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Show 121 as a missionary to the Southern Paiutes.3 George W. Bean was a logical choice for the task of leading the expedition to the White Mountain country. He knew the desert, he knew the Indians, and he was fiercely dedicated to his religion. Another prominent member of the expedition from Provo was Edson Barney. Barney was fifty-one years old when he was called to the expedition. The upstate New York native had joined the church in 1831 and was a survivor of the Missouri and Illinois persecutions. Barney came to Provo in 1852 where he had recently served as a captain in the Nauvoo Legion. Like Bean, he was also a veteran of the Las Vegas Indian mission and was well qualified for his lat-h. est assignment. Other prominent men to go from Provo were David E. Bunnell, a forty-nine year old New Jersey native, and Dr. John Riggs. Riggs was originally from Connecticut, coming to Utah in 1851. During the Walker War, of 1853-55* he served as a captain and surgeon in the militia, and, for the past five yearsf be was the president of the Sixth Quorum of Seventies in Provo. The Utah County men were augmented by a small company from Salt Lake who had left the city on March 10.5 The entire force, estimated to be about forty-three men, departed Provo under clear skies on March 20. Their immediate destination was Cedar Springs (the present site of Holden, Utah),where they were to rendezvous with contingents of the expedition from the southern settlements before pushing across the western deserts. It was on the following day, as they were camped on Summit Creek (Santa-quin), that President Young's urgent message reached them. Bean was now made to realize the gravity of the situation, and he hurried his men off toward their rendezvous in the South. Cedar Springs was one hundred miles below Provo, and the condition of the roads did not make the distance easy to overcome. Due to the recent heavy storms, the roads were in extremely poor condition. Three |
