Chapter 7 Utah Studies

  On July 27 th, just a few days after the advanced pioneer company had entered the valley, a group of sixteen men set out to explore their new home.  They explored the entrance of the Tooele Valley, Bear River and Cache Valley.  They said Cache Valley “looked beautiful from the summit of the mountain.”  At Miles Goodyear’s Fort Buenaventura the found some log buildings and corrals with animals. Exploring the Valley

Tooele Valley Bear River Valley Cache Valley Ogden, Utah (Originally Fort Buenaventura)

 Building a New Home  The three most important tasks facing the Mormon Pioneers were planting, building homes, and exploring the valley.  They found timber in the mountains, and made it into lumber to build houses.  They built a fort and put log cabins inside the fort.  Anyone not cutting timber or making adobe bricks at digging irrigation to bring water to crops.  They planted potatoes, corn and wheat.

  Brigham Young assigned Orson Pratt and H.G. Sherwood to lay out a grid pattern for a new city.  They had use this same pattern when they had developed Nauvoo, Illinois.  There were 135 blocks, each having 10 acres divided into eight lots, where homes and gardens could be made.  The streets were wide enough for a wagon and team to turn around if needed.  Four public squares were placed in different parts of the city. Laying out Salt Lake City

Temple Square City County Block Pioneer Park Liberty Park Public Squares in SLC

 Miracle of the Seagulls  The first winter was very difficult for them.  The Mormons lost all of their crops except for potatoes because they were trampled by animals.  The next spring just as their crops were starting to grow, clouds of black crickets starting eating the crops.  Some people even talked about leaving Utah and going to California as this problem got worse.  People tried to fight these crickets in many ways: with pots and pans, brooms and buckets.

  For weeks the settlers fought the crickets, but they still were eating all of their crops.  The story goes that the Mormon people prayed for a solution to the problem.  Soon Seagulls flew in and there were so many that they blocked the sun.  They would eat the crickets, go over and throw them up and then go eat more.  This game them the relief they needed to save their crops. Miracle of the Seagulls

 Gold in California  In 1848, some members of the Mormon Battalion were working at a sawmill at Sutter’s Fort, California.  One day gold was discovered in a stream by the fort.  This changed the west forever.  In 1849, over 80,000 people moved to California looking for the opportunity to become rich quick.  All of these “49ers” passed through Mormon settlements on their way to California.  Some of these 49ers brought to much or too little and the Mormons were happy to supply or buy from them.

 A Great Gathering  While the Mormons in the Salt Lake Valley were building their homes and farms, missionaries were still being sent out to convert people in North America and foreign lands.  All of these converts were encouraged to make the difficult journey to the Great Basin.  Brigham Young wanted them to come and strengthen the settlements.  He also wanted their working skills.  Remember, their were building and growing everything they needed to survive.

  During the 1840’s and 1850’s millions of immigrants entered the United states to find jobs and freedoms.  A large number of Mormons from Canada, Great Britain and Scandinavia came in this rush of immigration.  First they had to cross the ocean, then they would go by riverboat or train as far as they could go.  From there they would come by wagon train the rest of the way to the valley.  By 1857, there were 35,000 immigrants in the Salt Lake Valley. A Great Gathering

  Brigham Young wanted a way to bring more LDS members who were poor to the Salt Lake Valley.  This was done with the Perpetual Emigration Fund (PEF).  The fund was built up with contributions from members in the Valley who had benefited from trading with 49ers.  This allowed poor church members to borrow money and supplies to get to the valley.  Once, the immigrants made it to the valley, they were required to pay the loan back.  This got over 30,000 members in Great Britain to the valley. A Great Gathering

  When Brigham Young wanted to establish a new community he often “called” the people to go.  This was often done in church meetings, and was usually unexpected or unknown before it happened.  They would have to leave what they had established and start over again.  Sometimes people were chosen by their skills because a community needed a certain skill.  Sometimes people would establish their own communities without being called.  Germans, Italians, Welsh, Icelandic and Swiss converts did this. A Great Gathering

Germans came to ProvidenceItalians came to Logan Icelanders came to Spanish Fork Swiss came to Midway

  People were sent to certain places to produce certain goods.  People were sent to Cedar City to produce iron.  St. George was started to grow cotton and flax.  Sugar House was started to make sugar from sugar beets.  Other towns were started to raise large herds of cattle and sheep.  Some towns were established as missions to Indian groups.  Las Vegas, Nevada; Harmony, Utah and Lemhi, Idaho were all started this way.  In all of these communities agriculture was the main occupation. A Great Gathering

  In other areas that were settled in the west, like California and Oregon, families would settle one at a time, away from each other on large farms.  The Mormons wanted to live in towns so they could meet together often for religious instruction, recreation, safety, and so they could work together on building and farming projects.  They build their towns in the valleys where mountain streams flowed from the canyons and provided them drinking water and watered their crops and vegetable gardens.  They would live in their wagons when they first got there until they could build a permanent house. Patterns of Mormon Settlements

  As the towns grew, churches, stores, schools and better homes were made of adobe bricks, wood or stone.  The old buildings wee then used for storage or barns for animals.  Utah settlements had all of these features.  Streets were laid out on a grid pattern.  Streets were very wide.  Irrigation ditches ran beside most streets. Patterns of Mormon Settlements

  City blocks for homes and gardens were large (four acres or larger).  “Squares” in the center of towns contained parks and public buildings, such as a church house, business offices, and stores. Celebrations were often held in the public squares.  Farmlands were planted around the outside of the city. Farms were surrounded by tall trees to shelter crops from the wind. Patterns of Mormon Settlements

Salt Lake City

 A Unique Lifestyle  As part of these settlements, Mormons believed that there needed to be order in all things.  The people were divided into “wards”.  Each ward was led by a “bishop.”  These leaders were in charge of religious matters and everyday survival.  Land was given according to the needs of each family.  Bishops gave food to the poor or those who had just arrived and could not grow their own food yet.  Church leaders provided jobs for new immigrants as well.

  The Mormons practices polygamy during this time.  Mormons saw polygamy as a commandment, and a revival of something that had been done in the Old Testament.  Smaller towns tended to have to have more families living in polygamy.  Most men seldom married more than two or three women.  Brigham Young and other leaders married more often. A Unique Lifestyle

  During the first twenty years people were hungry much of the time.  Crops were still destroyed by grasshoppers, and unpredictable temperatures ruined crops too.  They had to kill animals or eat things like roots or thistles when they could not grow enough food.  They wore their clothes until they were to worn to be of any use.  Then part of the fabric was made into quilts. A Unique Lifestyle

  Within a few years of coming to Utah, LDS Church leaders held a convention and wrote a constitution to set up the State of Deseret.  They chose the name because in an ancient language deseret meant honeybee, which stood for industry.  The boundaries of the proposed state were large, and even included part of the Pacific Coast.  They petitioned the U.S. Government to become a state and were turned down. The State of Deseret

  After the United States gained land including Utah when they won the War with Mexico it created some problems.  Leaders of our country wanted a balance between slave and free states in our country.  With all of this new land, there would be more free states than slave states.  As part of a compromise Utah was allowed to become a territory, and choose whether they wanted slavery or not. Utah becomes a territory

Utah Territory in 1851

 Handcart Companies  During the first ten years of settling the Great Basin Mormon immigrants came to Utah using wagon trains supplied by the Perpetual Emigration Fund.  After the gold rush ended in California there was not as much money in the fund, so Mormon leaders had to figure out a lower cost way to get members of the church to Utah.  Brigham Young came up with a handcart system, where pioneers would walk and carry their supplies in a handcart they would pull.

  This handcart system was mainly used to help poor immigrants who had been converted to the Mormon Church.  Most of these people had lived in cities and been factory workers.  They had never been in open territory like the trail, and did not have any of the skills that they needed to survive on the trail.  They would need to learn all of that. Handcart Companies

 Martin & Willie Companies  The first four companies left in 1846, and made great time, with almost no deaths, and arrived in Utah in great shape.  Almost all of the Martin and Willie companies were made up of immigrants from Scandinavia and England.  They had many delays in their journey, including not having enough wood to build handcarts.  They did not leave Iowa City until August.

  Franklin Richards, a Mormon apostle rode rapidly ahead to warn leaders in Salt Lake City that more immigrants were coming.  Leaders in Salt Lake thought that there were no more handcart companies coming in  The late start would lead to a disaster with the Martin and Willie companies.  When the handcarts reached Wyoming in November, they were caught in mountain snowstorms. Martin & Willie Companies

  When the rescuers from Salt Lake City found them, people were in tents buried in snow, suffering from starvation, along with having frozen feet and fingers.  280 of the 980 members of the companies had already died by the time rescuers came.  Many more died before they reached the Salt Lake Valley.  The rescuers were very heroic in their attempts, particularly at the Sweetwater River. Martin and Willie Companies

 This tragedy took place on the high plains of Wyoming

The Martin and Willie Handcart Companies experience was a tragedy, but the rescuers were definitely heroic.