IT WAS IN THE EARLY sixties. Transportation from the Missouri
River to Salt Lake City was only by ox-team, mules or horses and
usually required 6 months to make the trip.
Emigrants or converts from the old world often waited several
months for the arrival of teamsters to take them the rest of the
journey to the church center.
It was late in December when Charles Bird and his companions
returned home to the settlement at Mendon. Winter was later than
usual and the weather was mild for the time of year, affording a
good opportunity to get the thrashing done which was late as usual,
due to the fact of the crude methods employed to perform the task.
Horse power was the latest development to drive the primitive
separator. Steam power was yet an experiment and considered unsafe
for the farm and people almost shuddered at the thought of
transporting a boiler under high pressure over country roads, so
the idea was abandoned or laid aside for awhile for further
development.
The un mounted sweep power with horses driven in a circle was
considered the ideal method of transmitting power to the grain
separator and a vast improvement over the tread mill. An outfit of
this kind had but recently been purchased by the Bird brothers,
having been hauled across the plains by ox teams after being
shipped by water way from the factory at Racine, Wis., to St.
Louis. Well might the pioneers be proud of such equipment after
using the old chaff piler and following up with a fanning mill of
hand power several weeks later.
It was a beautiful day for December. The sun shone brightly and
the sound of the gears and the hum of the cylinder rang out clearly
through the keen morning air and was welcome music to the pioneers
who felt that harvest would soon be over and they would be prepared
for another long and severe winter. They were thrashing at
Walker’s that day which was almost the end of the string and
would complete the long run since early August.
The two young men who had recently returned from their trip for
emigrants and had successfully and honorably filled the calling
from the Church’s head authority as well as a credit to
themselves and their families were full of vigor and ambition to
assist in the work at home which truly was a pleasure after driving
a team for a distance of more than two thousand miles across a
bleak prairie, trusting for wild game for food after their scant
allowances of food became low and often accosted Indians, trappers,
troopers, and scouts, narrowly escaping injury, yet it was
considered a duty and privilege to be called to take such a trip
and it was in most cases responded to when the call came from
President Young and was considered as sacred as when one is now
called on a mission to preach the gospel. Trusting in a higher
power, most teamsters returned with a spirit of gratitude for such
an achievement and accomplishment. So eager was Charles Bird to
have some change from riding on a prairie schooner he could not
resist the temptation and pumped on the horsepower to relieve the
driver, but suddenly his foot caught under a traveler and pressed
between the cogs of the master gear, crushing the member so badly
before the horses could be stopped. He fainted and fell as dead
across the seat of the power. When he regained consciousness he was
propped up in the seat of the best vehicle the pioneer village
afforded and on his way to Logan. The leg had to be amputated and a
cork leg balanced Charles Bird’s anatomy the rest of his
days.
Christmas followed a few days later. The sad accident cast gloom
over the settlement and many were heard to remark, ‘What a pity
after making the long tiresome trip all summer and then to come
home and meet such a fate.’ But Ma Bird was a practical woman
and had endured worse hardships than that in rearing a family of
nine boys and insisted that the Christmas celebration go on, so
plans were carried out accordingly to arrangements.
The log school house was decorated with pop corn strung on a
string and evergreens in profusion. A stick of molasses candy had
been prepared for each child while adults furnish the amusement. A
real Santa Claus was a part of the program to hand out the candy to
each little tot while the accordian and violin furnished the music
for a square dance. Everyone had turned out in the settlement
except the victim of the accident and one of the older townsmen who
had proffered to stay with him to render whatever assistance might
be necessary. The agony of the recent accident and operation caused
considerable pain in the midst of the Rockies method employed at
such a time for the amputation of the crushed leg, but the good
brother propped him up by a window where he might see the
celebration going on across the street where a fire blazed from the
fire place and the home made candles sparkled amid the Christmas
decorations.
Snowflakes frequently obliterated the scene as the silence in
the sick room was suddenly broken by Charles’ remark, ‘Yes,
mother is right, it could of been worse. We might have been snowed
in the midst of the Rockies and left to perish or be devoured by
the savage wolves. While as it happens we just got home in time and
the poor emigrants who accompanied me are having the time of their
lives. And me, Ah! well, After all the real spirit of Christmas
comes from seeing others happy.’
