I took my team and started early on Saturday morning.
When I arrived at Woodruff, the Bishop urged me to stop
until Monday and he would go with me.
I told him, "No, I had tarried too long already."
I drove on sprightly, and when within fifteen miles of Wasatch, a furious snow storm overtook me, the wind blowing
heavily in my face.
In fifteen minutes I could not see any road whatever, and
knew not how or where to guide my horses.
I left my lines loosely on my animals, went inside my wagon,
tied down the cover, and committed my life and guidance into
the hands of the Lord, trusting to my horses to find the way,
as they had twice before passed over that road.
I prayed to the Lord to forgive my sin in not obeying the
voice of the Spirit to me, and implored Him to preserve my
life.
My horses brought me into the Wasatch station at 9 o'clock
in the evening, with the hubs of my wagon dragging in the
snow.
I got my horses under cover, and had to remain there until
the next Monday night, with the snow six feet deep on the
level, and still snowing.
It was with great difficulty at last that I saved the lives of
my horses by getting them into a box car and taking them to Ogden; while if I had obeyed the revelation of
the Spirit of God to me, I should have traveled to Salt Lake City over a
good road without any storm.
As I have received the good and the evil, the fruits of
obedience and disobedience, I think I am justified in exhorting
all my young friends to always obey the whisperings of the
Spirit of God, and they will always be safe.
The Spirit of God will rule over and guide all men who will
permit it and seek for it, and this is especially necessary for
young Elders who are laboring in the vineyard of the Lord.
For the Lord knows where the righteous, honest and meek of
the earth are, and will lead the Elders to them
I have already related a remarkable instance of this in my
own experience, when the voice of the Lord came to me in
the town of Hanley, England, in .
LOST IN A SNOW STORM.
I took my team and started early on Saturday morning.
When I arrived at Woodruff, the Bishop urged me to stop
until Monday and he would go with me.
I told him, "No, I had tarried too long already."
I drove on sprightly, and when within fifteen miles of
Wasatch, a furious snow storm overtook me, the wind blowing
heavily in my face.
In fifteen minutes I could not see any road whatever, and
knew not how or where to guide my horses.
I left my lines loosely on my animals, went inside my wagon,
tied down the cover, and committed my life and guidance into
the hands of the Lord, trusting to my horses to find the way,
as they had twice before passed over that road.
I prayed to the Lord to forgive my sin in not obeying the
voice of the Spirit to me, and implored Him to preserve my
life.
My horses brought me into the Wasatch station at 9 o'clock
in the evening, with the hubs of my wagon dragging in the
snow.
I got my horses under cover, and had to remain there until
the next Monday night, with the snow six feet deep on the
level, and still snowing.
It was with great difficulty at last that I saved the lives of
my horses by getting them into a box car and taking them to
Ogden; while if I had obeyed the revelation of
the Spirit of God to me, I should have traveled to Salt Lake City over a
good road without any storm.
As I have received the good and the evil, the fruits of
obedience and disobedience, I think I am justified in exhorting
all my young friends to always obey the whisperings of the
Spirit of God, and they will always be safe.
The Spirit of God will rule over and guide all men who will
permit it and seek for it, and this is especially necessary for
young Elders who are laboring in the vineyard of the Lord.
For the Lord knows where the righteous, honest and meek of
the earth are, and will lead the Elders to them
I have already related a remarkable instance of this in my
own experience, when the voice of the Lord came to me in
the town of Hanley, England, in 1840.
"Autobiography 1882 Leaves from My Journal," p. 103, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed October 15, 2024, https://www.wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/wLJ