Dunham’s statement likely relates to Orson Spencer’s comment at the previous meeting that “trouble may come as suddenly this summer” as it had in June 1844 and that the council should “be prepared in case of emergency with a place of refuge, which we could flee to in about six weeks or even in one week.” Dunham was likely referring to territory occupied by the Potawatomi Indians who lived near Council Bluffs along the Missouri River and with whom the Latter-day Saints, including Dunham, had fairly regular contact. In a comment later in this meeting, Charles C. Rich implied that Dunham suggested eleven days for the journey. When Dunham visited the Potawatomi settlements in summer 1843, it took him eleven days to reach the Potawatomi from the Mississippi and nine days to return to Nauvoo. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 18 Mar. 1845; Dunham, Journal, 17–28 July and 17–26 Aug. 1843.)
Dunham, Jonathan. Journals, 1837–1846. Jonathan Dunham, Papers, 1825–1846. CHL. MS 1387, fds. 1–4.
The Indians on the “northern rout” were probably the Potawatomi living near Council Bluffs.