Five days later the Donner Party reached Fort Bridger, and were informed by Hastings’s agent that he had gone forward as pilot to a large emigrant train, but had left instructions that all later arrivals should follow his trail.  Further, that they would find “an abundant 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 canons 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 canon.  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 canon 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 canon 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 canon altogether.  To prevent unnecessary delays, Messrs. Reed, Pike, and Stanton volunteered to ride over the new route, and, if advisable, bring Hastings back to conduct us to the open valley.  After eight days Mr. Reed returned alone, and reported that he and his companions overtook Hastings with his train near the south end of Salt Lake; that Hastings refused to leave his train, but was finally induced to go with them to the summit of a ridge of the Wahsatch Mountains and from there point out as best he could, the directions to be followed.

While exploring on the way back, Mr. Reed had become separated from Messrs. Pike and Stanton and now feared they might be lost.  He himself had located landmarks and blazed trees and felt confident that, by making occasional short clearings, we could get our wagons over the new route as outlined by Hastings.  Searchers were sent ahead to look up the missing men, and we immediately broke camp and resumed travel.