Battalion
leaves San Diego‑‑2; Battalion arrives at San Luis Rey‑‑5;
Map of Council Bluffs Area--7; "Silver Gray Picnic" held--10;
Luman Shurtliff starts relief mission--15; Brigham Young family meeting--26;
John Tippets and Thomas Woolsey return from Pueblo--27; Brigham Young's vision
of Joseph Smith--30; Donner Party rescued--35; Heavy snow in Winter
Quarters--37;
Battalion
leaves San Luis Rey--71; Winter Quarters mill put into operation--72; Plans for
pioneer company established--75; Battalion arrives at Los Angeles--78; Addison
Pratt leaves Society Islands--84; First Pioneers leave Winter Quarters--87;
Summer Quarters site selected--88;
Three
sisters allowed to go with the pioneers--93; General Conference held--99;
Summer Quarters surveyed--100; The Twelve start pioneer journey--101; Map of
Pioneer Trail from Nauvoo to Salt Lake Valley--104; Elkhorn River--109;
Platte River--114; Twelve return to Winter Quarters--114; Twelve again leave
Winter Quarters--118; Pioneer company organized--121; List of pioneer
company--123; Roadometer idea conceived--132; "Revenue Cutter"
used to catch fish--132; Pawnee Indian Village--138; Pawnee Missionary
Station--141; Loup Fork Crossing--148; Horses stolen by Indians--155; Samuel
Brannan leaves Sutter's Fort--157; First buffalo sighted--160; Grand
Island--160; First buffalo hunt--166;
Pioneers
meet Charles Beaumont--174; Burned prairie--178; William Clayton counts wheel
revolutions--183; Battalion patrol battles, kills Indians--187; Roadometer put
into operation--192; Kearny detachment of battalion leaves Los Angeles--195;
Cedar Bluffs--203; Ash Hollow--207; Chimney Rock spotted--210; Ancient Ruins
Bluff--211; Courthouse Rock--218; Chimney Rock--222; Scotts Bluff--224; Brigham
Young calls camp to repentance--225;
Pioneers
meet Mississippi Saints--234; Fort Laramie--237; Mississippi Saints join
pioneer company--242; Black Hills--249; Deer Creek--255; North Platte ferry
crossing--261; Big Company of pioneers organized at the Elkhorn River--273; Big
Company leaves Elkhorn River--277; Lists of Big Company of pioneers--278;
Pioneers left behind to operate ferry--282; Brigham Young arrives in the Salt
Lake Valley--388; Jacob Weatherby shot by Indians--292; Independence Rock--
298; Devil's Gate--299; Battalion members bury Donner‑Reed bones--305;
Addison Pratt arrives at New Hope--306; Ice Springs--309; Snowball fights--315;
South Pass--316; Pioneers meet Moses Harris--318; Pioneers meet Jim
Bridger--321; Big Company at Pawnee Mission--323; Big Sandy River--324;
Battalion reenlistment effort--325; Green River--327; Pioneers meet Samuel
Brannan--327; Mountain fever strikes pioneers--328;
Pioneers
chosen to guide Big Company--331; Pioneers meet advance guard of Mormon
Battalion--333; Ham's Fork--337; Black's Fork--339; Fort Bridger--341; Second
pioneer company begins leaving Winter Quarters--244; Muddy Fork--346; Company B
leaves San Diego--347; Pioneers meet Miles Goodyear--348; Bear River--352; Echo
Canyon--354; Map of pioneer trail in Utah--355; Hogsback Summit--361;
Company B arrives in Los Angeles--361; Mormon Battalion discharged--364; Big
Mountain--372; Emigration Canyon--375; Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow enter Salt
Lake Valley--375; Battalion leaves Los Angeles--377; Main company of pioneers
enter Salt Lake Valley--380; Orson Pratt offers prayer of dedication in the
valley--383; First ground plowed--384; Brigham Young views valley on Big
Mountain--385; Brigham Young arrives in the Salt Lake Valley--388; City Creek
dammed for irrigation--389; First Sabbath in the valley--392; Brigham Young
chooses location for temple--396; Brethren climb Ensign Peak--397; Hot
Springs--398; Expedition to Oquirrh mountains--401; Plan for city blocks--404;
Pueblo Company of Mormon Battalion and Mississippi Saints enter valley--408; Lists
of Mississippi Saints and Pueblo Mormon Battalion detachment--409;
As this
third and concluding volume was written, a great celebration took place all over the world to recognize the
sesquicentennial anniversary (150 years) of the arrival of the pioneers into
the Salt Lake Valley of Utah. A modern
reenactment of the pioneer trek from Winter Quarters to the Salt Lake Valley
received international attention.
In October
1995, I started to write daily articles that looked back 150 years ago from the
day. I shared these articles with
several friends on the computer internet.
I thought that I would only write these articles for a week or two, but
the series lasted for 648 consecutive days.
In
February, 1996, I joined forces with David Kenison of Orem, Utah, to establish
an internet electronic mail (e-mail) distribution list which we named
LDS-Gems. I continued to distribute
these daily articles to subscribers of this free service. LDS-Gems started with about 100 subscribers,
and has exploded to more than 10,000 subscribers as of September, 1997.
Over the
months, I received frequent requests to compile the LDS-Gems articles into a
book that could be kept and shared with others. In December, 1996, I published the first volume of this LDS-Gems
Pioneer Trek Series, Saints in Exile.
Four months later, the second volume, Saints in the Wilderness
was released. Finally, just six months
later, this third volume, Saints Find the Place is published completing
this historic journey to the Great Salt Lake Valley.
There are
many people to thank for making this third volume possible. First to thank again is my wife Linda, who
is very grateful that the Saints finally found the “right place.” David Kenison pushed me on, to the end of
the journey. Chris Grant, of the
Brigham Young University Math Department, made numerous trips for me to the
Harold B. Lee Library on campus, which houses a wonderful collection of pioneer
sources. My sister, Michelle Call, made
trips to the Utah Historical Society. I
thank several individuals who volunteered their time and effort to help proof
and edit this volume. A very special
thanks goes to Dr. Lon Pearson, of the department of Modern Languages, at
University of Nebraska at Kearney, in Nebraska. He spent many hours helping me to clean up the text and offered
insights into the trail through Nebraska.
Dr. Pearson also arranged to have the first two volumes of this series, Saints
In Exile, and Saints in the Wilderness, ride along with the
modern-day pioneer wagon train that arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, on July
22, 1997. Others who helped with the editing
were: My sister, Elizabeth Crockett Ball, of Sunnyvale, California, and Howard
C. Bybee of Brigham Young University.
Again, last, but not least, I thank the many faithful readers on
LDS-Gems who have sent letters and kind notes of appreciation. You have all made this publication possible.
For those
of you who just cannot get enough of this series, you will be pleased to learn
that a week-by-week continuation of this history can be read on the internet
at: http://www.indirect.com/www/crockett/today.html
Volume
one, Saints In Exile, presented the tragic expulsion of the Saints from
their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois during the winter months of 1845-46. Thousands of Saints left behind their unsold
homes, the beautiful temple, and were exiled across the Mississippi River into
Iowa. Saints in Exile followed
the laborious trek of the main Camp of Israel across the Iowa prairies. Near the end of the first volume, the Camp
of Israel reached the Council Bluffs area at the Missouri River.
At the
close of Saints In Exile, the Lord opened up a way for the Saints to
better survive the winter months in the wilderness. Captain James Allen, of the U.S. Army, arrived at Council Bluffs
to enlist a Mormon Battalion of five hundred men.
Volume
two, Saints in the Wilderness presented the historic march of the Mormon
Battalion from Council Bluffs to San Diego California. Saints in the Wilderness also
followed the day-by-day struggles of the Saints as they built up Winter
Quarters and passed through the trials of sickness and death. Saints in the Wilderness related the
tragic last days of Nauvoo as it fell to the mob. Hundreds of Saints struggled across Iowa to make their way to
their winter home on the banks of the Missouri River.
As this
third volume opens, the Church is led by Brigham Young and the other members of
the Twelve consisting of Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, Orson
Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Willard Richards, Lyman
Wight (away in Texas), and Amasa M. Lyman, and Ezra T. Benson.
Saints
Find The Place presents the historic trek of the 1847 pioneers. After months of preparation, an advance
company of 148 pioneers rolled out of Winter Quarters, to find a resting place
for the Saints. Several books have been
published in the past describing this historic pioneer journey. Saints Find The Place is unique from
them all, in that it follows the trek of the more than 2,000 Saints who arrived
in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.
The
historic 111-day pioneer trek often overshadows the faithful journey made by
hundreds of other Saints, including large numbers of women and children, that
also made their journey across the plains during the summer of 1847. Others also arrived who are usually
forgotten in this important history.
When Brigham Young’s company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 22,
1847, it included Saints from Mississippi and some soldiers from the Mormon
Battalion. Within a week, about 240
additional Mississippi Saints and members of the battalion triumphantly entered
the valley. This group of Saints
included dozens of women and children who had spent the previous winter in
Pueblo, Colorado. Saints Find The
Place follows their journey.
Saints
Find The Place also presents the day-by-day events of the Mormon
Battalion, stationed in California, as they wait out the lonely days, looking
forward to their release. Private
Robert S. Bliss captured their feelings in verse:
A few days
more & we shall go
To see our
Wives & Children too
And friends
so dear we’ve left below
To save the
Church from Overthrow.
Our absence
from them has been long
But Oh the
time will soon be gone
When we
shall meet once more on Earth
And praise
the God that gave us Birth.
Thousands
of Saints were left behind on the shores of the Missouri River and in
settlements across Iowa. Saints Find
The Place shares their story, as they planted crops and cultivated farms to
produce food for the long cold months ahead.
Mary Richards wrote about Winter Quarters during this time: “We gazed
with delight upon our city of 8 months growth its beauty full gardens and
extensive fields clothed with the fast growing corn and vegetables of every
description above all things pleasing to the eyes of an Exile in the Wilderness
of our afflictions.”
William
Clayton, a member of the vanguard pioneer company, penned lines of faith during the previous years’
journey through Iowa, that reflected the hopes of thousands of Saints looking
forward to finding a place of peace and rest.
We'll find
the place which God for us prepared,
Far away in
the West;
Where none
shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the
Saints will be blessed.
We'll make
the air with music ring
Shout
praises to our God and King;
Above the
rest these words we'll tell
All is
well! All is well!
Saints
Find The Place concludes as this place is found. When Thomas Bullock
entered the valley, he could not help but shout, "Harrah, hurrah, hurrah,
here's my home at last."
Patty
Sessions recorded her feelings on her arrival in 1847: "My heart flows with gratitude to God
that we have got home all safe, lost nothing, have been blessed with life and
health. I rejoice all the
time."
Jesse W.
Crosby words resound the joyful feelings shared at the end of a long
journey: "I was led to exclaim
when first viewing this beautiful space, hemmed in with lofty mountains: Behold a resting place prepared and had in
reserve for the Saints.'"