Graves were an all-too-frequent reminder of the dangers of overland travel, and most emigrant journals recorded death, burial, or passing graves during a day's travel. Most burials along the trail were hasty affairs. The official Company Journal of the Edmund Ellsworth Company of Handcart Pioneers, dated September 17, 1856, recorded, "James Birch, age 28 died this morning of diarrhea. Buried on the top of sand ridge east side of Sandy. The camp rolled at eight and traveled eleven miles. Rested ... by the side of Green River." In the two weeks before Birch's death, five other company members were buried along the trail. Birch's gravesite has not been found. The graves in front of the site are symbols of all the emigrants who died and were buried alongside the trail, lost forever. Families and companions would dig a shallow grave, say their goodbyes, and continue their journey west, saddened and bereft.