Hi all This is what's written about Bonney from Merrill Mattes: Platte River Road Narratives, pub 1988. The original diary is at Oregon Historical Society, Portland and a copy is at Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln. 1845: Benjamin Franklin Bonney, "Recollections of Benjamin Franklin Bonney," edited by Fred Lockley, Oregon Historical Quarterly 24 (Mar 1923): 36-55; also in Across the Plains by Prairie Schooner (Eugene, Ore, 1923) Leave Illinois home April 2. Jump off from Independence. To South Pass and Fort Hall, via Humboldt, Truckee, and Yuba rivers to Sutter's Fort. Bonney was seven years old when his father decided to leave Illinois because of prevalence of fever and ague. Joined the train of Samuel K Barlow. Along the Platte, an epic storm ripped tents and wagon covers: "The thunder seemed almost constant... In less than 5 minutes we were wet as drowned rats." At Fort Hall Caleb Greenwood, in employ of Captain Sutter, tried to convince emigrants to go to California instead of Oregon, with inducement of Spanish land grants. Despite Barlow's pleas to hold together for Oregon, eight wagons turned to California, including the Bonneys and a Texas bully named Kinney. Against protests of others, Kinney enslaved an Indian who escaped. John Greenwood, Caleb's son, killed another Indian wantonly; his father ordered him killed as a murderer, but he also escaped. Crossing Sierra Nevada involved hoisting wagons up and down rim rock. At Sutter's Fort housed for the winter. Many emigrants died of "mountain fever; now it is called typhoid fever." The Barlow train also included Joel Palmer. Samuel Hancock was captain of another train out of Independence. A. Hackelman, W. G. T'Vault, and Sol Tetherow captained trains out of St. Joseph. In 1846 the Bonneys moved north to Oregon after all, because the Mexican government required that if they stayed they must renounce their American citizenship. ******* Liz Visit the Overland Trail http://www.over-land.com