supply of wood, water, and pasturage along the whole line of road,
except one dry drive of thirty miles, or forty at most; that they would
have no difficult cañons to pass; and that the road was generally
smooth, level, and hard."

At Fort Bridger, my father took as driver for one of his wagons, John
Baptiste Trubode, a sturdy young mountaineer, the offspring of a French
father--a trapper--and a Mexican mother. John claimed to have a
knowledge of the languages and customs of various Indian tribes through
whose country we should have to pass, and urged that this knowledge
might prove helpful to the company.

The trail from the fort was all that could be desired, and on the third
of August, we reached the crossing of Webber River, where it breaks
through the mountains into the cañon. There we found a letter from
Hastings stuck in the cleft of a projecting stick near the roadside. It
advised all parties to encamp and await his return for the purpose of
showing them a better way than through the cañon of Webber River,
stating that he had found the road over which he was then piloting a
train very bad, and feared other parties might not be able to get their
wagons through the cañon leading to the valley of the Great Salt Lake.

[Illustration: JOHN BAPTISTE TRUBODE]

[Illustration: FRANCES DONNER (MRS. WM. R. WILDER)]

[Illustration: GEORGIA ANN DONNER (MRS. W.A. BABCOCK)]

He referred, however, to another route which he declared to be much
better, as it avoided the cañon altogether. To prevent unnecessary