And saw the fire in one cornor of the stern of the
boat I run over the pile of coal and dashed my
water into the fire which was not larger than
a half bushel measure, at the same time a bucket of
water flung by Capt Davis struck the fire and it was
instantly extinguished; Their is nothing more terrible or
alarming than the cry of fire on board of a ship or
steem boat at Sea or on any water out of the reach
of Land, it is far more terrible than a storm or
wreck, for when fire gets the control under such
circumstances all hope is lost, and persons will plunge
into the deep to escape its fury. but in this case the
fire was out and the alarm over in the term of a
minute. on my return to the cabin I found one
woman flung into convulsions with alarm. Mrs Woodruff was holding her in her arms she did not
get over it untill the next day.
~ Wednesday
18th The wind arose at 1 oclok in the morning the Lake was soon vary rough the boat rocked badly
untill morning all were sea sick or Lake sick
which was equally as bad, we put into fairport and
remained through the day, it is plesant to reach
a port after a storm. Fairport looks as though
it was going to desolation, & it is according to
Prophecy. The inhabitants have long tried to destroy
the Latter Day Saints, we left fairport about
sundown to start for Oswego via the Welland Canal
on the Canida side had a good time through the night
Distance from Chicago to Fairport 1000 miles
~ Thursday
19th A Pleasant morning wind fair we crossed Lake
Erie entered the mouth of the Welland Canal
at 4 oclock to go around the falls into Lake Ontario on
the Canida side the canal is 28 miles long & has 38 locks
And saw the fire in one cornor of the stern of the
boat I run over the pile of coal and dashed my
water into the fire which was not larger than
a half bushel measure, at the same time a bucket of
water flung by Capt Davis struck the fire and it was
instantly extinguished; Their is nothing more terrible or
alarming than the cry of fire on board of a ship or
steem boat at Sea or on any water out of reach
of Land, it is far more terrible than a storm or
wreck, for when fire gets the control under such
circumstances all hope is lost, and persons will plunge
into the deep to escape its fury. but in this case the
fire was out and the alarm over in the term of a
minute. on my return to the cabin I found one
woman flung into convulsions with alarm. Mrs
Woodruff was holding her in her arms she did not
get over it untill the next day.
~ Wednesday
18th The wind arose at 1 oclok in the morning the
Lake was soon vary rough the boat rocked badly
untill morning all were sea sick or Lake sick
which was equally as bad, we put into fairport and
remained through the day, it is plesant to reach
a port after a storm. Fairport looks as though
it was going to desolation, & it is according to
Prophecy. The inhabitants have long tried to destroy
the Latter Day Saints, we left fairport about
sundown to start for Oswego via the Welland Canal
on the Canida side had a good time through the night
Distance from Chicago to Fairport 1000 miles
~ Thursday
19th A Pleasant morning wind fair we crossed Lake
Erie entered the mouth of the Welland Canal
at 4 oclock to go around the falls into Lake Ontario on
the Canida side the Canal is 28 miles long & has 38 locks
"Journal (January 1, 1843 – December 31, 1844)," September 17, 1844 - September 19, 1844, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed December 1, 2024, https://www.wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/nxl