Today we purchased the supplies we need and prepared to join our wagon train. It is so hard to believe that we are actually setting out into a wild land! Anything could happen to us during the months we will spend traveling through the untamed country between Missouri and Oregon. It was difficult to decide what we would buy for the journey, but in the end we decided that the most important item would be a rifle. After that, we decided to buy spare axles and wheels for our wagon. It is good to have spares of everything because if anything broke then we would be stranded in the plains with no way to travel. I hope that we are well prepared for the long journey ahead of us.
Gladys Butler
May 20, 1846
We have just left our third stop, Independence Rock. We had to go through the terribly narrow "Devil's Gate" pass, which was so small that we nearly didn't make it through. My son, John, caught his foot on a rock and broke it quite badly, but he was in denial because he didn't want to admit to being the first casualty of the train. However, no one cared about his foot after what happened later that day; two of the girls on the wagon train were stolen away by Indians! I hope they aren't dead, but we may never see them again.
So far we have crossed the Platte River and stopped at Chimney Rock. We have heard many stories of the treachery of traveling through this land, but so far our wagon train has had a fairly smooth journey. We learned the dreadful story behind the name of Scott's Bluff, and the woman at the Platte River had lost her husband to the river. It seems that we were wise to bring extra wheels and axles, since we have already broken one of each. We have been fortunate enough to have a sufficient quantity of food for our journey, but some of the other families have not been so successful. The land here is almost entirely flat and without trees, but there are animals enough for hunting, and we have plenty of water. I am glad that things are going so well for us.
Gladys Butler
July 16, 1846
Tragedy has struck! Our dear Genevieve has passed away, and now things are taking a turn for the worse. We started of successfully at Fort Bridger when we found an abandoned wagon. We found two sets of clothing, several boxes of gunpowder, two sets of silverware, and a two month old baby who we have named Savannah. Things started going badly for us at Canyon Hills Rut, where our wagon became too heavy for our oxen to pull, and we were forced to throw out 30 pounds worth of goods. Then it got really bad. We started running low on food, and poor Genevieve starved in the Blue Mountains. My son has been terribly effected by his wife's death, but we must keep on going. If not for ourselves, then for the children. It seems that we were not well enough prepared for this leg of the journey, but we can't go back now. We could not find any game to hunt for food, and I fear that we will not be able to travel much farther without finding more food.
Gladys Butler
September 10, 1846
Things did not get any better. The day before we crossed the Columbia, I started feeling ill. I became more and more nauseated and started suffering from severe dehydration. As I got more ill, my son started giving me Wilson's Special Tonic, which we had bought for just such occasions as this one. However, I did not get any better. I was delirious the whole time we crossed the Columbia, and it was not until afterwards that I was told of our great misfortunes. Our young baby, Savannah, fell out of our wagon and drowned in the river, and now that I was ill, the rest of our family was in desperation. The day we reached Oregon City I died from my illness. Now the only members left of our family are Jasper, Charlie, Lulu and John. I don't know whether they will be fully prepared for their new life without a mother and a grandmother.
Gladys Butler
September 25, 1846
My family has settled in Oregon, but life has not been easy for them. My son had to be taken in by another family for a short while because he did not have the proper supplies for settling in the city. My grand daughter, Lulu, has left her family and run off to live with the natives, and has not been seen by her family since. By the end of the journey, only three of the family members remained to settle in the new land, when once we had seven. I do not think that the journey was worth all the pain and the sorrow that it brought on our family, and it has nearly done for the Butler family. If I had known only half of what would happen to us, I would never have dared gone, but there is no going back now.
So sorry you died. At least you can look after Lulu, sort of.
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