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Show Page 131 a wagon and harness, and eight barrels of flour. With his new acquisitions, he joined the camp on the Des Moines River, a stone's throw from the despised territory of Missouri. Mud was so thick along the Des Moines that men left sucking holes to their boottops when they walked and the struggling teams shattered harness up and down the mile-long trains. After pausing at Farmington, Iowa, for the mechanics to repair the damage, the company slowly traversed the flood near the present-day town of Bonaparte. On March 5, one of Orson's wagons split the axletree and he was forced to unload part of Higginbotham's outfit to pick up the cargo. With other broken wagons strewn along the trail and the shortage of suitable campgrounds, the entire company became scattered in the Fox River wilderness. Parley headed out, impatient for the West, while Orson struggled with a split axle and the recalcitrant Higginbotham, who now felt queasy about going any further. The drayman was sick and decided, despite all of Orson's importuning, to return to Nauvoo with his wagon. Orson now faced a pile of provisions with no means to move it; he traded several hundred pounds of flour for farm tools and a pair of shoes. The overpacked wagons at length pulled out of the Fox River bottom, this time drawn by oxen, whose hooves splayed in the warming mud and therefore made better going. In the latter weeks of March Orson struggled in his carriage to catch the company of fifty which had gone ahead with Parley. The frozen nights and scarcity of corn had retarded Brigham Young and the bulk of the pioneers several day's journey behind Orson - in a pique at the disorganization of the strung-out company, Brigham Young threatened to withdraw fellowship from the Pratts if they continued to follow their own course. The resulting council near the Chariton River encampment invited an airing of complaints which led to a more subdued and cheerful attitude in the camp at large. At nights, they danced to the music of the Nauvoo brass bands and enjoyed |