The morning cool, damp, cloudy and some rain. Wind northeast. At about
eight o'clock the brethren were called together and the question
asked: shall we go on in the rain or wait until it is fair? All agreed
to stay until it was fair. I went to writing in Heber's journal and
wrote till nearly eleven o'clock. Elder Kimball came to the next wagon
where some of the boys were playing cards. He told them his views and
disapprobation of their spending time gaming and dancing and mock
trying, etc., and especially the profane language frequently uttered
by some. He reasoned with them on the subject and showed them that it
would lead from bad to worse if persisted in until the consequences
would become serious. He exhorted them to be more sober and wise. It
growing fair, we started out at eleven o'clock, our first four miles
being north of northwest in consequence of a bend in the river. We
traveled beside a creek of very clear water about a mile. It rises
about four miles northwest of where we camped last night and runs in
a crooked direction till it empties into the river about a mile west
of the camp. It rises from springs as was proved by Horace Whitney
who traced it to its source where there is a spring rising out of a
circular kind of wet swamp about six feet in diameter. The creek is
about eight feet wide but not deep, the bottom is gravelly. Near where
it empties into the river, they discovered a number of large spotted
trout, suckers and dais of a good size. The water tasted very good and
cold. At the distance of four miles we arrived and traveled at the foot
of the bluffs, the road sandy and heavy on teams. We soon turned from
the bluffs on a level barren prairie, hard and good traveling. At nine
miles descended on a lower bench of prairie where we found it wet and
soft though not bad rolling. At 4:45 formed our encampment near the
river, having traveled eleven and a half miles, the last seven a little
south of west. The feed here is not very good. Driftwood tolerably
plentiful. We have seen a few small trees on the islands today but
none on the north bank. Vast quantities of southern wood and prickley
pear grow on these sandy prairies where there is no grass. The evening
cloudy and dull with cold northeast wind. While Thomas Brown and Porter
Rockwell were out hunting about five miles north of here, the former
saw five or six Indians about a quarter of a mile from him. They also
saw many new footprints of horses, which shows that there is a hunting
party near.