Mormon Pioneer

The Mormon Pioneers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who migrated across the United States from the midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the State of Utah. The journey was taken by about 70,000 people beginning in April, 1847, and ending with the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

Background to the Migration

Since its founding in 1830, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were often harshly treated and persecuted by their neighbors, primarily due to their inclination toward social and political unity and their unorthodox religious beliefs. There was violence directed against the church, its members, and its leader, Joseph Smith. This among other reasons caused the body of the church to move from one place to another- Ohio, Missouri, and then to Illinois where church members build the city of Nauvoo. Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued an extermination order against all Mormons living in the state. In 1844 Joseph Smith had been murdered while in custody in the city of Carthage, Illinois. In 1846, religious tension had reached its peak and mobs burned the Latter-day Saint temple in Nauvoo.

According to church belief, God directed Brigham Young, Joseph Smith's successor as church leader, to call for the saints (as church members call themselves) to organize and head to west, beyond the western frontier of the Unted States. During the winter of 1846-47, Latter-Day Saint leaders in Winter Quarters and Iowa laid plans for the migration of the large number of Saints, their equipment and livestock. This major undertaking was a significant test of leadership capability and the existing administrative network of the recently restructured Church. For his role in the migration, Brigham Young is sometimes referred to as the "American Moses."

Young personally reviewed all available information on the Great Salt Lake Valley and the Great Basin, consulting with mountain men and trappers who traveled through Winter Quarters and meeting with Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Jesuit missionary familiar with the Great Basin. The wary Young insisted the Mormons should settle in a location no one else wanted, and felt the Great Salt Lake met that requirement but would provide the Saints with many advantages as well.

The Vanguard Company of 1847

Young organized a vanguard company to break the trail west to the Rocky Mountains, gather information about trail conditions, including water sources and native tribes, and to ultimately select the central gathering point in the Great Basin. The initial company would select and break the primary trail with the expectation that later pioneers would maintain and improve it. It was hoped that the group could, wherever possible, establish fords and ferries and plant crops for later harvest. In late February, plans were made to gather portable boats, maps, scientific instruments, farm implements and seeds. Techniques for irrigating crops were investigated. A new route on the north side of the Platte River was chosen to avoid major interaction with travelers using the established Oregon Trail on the river’s south side. Given the needs of the large volume of Saints who would travel west, Church leaders decided to avoid potential conflicts over grazing rights, water access and campsites.

In April 1847, Young consulted with members of the Twelve who had recently returned from the British mission. John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt and Orson Hyde brought money contributed by the English Saints, a map based on John C. Fremont’s recent western expedition, and instruments for calculating latitude, elevation, temperature and barometric pressure. Chosen members of the vanguard group were gathered together, final supplies were packed, and the group was organized into military companies. The group consisted of 143 men, including three black slaves and eight members of the Council of the Twelve, three women, and two children. The train contained 73 wagons, one cannon, 93 horses, 52 mules, 66 oxen, 19 cows, 17 dogs and some chickens, and carried enough supplies to fully provision the group for one year. Young divided this group into 14 companies, each with a designated captain. Apprehensive of possible Indian danger, a milita and night guard was formed under the direction of Stephen Markham.

On April 5th, 1847, at 2 p.m., the wagon train moved west from Winter Quarters toward the Great Basin. With the afternoon start, they made three miles and camped in a line a few hundred yards from a stand of timber. Journal records show that Young actively managed the journey, supervising details and occasionally giving reprimands when evening and Sunday recreation became rowdy or group members failed to complete their tasks. On one occasion, he chastized the camp's hunters for being wasteful of flesh ... killing more than was really needed. (May, p. 57) Camp was awakened by a bugle at 5 a.m. and the company was expected to be prepared for travel by 7 a.m. Each day's travel ended at 8:30 p.m. and the camp was in bed by 9 p.m. The company traveled six days during the week, but generally stayed in camp on Sunday to oberve the Sabbath.

Some camp members were assigned specific tasks. William Clayton was appointed company scribe and was expected to record an accurate description of their journey and the distance they traveled each day. After three weeks, Clayton tired of personally counting the revolutions of a wagon wheel and computing the day's distance by multiplying the count by the wheel's circumference. After consulting with Orson Pratt, an accomplished mathematician, he designed a mechanism consisting of a set of wooden cog wheels attached to the hub of a wagon wheel, with the mechanism "counting" or recording by position the revolutions of the wheel. Clayton's design, which he called the roadometer, is the basis for most modern odometers. The apparatus was built to Clayton and Pratt's specifications by the company's carpenter Appleton Milo Harmon and was first used on the morning of May 12, 1847. The roadometer showed that the company averaged between fourteen and twenty miles per day. Apostle Orson Pratt was named the company's scientific observer. He made regular readings on scientific instruments, took notes on geological formations and mineral resources, and described plants and animals. Journals kept by both Clayton and Pratt have become valuable resources for historians of the Mormon trek west.

Women of the company also performed vital tasks along the way. While much time was spent on traditional activities such as cooking, sewing, and tending children, several women served as scribes and diary keepers. Harriet Page Young, wife of Lorenzo Young, was the first woman selected for the company. She was in ill health and Lorenzo Young feared to leave her and their young children behind. The other original women of the company, Ellen Sanders Kimball, wife of Heber C. Kimball, and Clarissa Decker Young, wife of Brigham Young, were asked to accompany the group to look after Harriet Young and keep her company. The three women were joined by a larger group of women church members from Mississippi who merged with the main party at Laramie, Wyoming.

The first segment of the journey, from Winter Quarters to Fort Laramie took six weeks, with the company arriving at the fort on June 1st. The company halted for repairs and to reshoe the draft animals. While at Fort Laramie, the vanguard company was joined by members of the Mormon Battalion who had been excused from service due to illness and sent to winter in Pueblo, Colorado. Also traveling in the new group were Church members from Mississippi who had taken a more southern route toward the Great Basin. At this point, the now larger company took the established Oregon Trail toward the trading post at Ft. Bridger. At a difficult crossing of the Platte, just before encountering the Sweetwater River, the company made use of their portable boat and were able to cross with comparative ease. Missourians at the river paid the Saints $1.50 or more per wagon to help them cross. Seizing the opportunity to both help future travelers and increase the cash available to the migration, nine men under the direction of Thomas Grover were left behind to construct and operate a ferry at that location.

During the last week of June, Sam Brannan, leader of the Mormon emigrant ship Brooklyn, met the company near Green River, Wyoming. He reported to Young about his group's successful journey and their settlement in what is today San Francisco, California. He urged the vanguard company to continue on to California but was unable to shift the leader’s focus away from the Great Basin. Young also met mountain man Jim Bridger on June 28th. They discussed possible routes into the Salt Lake Valley, and the feasibility of viable settlements in the mountain valleys of the Great Basin. Bridger was enthusiastic about settlement near Utah Lake, reporting fish, wild fruit, timber and good grazing. He told Young that local Indians raised good crops, including corn and pumpkins, but that there was everpresent danger of frost. The company pushed on through South Pass, rafted across the Green River and arrived at Fort Bridger on July 7th. About the same time, they were joined by thirteen more members of the sick detachment of the Mormon Battalion.

The vanguard company now faced a more rugged and hazardous journey, and were concerned about negotiating the passes of the Rocky Mountains. They had received conflicting advice, but Young chose to follow the trail used by the Donner-Reed party on their journey to California the previous year. Shortly after leaving Fort Bridger, the group met trapper Miles Goodyear, who owned a trading post at the mouth of the Weber River. He was enthusiastic about the agricultural potential of the large Weber Valley. During the trip through the rugged mountains, the vanguard company divided into three sections. Since crossing the Green River, several members of the party had suffered from a fever, generally accepted as a “mountain fever” probably induced by wood ticks. Young himself became ill soon after meeting Goodyear. The small sick detachment lagged behind the larger group, and a scouting division was created to move ahead on the designated route.

In July 1847 the first company reached the Salt Lake Valley, with scouts Erastus Snow and Orson Pratt entering the valley on July 21st. Pratt wrote: ...we could not refrain from a shout of joy, which almost involuntarily escaped from our lips the moment this grand and lovely scenery was within our view. The two scouts undertook a twelve mile exploratory circuit into the valley before returning to the larger party. The next day, larger segments of the valley were explored, streams and hot springs investigated and the first camp established in the Salt Lake Valley. On July 23rd, Pratt offered a prayer dedicating the land to the Lord. Ground was broken, irrigation ditches were dug, and the first fields of potatoes and turnips were planted. On July 24th, Young first saw the valley from a “sick” wagon driven by his friend Wilford Woodruff. According to Woodruff, Young expressed his satisfaction in the appearance of the valley and declared "This is the right place, drive on." Today a monument stands in the spot where he made this declaration. Young later reported that he had seen the valley, including Ensign Peak, in a vision and recognized the spot.

On July 28th, Young established a location for the future Salt Lake Temple and presented a city plan to the larger group for their approval. In August 1847, Young and other selected members of the vanguard company returned to Winter Quarters. By December 1847, more than two thousand Mormons had completed the journey to the Salt Lake Valley, and several hundred had returned east to gather and organize the companies scheduled for following years. Each year during the Mormon migration, people continued to be organized into "companies", each company bearing the name of its leader. The company was further divided into groups of 10 and 50 with authority and responsiblity delegated downward.

Travel Conditions

The pioneers traveled to the Salt Lake Valley in the Great Basin using wagons, handcarts, and, in some cases, personally carrying their belongings. Their trail along the Platte River and over the Sweetwater River 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 1000 miles 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 under supplied.

Covered wagons pulled by oxen were common, particularly in the early American companies. In October 1845, as LDS members were preparing to leave Nauvoo, The Nauvoo Neighbor printed an extensive list of suggested provisions for each family wagon. The provisions included 2 to 3 yoke of oxen, 2 milk cows, other livestock, arms and ammunition, 15 lbs 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 amount 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. (Slaughter & Landon, p. 23, 24)

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.

Later Migration

After the initial departure of the Latter-day Saints living in Illinois and Missouri, converts to the church from other areas in the United States and from Europe followed the initial trail to join the main body of the church in Salt Lake City. Every year from 1847 until 1869, church members making this journey were formed into organized companies. ^* Migration continued until about 1890, but those who came by railroad are not generally considered to be "Mormon Pioneers."

Settling the Desert

Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons literally had to make a place to live. They created irrigation systems, made farms, built houses and schools. Later, Brigham Young directed satellite communities to be formed in all directions. Church members headed south into present day Arizona, West into California, North into Idaho and Canada, and East into Wyoming, settling many familiar communities in those areas.

Heritage

The Mormon pioneer chapter is considered important to American history in general, but holds a special place to church members. They view it not only as a journey across a wilderness, but also a great manifestation of spiritual faith. They hold dear the pioneers who gave up their homes to face such uncertainty in the name of their religion. Diary entries of pioneers display not only hardship but also a firm desire to follow God's will, exemplary faith in God and in their newfound religion. Many entries and stories also exhibit events which many consider to be miracles, many of which saved lives.

In all, nearly 70,000 Mormon pioneers crossed the plains. Because of fatalities, suffering and sacrifices endured by these early Mormon Pioneers, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints considers many of the graveyards and campsites along the trail to be hallowed ground.

External links

References

Barney, Ronald O., editor. The Mormon Vanguard Brigade of 1847: Norton Jacob's Record. Utah State University Press, Logan, Utah 2005. ISBN 0874216095.
Bennett, Richard E. We'll Find the Place: The Mormon Exodus 1846-1848. Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1997. ISBN 1-57345-286-6.
Hafen, Leroy and Ann. "Handcarts to Zion". University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
May, Dean L. Utah: A People's History. Bonneville Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1987. ISBN 0874802849.
Slaughter, William and Landon, Michael. "Trail of Hope: The Story of the Mormon Trail". Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1997.
Stegner, Wallace. "The Gathering of Zion". University of Nebraska Press, 1992.

History of the American West | History of United States expansionism | History of the Latter Day Saint movement

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