=Ascent of the Sierras from the Western Side.=--It was a difficult task to cut a wagon road from the west side through the lofty Sierras that faced them. A task of infinite toil and in the presence of great danger from the lurking savages. Three pioneers who had insisted upon going in advance to blaze the route for the main company had been murdered by the Indians. These pioneers were named Daniel Browett, Ezra H. Allen, and Henderson Cox. The main camp came upon their mutilated bodies at a spring which, because of this event, still bears the name "Tragedy Spring." What numbers of these savages the main company would encounter, what their mood would be--murderous or friendly--of course could not be conjectured, it was of the dangers they must risk. By almost incredible toil and patience, however, this company of Mormon Battalion men conquered the ascent of the Sierras from the western side, hewing a roadway for their seventeen wagons through stony heights, and in like manner down steep declivities and narrow gorges, until the eastern sloping deserts beyond were reached, and finally the valley of the Great Salt Lake,--about the first of October, 1848,--to them, for the time, the place to which duty had called them. =Wagon Trail From Los Angeles to Salt Lake.=--The company that re-enlisted at Los Angeles for six months beyond the Battalion's original term of enlistment, served eight months and then were mustered out of the service. Some of these on being disbanded went by way of the coast to the mines or engaged in other industries in California for a time, but most of them finally made their way to Salt Lake valley in the course of one or two years, though a few remained permanently in California. A squad of twenty-five from this company, however, on being mustered out of the service, organized at once for the journey to Salt Lake valley, taking with them one wagon and a band of one hundred and thirty-five mules. They went by way of what was called the "southern route;" hitherto, however, traveled only by packers, and the wagon of this Battalion company was the first to make the journey over the pack trail. This company reached Salt Lake valley on the 5th of June, 1848.