A Pioneers Journey
... and hoped that this would be the hardest obstacle that we would have to over- come. We were wrong. The next six obstacles were either just as hard or even harder. We had to follow the long, wide and muddy Platte River and through the tall grass which turned into short grass. After the first two challenges we would stop for shelter, food and water. We had travelled 1000km and we were all very tired. It was high summer and the heat was making the journey even more difficult than it already was. To make things worse there were huge storms with hailstones the size of snowballs flying onto our faces as we walked mile after mile. We stopped for rest at Fort Laramie and Fort Kearney but we only stayed as long as we had to because we wanted to get to California as soon as possible. After we had rested we made the climb up the foothills of the Rocky Mountains towards the American Indian tribe known as the Sioux. Even though it was unlikely that we were going to meet any American Indians my family was still worried and nervous. On our travels we did meet one American Indian who offered to be our guide for our whole journey west in return for a small section of land for him and his family to live on a farm on. My mother was unsure but my father immediately agreed. He thought that it would be a good idea because our guide would know safest and quickest route to get to California. He would also be able to protect us from other American Indians or wild animals that might try and attack us. Together we climbed 1340km past Independence Rock and then through the Southern Pass. Our guide told us to store and dry meat at this point but we wanted to carry on the journey even though we knew that this might be our only chance on the whole trip. We then had to make the down hill journey to Fort Bridger across waterless waste land. At this point we were about half way to California and we were finding it harder and harder each day. My brother was having the most trouble. He had trouble breathing already and when he was unable to walk my father or our guide would carry him until he could walk again. We all knew that he probably wouldn’t make it all of the way but we were going do our best to make sure that he get as far as he could. Once we had left Fort Hall we travelled south towards Sacramento Valley to the Humboldt River. The final part of our journey was the hardest. It was an 80km trek through the sweltering heat of the dessert, the exhaustion of the journey and the low levels of oxygen made us all wonder if it was worth it or should we just give up and die! We all wanted to carry on my brother was too weak. He was very ill before we reached the dessert and as soon as he felt the blistering heat on him he knew he could not l...