Monday, August 21.
Since we crossed the last steep mountain the horse flies have been very
troublesome, the first that have bothered us all summer. I wonder if
the Indians brought them?
We came through two villages to-day; they are about five miles apart.
The first Bennington, the last Montpelier--pretty large names for such
small places. They are Mormon towns, although this is Idaho Territory.
The women appeared sad and sorrowful enough to be the wives of Mormons.
I did not see one of them smile. Our wagons were thronged with women
and children selling butter, eggs, cheese and vegetables. They sold
eggs at seventy-five cents per dozen, butter seventy cents per pound,
cheese fifty cents, potatoes twenty-five cents, and everything else in
proportion. The prices seemed enormous to us, but I presume we would
have purchased if they had been double what they were, for we are about
starved for such things. Just think of spending a whole summer without
garden productions.
This is a beautiful valley. Too good to be possessed by a community
of bigamists. What a stigma upon the Government of these United
States that whole communities are allowed to live criminal lives with
impunity. I wonder how many are paying the penalty for bigamy in the
penitentiaries of the United States? What is crime in one place, under
the same Government, I would think, would be crime in all other places,
if the one did happen to be an isolated case, while the other is in
large numbers, or wholesale. I suppose I am not well enough versed in
law and politics to understand why it is crime in one place and not
in the other. We are camping eight miles from Montpelier. Sim is much
better to-day.
* * * * *
Tuesday, August 22.
Here we are at Soda Springs. I am surprised to see so small a town,
for it is quite an old place for this western country, at least ten
or fifteen years old, and does not have a post-office. The town is
beautifully situated, the landscape views are glorious. The soda
springs are bubbling up out of the ground in many places in this
vicinity, and I expect there will be a city here some day. There are
medicinal springs here that possess wonderful curative properties, or
people think they do. We wanted Sim to test them, but he said:
“I am getting well as fast as possible, and I don’t care to drink that
nauseous water. I prefer the pure, unadulterated snow water from the
mountain springs.”
This is the junction of the Oregon and Montana roads. There are three
camps within sight of us.
* * * * *
Wednesday, August 23.
As we drove into the road this morning there was a train of eight
wagons came into line just behind our wagons, and have traveled with
us all day, stopping at noon when we did, and they are camping near
us to-night, though we have separate camps. They are from Missouri,
and are going to Virginia City. They seem to think as we all came from
the same State, and our destination is the same place, that of course
there is a bond of fellowship that is mutual, but to be frank, I must
confess I do not care to go into a strange place in their company, for
I fear we would be judged by the company we keep, and I think it would
not be very favorable, so we will try to get away from them as soon as
possible.
The weather is perfect. This is a beautiful valley. The men say the
land is extremely rich. We are camping on the Blackfoot. We have not
been able to shake our Missouri friends.