By the way, if you are looking for good books about the Martin Handcart Company, "The Price We Paid" is the best. "Devil's Gate" is basically the worst book ever written, and super-anti lit, so don't even go there (now you won't have to be shocked like me). "Handcarts to Zion" is a good comparison between all the handcart companies.And here we are setting up hobo town in an attempt to dry out our clothes from the previous day's adventures. And P.S., they NEVER got dry. Not until I got home and washed them and put them in the drier. We were just never in one spot long enough to leave them in the sun. For the Martin Company, their clothes froze to their skin after crossing the Sweetwater, so it was easy to remind ourselves that this was the very most minor of inconveniences.
Split Rock
This day we talked about the rescue of the Willie Handcart Company. They were also stranded out on the plains in November of 1856, but closer to Salt Lake than the Martin Company. An advance rider found the Willie Company and told them the good news and the bad news. The good news: There was help in the form of food, additional warm clothing, and wagon teams to help them safely back to Salt Lake. The bad news: They had to continue on their trek and ascend Rocky Ridge. 
At this point for the Willie Company, so many men had died or given out, that many women had to pull their carts on their own, carrying their baggage and sometimes sick children. Marty and I personally fell in love with the story of a woman (smaller than me) who refused to leave her sick husband behind (bigger than Marty) and pulled him the whole 13 miles.
This day we talked about the rescue of the Willie Handcart Company. They were also stranded out on the plains in November of 1856, but closer to Salt Lake than the Martin Company. An advance rider found the Willie Company and told them the good news and the bad news. The good news: There was help in the form of food, additional warm clothing, and wagon teams to help them safely back to Salt Lake. The bad news: They had to continue on their trek and ascend Rocky Ridge. Rocky Ridge is one of the most famous sites associated with the Mormon Trail. It was a rough and difficult part of the journey but became most famous when the Willie company, already near total exhaustion and out of food, had to pull over it to get to the rescue company and the waiting supply wagons. The climb is about two and a half to three miles long and ascends about 700 feet in elevation. The final ridge has rows of sharp rocks that are difficult even for modern four-wheel drive vehicles to travel. It was definitely the most strenuous part of our workshop, and we only travel a few miles, when the Willie Company actually had to travel 13 miles that one day.
Here is the "Women's Pull."
At this point for the Willie Company, so many men had died or given out, that many women had to pull their carts on their own, carrying their baggage and sometimes sick children. Marty and I personally fell in love with the story of a woman (smaller than me) who refused to leave her sick husband behind (bigger than Marty) and pulled him the whole 13 miles.So here, the men and women separated - the men ascended a mile or two up the ridge, and the women stayed at the bottom for a pep-talk/devotional about the weight that is or is going to be on our shoulders when our husbands are called to serve the Lord at different times in life. We talked about how we may be tempted to feel weighed down by the load of the family, household, and other business, but it is a great blessing to serve and see your husband able to serve as well. Then we pulled our handcarts up by ourselves while the men watched and reflected on not only what it must have been like for the men in the Willie Company to have to watch their wives carry the load of the handcart when they no longer could, but also to think about the load their wives sometimes have to pull at home. Marty was pretty sweet about the whole thing. :)
More Rocky Ridge Pictures:
More Rocky Ridge Pictures:
Please excuse the yellow bandanna - we hadn't been around civilization in a little while and I was feeling so very aware of my dirty, nasty hair that day!
After we were over the ridge, we drove the rest of the miles to the "Willie Rescue Site."
After such a strenuous day, quite a few in the company died that night. Fenced off are two possible grave sites. We're not sure, but there's probably a good reason that in this field there are two long mounds of carefully placed stones.
Above and beyond the epic historical events they participated in, the pioneers found a guide to personal living. They found reality and meaning in their lives. In the difficult days of their journey, the members of the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies encountered some apostates from the Church who were returning from the West, going back to the East. These apostates tried to persuade some in the companies to turn back. A few did turn back. But the great majority of the pioneers went forward to a heroic achievement in this life and to eternal life in the life hereafter. Francis Webster, a member of the Martin Company, stated, “Everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.” I hope that this priceless legacy of faith left by the pioneers will inspire all of us to more fully participate in the Lord’s work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children."
After such a strenuous day, quite a few in the company died that night. Fenced off are two possible grave sites. We're not sure, but there's probably a good reason that in this field there are two long mounds of carefully placed stones. My favorite quote about these two handcart companies is by President Faust:
"I have wondered why these intrepid pioneers had to pay for their faith with such a terrible price in agony and suffering. Why were not the elements tempered to spare them from their profound agony? I believe their lives were consecrated to a higher purpose through their suffering. Their love for the Savior was burned deep in their souls and into the souls of their children and their children’s children. The motivation for their lives came from a true conversion in the center of their souls. As President Gordon B. Hinckley has said, “When there throbs in the heart of an individual Latter-day Saint a great and vital testimony of the truth of this work, he will be found doing his duty in the Church.”
Above and beyond the epic historical events they participated in, the pioneers found a guide to personal living. They found reality and meaning in their lives. In the difficult days of their journey, the members of the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies encountered some apostates from the Church who were returning from the West, going back to the East. These apostates tried to persuade some in the companies to turn back. A few did turn back. But the great majority of the pioneers went forward to a heroic achievement in this life and to eternal life in the life hereafter. Francis Webster, a member of the Martin Company, stated, “Everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.” I hope that this priceless legacy of faith left by the pioneers will inspire all of us to more fully participate in the Lord’s work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children."
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