The Trek West

Laurel’s Class 3/14



Brigham Young took off with the first wave of members to go west. Their first goal destination was Winter Quarters. First they had to cross the Mississippi into Iowa because they didn’t want to go through Missouri because it was too dangerous. They tried building a raft to carry a wagon across, but the ox kicked a hole in it and it sank. People jumped in the river to save the family and all their belongings.



Then a miracle happened – the river froze so solid that they could cross with their whole wagons, animals and everything safely.

At this same time, many members were in New York. Sam Brennon ran a newspaper called The Prophet. His idea was to sail to the west and got many people to go with him. It was enough people that now it would be considered a very large ward. They set sail and went around South America. Two babies were born on the trip. One was named Atlantic and the other was called Pacific.

They landed in San Francisco and Sam wanted SF to be the new Church headquarters. He went to Utah to convince Brigham, but he said no, which caused Sam Brennon to leave the church. He took the tithing from the saints to invest in gold (gambled it away). He was the first millionaire in California but became addicted to alcohol, was divorced, and died penniless and alone.

Some of those members stayed in California but most went to Utah.

In 1846 the saints with Brigham Young arrived in Nebraska at Winter Quarters, what is now Florence, Nebraska. They waited there until spring to continue west. By September they had 820 lots laid out with log houses on them.

In Nauvoo, many who had remained behind were because they were too poor to buy covered wagons and make the trip. They tried to sell their new beautiful homes, but nobody would buy them. They even tried to sell the temple to finance the poor, but nobody would buy it. Two years later, someone burned it, and 2 years after that a tornado tore it down.

The saints left were in danger from the mobs. They swore they would get rid of the rest of the Mormons so they had to flee. They stayed in what became called Poor Camp. This was October. They all had to leave without food or blankets or adequate clothing. They prayed for help and on October 9 large flocks of quail fell at their feet. Same as in Numbers 11, but those people were not grateful for the quails and weren’t wise with them. They overate and got sick. They were guilty of gluttony. But the saints were grateful and saved as much as they could for the future. When Brigham Young heard of their situation, he sent rescue companies to take them to the way station.

So one of the biggest problems Brigham Young had was that the saints were too scattered. His group had almost run out of food and lived on cornmeal mush and bacon. It kept them alive, but many got sick and it caused scurvy. Brigham Young and Willard Richards both were very ill. Many died in winter quarters. George A Smith lost his wife and 3 children. He studied and found that potatoes could cure scurvy, so he got everyone eating potatoes. After that he was called the Potato Saint. Brigham Young was so concerned for his family that he gave them his portion of potatoes and only ate the peels but was healed anyway.

The saints stayed optimistic through everything in spite of all they were suffering and all the deaths. Willard Richards wrote to the apostles who weren’t there that Brigham Young sleeps with one eye open and is always ready to serve. BY was 45 years old at the time.

Brigham Young had a dream in which Joseph Smith told him the word and will of the Lord for them to move west – D&C 136. It is Brigham Young’s only recorded revelation in Doctrine and Covenants. In it he was told how to organize the saints – basically the same as Moses was told to organize the Israelites except that there weren’t nearly as many. Brigham had more than one dream in which he saw Joseph Smith. Frequently prophets are visited by past prophets. Joseph gave messages for the members – to follow the Spirit of the Lord. He told them that they can distinguish if it is the Lord’s Spirit if He whispers peace, has no malice, and what He says will help you do good.

This made the saint’s trek very different from all other settlers because of their orderliness and organization. There were three big companies and

each was led by 2 apostles.

Each company was self-sufficient.

Each took care of the fatherless and the children

They were to not complain or criticize, but to edify with their speech

They were strictly commanded to not take the name of God in vain.

(Kimball said when you are no longer shocked by evil you have lost your first defense against evil.)

They were to cease drunkenness

They were to return what they borrowed

They were to be good stewards over their property – waste not, want not

They were to praise the Lord with singing and dancing.

Heber C Kimball and Willard Richards were Brigham Young’s counselors. D&C 136 also tell why Joseph Smith had to die.

Brigham Young wanted to send a vanguard – an advanced party to go ahead to Salt Lake City. There were 143 men, 3 women and 2 children.

The missionary effort in England helped the pioneers. The members there sent scientific instruments to measure the altitude and other important things, and sent them money.

In May they reached the halfway point of the trek – Chimney Rock in Colorado. Each day the woke up and begin trek by 5:30. There were some highlights along the trail that brightened their days; they saw huge herds of buffalo and wide expanses of sunflowers. The saints were happy in spite of their difficulties and hardships. At night they would sing and dance

Jim Bridger talked to them and told them they would never make it to Utah. Orsen Pratt and Erastus Snow were the first to arrive. Days later Brigham and others arrived. Brigham saw a vision of the future of the valley – the glory of Zion. He said, It is enough. It is the right place.

There is a statue of Brigham Young in the Hall of Fame where he is called the Father of Irrigation.

They arrived on a Saturday. On Sunday they worshipped. Brigham said it would become an ensign to the nations. 100 years later the National Geographic compared the similarities between Israel and Utah – both were considered to be a promised land, both populated to escape persecution, both have a large body of salt water, both have a river Jordan, both are very dry, have the same plants, watered with irrigation, both have caves with ancient artifacts, Utah lake is like the Sea of Galilea President Monson said there are no coincidences..

Faith in every footstep

About 2 years after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, there was a trial for about 8 of the leaders of the mob who killed him. The verdict of that trial was that they were acquitted because they were "carrying out the will of the people." This basically gave all people around Nauvoo license to kill, so the persecution increased greatly. Satan did not want them to finish the temple!

Brigham Young was inspired to finish the temple before they left, so work was increased on that while families prepared themselves to move west. As soon as the upper room was finished, furnished with trees, murals, and furniture, they did as many endowments as they could until they had to leave.

The first wave of saints started the trek west. They had planned to wait until spring so they would have more food and weather and travel conditions would be better, but the persecution was such that they needed to get out of there. Everyone leaving had to leave their brand new houses, their gardens that were about to produce, their fruit trees that had been in long enough to begin to produce, their furniture, and almost every other possession, and they got nothing for them. They had to just walk away.

These first saints to leave had covered wagons. The trail had been well scouted by men Brigham Young had sent out, so they knew where to go, but it was still unknown to them. The local newspaper, the Nauvoo Neighbor, had printed a list of supplies that saints should take. For a family of 5 it listed: blankets, 3 oxen, seeds, farm tools, 1,000 lbs of flour, guns, ammunition, 2 milk cows, cooking pans, fishing gear, dried fruit, spices, tent, nails, and ropes. The covered wagons were approximately the size of a Toyota Highlander - 18x11x4. With that many provisions, there wasn't much room for anyone to ride unless they really needed it like the elderly, pregnant, or small children. The covered wagons traveled about 18 miles a day.

From Nauvoo, they traveled north instead of west because they didn't dare try to go through Missouri. In the first attempt to cross the Mississippi river, they had a wagon and oxen on a raft, but the ox kicked a hole in the raft and everything sank. People jumped in to save everyone, and were successful, but realized that wasn't going to work. Then the first miracle of the trip happened. The weather dropped to a record low and the river froze so solid that they could cross with their wagons and oxen and everything.  Several babies were born while crossing the river.

2,000 saints gathered at the first way station, Sugar Creek. They camped in 8" of snow. But even worse was when it warmed up a little, then they were in so much mud the wagons would get stuck. There was no way to wash so everyone was very, very dirty, especially the children.

People hadn't packed all the supplies that were on the list, and there wasn't much food on the list anyway, so by the time they got to Sugar Creek, they were already running out of food. The leaders had packed extra so they shared, but soon that ran out. Brigham Young said he lost so much weight that the coat, that barely buttoned before, now wrapped around by 12"!

William Pitt and some others had taken instruments and had a brass band. In the evenings they would play while the saints gathered and danced. They played all the popular songs of the day. The dancing lifted spirits, was good aerobic exercise, and helped keep them warm. One favorite song was Upper California. At that time, all of California, Nevada, and Utah belonged was part of the Mexico Territory. That's where they were headed, so they liked that song a lot.

Brigham Young said the saints bore their trials without murmuring. He said they were the best people on earth since Enoch's city. He called them Camp of Israel.

They stayed in Sugar Creek until March. .By then the food had run out. The brass band would go into neighboring cities and play and earn money to take back to the saints for food. That was one of the things that saved them.

The longest part of their journey was through Iowa. The wagons got stuck constantly. They spent more time getting through Iowa than the whole rest of the trip to Utah.

William Clayton had gone with Brigham Young on this trip without his wife because she was expecting a baby. He was so worried about her and that all would be well, and finally he got a message that his wife had her baby and that both were fine. That inspired him to write the hymn, "All is Well". It quickly became everyone's favorite hymn, and it was an unwritten rule that if someone started singing it, all had to join in. He was also asked to be the camp clerk and keep track of their miles. In doing this, he invented the odometer!

In April they reached the next way station, Garden Grove. While there they plowed 700 acres, built log cabins, and planted crops for those who followed.

About that time, Texas was annexed into the Union and Congress declared war on Mexico. Someone was sent to recruit the Mormons to help fight but nobody wanted to enlist. First of all, they were pretty involved in what was going on in their lives, and 2nd, the government had consistently turned its back on them. But Brigham received a revelation that if they joined, it would be well, it would bring good will with the Church and the government, it would finance their trip west, and they would never have to fight.

So 541 enlisted. Brigham Young handpicked the officers. He promised them that if they kept the commandments they would never have to fight. Among other things they were told to never take God's name in vain if they wanted His help. (George Washington also demanded that). If they were married, they could take their wives.

There was a huge sendoff in July 1846. 31 women went to cook and do laundry. There were also some children. They marched 200 miles to Leavenworth. They were given $42 for clothing/year, which is the equivalent of $1200 today, and uniforms were optional. So they gave part of the money to Parley P Pratt to take back to the saints.

When they signed up with the Army, the recruiters were very surprised because all of the 541 men knew how to write. The Mormon Battalion was assigned to blaze a trail to Santa Fe and from there to California. They were good workers and did a great job, but never fought.

At one point on the trip there was a stampede of bulls, called the Battle of Bulls. A few were injured, but none were killed.

When they got to Tucson, AZ, the Mexicans ran from them. They had heard of this huge army of Mormons. So they were able to take over the city without fighting. They went to San Diego as occupation troops. They were admired because they knew how to build houses and other buildings. They built a courthouse, dug wells, and greatly contributed to establish San Diego.

Most men were discharged after a year but Brigham Young told them to stay in San Diego to earn money. In Sutter's Fort gold was discovered so they got a lot of money and the next summer they left the gold mines to go to join their families in Utah.