The proposed that each man that is making up a company, set each family to work to parch some corn. He intends to try the scheme with wheat. He intends to dry a bushel and then grind and sift and put it into sacks. Those brethren who live on the other side the let them take their grain to Mill and grind & Barrel it up and store it there till we call for it, for there is the place where we want to cross the . During this winter we shall make deposits from here to the outside the settlements for our use on the way, and in the spring we shall ship several Boat Loads of provisions up the about 500 miles where we shall cross for our supply and this will lighten our loads till we get there. [p. [80]]
James F. Death owned and operated a steam mill at Farmington, Iowa Territory. (History of Van Buren County, Iowa, 481.)
The History of Van Buren County, Iowa, Containing a History of the County, its Cities, Towns, Ec., a Biographical Directory of Citizens, War Record of its Volunteers in the Late Rebellions, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men. . . . Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878.
Farmington was located on the Des Moines River and would have been the first settlement on the river where the Saints could have crossed without entering into the hostile state of Missouri.