Brigham Young: Incidents of the Pioneer Journey
For three months and seventeen days, this company of sturdy pioneers kept on their westward course. They followed the Platte River for hundreds of miles, passing along its north bank.…
From: 1846 C.E. To: 1847 C.E.
Location: Nauvoo, Illinois, United States of America; Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From The Life of Brigham Young by Edward H. Anderson, 1893.
For three months and seventeen days, this company of sturdy pioneers kept on their westward course. They followed the Platte River for hundreds of miles, passing along its north bank. President Young and his band preferred the north side of the river, notwithstanding they were compelled to break a new road, because they and the Saints who should follow them would thus escape coming in contact with the quarrelsome Missourians, their old time enemies, many companies of whom, on their way west, were passing on the south side, which was the regular route, and upon which grass was more plentiful and the Indians less troublesome. The way thus pioneered was traversed by thousands who followed them to the valleys of the mountains, and for years was known as the "Old Mormon Road." The engines of the Union Pacific now thunder along the course of the river, through the fruitful fields of Nebraska, on a grade which covers this old "trail" for several hundred miles.
On April 21st, the pioneers were visited by a band of Pawnee Indians, who were very pressing in their demands for presents. The camp doled out to them of its scanty store, but could not satiate their desire for more. The Indians rode away unsatisfied, and the pioneers passed the cold and stormy night with some apprehensions of an attack. The old cannon was made ready for use and placed in position on the outside of the camp, in case of assault, but the morning found the camp in the enjoyment of peace. It was during this night that some of the guards, weary with the previous day's march, fell asleep at their posts, awakening to find their guns and head-coverings taken away by their sportive companions. Their chagrin was their only reproof.
Loup Fork, a treacherous tributary of the Platte, was crossed with much difficulty. A leather boat, the "Revenue Cutter," brought as a wagon box from Winter Quarters, was used at this crossing. Rafts, also, were constructed to carry the loaded wagons over the treacherous beds of quicksand.
Whitney relates an incident occurring just prior to their crossing this river, which illustrates the fair and honest nature of President Young, as well as his eager desire to have no act committed that would in any way expose the pioneers to the suspicion of the government:— "Some of the pioneers had picked up a few plowshares and other pieces of iron lying around the site of a government station which had recently been burned to the ground during an incursion of the hostile Sioux. President Young would not permit this appropriation of property except upon the score of the government's indebtedness to James Case, one of the company, who had been employed as an Indian farmer. Those who took the iron were required to settle for it with Father Case, who was in turn directed to report to the proper authorities the amount he had thus collected on account. "
Reaching Grand Island about the first of May, the pioneers engaged in a buffalo hunt. In those days the prairies swarmed with these now almost extinct animals, and as many as fifty thousand had been seen in a day. The chase resulted in the killing of one bull, three cows and six calves, which were brought in wagons into camp, and the meat was distributed equally among the companies. At that time it was customary for travelers to kill game without restraint. It was not unusual to see acres "of ground covered with carcasses, wool and other remains of the slaughter.
After the chase, President Young took occasion to instruct his men not to kill uselessly. Said he: "If we slay when we have no need, we will need when we cannot slay." This was in keeping with his views on economy, and his ideas of utility. Every created thing, in his eyes, had a mission to perform. It was a sin to divert anything from its termination of usefulness, from its profitableness to some valuable end.
In a sermon, he said on one occasion: "If a man is worth millions of bushels of wheat and corn, he is not wealthy enough to suffer his servant girl to sweep a single kernel of it into the hre; let it be eaten by something, and pass again into the earth, and thus fulfill the purpose for which it grew. "
Continuing, the pioneers reached a place on the 21st of May, where they erected a guide-board, 409 miles from Winter Quarters, and according to Fremont 132 miles from Laramie. Such marks were frequently erected to guide future emigrations. General Young went daily with his staff of men marking out the route. The distance was measured with an original road meter, invented by Wm. Clayton.
The first half of the great journey was completed about June 1st, when they arrived opposite Fort Laramie, the chief trading post on the overland route—543 miles from Winter Quarters. Here they were reinforced by a company of the invalid detachments of the Mormon Battalion, and by some Saints from Mississippi, which increased their numbers to two-hundred and sixty-five. Four men, with Apostle Amasa M. Lyman as leader, were selected to go to Pueblo, to bring the main body of the Mississippi Saints to Laramie, then over the mountains in the pioneer trail. President Young and several of the Apostles crossed over the river to the Fort to confer with the authorities.
They were kindly received, hired a boat for $15 to help them in crossing the river, and learned from the principal man of the place—James Bordeaux—that the old Mormon enemy, ex-Governor Boggs, of Missouri, had passed that way some days before. He had warned Bordeaux to look well after his animals when the Mormons came along. The gentleman was not greatly prejudiced, however, for he said that no company could be worse than Boggs'. He afterward remarked that the Mormons were the best behaved company that had come that way.
After crossing the river, a few days were consumed in repairing wagons, etc., and on the 4th day of June the journey was resumed. Two companies of Missourians, continually quarrelling, overtook and passed the pioneers. Speaking about their contentions. President Young uttered a prophecy when he said: "They curse, swear rip and tear, and are trying to swallow up the earth; but though they do not wish us to have a place on it the earth might as well open and swallow them up; for they will go to the land of forgetfulness, while the Saints though they suffer some privations here, if faithful will ultimately inherit the earth, and increase in power, dominion and glory." Today it would not be known that they ever crossed the plains, only for the records of the Mormons; and but for the mention of his name in the annals of the Saints Governor Boggs would be forgotten.
Beyond the Black Hills the pioneers again crossed to the north side of the river, consuming a week in so doing. President Young had sent previously a detachment of men ahead with the Revenue Cutter to help other companies over, and this work was progressing when the main body reached the ferry. For their services, the ferrymen received from the Missourians $1.50 for each wagon and load, taking flour in pay at Missouri prices. Thus were the Mormon pioneers in an unexpected manner and at a time when they were most in need, given bread by their old enemies. "It looked," says President Wilford Woodruff, "as much of a miracle to me to see our flour and meal bags replenished in the Black Hills as it did to have the children of Israel fed with manna in the wilderness." President Young considered this a fit place to establish a permanent ferry for the benefit of those who should come after, and so he detailed nine men to stay for this purpose, instructing them to divide their earnings among the needy in the next company, to be careful of the lives of those who were to be ferried over, to attend to their prayers, and to come with the next company of Saints from Winter Quarters.
On the 19th of June the journey' was continued, and on the 26th South Pass was reached, where began the western descent of the Rockies. A short distance west from this place they met the scout and trapper, Major Moses Harris, from whom they gained some information, not at all encouraging, of the valley of the Great Salt Lake. As a place of settlement, he rather favored Cache Valley, (so called by trappers who cached their furs from the Indians in this region,) as it was a "fine place for wintering cattle." On the 28th they arrived at Little Sandy, where they met Colonel James Bridger, who furnished additional information concerning the valley of the Great Salt Lake. His account was even less encouraging than the accounts already received. He thought it unwise to bring a large colony into the Great Basin until it could be proven whether grain would grow there or not; and he it was who offered to give a thousand dollars for the first ear of corn ripened, or for the first bushel of wheat produced in the Salt Lake Valley.
Reaching Green River on the 30th of June, the pioneers were met by Elder Brannan, who had crossed the snow-covered Sierras from his colony of Saints in California. He informed President Young that they had reached the Bay of San Francisco July 31st, the year previous, and were now settled on the San Joaquin River. He tried to induce the President to join his company, but neither the adverse reports of the mountaineers, nor Brannan's flattering description of the riches of the California coast, could change the determination of President Young to settle in the divinely appointed resting place of the Saints, in the midst of the mountains, on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. To the natural man this did not appear to be the wisest course, but Brigham Young saw with the eyes of inspiration, and the wisdom of his decision was revealed in after years.
After crossing Green River the pioneers sacredly observed the "Glorious Fourth," it being Sunday, and continuing reached Fort Bridger on the 7th of July, where preparations were made for the rough mountain journey before them. Leaving Fort Bridger on the 9th, they met Miles Goodyear, another mountaineer, near Bear River. His report of the valley was no more favorable than the others previously received.
On the 13th President Young was stricken with mountain fever, and fell behind the company. The next day Orson Pratt was instructed to organize a picked company to precede the pioneers. They were to select a trail over the mountains to Great Salt Lake, since it had been learned that the route through Weber Canyon was impassable owing to high waters. They proceeded down the Weber, and turning followed an old almost imperceptible trail toward East Canyon. With much labor they passed up that gorge for several miles, then turned west up a ravine until they reached Big Mountain, from the summit of which, on the 19th of July, Orson Pratt and John Brown, first of all the pioneers, saw a glimpse of the Great Salt Lake Valley. Messengers kept the rear companies informed of the movements of the vanguard, and the latter were notified that it was the impression of President Young to have Pratt's company bear to the north, upon emerging from the mountains, and stop at the first place suitable for putting in crops. These instructions were followed, and resulted in the selection of the site of the present Salt Lake City.
The pioneers now traveled in three detachments. On the 23rd President Young reached the Big Mountain summit, from which, reclining in Apostle Woodruff's carriage, he caught a first glimpse of the visible portions of the valley. What a picture! What sentiments filled the heart oi the Founder of Utah, as he gazed, full of earnest thoughts, on the scene before him. A resting place at last. Awakening from his reverie, he burst forth: "Enough. This is the right place. Drive on."
That day a messenger from the advance camps brought the news that the valley had been explored as far as possible, and that the choice of a spot for putting in crops had been made.
The next day—Pioneer Day, July 24th—President Young entered into the valley. Apostle Wilford Woodruff gives the following account of the entrance, and of the prophetic visions of their minds which he—among the last on earth of all that noble train—has lived to see fulfilled:
"July 24th.—This is one of the most important days of my life and in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After traveling six miles through a deep ravine ending with the canyon we came in full view of the valley of the Great Salt Lake the land of promise held in reserve by God as a resting place for his Saints. We gazed in wonder and admiration upon the vast valley before us, with the waters of the Great Salt Lake glistening in the sun, mountains towering to the skies, and streams of pure water running through the beautiful valley. It was the grandest view that we had ever seen till this moment. Pleasant thoughts ran through our minds at the prospect that, not many years hence, the house of God would be established in the mountains and exalted above the hills, while the valleys would be converted into orchards, vineyards, and fruitful fields, cities erected to the name of the Lord, and the standard of Zion unfurled for the gathering of the nations. President Young expressed his entire satisfaction at the appearance of the valley as a resting place for the Saints and felt amply repaid for his journey. While lying upon his bed, in my carriage, gazing upon the scene before us, many things of the future, concerning the valley, were shown to him in vision. "
Anderson, Edward H. The Life of Brigham Young. Geo. Q. Cannon & Sons Co., 1893.
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