When any disaster occurs, people look somewhere to place blame. In a maturing society, the better approach is to examine the data objectively. When this approach is applied to the Willie and Martin handcart disaster, two major problems emerge for the companies: one was the late start, and the other was inadequate food supplies. The former problem seems to have been exacerbated by the ending of the Crimean War, and the latter was exacerbated by more military mouths to feed at Fort Laramie because of an incident a year earlier involving one small cow.

TRENT D. STEPHENS, KEVIN HOLDSWORTH