Before I recount my experiences on a handcart trek reenactment, I feel the need to give a couple of bits of background information.
If you are asking "What is a Pioneer Handcart Trek?" Here is a link that briefly gives some facts and background to a small but significant piece of historical American westward migration.
HANDCART PIONEERS
Every six years or so, handcart trek reenactments are organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to give the youth (12-18 year old members) the opportunity to experience, in a small way, the hardships, faith, determination, and courage of their pioneer ancestors. The youth are organized into "families" and assigned a "Ma & Pa" and a handcart. All adults involved in this endeavor are volunteers and often use their own vacation/personal leave time from work in order to pull this off. Each participant is given a 5 gallon bucket to pack any and all gear and equipment into (except for tents and sleeping gear), which are placed in the handcart along with 2 food coolers and 2 five gallon water jugs. No electronics of any type are allowed on the journey. We estimated that the handcarts weighed approximately 500 lbs. fully loaded. Then the "families" would pull their handcart for 3 days, camping in the desert/wilderness for two nights.
Here is the second tidbit of information...
I hate camping. My idea of roughing it is staying in a hotel instead of a time share, and maybe even being willing to stay in a hotel with no pool (shudder!). Yet, when we were asked to volunteer to be a "Ma & Pa", we agreed to do it.
Dedicating the Experience
Each person participating in this event was asked to research the Willie and Martin handcart companies, and to choose a specific pioneer in whom to dedicate their handcart experience, preferably an ancestor, if one existed in the companies.
I do not have pioneer ancestors, but Bill does.
Emily Wall is Bill's grandmother six generations removed. She and her brother, Joseph Wall, were members of the Willie handcart company. I trekked for Emily, Bill trekked for Joseph. Here is their story...
The Wall family lived in England in the 1850's and had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They wanted to join the main congregation of saints in the Salt Lake valley (which was not even part of America at the time), but could not afford the journey for the whole family. It was decided that the two oldest children, Joseph (17) and Emily (16), would leave the family and make the "Journey to Zion", as it was called.
{Side note: As a parent, I can't even begin to fathom the sacrifice of that decision! To leave their family and all that they know at such a young age! And, at that time in history, they had to know that it was likely they'd never see one another again!}
Emily and Joseph set sail on the Thornton and joined the Willie handcart company.
At some point on the trail, and past the point of no return, Joseph became deathly ill. The leaders of the company determined that it was unlikely he would survive the day. They left Emily and one of her young friends sitting with the dying Joseph on the side of the trail and continued with the rest of the company to the evening camp, intending to send riders back to assist in burying Joseph and bringing the girls back to camp. When the riders retraced the trail and found the girls, Joseph was still alive! Emily begged the men to place her brother in her handcart and she vowed to pull him herself.
And she did. She pulled her handcart (with the help of her friend), with her 17 year old brother in it, all the way to the Salt Lake valley; even through the bitter trials that beset that particular handcart company. Both she and Joseph survived.
I can't tell you how fiercely proud I am of this young woman's faith, courage, love and dedication! I tear up just thinking about her.
Day 1
We arrived, in pioneer costume, bright and early at the church building to load into buses and head out to the trek site, having delivered our camping gear (tents, food/water coolers, bedding, and 5 gallon buckets of essentials) the night before. I ended up having to send Bill back home because in the excitement of leaving in the morning, I forgot a couple of essential items (neck coolers and gifts I had made for my "children"). Three buses delivered the approximately 120 youth and their adult leaders. Originally, Bill and I had been assigned 7 kids, but on the night before trek we received an e-mail telling us one of the boys had pulled out. On the morning of trek, we discovered one of the girls had also pulled out. That left us with 5 "children", three girls and two boys. It made us one of the smaller families and meant that our kids would spend the majority of their time physically pushing/pulling the handcart. Other, larger families could rotate the youth, giving them breaks from the hard work of pulling the handcart.
That first day, we pulled the handcarts for about 10 miles over relatively flat ground. Part of the day was cool and windy, part of the day was hot. There is a joke in Utah that says if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes or drive 5 miles. Really, the weather here is that changeable. The ground alternated between gravelly and powdery dirt. We all got coated in fine, gritty grime by the end of the day. For a while, I had a bandana covering my face, trying to filter it out. I can't tell you how good it felt to finally pull into camp on the first night. Hot, hungry and foot-sore, we put up our tents.
The original members of the Willie and Martin handcart companies ran into trouble because they left late in the season, and no one knew they were coming. When they reached the re-fueling way stations, there was no one there and no supplies with which to restock. They had to cut rations again and again in their attempt to reach the valley. By the end (just before they were rescued), they were down to 4 ounces of flour per adult, and 2 onces of flour per child each day! They mixed it in water and drank it. Many men mixed their own portion with their wife's and children's, telling their families that they had already eaten back at the supply wagon. That is why so many more men died than women. They were literally sacrificing their own lives in the hopes that their families would survive.
Fortunately, we have no desire to put the youth though that kind of experience! There was an incredible support staff that brought in food to the camps for every meal. We were well fed.
Once everyone had eaten and had their tents up (girls on one side of camp, boys on the other, leaders tents in the middle), everyone gathered for square dancing.
!!!
Oh, my feet hurt! I DID NOT want to dance.
But, we danced. And it was FUN! There was so much laughter. It was really fun to see these young people who are usually completely plugged in (texting and zoned out with earbuds in) being so playful and full of life.
There were lots of devotionals, prayers, and singing...
... but there were no showers.
We had packed baby wipes and used those to get as clean as we could in our tent before going to bed. Of course, the very next morning, we had to put back on the same grimy and gritty clothes we had worn the day before, because we only had one set of pioneer clothes.
Let me just say a few words about the clothes. Yes, I still think pioneer women wore too many bulky clothes. However, I noticed something almost from the beginning. It suddenly didn't matter what my body looked like under all those clothes. It didn't matter that my tummy pooches more than I'd like. It didn't matter if my underarms sagged a bit. It didn't matter that I'm carrying around 20 lbs. of extra fat. None of that mattered because you couldn't really tell under all those clothes. There is nothing revealing about those clothes, whatsoever. All that mattered was what was in my mind and in my heart.
Day 2
We woke up to the bugle call at 6 am. I had a rotten night sleep, waking at 2:30 am needing to pee, but being unwilling to disturb the camp with a flashlight dash to the port-a-johns in the dark. So, I tossed and turned in discomfort until 5 am, when it was finally light enough out to venture through camp sans flashlight. After tearing down the camp, breakfast, and morning devotional, we headed out for day two of handcart trekking.
The second day was only 5 or 6 miles, but they were on rougher terrain and in bad weather. Cold and wet in the morning, scorching in the afternoon. The kids had to push and pull through the rain wearing ponchos. The dust turned to mud that caked the handcart wheels and the bottoms of everyone's feet, making shoes feel like lead. Still, the rain meant cool weather, for which we were all grateful. The afternoon weather turned blisteringly hot, leaving us pulling into evening camp in 100 * temperatures.
Let me take a moment to talk about my "kids" on trek. We had two senior aged girls, Maddi and Ashley, a junior aged boy, Chandler, a sophomore girl named Tianna, and Kaden, our freshman "son". Maddi and Ashley were WONDERFUL big sisters! They were so helpful and kind to the younger kids! They both had wonderful singing voices and were very mature, grounded girls. We had no silly giggling fits (thank goodness!), no worries about them sneaking off with boyfriends, being out after curfew, or leaving chores undone. Chandler was a quiet, sober, and slightly geeky boy. I say that as a compliment. There was no bluster or false bravado in him. He was always quick to help and to obey. Really a solid gold "son"! Tianna was what you might call our "challenge" child. She wandered off constantly and I spent a great deal of time just trying to keep her with the family. Yet she wasn't malicious about it. I got the sense that it was part of her nature. She lived in her head and had a hard time focusing and hearing when we called her name. Our youngest, Kaden, was the life of the party. He's one of those kids with excess personality! His friend, Tony, often wandered over to our family handcart, announcing that he was our "adopted son". Just like Chandler, Kaden was a hard worker and never shirked a responsibility or disobeyed. I was just so impressed by these young people! I'm so proud I got to be their "Ma"!
After another evening of square dancing, group devotional and family devotional, we headed to bed.
Here are a couple of side stories, not specific to my little family.
While the tents were being set up in the 100 * heat, a girl from another family passed out in her tent. Her trek "sisters" thought she was just napping and left her alone. Fortunately, her "Ma" thought it was odd that she would be napping in a hot tent and went to check on her. Upon finding her unresponsive, she quickly summoned the medic, Brother Smith, who took the girl back to the lodge and administered an IV to get some fluids in her. I believe she ended up being transported to the hospital and missed the rest of the trek.
At about 10:30 pm (30 minutes after curfew), a strong wind hit the camp. Suddenly a bunch of girls started screaming! Moments later we had girls amongst the leaders' tents calling out for their "Ma's and Pa's" because their tents had collapsed. We hurried out and found two of the big walled tents down. One was a quick fix, anchoring the stakes down more firmly. The other one, however, had a shattered pole! Some duct tape and a shuffling of sound poles to the windward side and damaged poles to the leeward side fixed up the tent and everyone headed back to bed.
Day 3
This was another short mileage day. Something between 5 and 6 miles. But it was the day with the biggest challenges... the Women's Pull and the River Crossing.
The Women's Pull
Many pioneer women ended up pulling the handcarts across the plains by themselves. Some came alone. Others lost their husbands on the way. There are many accounts of these amazing women pulling handcarts and caring for large families alone for literally hundreds of miles. Emily Wall was one of them. As a way to honor that heritage, and to help the young women in our care learn that they are stronger than they know, the men were pulled away from the families, and the girls took the handcarts alone for about a mile. But not just any mile. A grueling and brutal mile. Part was uphill, all was in ankle deep silt. The carts were bogged down by it. The pull was extremely taxing.
The girls were watched over by the "Ma's", but we had specific instructions NOT to help. Oh, that was SO HARD! To watch those girls struggle! I knew that the lion's share of the burden was falling on Ashley and Maddi. Sweet young Tianna was not a hard worker. Maddi and Tianna ended up in front, Ashley pushing from the back. Ashley got literally coated with dust, but she never flagged in her efforts. The cart lurched and jerked to a halt several times, and I admit I stepped in to help steer it aright and to budge it forward from time to time. But I mostly walked by their side and watched these excellent girls struggle and hummed hymns of encouragement to give their minds a focus on something other than their difficulties.
The men and boys were lined up on both sides of the end of the women's pull. They watched with their hats in hand as the girls struggled past them, many of the girls weeping as they toiled, including my own girls. They watched as many of the first girls to finish turned around and quickly ran back to help other girls bring their handcarts along. Most of the boys and men had tears in their eyes, as well. While the "Ma's" and medics tended to the girls after the pull, the men pulled the boys aside and instructed them to never in this lifetime leave the women in their lives to pull the handcart alone, metaphorically speaking.
I wished I could hold all of my girls at once, but I knew that Ashley was the strongest, and Tianna's tears were mostly a reaction to Maddi's tears. Maddi was the one who was completely undone by the experience. I held her while she wept and Brother Smith (the medic) and I both kept a close eye on her for the rest of the afternoon. Still, I did manage to get hugs in for all the girls. I just worry that Ashley might have felt less love. Not so! I just knew she was my rock solid daughter and that Maddi's condition was worse. She was literally shaking uncontrollably.
Now, you might think us a heartless group of child abusers for putting the girls through such a thing. Here is some food for thought: I know what it is to overcome a physical challenge. To subject myself to my own will and accomplish a truly difficult task. You know about it if your read my account of running a marathon. And now, those girls know it, too. They have experienced a true mind over matter moment that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. It is also important to note that this was not sprung upon them, unawares. They were fully briefed in advance and no one was forced to participate. It was actually a very moving and spiritual experience for everyone involved and all the girls were very proud for having accomplished it. The boys were very respectful and impressed.
The River Crossing
After singing several hymns (giving the girls some time to recover), the boys and men took over the handcarts. Not a single girl was allowed to pull the handcarts for the rest of the day. The boys wouldn't dream of it.
On October 19, 1856, the first winter storm rolled across the Willie and Martin handcart companies. The Martin handcart company was unfortunate enough to have to cross the North Platte river right when the storm was at its worst. Even worse, in a desperate attempt to lighten their load and reach the valley more quickly, the pioneers had abandoned most of their clothing and blankets only two days prior to the storm. Soaked and freezing, they found the ground too frozen to drive the stakes in for their tents. So they crawled under the canvas laying on the ground and tried to stay alive. Many died that night.
But, help was on the way. Several weeks previous, an express wagon had passed the handcart companies on the plains and brought word of their existence and their dire need to Brigham Young, the Mormon prophet and leader, in the Salt Lake valley. Upon learning of the situation, Brigham Young immediately ordered rescue parties to set out that very day. Women stripped off their petticoats, shoes and stockings, and gathered blankets to send. Provisions were loaded on relief wagons, despite the settlement being on short rations due to a bad growing season. A rescue was on its way.
After finding the handcart pioneers in truly desperate condition, and tending to them as best they could, the rescuers still had to bring the emaciated and terribly weakened saints the rest of the way without becoming victims of the elements themselves. When they reached the final river crossing, the Sweetwater River, many of the handcart pioneers sat down in the snow and wept in despair.
Five young men from the rescue party, ranging in age from 17 to 25, stepped forward and carried the weakest of the handcart pioneers through the river, each crossing the ice choked river as much as 50 times in their efforts to save the saints.
The final challenge of our handcart trek was a river crossing. The boys were instructed to pull the handcarts through by themselves (no men helping), park them, then come back across and carry each and every one of the sisters across the river. This being a desert, and rivers being somewhat scarse, the river was a manufactured body of water. Still, the challenge of carrying over 60 girls and women across was real enough.
Bill carried me across. The grown men were only allowed to carry their wives. The young men had to do the rest. We were towards the front of the handcart train, so my "sons" had more than their share of duty in carrying girls across. I imagine they woke up this morning with very sore muscles.
And then, it was over! After the river crossing, we were just yards from the lodge. We parked the carts, met with our bishops to have a closing devotional, then unloaded the carts, power washed them, put all our gear into the supply trailers, got family photos taken, and loaded onto the buses to return home. Over all, we pulled those handcarts a total of approximately 22 miles.
It was three days of hard work, hard weather, sweat, and gross grimy shower-less-ness. But it was oh so worth it! It was really the most amazing experience and I am so very glad I got to experience it!
