Covered wagons pulled by oxen were common, particularly in the early American companies. The company traveled six days during the week, but generally stayed in camp on Sunday to observe the Sabbath. The company pushed on through South Pass, rafted across the Green River and arrived at Fort Bridger on July 7. William Clayton was appointed company scribe and was expected to record an accurate description of their journey and the distance they traveled each day. Brigham Young. Mormon Trail. 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. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Mormon Trail Map. They were semi-nomadic and camped where streams come out of the nearby mountains. This dangerous trek of nearly 24,000 miles (39,000 km) would claim 10 lives of the ship's 238 passengers,[11] nine of whom were buried at sea. "Trail of Hope: The Story of the Mormon Trail". Many of these pioneers walked much of the way as family members rode in the carts. Financial resources of the church members varied, with many families suffering from the loss of land and personal possessions in Missouri, and Illinois. As the oxen weakened under the strain, wagons were lightened by discarding prized possessions, including book collections, family china, and furniture. Le Chœur du Tabernacle mormon est une institution chorale fondée en 1847. The Salt Lake Valley became American territory as a result of this war. This disaster was the worst such incident in French history. They were literally driven out of their own country, since Utah was then still part of Mexico. The resort at Val d’Isere was operated by a nonprofit youth organization and attracted many ...read more, Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, accused of raping 18-year-old beauty-pageant contestant Desiree Washington, is found guilty by an Indiana jury. He reported to Young about his group's successful journey and their settlement in what is today San Francisco, California. Mormon emigration stories have been shared over and over through the decades. The reenactments provide just a glimpse into the emigration experience. The three women were joined by a larger group of women church members from Mississippi who merged with the main party at Laramie, Wyoming. Harriet Page Young, wife of Lorenzo Young, was the first woman selected for the company. The adult labor force, however, was quite small as a high percentage of the group, 53.2 percent were under the age of nineteen. When Brigham Young saw a beautiful valley by the lake from the hill, he decided that the Mormons should settle there. 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. Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1997. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born in a log cabin near Pepin, Wisconsin, on ...read more, The Seven Years’ War, a global conflict known in America as the French and Indian War, ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by France, Great Britain and Spain. The first Caucasian near present-day Salt Lake City was an explorer named Jim Bridger. On one occasion, he chastised the camp's hunters for being wasteful of flesh ... killing more than was really needed. The Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel gathers information from journals, church history records, and other materials to locate the company in which an ancestor traveled across the plains to get to Utah. [notes 1] Their trail along the north bank of the Platte River and North Platte River and over the continental divide climbing up to South Pass and Pacific Springs from Fort John along the valley of the Sweetwater River, then down to Fort Bridger and thence down to the Great Salt Lake became known as the Mormon Trail. Every year from 1847 until 1869, church members making this journey were formed into organized companies. In August 1847, Young and other selected members of the vanguard company returned to Winter Quarters. This impacted the resources and supplies each family could draw upon as they covered the more than 1,000 miles (2,000 km) to the Great Basin. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. But it was a bleak cold kingdom, and the Mormons had to … Convinced that the Mormons would never find peace in the United States, Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, made a bold decision: the Mormons would move to the still wild territories of the Mexican-controlled Southwest. In 1849, Tooele and Fort Utah in modern-day Provo were founded. They discussed possible routes into the Salt Lake Valley, and the feasibility of viable settlements in the mountain valleys of the Great Basin. Young, however, had not escaped the troubles that plagued the Church in the East. "Trail of Hope: The Story of the Mormon Trail". Bridger was enthusiastic about settlement near Utah Lake, reporting fish, wild fruit, timber and good grazing. Young divided this group into 14 companies, each with a designated captain. In this week's newsletter: Influencers in Utah rant and argue about whether the Bravo hit is a "real" representation of their religion, and a nudge to everyone else to once again raise alarm bells about the ongoing pandemic. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The most famous of these are the Willie and the Martin handcart companies. Mormon Migration. It was hoped that the group could, wherever possible, establish fords and ferries and plant crops for later harvest. The passengers of the ship Brooklyn left the United States with the hope of finding religious freedom. Ground was broken, irrigation ditches were dug, and the first fields of potatoes and turnips were planted. While much time was spent on traditional activities such as cooking, sewing, and tending children, several women served as scribes and diary keepers. However, they arrived in Mexican Alta California just weeks after its occupation by the United States Navy at the outset of the Mexican–American War. 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. Salt Lake City est connu pour deux choses : les montagnes qui l’entourent – bon endroit pour skier l’hiver, et les Mormons. Clayton's design, which he called the roadometer, is the basis for most modern odometers. 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. The journey was taken by about 70,000 people beginning with advance parties sent out by church leaders in March 1846 after the 1844 death of the church's leader Joseph Smith made it clear that the group could not remain in Nauvoo, Illinois—which the church had recently purchased, improved, renamed, and developed because of the Missouri Mormon War, setting off the Illinois Mormon War. Techniques for irrigating crops were investigated. 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. He made regular readings on scientific instruments, took notes on geological formations and mineral resources, and described plants and animals. An 1897 map of the route of the Mormon pioneers from Nauvoo to Salt Lake. Interactive Map: Mormon Handcart Trail. Smith’s claim to be a modern-day prophet of God and his acceptance of polygamy proved controversial wherever the Mormons attempted to settle. According to church belief, God inspired Brigham Young (Joseph Smith's successor as church president) to call for the Saints (as church members call themselves) to organize and head West, beyond the western frontier of the United States (into what was then Mexico, though the U.S. Army had already captured Santa Fe de Nuevo México and the colonized parts of Alta California in late 1846). Brooklyn Place, in Chinatown, San Francisco, is named for the ship,[12] as was the erstwhile Brooklyn, California. He told Young that local Indians raised good crops, including corn and pumpkins, but that there was ever-present danger of frost. The initial company would select and break the primary trail with the expectation that later pioneers would maintain and improve it. They eventually settled near Salt Lake City. Brannan negotiated a fare of $75 for adults and half-fare for children with the Captain Abel W. Richardson, master and a principal owner of the ship Brooklyn. p. 23, 24. The company was further divided into groups of 10 and 50 with authority and responsibility delegated downward. Wells's Special Order No. Their leader assassinated and their homes under attack, the Mormons of Nauvoo, Illinois, begin a long westward migration that eventually brings them to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The American West 1835-1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel. On February 10, 2014, Shirley Temple Black, who as a child in the 1930s became one of Hollywood’s most successful stars, dies at her Woodside, California, home at age 85. The next year, 2,500 more made the passage. At that time the LDS Church was urging new members to gather to Utah, which led these early converts to make emigration plans. In 1848, pioneer moved into lands purchased from trapper Miles Goodyear in present-day Ogden. The first Europeans to settle in the region were the Latter-day Saints, the first of whom arrived in 1847. He was enthusiastic about the agricultural potential of the large Weber Valley. "As the senior of the Twelve Apostles, Brigham Young succeeded Joseph Smith as the leader of the Church. The Mormons were persecuted and so, they migrated west along the Oregon Trail. Fillmore, Utah, intended to be the capital of the new territory, was established in 1851. Ongoing migration 1859 map of route from Sioux City, Iowa, through Nebraska, to gold fields of Wyoming, following old Mormon trails. It contains lists of passengers in companies as well as genealogical information about ancestors. Tous les membres du Chœur du Tabernacle sont des bénévoles de lÉglise de Jésus-Christ des saints des derniers jours. At the time of the planning of the exodus in 1846, the territory was owned by the Republic of Mexico, which soon after went to war with the United States over the annexation of Texas. 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. About the same time, they were joined by thirteen more members of the sick detachment of the Mormon Battalion. Salt Lake City also has the "Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument," where Young, Eliza R. Snow, and other Mormon pioneers are buried and where a memorial exists dedicated to all who crossed the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. Their leader assassinated and their homes under attack, the Mormons of Nauvoo, Illinois, begin a long westward migration that eventually brings them to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Almost 3,000 Mormons, with 653 carts and 50 supply wagons, traveling in 10 different companies, made the trip over the trail to Salt Lake City. When I was at the INL convention in Seattle, I heard Prof. Fred E. Woods give a talk on the emigration of Icelanders to Utah in the 1800s. Before Mormon settlement, several Native American groups, the Ute, the Shoshone, and the Paiute, had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years. Apostle Orson Pratt was named the company's scientific observer. 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. Jen is of Tongan and Hawaiian descent and grew up in Salt Lake City. The Mormons settled in the Salt Lake Valley, which at that time was used as a buffer zone between the Shoshones and the Utes, who were at war. Sidney Rigdon was the First Counselor in the church's First Presidency, and as its spokesman, Rigdon preached several controversial sermons in Missouri, including the Salt Sermon and the July 4th Oration. The Mormon pioneers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated in the mid-1840s across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah. Young continued to trust Kane throughout his own lifetime, particularly as an intermediary with the often hostile Federal government. 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. After crossing the Green River, several members of the party suffered from "mountain fever" (probably Colorado tick fever, which is carried by the Rocky Mountain wood tick). Two years after the death of Smith, Mormon forces rallied and began a pioneer trek into the far West. With his first glimpse of this Valley of the Great Salt Lake, Young reportedly said, “This is the place.” That year, some 1,600 Mormons arrived to begin building a new civilization in the valley. The roadometer showed that the company averaged between fourteen and twenty miles per day. Kane obtained permission for the Mormons to winter on Indian territory, and the site was originally called Kanesville. [9] The ship weighed 445 short tons (404 t) and measured 125 ft x 28 ft × 14 ft (8.5 m × 4.3 m) x 4.3 m) and was built in 1834 by Joseph H. Russell at Newcastle, Maine.[10]. Slaughter, William and Landon, Michael. These and other reasons caused the body of the church to move from one place to another—to Ohio, Missouri, and then to Illinois, where they built the city of Nauvoo. [8], On February 4, 1846 (the same day the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo began), the ship Brooklyn cleared New York harbor and began its nearly 6-month voyage to the Pacific coast of the then-Mexican Territory of California. Some pioneers overestimated the number of goods they could haul on the long journey. On July 24, Young first saw the valley from a "sick" wagon driven by his friend, Wilford Woodruff. Led by Brigham Young, the Mormons moved to the western states such as Nebraska, Wyoming, across the Rockies, and to the SW. Shortly after leaving Fort Bridger, the group met trapper Miles Goodyear, who owned a trading post at the mouth of the Weber River. All of his information came from the original documents pertaining to the great migration of the Latter-Day Saints which are housed in the Church Historian's Library in Salt Lake City, a diary of what happened from 1842 when prophet and founder Joseph Smith conceived the idea of a westward migration to the day in 1847 when Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. [4][5] Young himself became ill soon after meeting Goodyear. Salt Lake City, Utah. They settled near the Great Salt Lake, which is now Utah. Sidney Rigdon was the First Counselor in the church's First Presidency, and as its spokesman, Rigdon preached severa… In 1847 members of the Mormon Battalion were honorably discharged at Los Angeles, California from their service in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War. Icelandic Migration to Salt Lake City. By 1852, 16,000 Latter-day Saints had come to the valley, some in wagons and some dragging handcarts. The next year Jefferson Hunt, one of these former soldiers, and others made the return trip to California to pick up supplies. The Mormons saw Salt Lake City as their holy city: Brigham Young called it a "Kingdom of Heaven on Earth". Some companies, however, started late in the season which resulted in hardship and sometimes disaster. In addition, as the discharged men traveled to rejoin their families in the Salt Lake Valley, they moved through southern Nevada and southern Utah. Today’s Mormons compare this migration to the Exodus of the Chosen People from the biblical Book of Exodus, and Brigham Young is sometimes referred to as the Mormon Moses. The settlement of Provo was particularly troubling to the Utes, since it was at the heart of their territory. Box Elder, Cache, Salt Lake, Utah, and Sevier counties had large numbers of Danes listed in 19th Century Utah census totals but Sanpete County was the area where the largest number settled.[15]. The voyage is the longest passage made by a Mormon emigrant company. After a hard journey across the western landscape, Young and his followers emerged out onto a broad valley where a giant lake shimmered in the distance. 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. The length of the wagon trail from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City was about 1,300 mile (2,092 km). Brigham Young Settled in the Great Salt Lake Valley July 24, 1847 They had embarked on a treacherous thousand-mile journey, looking for a new place to settle the "Promised Land." For many, the journey did not end there, as the Mormon Church continued to settle all the surrounding region, from Chi… The waves swept the deck and even reached the staterooms... Children's voices were crying in the darkness, mother's voices soothing or scolding, men's voices rising above the others, all mingled with the distressing groans and cries of the sick for help, and, above all, the roaring of the wind and howling of the tempest made a scene and feeling indescribable.[8]. Bridger explored the area in 1825. The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been persecuted for their beliefs ever since Joseph Smith founded the church in New York in 1830. An ox team retrieved the instrument the following spring and transported it to the Salt Lake Valley.[7]. This major undertaking was a significant test of leadership capability and the existing administrative network of the recently restructured church. An 1897 map of the route of the Mormon pioneers from Nauvoo to Salt Lake. In late February, plans were made to gather portable boats, maps, scientific instruments, farm implements and seeds. 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