the valley of the Sweetwater River, then down to Fort Bridger and from there down to the Great Salt Lake became known as the Mormon Trail. Financial resources of the church members varied, with many families suffering from the loss of land and personal possessions in Missouri, and Illinois. This impacted the resources and supplies each family could draw upon as they covered the more than to the Great Basin. Church funds were also limited at this time, but church leaders provided what funding and other material assistance they could to families and companies which were undersupplied. Covered wagons pulled by oxen were common, particularly in the early American companies. In October 1845, as church members were preparing to leave Nauvoo, the Nauvoo Neighbor printed an extensive list of suggested provisions for each family wagon. The provisions included two to three yoke of oxen, two milk cows, other livestock, arms and ammunition, 15 lb of iron, pulleys and ropes, fishing gear, farming and mechanical equipment, cooking equipment and at least 1000 pounds of flour plus assorted other foodstuffs. Some pioneers overestimated the number of goods they could haul on the long journey. As the oxen weakened under the strain, wagons were lightened by discarding prized possessions, including book collections, family china, and furniture. In 1847, just east of the Rocky Mountains, the Kimball family dug a large hole, wrapped their piano in buffalo skins and carefully buried it. An ox team retrieved the instrument the following spring and transported it to the Salt Lake Valley. Several later companies were largely made up of people with fewer resources, who pulled or pushed handcarts (similar to wheelbarrows) holding all of their provisions and personal belongings. Many of these pioneers walked much of the way as family members rode in the carts. Due to the weather in the American heartland, the best time to travel was April–September. Some companies, however, started late in the season which resulted in hardship and sometimes disaster. The most famous of these are the Willie and the Martin handcart companies. Leaving Iowa in July 1856, they did not reach Utah until November, suffering many deaths due to winter weather and the lack of adequate supplies. The ship Brooklyn In November 1845, Samuel Brannan, newspaperman and small-scale publisher of the Mormon paper The Prophet (later the New York Messenger), was directed by church elders to charter a ship that