In April 1857, a California-bound wagon train was formed from people living in what are now Boone, Carroll, Marion, Benton, and Johnson counties in Arkansas. Known first as the Baker Train and later as the Fancher Train, the caravan gathered in part on Crooked Creek south of Harrison near lands owned by John T. Baker, who brought relatives, acquaintances, others, livestock, wagons, equipment, provisions, five workhands, three of his adult children, and some grandchildren, while his wife Mary and other children remained in Arkansas with plans to go west later if California prospects proved favorable. It appears that other groups were expected to join along the trail. Captain Alexander Fancher of Benton County, who had previously lived in Carroll County, is traditionally said to have recruited family members, neighbors, and perhaps others, and to have taken his wife, nine children, wagons, oxen, mules, horses, and as many as 200 head of cattle; he also had military experience and had spent time in California. Some emigrants met at Grand Saline in the Indian Territory. By the journey's end at Mountain Meadows, about 147 emigrants were traveling with about 35 wagons, several hundred head of cattle, and many mules, horses, and oxen. James H. Berry, later a U.S. senator, recalled that they were regarded as some of the best citizens of that country and that the large train drew great interest in the region they left. Information from people who traveled part of the way with the emigrants places their route west through Washington County, Arkansas, then generally along the Cherokee Trail through Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado to Fort Bridger, Wyoming, and on to Salt Lake City, from which they took the southern route to Mountain Meadows.