The Accidentally Shot Ox and the Timely Steamboat at the Poor Camp (1846)

On October 30, 1846, as Luman Andros Shurtliff's poor camp rescue company gathered at Montrose, Iowa, to prepare for the return journey to Garden Grove, one of the teamsters accidentally shot and killed one of his own oxen. It was a potentially crippling loss: the company was carrying nearly sixty of the poorest and sickest Saints driven from Nauvoo, provisions for the 170-mile wilderness journey amounted to almost nothing, and without a full team the wagon could not roll. The teamster dressed the animal's carcass for food, but the company was still short one ox, and as the men debated what to do, a steamboat unexpectedly landed on the nearby riverbank. Shurtliff directed the teamster to sell three-fourths of the beef to the steamboat's passengers — a plan that not only succeeded but raised enough to buy a replacement ox, and the hide was sold as well, paying for a barrel in which to salt the remaining meat. For Shurtliff, the incident was one of the small providences by which, as he testified, "the hand of God was manifest to all who was acquainted with the circumstances" of the rescue. Provision arrived at the exact moment of need, and the company rolled out on November 1, 1846, with full teams, reaching Garden Grove on November 15 with every teamster in good health.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

On the 30th of October, we were at Montrose. We had gathered up the poor and sick that were left in Nauvoo and were preparing to start for Garden Grove. One of the teamsters accidentally shot one of his oxen and killed it. This was a great loss to us, as we were short of teams to haul the poor and sick. The man dressed the ox for beef. We were still short one ox. While we were talking about what we should do, a steamboat landed at the bank. I told the man to take three-fourths of his beef to the boat and sell it to the passengers. He did so and got money enough to buy another ox and also sold the hide, which paid for a barrel to salt the remainder of the meat in. In this journey the hand of God was manifest to all who was acquainted with the circumstances.