The search of Zion

Having become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Þórður Diðriksson left Iceland in July of 1855, and traveled on a sailing vessel to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he remained until December 15th. He then sailed for Liverpool, England, where, after a few days waiting, the company left for America.
The following is taken from Our Pioneer Heritage, Lesson for April 1964, compiled by Kate B. Carter. It was in turn taken from Þórður's journal and translated in 1928 at the request of Mrs. Carter.

Over the ocean

The first few days on the Atlantic we had good weather, then the wind began to blow in the opposite direction for fourteen days, driving us back more or less every day. The weather being so bad, nearly all the passengers became seasick. I was very sick myself and so afraid I would die that I could not sleep. A thick hard coat formed on my tounge and one day when the doctor was examining it, it broke and blood spurted from my mouth. There is a large scar on my tounge to this day. After that the doctor quit visiting me.

Every day three or four persons died and I saw them wrapped in muslin and dropped overboard into the ocean. I shuddered at this because I was so sick myself and I expected the same fate. One of the four men who occupied the same room as I was an Icelander to whom I had loaned $80.00 for his fare to America. I asked him if he thought I was going to die. He told me "No" and I was very disappointed because I was so sure I would. I often heard the emigrants ask if the Icelander was still alive and and the usual answer was, "It won't be long until he is gone." That answer made me wish I was out of the way so they wouldn't have to bother about nursing me any longer.

One time there was a terrible storm that lasted three days. Everything that was loose on the ship was tied so it would not tip over or rock from one side to the other, and people could scarcely hold themselves in bed. One night a man who had been on deck told us the ship had sprung a leak. This didn't scare me because I was so sure I would die anyway that I didn't care how it came about. One woman disappeared on the ship. People did not know whether this was an accident or not.

After I was getting well again I went on deck one day and the storm was so terrible that one could not hear another speak, no matter how loud one tried to talk. The noise was like the loudest thunder. The captain said it was the worst weather he had ever witnessed. Five days later we sighted a large sailship that was sinking. The thirty people on the sinking vessel were dipping the water out in buckets. They were weak from hunger and hard work but the crew stood over them with lashes to make the poor souls keep on dipping the water. When our ship came to them they hurriedly got in their lifeboats and came aboard our ship. Some of the men laughed and other cried for joy.

It took exactly ten weeks (70 days) to make the voyage from England to New York and by that time we were nearly out of coal and water. This was late in the second week in March, 1856. We were told at the New York harbour that this was the second day since ice had loosened so ships could enter, and we were so very grateful for having at last reached our destination. Had we not been able to land at this harbour we would have been obliged to sail farther down coast and it would have cost us much more.

Across the prairie

We were kept eight days at the emigrant station and then I left by train for St. Louis. After many days of rushing I found employment, but the weather was so hot I could accomplish very little and I could not sleep at night. Early in June we were given the glad news by a Mormon elder that we were to move 800 miles up the Mississippi River and that a large company of Saints were to leave to travel with this handcart company. We were advised to sell all of our baggage except the bare necessiyies so we would not have so much to lug along, so I sold my very good collection of bedding and a good trunk for $9.00. The bedding alone was worth $100.00. I found out after I had sold my stuff that I could have taken it along by paying twenty cents per pound freigth. We traveled the Mississippi by steamship, and it took us nine days to reach Omaha. We were in Omaha three weeks preparing for the handcart journey across the prairie.

There were 222 emigrants in our company. We had twelve tents and forty-eight handcarts, and each handcart was allowed four or five persons to pull and push the heavy loads. There were sixteen to twenty people to occupy each tent during company hours. The fare was $20.00 for each person, except infants in arms, and fourteen pounds of baggage was allowed free. I had a chest I bought for $6.00 in Iceland. I had to leave it in Omaha because I could not sell it and I already had fourteen pounds of baggage. This company left Omaha early in June with sixteen ox teams, four wagons loaded with flour and thirty beef cattle. This was all bought with our money. Each cart was loaded with the baggage owned by four or five persons and 100 pounds of flour. The men pulled the carts and the women pushed. This was very strenuous to pull those heavy carts over hill, valley, grass and through sand and rivers.

There were thirty children in our company, (Daniel McArthur Company) and early every morning they were sent on ahead of the grownups, all in one bunch. Some of them had very little clothing, but they all wore hats. They were driven along with willows and had to keep walking as long as they could. No use to cry or complaine, but along during the day, when it was hot, they were allowed to rest and were given food. They were often two or three miles ahead of us. It was hard for the parents to see their little five and six years old driven along like sheep. When we were about 150 miles out on the prairie, many of the people became sick. I think the hunger was the cause of it, for only three-fourths of a pound of flour was allowed each person, per day which was not enough for one meal, much less for a whole day. A beef was butchered each Saturday and that allowed each person about two pounds. Every scrap insides and all, was used. The wife of the man who helped me pull my cart became sick, and he had to almost carry her, and the girl who had been helping the lady push was obliged to help with another cart, so I pulled the handcart alone.
After three months we reached Salt Lake City.