Marriner Wood Merrill: Pioneer Trek

Malcolm's father Edgar Merrill's father was Marriner Wood Merrill. He was a pioneer, apostle, polygamist, and temple president. There are a few stories that all of his descendants should be familiar with. In this episode, we read his own account of crossing the plains.

Marriner Wood Merrill joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on 3 April 1852 in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. He then crossed the plains to Utah in 1853. In his autobiography he wrote the following.

On the 22nd day of April [1853] I left Sackville, N.B., in company with William Atkinson and family for the gathering place of the Saints, viz., Salt Lake City, Utah. I had in my possession $120 currency and gold, which amount I had previously saved by hard work to defray my expenses to Utah. My clothing was at this time very limited. Besides paying my fare I spent a small amount in purchasing clothing, one cow, and provisions to cross the Plains, etc.

Our journey was by way of St. John, N. B., East Port, Portland, Boston, Troy, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, La Salle, Saint Louis and from there up the Mississippi River to Keokuk, our starting point by team for the West. We arrived at Keokuk on May 9, 1853, and at this point found others ready for starting by team across the then Territory of Iowa and the Great Plains of the West. At this point ox teams were bought, usually two yoke or pairs of oxen to a wagon. In some cases the cows were yoked up and placed in the teams to assist in pulling the wagons. Wm. Atkinson was elected Captain of the Company, and I was elected Captain of the Guard, and Jesse W. Crosby was elected President of the Company. We rode out of Keokuk, which was 12 miles below Nauvoo on the west side of the Mississippi River, on the 18th day of May, 1853. On May 19th Profinda Atkinson died, which detained us one day. She was the then youngest child of William and Phebe Atkinson, about 2 1/2 years old.

We had a somewhat difficult journey across Iowa, 330 miles, owing principally to the country being new and the lack of bridges, rains, etc. However, on June 17 we arrived at Council Bluffs with our company of eight wagons and camped near the Missouri River. We made our arrangements to be ferried across on a large flat boat managed by oarsmen. In a few days we succeeded in all getting across the river safely with our wagons, teams, and outfit. On the first day of July we left the Missouri River with 13 wagons in our company and wended our way slowly to the Rocky Mountains, nothing serious occurring to impede our progress.

However, some little incidents occurred occasionally to cause a sad feeling in camp. On one occasion I came near to being drowned in the Platte River, but through the blessings of the Lord and the kind aid and assistance of one Brother John Reese, a Welsh Brother with one eye and who now lives in Benson Ward, Cache Stake. He being an excellent swimmer, saved me from a watery grave by assisting me from the middle of the river where I had lodged on a sand bar. I being thus saved, we proceeded on our way with joy and thanksgiving.

On another occasion we were stopped by a large band of some 500 hostile Sioux Indians who placed themselves across the road and stopped our teams. They made a demand on us for coffee, flour, sugar, tobacco, etc. We complied cheerfully with their wishes because we had to, and it was our only safety. After receiving our presents they reluctantly let us pass on our way. We also had one small stampede with our teams as they were hitched to the wagons, but without serious damage. We also encountered many large herds of wild buffalo, which at times came near stampeding our teams. But by using caution and stopping our teams, what seemed to be a pending calamity was averted. These herds of wild buffalo were often seen on the Laramie Plains and west of them by the thousands, probably 10 or 15 thousand in a drove and covering many acres of ground....

We arrived in Salt Lake City on the 11th day of September, 1853, and it was a pleasing spectacle to behold civilization again, and houses wherein people lived with home comforts around them, even if they were in a rude state. For it must be remembered that the Pioneers or first settlers had only been in the country a little over six years, landing in the Great Salt Lake Valley on the 24th of July, 1847, and the country at that time was a barren waste, the home of the wild Indian, with the coyote, large grey wolves, crickets, and grasshoppers for neighbors. For one emerging from the Great Plains of the West and crossing the Rocky Mountains by ox teams it was indeed a pleasant change of vision, and the reflecting mind would be led to exclaim, "Surely the God of Israel has been a counselor to this poor exiled people and has blessed the land and country for their sake." What then seemed to be comfortable homes were met with on every hand, and peace and good will and brotherly kindness seemed to prevail in all the land.