Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, part 10.

Having arrived at rendezvous, the Whitmans and Spaldings were fearful they would be left to find their own way over the Blue Mountains since the Reverend Samuel Parker had failed to show himself. They were much relieved when Nathaniel Wyeth placed in their hands a letter from their errant leader. Parker, having made other arrangements, advised the missionaries that they would be conducted westward by John McLeod of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The missionary party left rendezvous July 18, 1836.

On August 3 the missionaries reached the dubious shelter of Fort Hall (present-day Idaho) but they were considerably cheered to again see buildings and to be entertained by Captain Joseph Thing, who was in charge of the fort. The entertainment included a luxurious dinner of dry buffalo meat, turnips, and fried bread. But to soon the party moved on into an arid world of mosquitoes and sagebrush.

On August 12 Narcissa noted in a letter to her sister that they had reached some lodges of Diggers of the Snake tribe along the Snake River.

Here the missionaries were thankful to dine on fresh salmon. And here, it became necessary to begin lightening their load in preparation of crossing the rugged Blue Mountains.

Narcissa mourned that she must leave behind, to an unknown fate, a little trunk her sister Harriet had given her. Narcissa says

“and now I must leave it here alone. Poor little trunk! I am sorry to leave thee. Thou must abide here alone and no more by they presence remind me of my Dear Harriet.”

How hard it must have been for this brave woman, one of two white women to first cross a vast American continent, to leave behind that small symbol of home, family, and security. Did Narcissa glance back at the trunk with tears glistening in her blue eyes as she passed on? We do not know, but if she did there is little doubt that her back was ramrod straight when she once again faced westward and continued on. There would be other possessions more dear than mere words could express that would be lost to this woman in the future.

And once again Narcissa’s charm and stoic won another heart. Mr. McKay retrieved her little trunk and personally brought it along.

By the 28th of August they had left Fort Boise (also present-day Idaho) far behind them. Narcissa and Marcus lingered that day on the top of a hill that overlooked Grande Ronde Valley, in present-day Union County, Oregon. Narcissa describes the valley as a beautiful place, which it is, surrounded with lofty mountains—The Blues. After dinner that day they left the plains and ascended those mountains. It was a pleasant day’s journey upward.