Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
“ We left our home in Bolivar, MO May 1, 1849. All went pleasantly until we had passed the last settlement and stopped to camp for the night. We made a corral of our wagons and drove our stock into the enclosure. No Indians appeared, but one of our party died of cholera leaving a wife and two children. They returned to their home in MO.
When we reached the Platte River we made a boat of planks and wagon beds to ferry the wagons and other property across the river. A strong rope was attached to the opposite bank and served as a cable to draw the ferry over. An accident happened as the last wagon was being drawn over and my mother and her eight children were obliged to wait on the opposite shore without food until one o'clock in the morning. ”
Harriet Zumwalt Smith
arrived in 1849 from Missouri