Laramie we fell in company with some U.S.soldiers who were going to Ft.

Hall and thence to Oregon.

We considered them pretty safe to travel with and kept with them for some time, though their rate of travel was less than ours.

Among them were some Mormons, employed as teamsters, and in other ways, and they told us there were some Missourians on the road who would never live to see California.

There had been some contests between the Missourians and the Mormons, and I felt rather glad that none of us hailed from Pike county.
We turned into what they called the Black Hills, leaving the Platte to the north of us.