When we came to the ferry on Platte River, there was hundreds of wagons waiting to be ferried over which would cause a week of delay. So our captain thought best we should keep up on the north side of the river. All day long, we had noticed the distant rumbling of thunder with an occasional shower. When we reached the ford of Loop fork of the Platte, we found it rising so the orders was to cross as many wagons that evening as possible. The men went to work with a will. They forded about half of the wagons over that night, then drove all the cattle over. During the night, there came up a terrific storm of rain and wind, blew all our tents down. The men had to run the wagons side by side as close as possible to keep them from turning over.

In the morning, the storm was over by we had a rushing river before us. [We got report that driving upriver and crossing a stream to an island, the crossing would be easier.] But oh horrors, the stream kept rising until our little island was laced by streams running every which way. [After being stalled 9 days, we corked and tarred the best of our wagons to prevent leaking and continue the crossing.] So at it they went and by the eleventh night we were all safely over.

Martha Ann Tuttle McClain, Crossing the Plains in 1853 (written 1903). Collected in “Oregon Trail Stories” (David Klausmeyer).