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MEMOIRS OF MY GREAT-GREAT GRANDMOTHER,
ELEANOR HOWARD (THOMAS) BRITTAIN KNOWLTON
November 1834 – August 1908

Twenty-one cattle disappear. Eleanor refuses to move on until her husband’s health improves. Later she is sick with the mumps. They buy a large trout from an Indian for 50 cents. Parched corn cooked on fire of “buffalo chips.” Cattle found and recovered. Snowed in trying to cross the Sierras, and return to Nevada for the winter.

The train rested all that day. The stock did the same. Next morning the men rounded up the cattle and my brother Samuel came to me and said that twenty one of Dave’s cattle were gone, but for me not to tell him as the loss of the stock might make him feel worse again. Some of the men said that the missing cattle had been left on the desert, others said that they were not, as I made a round of the cattle and was soon convinced that they had all been brought along with us. A muley cow that belonged to my brother and my pet cow both of which I had fed corn meal the night before were missing.

Dr. Wolf said, “This settles the matter. The cattle were driven off while we were all sleeping.” Most of the men agreed it was the Indians but I was sure it was the two men from whom I had bought the dog and the whiskey at Lawson’s Meadows. What I gave for these articles was not of much value but they had gotten the dog back, at least he was gone the next morning after I got him from them. Well, the next thing was to decide whether we should stay where we were until my husband and the girl were better. Some were for going on and some for staying so we took a vote on it. I said positively that I would not travel for I did not think it was safe for my husband and I told Dr. Wolf that his niece would be better for the rest also. He was the captain and he said we would all stay as there was plenty of grass and water and the stock too would get a needed rest.

After we had been there several days the Indians came to our camp with fish to sell. Mr. Brittain wanted to see the fish and an Indian who had a fine large trout went to the tent and my husband raised himself up for the first time since his illness and looked at the fish. Then he bought it for fifty cents. I said, “What are you going to do with it?” He said, “I bought it for you and I want you to eat it all.” He had heard about the small fish the doctor and I had eaten. The trout was delicious and there was enough for all of us. Just the same it did not taste as good to me as the small fish I had. You see, we had been from Saturday noon until Monday morning with very little to eat and very little water and those little fish were the first fresh meat I’d had on the plains. Speaking of eating, parched corn is a very good thing to have on a trip such as ours for if wood is scarce you can fry it with a small fire such as we made with buffalo chips as once we did when there was no wood.

After that when I was sick with the mumps. MR. MURRAY whose train was just behind ours killed a sheep and sent me a leg of mutton, when he heard I was sick. He is the Mr. Murray of whom I spoke earlier, the one that came to me when I was frightened and hid my children in the sage brush.

Mr. Brittain was much better and able to travel, but Mrs. Westfall’s little girl was not much improved. It takes a long time for burns such as hers to heal. Dr. Wolf thought it was advisable to get her across the Nevada mountains as it was now the first of November. He went over to California. After we had gotten as far as Genoah I thought it would be better for him to rest there a few days before starting across the mountains. Dr. Wolf’s brother stayed with their stock and the man whom I’d made get up on the dessert stayed with us. We were camped on the Carson River and one day this man came to me very much excited and said, “I want Mr. Brittain to go with me immediately for I have found your cattle and Wolf’s.” My husband although very weak got on his horse and left for Genoah or near there. The cattle were in the possession of two men who said they had bought them from two men they did not know. Later we found as had expected, that they had been stolen by the two men who had sold me the dog and the whiskey. Mr. Brittain got twenty of his twenty-one head back after paying some money and having a fight or two in which he came out winner.

A man by the name of WILLIAM BOYD was starting over the mountains with his cattle so we joined him the last of November. The weather was clear and nice when we left Carson Valley but before we reached the top of the Sierras we were snowed in. All but a few head of our cattle and Boyd’s went back to the valley. We killed a beef and had plenty to eat but the thing was to keep from freezing to death. The snow was falling in great flakes and looking around for shelter we found an old log house close to the trail. The women went in there and the men built a fire in the fire place, and built log fires outside. We had not been there very long until the snow was so deep the doorway was snowed in. The men shoveled it away and then came inside. There was no more dry wood so the only thing to do was to tear the house down from the top and burn it to keep warm. The men stood away from the fire so that the children and I could feel its warmth but my feet were frozen and I had to poultice them with oak bark. My husband kept up the fire the best he could and the men kept up a-stamping and swinging their arms all night long. I tell you that there was not much left of that house in the morning. I could hardly wear my shoes all that winter.

The day we left for Carson Valley and made very slow progress as the snow had drifted so deep in many places the men had to get out and clear the road for the wagons to pass. I have said that the loose cattle had all gone back to the valley when the snow began and we finally got there too but we were pretty well frozen. We were glad to make Nevada our headquarters for the winter, along with many other emigrants. We rented an old Mormon house, about a mile from Genoah. It was now the month of December. We had no more trouble during the winter but I was alone much of the time for the men were busy attending the stock.

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Crossing the Plains from Missouri to Nevada in 1857, May 21, 2024

Eleanor Knowlton’s Memoirs: On to Missouri, May 25, 2024

Eleanor Knowlton’s Memoirs: Setting Out, May 27, 2024

Eleanor Knowlton’s Memoirs: Nebraska to Wyoming, June 5, 2024

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Gublet’s cutoff, quicksand, and gravesites, June 15, 2024

Eleanor Knowlton’s Memoirs: Reaching the Rockies, June 20, 2024

Eleanor Knowlton’s Memoirs: Anticipating attacks, Ellen arms herself and prepares to fight, June 27, 2024

Eleanor Knowlton’s Memoirs: Lawson’s Meadows to the Truckee, July 4, 2024