"We had a view of our camp from the rock, and expected they would noon there, so we mounted our horses and concluded to examine the country around. We rode five miles to the northeast, went on the top of the high bluff and saw our camp in motion. We then rode to the foot of the mountain and traced the way to the Devil's Gate, through which the Sweet Water runs. Here we spent but a few moments, and then hurried back to Independence Rock. As our camp had come up, before we could get to them, and camped half a mile east of it, I saw President Young going up to Independence Rock, and I related to him my travels since I left the company. He asked me to go back with him, so I turned out my horse, having ridden him twenty miles during the forenoon, and returned with President Young, Willard Richards, George A. Smith, and others. We spent half an hour on the Rock and then returned to our camp, mounted our horses and rode to the Devil's Gate, five miles from Independence Rock. We rode as far as we could into the Gate, hitched our horses, and walked into about the centre of the cavern. "The Devil's Gate is about four hundred feet high, one hundred and twenty feet wide, and fifty rods long, and the water rushes through it with a roar. The rocks are coarse, gray granite with a vein of black trap rock running through them. We spent about half an hour here, and then had to back our horses out, after which we rode around it on the south side. Some of the footmen walked over the top of it. We camped for the night about one mile west of the Devil's Gate, on the bank of the Sweet Water. "A guide board was put up at Devil's Gate, stating that it was one hundred and seventy-five and one-fourth miles from Fort Laramie, and fifty and one-fourth from our ferry on the Platte River. "Two more Missouri companies overtook us at noon on our next day's travel, and they informed us that a man was drowned {305} at the ferry, after we left, in trying to swim his horses, and that his body had not been found. "The camp started on again after our company had nooned; but Brothers Young, Little, Benson, and myself went back to meet Lorenzo Young, who had broken an axletree of his wagon, and we were behind all the afternoon. "After a journey of twenty and three-fourths miles, the pioneers camped at night at the foot of a mound about two-hundred feet high, on the bank of Sweet Water. Brother Kimball and myself went to the top of it and looked down upon the camp, and it appeared to us delightful. We offered up our prayers and the spirit of the Lord rested upon us, and then we descended to the camp. The moon was shining beautifully. On the 24th the best horse in camp, President Young's, was shot by accident.