Richard was riding ahead of the wagons - he scouted this route in 1850 and knew he could guide his family safely to their new home in the beautiful Willamette Valley. His son Edward, age twenty-two, was strong enough to drive the wagon across the river. It was up to Richard to keep the line of wagons moving, so that each wagon had room to maneuver as it gained the far bank of the river.
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Image of the Powder River is from Wikimedia commons, in the Public Domain.
The Powder River was at low ebb this August day, but rivers could be treacherous. This crossing looked easy, and they had made so many river crossings already. Richard's daughter Mary Ann was holding the baby again - didn't that little girl ever nap? Mary Ann said she was always curious. James was driving their wagon with Mary Ann and the baby through the Powder river, now they were safely on the west side and in Oregon Territory. The last wagon with his wife Nancy Ann was almost across.
Edward was doing a good job, when the oxen stepped in quick sand. It all happened so fast, and yet it was like slow motion in a dream. Or a nightmare. He couldn't get to them fast enough, and the wagon, without momentum, was turning over in the current, Nancy was in the water. How could she go under so fast? All those clothes women had to wear! Edward was yelling for his mother - he couldn't see her. Richard rode his horse into the river, to where he saw Nancy go under. Edward joined him and they fought the current, as they cast around for Nancy.
It was all over before they could realize it. They found her body caught on a snag, not far downstream. The men brought her back to camp, and the women laid her out tenderly, untangling her long grey hair that had come loose from its braid.
They wrapped her body in her favorite quilt, and James and Edward put her in the wagon. They couldn't leave her here, all alone, in the wilderness. Tomorrow they would break camp and move out on the trail. The would bring their wife and mother to their new farm, where they could visit her grave.
To be continued...
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