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Show 161 When the Forty-niners were persueded to leave t h e i r guide and strike west across the desert, they were influenced by two a u t h o r i t i e s . The f i r s t was a mountain man by the name of Elijah Barney Ward, and the second was John C. Fremont. Ward f i r s t came t o the Rockies in 1834 as a trapper and trader. He was one of the builders of Fort Hall on the Snake River, and from 1837 to 1848, he and John W. Patrick operated a trading post at Utah Lake. Ward became very knowledgeable of the surrounding country and i t s Indian inhabitants. When the Mormons arrived in the Great Basin in l847> Barney Ward and his In-dain wife and family joined them in Salt Lake. Three years l a t e r , the mountain man was baptized into the faith and became an intimate friend of Brigham Young. His knowledge of the country was of great value to the church, and he performed valuable service in i t s behalf as an interpreter and guide.d' I t was Ward's firm belief that a shortcut route to California was possible, and indeed even existed, between the southern Wasatch and Walker's Pass in the Sierras. During the summer and f a l l of 1849, he was very active in promoting this route called Walker's Cutoff. It was probably in the Sevier Valley area of central Utah that Ward encountered a company of packers enroute to California. The company was nade up of about twenty Gentiles under Captain 0. K. Smith heading for the goldfields and about an equal number of Mormons destined for tbe missionfields. Ward urged the company t o t r y the so-called Walker's Cutoff, saying that he had been over the route three times himself. He also gave them a map with the route marked out on i t . The cutoff, i t was alleged, would not only eliminate hundreds of miles of difficult travel on the Spanish Trail, but i t was well stocked with water and grass. On Beaver Creek the company overtook a large wagon t r a i n of Forty-niners guided by the Mormon, Jefferson Hunt.28 Smith was t o t a l l y captivated by the |