that we could to the red men, and said that God would bless us. He also said, "I do not know which to appoint for the leader, Brother Brown or Brother Bullock. They are both good men, but as Brother Bullock is the eldest, he may have more experience." He then blessed us, and promised me in my blessing that angels should go before me, the visions of the Lord should be open to my view, and no weapon that was raised against me should prosper, but that I should go forth in the power and demonstration of the Lord God, and be mighty in gathering Israel. Then he further instructed the party, and turned again to me, pronouncing more blessings in line with those he had given. Elder Hyde then started on his return trip home, and we prepared ourselves as speedily as consistent for our expedition into a country mostly unknown to us.
April 11th and 12th were blustery, and there was snow. A reaction of spirit took place among the brethren of the camp, or probably it would be more proper to say that another spirit came upon the camp—a spirit of great discontent. For a time it seemed as if it would break up the mission, but finally it was overcome, and all went well again.
On the 13th of April we set out on our journey, and went to Green River the first day, through rain and sleet part of the time. At Green River we found about thirty of the roughest kind of mountain men, engaged in drinking, gambling and carousing. Some Frenchmen, Mexicans or "Greasers," Indians, half-breeds, and some Americans of a low class, associated there, and insisted on us dining with them, and were very hospitable. They warned us not to venture any farther in the direction that we were going, saying that if we did so we would not return alive—that there would not be a "grease spot" left of us. This statement corresponded with what we had heard before, yet it did not deter us. There were in the crowd, Joshua Terry, also four Spaniards from the west, bound for Taos, New Mexico. They joined us, and we crossed the river, which was so deep that it was all that we possibly could do to ford it. The venture was harder than we expected it to be, but we succeeded, and struck out for the head of Bitter Creek, via Pilot Butte, making all the distance consistent with the condition of our animals. When we reached Bitter Creek, we followed up to the head, then bore to the southeast, crossing a high, dry country, for two days without water, then came in sight of a small herd of buffalo.
The Mexicans, with Ward and Davis, gave chase to the herd, while Bullock and I kept on our course with the pack animals, guided across the plains by mountain peaks and openings in the range of mountains. The hunters did not rejoin us until the latter part of the next day. They succeeded in killing one poor buffalo bull, and were so thirsty that they opened the tripe and drank the liquid it contained, to save their lives, for they were so far gone as not to be able to bring any portion of the carcass to camp. That day we came across a shallow pool of water, where we rested a short time.
We had been told that by crossing the country in the direction we were going we would be sure to strike the Indian trail leading in toward the headwaters of the Platte River; consequently we continued on till we came to the main divide between the waters of the east and the west. There Joshua Terry and the Spaniards parted with us, and we kept along on the divide, or summit of the Rocky Mountains, between the Platte and the Rio Grande, while they passed over. That night we camped on the divide, and had a snowstorm on us, in which we were fortunate, as by that means we obtained water for ourselves and animals. The next day we struck the trail of a few Indians, and by following it up five or six miles reached another trail which it ran into. This we continued to follow until 3 p.m., when we came to the camp of Washakie, the Shoshone Indian chief.
The first Indian we met would not speak when we accosted him. He shook his head, and pointed to the chief's lodge. That spirit of "mum" seemed to pervade the entire camp, and when we rode up in front of the chief's lodge, that Indian dignitary came out, bowed, and shook hands with each one of us, but without uttering a word. By gestures he invited us to dismount, come in, sit down, and tell the truth regarding our errand to his camp, but no lies. Then he had some clean, nice robes spread for us. At the same time his women folks came out, taking our horses by the bits. We dismounted, and took seats as invited. The chief and ourselves were all "mum" until the horses had been unsaddled, and everything belonging to us had been put under the bottom of the lodge, just to the rear of where we sat.
These proceedings being over, the chief said: "Who are you, from where do you come, and what is your errand to my country?" Then, by gestures, he said, "Tell me the truth; do not tell me any lies, nor talk any crooked talk." Here he paused, and, by motions, invited us to reply.
We told him we were Mormons, from the Salt Lake country, sent by the big Mormon captain, to make the acquaintance of him and his people, that we might talk and be friendly with them, as we wished them to be friendly with us and with all good people, as also wit............