Description

The Boys of San Pete County

The Saints coming to Zion came by handcarts only from 1856-1860. Most came in wagon companies from 1847-1868. Gathering the saints to these valleys of the Mountains was critically important and President Brigham Young and other leaders were always looking for ways to expedite the process.

In 1861 a new system was implemented where the saints in local settlements would volunteer wagons, teams and men that would load up with supplies and work their way east caching supplies as they went. At the Missouri River or wherever the railroad terminus happened to be, they would load up the emigrants and head west to Salt Lake City. It was an effective system that operated efficiently from 1861-1868. Though it cost little to the Church it came with high costs for those sponsors and men who manned the teams.

One such team was led by Bishop William Seeley of Mount Pleasant, Utah. They left Salt Lake in June 1868 headed east with thirty wagons, 242 oxen, and thirty teamsters. All went well for them until they arrived at the crossing of the Green River. That year the river was running extraordinarily high and fast due to abundant spring run-off. At the ferry crossing the River was about 200 yards wide and 8-12 feet deep.

On the evening of June 24 they began crossing the River from west to east. By the next day, all wagons were across, but when they attempted to swim the cattle across, the animals refused. It was decided to ferry them across. The first load was ferried successfully, but on the second load two yoke of oxen became agitated and began pushing toward the upper part of the boat. Teamsters rushed to quiet the animals which unbalanced the boat, causing it to capsize. All the oxen and nineteen men were thrown into the roiling stream. Moreover, the pressure of the current snapped the guide rope on the ferry and it drifted away. In the ensuing melee men and beasts scrambled to stay afloat and get to shore. When it was over and a counting was made, six men were unaccounted for. It is said that some were never found.

In memorial of the event a song was written,

We, the boys of Sanpete County,
In all obedience to the call,
Started out with forty wagons
To bring immigrants in the fail.
Without fear or thought of danger
Lightly on our way we sped;
Every heart with joy abounded Captain
Seeley at the head.

When we reached Green River ferry,
On its banks so nice we stayed.
In the morning we ferried the wagons over,
Thinking soon to roll away.
Next to dnve the cattle over,
But we found they would not swim.
And oh! the boys were in the water
Many hours up to their chins.

Some to planks and boards were clinging,
Down the swelling tide it flows;
Some by heaven seem protected,
Was driven to shore upon the boat.
Some to oxen horns were clinging,
But to them it was all o’er,
For boys and cattle all went under,
Never more to step on shore.

One had landed on an island,
Clinging to the willows green,
But to him life seemed extinguished,
And he backward fell into the stream.
The six boys from parents driven
And from friends that they did love,
Yet there is a brighter morning
That we all shall meet above.

Friend and historian Mel Bashore wrote of this song and event:

“The song was sung in Mormon gatherings for years. It was sung not only in Sanpete Valley, where it memorialized a tragic event of local import, but throughout the Church. For these six Mormon “missionary” martyrs who drowned at Green River in 1868, “The Boys of Sanpete County” song similarly served like the hymn “Come, Come, Ye Saints” does for the pioneers—to memorialize their sacrifice.”

Source:

https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/MHS_Spring2003_Green-River-Drownings.pdf