Item Detail
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3079
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3
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0
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English
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The Journal of William Clayton
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Heart Throbs of the West
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1945
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6
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197-312
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April 14 to July 25, 1847. In this diary, Clayton accounts the final six months of the overland trail to Utah in the first company. He describes numerous elements of trail life, such as medicinal practices (the use of tobacco juice on a human wound), hunting methods, and weather. Clayton includes an intensely detailed description of the Platte settlement as the Saints moved through it. Clayton also notes that Orson Pratt's wagon odometer resulted from his suggestion. He records one of Brigham Young's sermons which castigated the brethren for indulging in practices such as card playing, checkers, and loud laughter. Clayton mentions the three-year anniversary of the Prophet Joseph's death. Upon entering the Salt Lake Valley, Clayton writes of only the mundane and sometimes negative details such as recording the lack of rain and timber.