We are a month into this adventure and I’m taking the day off again. I’ll fall another 20 kilometers behind. Sundays are generally my rest day. I find myself simultaneously grateful and irritated when reading Bartlett’s record. A man was shot Bartlett, but I am left without a name, or even whether that shooting was fatal. I can’t judge too harshly though. He was writing with quill and ink while on the trail. I can tap this out on my laptop, desktop, or even my phone. We inhabit alien words though we be separated by only a few generations.
Sunday, June 30
One month on the road. The company remains cheerful despite some bad luck. We drove 12 miles to Shoal Creek, a clear and small stream. There was the appearance of a shower, but it passed around the bluff, as most of our showers do. Two California packers passed us, reporting poor feed ahead. We tried the ford again at this point but were unsuccessful. The bottomland here is wet and covered with alkali pools. Unfortunately, a man on the opposite side of the river was accidentally shot.
Bartlett Tripp
Speaking of our valiant recorded, Bartlett, I realized today he was quite the young man on this crossing. At just 22, I wonder at his early life and what led to his appointment as scribe. He marries his first wife in 1863. That marriage appears to have taken place in Wyoming. Ellen Jennings and he were married a little more than twenty years, and had two daughters, before her passing in 1884. He married again in 1887.
He would go on to be a wealthy landowner in South Dakota, a supreme court judge in that state, and an American diplomat. He took appointments from US presidents Cleveland and McKinley, including as a “minister” or ambassador in Austria. It seems that this young man would go on to make quite the life for himself. You can explore his life a little more on Family Search.
catch up
- Lakeland Circuit Review: Gorgeous, Gritty, and Worth It
- Running with the saints: days 56 to 73 and the end
- Canadian Death Race: enduring the suck with joy
- Running with the saints: days 52 to 55
- Running with the saints: days 41 to 51
This sketch of Bartlett Tripp is taken from April 19, 1899 issue of the Salt Lake Tribune.
MacAdventures.ca 
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