This morning the brethren commenced making the bower on the temple lot
a little southwest from our camp. They will make it about forty feet
long and twenty-eight feet wide. Walked with President Young, Kimball,
Richards and others to the Mississippi camp. Brother Thomas Richardson
is very sick and several others of the soldiers. Soloman Tindal is yet
alive but looks feeble. Elder Kimball conversed sometime with Captain
James Brown. There are from twenty to thirty of the Utah Indians here
and some squaws trading with the brethren. They are generally of low
stature, pleasing countenance but poorly clad. While we were there, a
dispute arose between two of the young men and they went to fighting
very fiercely. One broke his gun stock on the other's head and I
expected to see a pretty serious affray, many of the others gathering
around. Soon an old man came up, father to one of the young men engaged
in the quarrel and he used his heavy whip very freely about both their
heads and faces. The antagonist of the son struck the old man and he
immediately gathered a long pole and broke it over the young man's
head. He succeeded in quelling the broil and gave them a long lecture.
They then mostly left and resumed their trading a little distance from
the camp. In the afternoon, we had a pretty smart thunder shower and
considerable wind. In the evening I walked down to the Pueblo camp and
there learned the following particulars:
These Indians who are now here are of the Shoshones, about fifteen or
twenty in number, and several women among them. There were four or five
of the Utahs here this morning when the Shoshones came up. One of the
Utahs had stolen a horse from one of the Shoshones and the latter party
saw him with the horse here. He had traded the horse for a rifle but
was unwilling either to give up the horse or rifle hence the quarrel
spoken of above. When the old man separated them, the thief went down
and hid himself in the camp below. Soon after, he saw another horse
walking by, which he knew to belong to the Shoshones. He sprang on his
own horse and drove the other one before him towards the mountains on
the southeast as hard as he could ride. The Shoshones being informed
of it, four of them started in pursuit and as he got in between the
mountains they closed in on him, one of the pursuers shooting him dead
while another one shot his horse. They returned and made this report
to the others of the tribe at the camp at the same time exhibiting
fresh blood on one of the rifles. They appear to be much excited and
continually on the watch. When the men returned, they sat down and made
a meal of some of these large crickets. They appear to be crisped over
the fire which is all the cooking required. Many of the brethren have
traded muskets and rifles for horses and ordinary muskets will buy a
pretty good horse. They appear to be displeased because we have traded
with the Utahs and say they own this land, that that the Utahs have
come over the line, etc. They signified by signs that they wanted to
sell us the land for powder and lead. The Shoshones are poorer clad
than the Utahs. They are about the same in stature and there are many
pleasing countenances among them. Colonel Markham reports that there
are three lots of land already broke. One lot of thirty-five acres of
which two-thirds is already planted with buckwheat, corn, oats, etc.
One lot of eight acres which is all planted with corn, potatoes, beans,
etc. And a garden of ten acres, four acres of which is sown with garden
seed. He says there are about three acres of corn already up about two
inches above the ground and some beans and potatoes up too. This is
the result of eight days' labor, besides making a road to the timber,
hauling and sawing timber for a boat, making and repairing plows, etc.
There have been thirteen plows and three harrows worked during the week.