Joseph Trego wrote from his cabin near Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory to his wife, Alice, at home in Illinois with their three daugthers. His friend Ell's trip to St. Louis had been aborted due to the freezing conditions of the Missouri River. The town company of Sugar Mound was meeting that day, in which the formal site of the town would be selected; Trego hoped to build their new home on a lot near his mill, which was in an especially picturesque area. His comments about the current "political storm" reveal the variation of perspectives among free state supporters, as he found free state supporters in his area were for a "free state government from politic[al] motives & not humane." He also reported that a group of armed free state men had passed by two days before, looking for a "nest" of pro-slavery men in Bourbon County. Trego added descriptions of their daily life and their struggle to keep their living expenses down.