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The way had been difficult, Jacob’s entry continues, with “tired teams, several having failed on the way by reason of the heat of the Sun & fatigue of the Journey.” Norton Jacob, traveling in 1847 with the first company of Mormon pioneers to cross the Rocky Mountains, wrote of this approach to the Sweetwater on June 24, “hile we were descending a long sandy hill, suddenly through a small grassy bottom, winding, appeared sparkling waters, a welcome sight to man & beast.” Many mentioned crossing another stream soon after crossing, but this in fact was a second channel of the river itself. Most emigrant parties camped at Sixth Crossing-on one side of the river or the other.
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It passed Ice Slough and Warm Springs Creek, but water at both those places was alkaline. The route between the fifth and sixth crossings was mostly dry. From Three Crossings sixteen more miles took them to Sixth Crossing, where the Oregon Trail crossed the river about three miles southwest of today’s Sweetwater Station at the intersection of U.S. Previously, they had threaded the Narrows at Three Crossings-their third, fourth and fifth crossings of the river-or avoided those fords altogether by way of the accurately named Deep Sand Route. The travelers were glad, at this point, to get back to good water again. Half a mile later, the trail split, and half a mile after that the trail crossed the river in two different spots. As they made their way toward the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater River, emigrants found the Oregon Trail descending a steep bluff of sand and gravel.