To clear up a couple of questions in the posting: The Mormons left Nauvoo, Illinois after the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother were murdered. Many of the small towns up and down both sides of the Missouri River were originally settled by the Latter-Day Saints as they waited for spring to come & reasonable conditions for traveling across the plains. The main one of course, being Winter Quarters, in the Florence, NE area where Omaha is today. William Clayton developed an odometer to attach to a wagon wheel that ticked off the distance that the wagon had traveled. Thanks for sending it. I found it very interesting. Karen