Mary Ann sat near the campfire at Independence Rock, and reviewed her diary for the past month. She was amazed to realize they had come over twice as far between Register Cliff and Independence Rock, as it was between Scotts Bluff and Register Cliff. That clever little wooden odometer on the back wheel of their wagon would tell her the mileage they traveled, even if they didn't have Richard's journal on the Oregon Trail from his first two journeys.They had seen so many marvelous sights, but the greatest thing they had done was to ford all the creeks, streams and rivers from the start of their long trip on the Oregon Trail. Some were shallow and easy, others were deep and swift. One way or another, they got over all of them, and very few of them had bridges, or even ferries.
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| Independence Rock by William Henry Jackson, 1929, Courtesy of J Willard Marriott Digital Library at the University of Utah |
Mary Ann was thankful for the Sioux moccasins she bought at Fort Laramie for herself and for Mary Jane. Her little niece toddled bravely along beside her for short stretches every day on the trail. When Mary Jane started to stumble, Mary Ann put her in the wagon for a nap. She felt like having a nap herself, but she couldn't add to the weight the oxen were pulling. She couldn't risk them failing from exhaustion before they reached their destination.
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