Dear Brother                 It is sometime since I have written to you and I expect you are uneasy for fear the Indians had captured us but we are all in safe and sound except Nancy.  She took the mountain fever on the Sierras and has been sick ever since we got in.  We had no trouble with the Indians and had a very good trip, bettor than I expected to have.  I intended to have written to you when I first started but kept putting it off from one week to another untill I got in to the Indian country and then I thought if you new where I was you would all be uneasy about me and I thought I would wait till I got through and in fact I had very little time to write for I had the care of everything and it kept me employed all the time and we dident lay by but about half a day at a time. I had pretty much made up my mind to go to Oregon but when I got to Salt Lake I got a letter from Edwin that he had a farm rented for me and plenty of feed to winter stock and would have a comfortable home for me when I got through and William would meet me at Austin - I started to come here but I heard so much about the drough that I thought I had better not come but I find plenty of everything here and we are very comfortably situated though we will have plenty of work - there is 435 acres of a farm to cultivate and 8 acres in orchard and vineyard and I can get all the work I can do untill we have to go to plowing at my trade at $3.50 per day - I rented my farm in Mo. for I could not sell for more than $12 1/2 pr acre and sold my stock except my teams also my farming utencils and household furniture and I had between two and 3 thousand dollars which I laid out in mules and I collected some from Harlow but there was no chance to send it to you so I laid that out to in mules and after I started and came out into Caldwell Co. I left the train there and went over to Harlows and he got me $2400 worth of mules - he is completely broke up I don’t suppose he is worth anything at all - I think I done extremely well to get anything I found his securities was not worth much - I will tell you how I managed to get what I did when I see you.

I took his Hemp but the Sherriff had it attached but there was a boat came up that night and I skiped on it to St Louis - I realized from it $3200 - I have the mules here and they are doing well but there is no sale for them now and in all probability will not be before Spring but as fast as I can sell I will send you the money - I don’t know as you will be satisfied with the way I have done but I done what I thought would be the best and safest way to get it to you - if I had not done the way I did I would not got near as much as I did - I intend to come there and see you all as soon as I can perhaps not untill next summer and if I like it and can sell my farm at home I will likely stop there a while - I thought when I got here I would be close by you but it seems like I am as far off as ever - William is at San Francisco I have not seen him yet - Edwin met us at Austin and was a great help to us.  I want all of you to write when you can