I'm Ron Alder, a 2nd Great-Grandson of Alfred Alder. I want to tell you a little about Alfred and his odometer.

Alfred was born in England in 1824. His education specialized in mechanical engineering. In 1841, he met two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was baptized shortly thereafter. In 1844, he left England to join the Saints in Nauvoo. Alfred planned to be in the first company to travel to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, but Brigham Young asked him to go to St. Louis and assist future Saints as they prepared to make the journey. While in St. Louis, he found work running and maintaining steam engines. One engine was on a Mississippi river steamboat. This steamboat was considered slow, but after Alfred made some modifications, it was the fastest on the river! It was in St. Louis that he met his first wife, Susan Field, and they were married in 1848. In 1853, they and their three children traveled across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley with a company of pioneers. For more details about Alfred's life, read "A Short Sketch of the Life of Alfred Alder" by Reuel J Alder.

Pioneer Odometers

This is the point that the odometer becomes part of Alfred's story. For the journey to the Salt Lake Valley, Alfred equipped one of his two wagons with an odometer that he designed and built himself. The odometer let him accurately determine how far they traveled each day. Here is a little history about pioneers and the odometer.

William Clayton

In the first company that traveled to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, William Clayton was assigned to collect information about the trek to benefit later travelers. He was frustrated with simply guessing how many miles they traveled in a day and told that his estimates were consistently two to four miles less than the other travelers. Clayton talked to Orson Pratt and suggested the idea of "fixing a set of wooden cog wheels to the hub of a wagon wheel in such order as to tell the exact number of miles we travel each day". Clayton measured the wheel on Heber C Kimball's wagon and found it to be 4 feet 8 inches, calculated the circumference as 14 feet 8 inches, and calculated that 360 rotations of the wheel would be exactly 1 mile. William Clayton and Orson Pratt developed the odometer (roadometer) which was built by carpenter Appleton Milo Harmon and attached to Heber C Kimball's wagon.

Clayton published his detailed and accurate information of the Mormon Trail in The "Latter-day Saints’ Emigrants’ Guide".

Pinoeer era odometer #1

Pioneer era odometer #2

Using a 3D printer, I designed and built a small model of what Alfred's odometer may have looked like. I have no direct information about what Alfred's device looked like or exactly how it worked. There is confusion about what Clayton's odometer looked like and how it worked. Clayton, after using the first odometer on the 1847 trek, returned to Winter Quarters with a new redesigned odometer. Refer to the two pictures of replicas of pioneer odometers. I think that design #2 is the most like Clayton's design, particularly his redesigned version. It makes sense to me that Alfred's odometer would have been similar to design #2 and therefore my replica is like Design #2.

My odometer model

Gears showed the mileage

Mechanism

I what to tell you why I built this replica. In 2023, my son, Michael, and his wife, Ana, were asked to be leaders on a pioneer trek sponsored by their Stake. The trek was intended to help youth gain a better understanding of what pioneers experienced and inspire them to learn more about their ancestors, by spending three days pulling handcarts and camping. Michael had read the life sketch of Alfred Alder writen by Reuel Alder my 1st cousin twice removed. Reuel is one of Alfred Alder's grandsons. Michael knew the story of Alfred building his own odometer. He was planning to share Alfred's story with his trek group. Michael knowing that I had recently retired and had purchased a 3D printer said to me, dad you know if I had more time and a 3D printer I would make a replica of Alfred's odometer to show my trek group. Now Michael was not the first of my children to have 'hinted' that now that I'm retired they would not like to see me be bored, so they will gladly let me help them with some of their projects. I love all of my children, enjoy being with them and helping them. I'm happy that they want me to enjoy my retirement. Michael's request reminded me of how much I like the story of Alfred's odometer.

Many years ago, about the time I was starting my pursuit to get a degree in Electrical Engineering, I got a copy of Alfred's live sketch with the odometer story. I thought to myself, that would be something that I would like to build. The stories of my great-great-grandfather, have inspired me throughout my career as a computer engineer. I have always felt close to Alfred Alder. I told Michael I would like to build a replica of Alfred's odometer using my new 3D printer. I completed the replica in time for Michael and Ana to use it as a visual aid while they told Alfred Alder pioneer stories.

The time that I have spent on this project, which was more than I anticipated, has renewed the closeness I feel to my great-great-grandfather. This made the time spent more than worth it. It has motivated me to share my interest in family history with my family, especially my grandchildren. I hope that Alfred Alder's 1883 Pioneer Odometer will inspire my family to learn more about our ancestors, especially Alfred Alder. You can read Alfred's life sketch at https://alderon.net/AlfredAlder/

References