On the journey, after wearing out the three pairs of shoes with which she was provided, she was obliged to sew rags on her feet for protection. But each day these would soon wear through, and often she left bloody tracks on the cruel stones. It was on this journey that she first became acquainted with Gen. Wells, to whom she was married shortly after they reached the valley. As the senior wife of that distinguished gentleman, "Aunt Louisa" is well known throughout Utah; and as a most unselfish and unostentatious dispenser of charity, and an ever-ready friend and helper of the sick and needy, her name is indelibly engraved on the hearts of thousands. CHAPTER XXXVI. BATHSHEBA W. SMITH'S STORY CONTINUED--THE PIONEERS RETURN TO WINTER QUARTERS--A NEW PRESIDENCY CHOSEN--OLIVER COWDERY RETURNS TO THE CHURCH--GATHERING THE REMNANT FROM WINTER QUARTERS--DESCRIPTION OF HER HOUSE ON WHEELS. Continuing her narration of affairs at winter quarters, Sister Bathsheba W. Smith says: "As soon as the weather became warm, and the gardens began to produce early vegetables, the sick began to recover. We felt considerable anxiety for the safety of the pioneers, and for their success in finding us a home. About the first of December, to our great joy, a number of them returned. They had found a place in the heart of the Great Basin, beyond the Rocky Mountains, so barren, dry, desolate and isolated that we thought even the cupidity of religious bigots would not be excited by it. The pioneers had laid out a city, and had commenced a fort; and some seven hundred wagons and about two thousand of our people had by this time arrived there. The country was so very dry that nothing could be made to grow without irrigation. "After the location of winter quarters a great number of our people made encampments on the east side of the river, on parts of the Pottawatomie lands. The camps, thus scattered, spread over a large tract. On one occasion my husband and I visited Hyde Park, one of these settlements, in company with the twelve apostles. They there held a council in a log-cabin, and a great manifestation of the holy spirit was poured out upon those present. At this council it was unanimously decided to organize the First Presidency of the Church according to the pattern laid down in the Book of Covenants. Soon after, a general conference was held in the log tabernacle at Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), at which the saints acknowledged Brigham Young President of the Church, and Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards his councilors.