Archibald McPhail (1816-1856)

Willie Handcart Company

Archibald McPhail died while doing his duty. Deaths: Archibald McPhail, age 40; Rasmus P. Hansen, age 16

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Company Journal
Archibald McPhiel, from Greenock, Argyleshire, Scotland, died about 2 a.m. aged 40 years. Much snow on the ground this morning & still more falling. Go down Echo Kanyon, roads very bad at the crossing of streams; forded Weber River & camped on its banks. It snowed most of the day. The camping ground presented a most dismal appearance, as we rolled on to it there being much snow on the ground & it being late at night. Rasmus P. Hansen, from Lan Denmark, aged 16 years, died this evening. Paul Lyman Commentary
“Cold” was noted on the 3rd and the 5th. After mentioning a snowstorm coming on the evening of the 5th, the record for the 6th reported that “it snowed most of the day,” which caused people to start dying again.

Archibald McPhail, like many unsung heroes, died simply doing his duty. He had been responsible for the 20 people assigned to his tent. On the evening of the 5th he noticed that one of two women who often lagged behind was missing. He went back along the trail and found her. She was on the opposite side of a creek. She refused to cross, saying she was going to die anyway and saw no need to cross only to die. He crossed over the creek on the frozen ice, picked her up, and started back across the ice. The additional weight of the woman caused the ice to break through and he was soaked up to his waist. He guided her into camp with his clothes frozen to his waist and legs. As the snowstorm raged, he went to bed on the snowy, cold ground wearing his frozen clothes. His wife used a handcart for a tent that night. Due to the wind, their handcart tent blew over three times. He died, with his wife holding him, never having gotten warm after rescuing his unnamed charge.¹

Archibald McPhail left a wife and children ages 3, 4, and 15. With the death of Rasmus P. Hansen, Anna Hansen, age 40, his mother, was now alone. She had lost her husband on October 19th.

Echo Creek meandered back and forth across the canyon floor in 1856. The main trail crossed Echo Creek over a dozen times. In the heavy snow, the river crossings would have been even more difficult than usual. The journal confirmed that the road was particularly bad at the river crossings. The journal writer commented even more harshly on the campground. It was on the west side of the Weber River in the river bottom. It was late at night when they stopped and it had snowed all day. The snow-covered grass must have been particularly difficult to sleep on with their thin bedding.

1. Mary Harper, “History of Henrietta McPhail Eckersell Utah Pioneer 1856,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers Library, Salt Lake City, 4.