The Special Collections and Manuscripts Department

Harold B. Lee Library

Brigham Young University

Presents

"Into the Western Country"

An Exhibit commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the Latter-day Saints' arrival in

The Valley of the Great Salt Lake

Introduction

When the first wagons of the Mormons crossed the Mississippi River from Nauvoo, Illinois on 4 February 1846, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was just fifteen years old. Growing out of the visions and revelations of Joseph Smith, Jr. [1805-1844], the Church was officially organized on 6 April 1830 following the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of heavenly authority deemed necessary to perform the saving ordinances. Central to these claims was the importance of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, whose prophet once again revealed heaven's will to all who would listen.

Such audacious claims early aroused anger and even violence against those who chose to follow Joseph Smith. Mormons were persecuted in New York, Ohio, Missouri and in Illinois during the formative years of their history. The growing opposition in western Illinois led to the murder of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum in June 1844, and further confrontations forced Mormon leaders to decide to abandoned Nauvoo and to migrate into the American West. This exodus began in February 1846 under the direction of Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who had assumed leadership of the Church following Joseph Smith's death.

The migration of 1846 saw the movement of some 12,000 Latter-day Saints across Iowa where they established a number of camps along their way west, such as Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah. They established temporary homes in some one hundred areas in the Missouri River Valley and would remain there until the more general exodus to the Great Basin began in 1847. It was here that about 500 men were recruited into the Mormon Battalion for service in the Mexican War then underway. It was here that the Mormons became acquainted with Thomas L. Kane, who, although a non-Mormon, became a life-long friend and defender. It was here that in 1847 Brigham Young was formally sustained as the second president of the Church. And it was here that the final plans for the westward movement of the Latter-day Saints were made.

From 1846 to 1853 the area of Kanesville (now Council Bluffs, Iowa) served as an important station for Mormon migration into the West. Here Orson Hyde published the Frontier Guardian newspaper. Throughout the area Mormons established a number of business and farms and would see several counties organized in southwest Iowa for their local government. Across the Missouri they established Winter Quarters, a community they laid out according to the Plat of Zion given by Joseph Smith in 1831. The challenges of pioneering saw many deaths (600 in Winter Quarters), as the cemetery near Winter Quarters reveals. Particularly hard hit were the children; but few families failed to lose at least one member, and some suffered numerous losses. Their faith and strong sense of community sustained them in all of these trials.

Out of these pioneer journeys the Church defined and organized itself more clearly in important ways. A comparison with the groups that did not come West reveals how profound these differences became. The key role of the Nauvoo Temple and its sacred rituals and covenant making provided the "glue" which held the Mormon community together when these pioneering trials could have torn the community fabric apart. The harshness of the experience forced the members to deepen and broaden their faith and increased their dependence on heavenly powers for survival, the pattern for which they found among the peoples of the Book of Mormon.

The centralized leadership structure, under Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, so necessary for the rigors of survival on the frontier, also was reinforced by these group experiences. The office of bishop was more fully formalized. It was during these early pioneering years that all the organizational matters dealing with emigration were established or further honed. The Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, organized in 1849, was a direct outgrowth of these activities. The actual experience of an Exodus into a wilderness planted deep in the Mormon memory their kinship to ancient Israel, a fact revealed in part by the many Old Testament place-names they gave to their residences both along the trails west as well as after they arrived in the Great Basin.

In the spring of 1847, a very selective group of Mormons traveled across the Great Plains following the Platte River, then into Wyoming and through South Pass to Ft. Bridger, then southwest into the Salt Lake Valley, arriving in July 1847. Thousands of converts followed in the months and years thereafter. By 1868 over 62,000 Latter-day Saints had made the pioneering trek to the Great Basin. Organized into some 224 companies, the majority followed the original route of the 1847 company led by Brigham Young. Thus began the pioneering phase of Latter-day Saint history, ending formally in 1869 with the coming of the transcontinental railroad.

This exhibit celebrates the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Mormon Pioneer Trek into the Salt Lake Valley. The items selected for this exhibit focus on the early years of the Mormon hegira, focusing on the historical context as well as the actual experiences of those who shared in this adventure. All the items are from the rich collection of manuscripts and printed works housed in Special Collections and Manuscripts Department of the Harold B. Lee Library.