From Handcarts to Zion
LAST OF THE HANDCARTS, 1860, pages 181 - 185

THE NINTH HANDCART COMPANY

Daniel Robinson, who was to lead the Ninth Handcart Company to Utah, had come to Florence from Pennsylvania. He had joined the Mormon Church in 1854, and in early May, 1860, he left his "cozy little home," "beautiful orchard and garden," and with his wife and children set out for Zion. In Pennsylvania, one of their children died. En route on the train to Florence, a second daughter, eight years old, was taken by death.
"As we were traveling under contract the train in which we were riding was not allowed to stop," Robinson relates, "so our little daughter was carried away by a negro porter and buried we know not where." After reaching Florence, their little Johnny, age three, also died (Daniel Robinson Account, in Carter, Treasures of Pioneer History, v, PP. 287-88), during the two weeks wait for the handcarts to be readied. So it was indeed a sorrowing Captain who was chosen to lead the Handcart Train. But man must go on; the work of the day must be done.
The emigrants who sailed in the "Underwriter," and were to form the Ninth Handcart Company, had reached Florence on May 12. More than three weeks passed before all was completed for their westward journey. On June 5, writes Henry Harrison in his diary, the baggage was weighed out, allowing each person twenty pounds, including clothing and cooking utensils. Harrison's cart was four feet long, three feet wide, the wheels four feet high, and the bed nine inches deep. This vehicle, he was instructed, must be greased three times a week. (Diary of Henry J. Harrison, copied into the journal History of August 27, 1860) This was an improvement over the ungreased carts of some of the earlier companies.
Captain Robinson elaborates on their procedure and outfits: "When we were called to team up, six teams were put to lead, the carts were in the rear. The people pushed the carts. The boxes and carts were painted beautifully, and had bows over the top. These bows were covered with heavy canvas. The tongues of the carts had a crosspiece 2 1/2 feet long fastened to the end., Against this crosspiece two persons would lean their weight, this they called pushing instead of pulling. It was very common to see young girls between the ages of 16 and 20 with a harness on their shoulders in the shape of a halter, a small chain fastened to that, and then fastened to the cart. There were some four or five to a cart, some pushing, some pulling all day long through the hot, dry sand, with hardly enough to eat to keep life in their bodies (Robinson, op. cit., 288. 7 journal History, Aug. 27, 1860)."
The company, as organized, comprised 233 persons, with 43 handcarts, and 10 tents. Six wagons, with 38 oxen, accompanied the train (Journal History, Aug 27, 1860). At one o'clock, on June 1, the caravan started, and traveled seven miles during the afternoon. They reached Elkhorn River on theeighth, Fremont on the ninth, and Columbus on, the fourteenth. They ferried Loup Fork on the sixteenth, and arrived at the Mormon town of Genoa (102 miles out from Florence) on the twenty-second. Here they enjoyed an evening of music and dancing.
Wood River was crossed on June 23, buffalo were encountered four days later, and a baby was born on July 6. Here Harrison's diary in the "Journal History" ends.
"When we camped at night," says Captain Robinson, "the carts were placed in a circle leaving an open space of about ten feet. The circle was used as a corral for the oxen. The oxen were unyoked inside the circle and then driven perhaps one-half mile away to feed for the night. Here they were guarded until midnight by two of the men and then they were relieved by others. When morning came the oxen were brought in, each man yoking up his own oxen. As soon as breakfast was over we were lined up for another hot day. The carts were loaded with bedding and cooking utensils, and sometimes little children were put in the carts if their feet had gotten too tired to walk any farther. Most of the mothers were seen trudging along on the scorching ground barefooted, leading their barefooted little tots by the hand, pausing now and then, trying to do something to relieve the pain in their blistered feet. . . When we camped for the night we always had prayer and song. We seemed very happy, we were putting our trust in God and were not deceived, for our journey was a peaceful one. Several bands of Indians passed our camp but we were not molested. At one time our food failed to reach camp. I swam the Platte River and made arrangements for provisions to be sent.
"Arriving at the Sweetwater River we found the bottom of the river covered with fish. Everyone had all they could eat, which was a treat after having to cat salty bacon from the time we started until now. We had no meat of any kind, except the salty bacon, because we could not keep it, and we did not see any animals which we might kill. We had to cross the Green River on . ferry boats, all except the oxen, who had to swim. We ran very low of provisions at this point and we became weak from hunger (Robinson, op. cit. 289)."
Here the twenty-five hundred pounds of flour and five hundred pounds of bacon, sent out from the Valley, came to their timely assistance (Millennial Star, xxii, p. 636).
"It was a dreadfully hard journey," said Hannah Lapish, when interviewed by the writer in 1919 "especially for me with a six months old baby and a child of 2 1/2 years. My shoes wore out and I got some moccasins. We suffered from lack of food. When provisions were low I traded some of my jewelry at a trading post for 700 pounds of flour. I gave this to the commissary and_-'., it was dealt out to the hungry travelers; the last measure, half a pint per person, being distributed on the day we crossed Green River. Here a Church relief train arrived with provisions for us." (Mrs. Lapish later founded the Society of the Daughters of the Utah Handcart Pioneers.)
With the new supplies, the emigrants moved on in comparative comfort. On reaching the site of Henefer on the Weber River, the travelers eagerly accepted, Brother Henefer's offer of free potatoes if they would dig them.(Robinson, op. cit. 289; and William Hemming's account in ibid. 291) They still had some steep climbs to make, but additional help was ahead. A man living on top of Big Mountain sent seven yoke of oxen down to pull the carts to the top of the mountain (ibid. 291) (Hemming's account)).
Arrival of the company in Salt Lake City, August 27, was reported by the Deseret News: "Captain Daniel Robinson brought into the city on Monday afternoon the first of the season's handcart companies, in good order, and apparently in general good health.
"The company was composed chiefly of British Saints, with a few families from the Eastern States; in all, about two hundred and thirty souls. They had six wagons, thirty-nine handcarts and ten tents." One child had died en route, and one ox had been lost. They had come along, continued the News, "as well as any company that ever crossed the Plains. Their appearance on entering the city was indeed, if anything, more favourable than that of any previous handcart company (Deseret News of Aug 29, 1860)."
On emerging from Emigration Canyon they were greeted in the usual fashion, by a large group of welcoming citizens, who escorted them to the camp ground opposite the Eighth Ward Schoolhouse. Here a feast was provided and Ballo's band played "Home Sweet Home."
It had taken eleven weeks to make the journey. The more leisurely gait, the absence of an extended period of hunger, and the presence of wagons sufficient to relieve the weary or sick, along with satisfactory weather conditions may account for the low mortality in Robinson's Handcart Company.

Robert Storey, a member of this company, kept a diary along the route. This diary is in the LDS Historian's office. A partial synopsis is found here.