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150 S. H. TAYLOR

Green River, 60 miles this side of the South Pass, and to come through with them, and dearly we paid for our folly. Our teams were broken down and we were delayed three weeks and over beyond the time we might have made. There was a great deal of suffering in the train in consequence of the delay- suffering providentially arrested by relief of flour from the valley, meeting us ten days out, near the Sierra Nevadas. We cannot express our obligations to this people for their gen- erosity. It is the noblest community I ever saw. Many had consumed their whole summer in a most sanguinary war of defence with the bloodiest horde of Indians on the continent; all the grain that could be destroyed by fire, had been con- sumed, and many of the dwellings of the settlers burned down ; business of all kinds was totally prostrated, and the famine of the past year threatened a continuance for a year to come; but as news reached the valley that emigrants were suffering on the road, a force of fifty rangers immediately volunteered for their defense against the Indians, and under their protec- tion a train of mules with three tons of flour, $1,000 worth was sent to their relief. The whole road to the Sierra Nevadas, and indeed for a hundred miles beyond, was thus effectually occupied and aid supplied as far as any necessity could be anticipated. Wherever the presence of Indians was suspected, there an efficient detachment of troops was posted and the closest watchfulness maintained ; whenever property was plun- dered from emigrants, the most vigorous efforts were made to recover it and when families were found destitute of bread, they were supplied at the lowest rates to those having money, and free to those having none. And twice after the first, during the emigrating season, provision trains under escort were sent out that there might be no possible failure of the abundance of their liberality. On account of the great dis- proportion of prices of labor and food, emigrants experience very great difficulty in getting through the first eight months of their residence here ; and no one can realize the intense in- terest felt in their condition by the citizens of the valley. Every