Captain James G. Willie’s Handcart Company of Mormon emigrants, traveling to Utah, assembled here for reorganization by relief parties from Utah about the end of October 1856 after becoming greatly exhausted by the deep snow of an early winter and suffering from lack of food and clothing. Thirteen persons froze to death during a single night and were buried here in one grave, and two others died the next day and were buried nearby. Of the company’s 404 persons, 77 perished before help arrived. The survivors reached Salt Lake City on November 9, 1856.