SETTLING THE GREAT BASIN

EXPLORING THE VALLEY A group of 16 men set out to explore the areas around the Salt Lake Valley They explored the Tooele Valley, Utah Valley, and around the Point of the Mountain This is around American Fork, Provo, Orem, Pleasant Grove They described the Indians there as very peaceful They also explored up in Cache Valley around where Logan is now They also found Miles Goodyear and Fort Buenaventura

BUILDING A NEW HOME IN THE WEST The Mormons had three important tasks ahead of them: Planting crops, building homes, and exploring the valley There was an abundance of timber, but it was difficult to get and difficult to cut They also made buildings out of adobe Anyone who wasn’t helping build was digging irrigation ditches

LAYING OUT SALT LAKE CITY Brigham Young assigned Orson Pratt and H.G. Sherwood to lay out a grid system for their new city This is the same grid system that was used in Nauvoo The surveying for the city was finished by August, blocks, each having 10 acres divided into eight lots Streets were made wide enough for a wagon and team to turn around in There were also three public squares. These are now the Salt Lake City and County Building, Liberty Park, and Pioneer Park

CRICKETS VS. SEAGULLS The first spring for the Mormons in the valley was plagued by crickets The settlers tried anything they could to scare off the crickets Later in the spring flocks of seagulls flew into the area The seagulls stayed for weeks eating the crickets The seagull is now Utah’s states bird Crickets are still a problem in Tooele and Delta

FOREIGN IMMIGRANTS The 1840s and 1850s saw a spike in European immigrants These people came across the Atlantic by boat looking for work, land, and freedom Many of these immigrants were newly converted Mormons As more people made it into the Salt Lake Valley, many were sent out to start other communities

PERPETUAL EMIGRATION FUND Brigham Young wanted a way to help get all these Mormon immigrants to the Great Basin He set up the Perpetual Emigration Fund (PEF) This would help immigrants with money and supplies to get them to the Great Basin After they made it, they would work to pay off their debt The PEF also worked to get church members out of Europe to come to America In the 1850s in the British Isles there were 30,700 Mormons as compared to the 11,400 in Utah PEF agents arranged ships to get these emigrants to America and prepared them for their overland journey

UNIQUE LIFESTYLE There was really no separation between church and state in the Mormon settlements The church leaders were the leaders of the government as well Brigham Young will become the first territorial governor Communities were broken up into “wards,” and a group of wards was a “stake” Stake and ward leaders were in charge of survival and religious matters The communities were very communal, everything was shared If a family was starving or was new to an area, the community would give them food and help

PLURAL MARRIAGE The Mormons continued their practice of polygamy in the Great Basin The rest of the nation believed the practice went against morality Most Mormon men did not practice polygamy It was more common in smaller towns than in the bigger cities Brigham Young was father to 56 children by 16 wives He was also married to many other women who did not have children

FOOD AND CLOTHES Farming in the Great Basin was difficult for the first 20 years and many people went hungry Swarms of crickets, difficult weather changes When the farms didn’t produce what was needed they had to rely on indigenous pants and animals, competing with the local Indians People usually had two pairs of clothes and would wear these until they were worn out Most clothes were handmade Little girls learned how to sew at an early age

CELEBRATIONS The settlers celebrated many different things to break up the monotony of everyday tasks They would celebrate birthdays and holidays like the Fourth of July and Christmas They also celebrated Pioneer Day on July 24 Dancing and singing was common in Mormon communities Each town had a choir and a band

THE STATE OF DESERET Within a few years of living in the Great Basin, Mormon leaders met together to draw up a constitution for their new state They named it the State of Deseret Deseret is an ancient word meaning honeybee, which stood for industry The boundaries they came up with were huge! Reaching San Diego, California They also picked church leaders to top government offices, with Brigham Young being the governor They brought their constitution and petition to Washington D.C. to apply for statehood They were turned down

UTAH BECOMES A TERRITORY Slavery was still a major issue in the United States at this time The country had acquired a lot of new land after the Mexican- American War and needed to decide which areas would allow slavery and which would not California was admitted into the Union as a free state

UTAH BECOMES TERRITORY CONT. Senator Henry Clay comes up with the “Great Compromise” This said that California could come in as a free state and the rest of the West would be divided into two new territories – Utah and New Mexico The people living in these territories would get to vote whether or not they wanted to allow slavery Both territories do vote to allow slavery

UTAH BECOMES A TERRITORY CONT. Members of Congress decide to change the proposed name because “Deseret” sounded too much like “desert” They name the territory after the Ute Indian tribe The President appointed Brigham Young as territorial governor He also appointed some judges who were outsiders These judges will cause a lot of conflict and distress to the Mormons The Mormons did get to pick their legislature and well as representative in Congress Fillmore was the first capital city

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TERRITORIES AND STATES PrivilegesTerritoryState Vote for President of the USNoYes Choose local officialsPartlyYes Make local lawsPartlyYes Representatives can vote in Congress NoYes