From A Short History of Thomas Richins (1826-1896) & Harriet Deveraux (1833-1896), by Afton Gene Richins Fischio. Published 01/17/2008

[In approx. 1869-1870]

Thomas [Richins] had occasion to go to Echo Canyon and as he was driving along, a band of Indians on horses stopped him. They took their bows and arrows and circled around the wagon. He thought his time to die had come, but at some words from their chief, they all rode away.

[An unrelated but interesting anecdote from this short history, of an occurrence during this family’s trek across the Plains:  “On June 9, 1856, they left Iowa City, Iowa, with the first handcart company of which Edmund Ellsworth was captain. Thomas Richins was 30 years old, his wife, Harriet, was 22, their little son, Albert Franklin, was 16 months, and Harriet’s father, John Deveraux, was 57. Provisions became scarce so they were put on rations, one pint of flour per day per person. This they cooked as best they could. They told of one day that they mixed too much water with the flour and all they could do was drink it. One time Thomas was so hungry he cut pieces of rawhide from the cart to eat. Harriet told how a band of Indians came into their camp. One of the Indian squaws who had a papoose saw a poor hungry pioneer woman trying to nurse a little undernourished baby. The Indian mother felt so sorry for them she took the poor baby in her arms and nursed it. However, it made the baby sick because it was not used to such rich milk.”]