There were 72 wagons, 93 horses, 52 mules, 66 oxen, 19 cows, and 17 dogs, and chickens.
The names of the females in this camp are: Harriet Page Young, Clarissa Decker, and Ellen Sanders. The names of the children are Isaac Perry Decker Young and Sabisky L. Young, making a total of 148 souls who have started to go west of the mountains as pioneers to find a home where the saints can live in peace and enjoy the fruits of their labors, and where we shall not be under the dominion of gentile governments, subject to the wrath of mobs and where the standards of peace can be raised, the Ensign to nations reared and the kingdom of God flourish until truth shall prevail, and the saints enjoy the fulness of the gospel.
The following are the names of the captains of 50's as appointed at this organization, viz. Addison Everett, Tarlton Lewis, James Case, John Pack and Shadrack Roundy. The captains of 10's are as follows:
Wilford Woodruff, Ezra T. Benson, Phineas H. Young, Luke Johnson, Stephen H. Goddard, Charles Shumway, James Case, Seth Taft, Howard Egan, Appleton M. Harmon, John S. Higbee, Norton Jacobs, John Brown, Joseph Mathews. For the names of the guard and the gun division see under date of April 30th.
Stephen Markham was appointed the Captain of the Guard and ordered to select out of the camp, fifty men for guard, such as he had confidence in who are to be considered as a standing guard, to attend to the wagons each night, twelve of them to stand at a time, and to have two sets each night, that is, 12 each watch to stand half the night. In cases where the horses and cattle are tied some distance from the wagons at night, an extra guard is to be selected from the balance of the company or camp, the standing guard not being permitted to leave the immediate neighborhood of the wagons. After the organization was over, I wrote a letter to Diantha, and put it into the hands of Bishop Whitney, together with the one I received yesterday from father and I. McEwan, also the one from Ellen to James. Up to 12:00 a.m. I had no place to put my trunk and clothing, and did not know what to do with them. However, soon after Heber told me to put them in Appleton M. Harmon's wagon, which was done. At 2:00 p m. the camp started out to proceed on the journey. I bid farewell to to Bishop Whitney and his brother Lyman and son Joshua, who all returned from this place, also Wm. H. Kimball and Joseph B. Noble. We traveled about three miles and encamped in a line about six hundred yards from timber, where there is plenty of cottonwood and some rushes. This night I slept with Philo Johnson, but having only one quilt, and the night severely cold, I suffered much, and took a very bad cold. The country in the neighborhood of the Elk Horn is one of the most beautiful I ever saw. The bluffs on the east are nicely rolling and beautifully lined with timber, and some very nice cedar groves. From these bluffs a little above the ferry you can see the meanderings of the Platte River, and the beautiful level bottom on the north of it, about fifteen miles wide for many miles up the river. The Horn is a beautiful river about 150 feet wide and about four feet deep.