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Show Nettie, Page 41 routine. Apostle Woodruff had done his job of organization well for when freighters were sent to Bridger, Montana to the railroad depot, they found a carload of construction equipment waiting for them. The colonists cheered as the wagon loads of equipment pulled into camp. The last Sunday in May was declared a day of thanksgiving, dedication and anticipation for the 200 settlers. More than 100 of them met in a grove of cottonwoods and organized the Sunday School of the Shoshone Branch of the church. Expressions of gratitude for their safe arrival were abundant in the prayers offered up on the occasion and of course the Lord's guidance was invoked regarding digging the canal. Nettie echoed "amen" along with the other saints and waved at Becky Taggart. She smiled in return but now that the group was so large she had found company closer to her own age. Nettie had no trouble finding playmates either, not that there was much time to play. It was Nettie's constant responsibility to keep Clarence and Alice tended to. It was a necessary chore and she did her best, but frequent sand storms threatened to spoil the excitement Nettie felt at roughing it and building a new community. North winds whipped up the dry, dusty earth and flung it everywhere, the 200 horses which made four trips each day over the quickly pounded out road kicked up their share of dust, too, so that there was hardly a time when there wasn't a cover of sand and silt over everything. At night Nettie lay in her makeshift bed while coyotes howled. Often she shivered, half with fear, but half with the thrill of knowing that |
