Lenoir

The Playa

The party passed Gravelly Ford, where many pioneers and 49ers headed south of the Humboldt, crossing over.

The group was fewer at Kamma Pass. The Baldwin family burried another child near Antelope Springs. That brought their number of children from seven to four. They were out of daughters, and Mrs. Baldwin was nearly out of hope that they would reach Oregon with children left.

Near Rabbithole Spring they took time to mourn over rabbit stew. The location lived up to its name.

The springs was heaven compared to the hell that they would soon walk through.

The Black Rock Desert was a withered remnant of Lake Lahontan, which had covered much of NW Nevada millions of years prior.

Alkali expanses were flat and relatively easy for the wagons to navigate. But the heat and lack of natural water sources proved formidable foes for the already beaten down pioneers.

Lenoir looked grimly past the carcasses and graves lining the trail. They had been especially numerous from Wells to this point. The smell could be overwhelming as the heat in her delicate condition. And sometimes the wolves and coyotes scavenging on the bodies of fallen livestock became a neuscance.

She thought the baby would be due a few months after they arrived, but her shape swelled in a motherly fashion. Hopefully a midwife could be fetched for her from somewhere.

This hot section of dunes and playa offered no comfort to a pregnant woman.