Mormon pioneers
As Mormon pioneers , or Mormon pioneers members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called, who were involved in the 19th century on the reclamation of the area in the Rocky Mountains, now the heartland of the State of Utah is. The Mormon pioneer era began with the move from Nauvoo , Illinois in February 1846 and ended with the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
The Mormon Pioneer Route was designated as a Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail in 1978 under the National Trails System . The National Park Service coordinates the signage and maintenance of places that preserve the memory of the train. To commemorate the arrival of the first Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, July 24 is an official holiday in the state of Utah known as Pioneer Day .
Background to the migration
Since its formation in 1830, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have often been treated harshly, primarily because of their religious beliefs. There was violence against the Church, its members, and its Prophet Joseph Smith . This, among other things, caused the Church to move from one place to the next - Ohio , Missouri, and Illinois , where church members built the city of Nauvoo. Missouri's Governor Lilburn Boggs issued an extermination order ( Missouri Executive Order 44 ) against all Mormons living in that state. In 1844, Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob while in detention in Carthage, Illinois. His successor, Brigham Young therefore decided to move the headquarters of the Church again and to move to the inhospitable, not yet white-populated area in the Rocky Mountains, which at that time still belonged to Mexico. The persecutions flared up again with increasing violence and forced the departure from Nauvoo, planned for late spring 1846, in extremely cold February.
According to the faith of the Church, God revealed to the second President of the Church, Brigham Young , the call to the saints (as members of the Church call themselves) to go west, beyond the western border of the United States . During the winter of 1846–47, Mormon leaders in Winter Quarters and Iowa planned the migration of large numbers of Mormons, their equipment, and livestock. This major task was a significant test for the church leadership and the recently established administrative network of the church. Brigham Young is often referred to as the "American Moses" for his role in migration.
The train to the Rocky Mountains
Advance section of the year 1847
Brigham Young organized in the spring of 1847 from Winterquartes, the makeshift settlement on the Missouri, Iowa, on the way to the Rocky Mountains, an advance department to open up the way to the west into the Rocky Mountains and to explore the conditions such as water and Indian tribes . The advance department should choose the original path and pave the way with the expectation that other departments would follow. It was hoped that whenever possible the group could set up fords and ferries and plant crops for later harvest. In late February, plans were made to collect portable boats, scientific instruments, farm tools, and seeds. Irrigation techniques were studied. A new route on the north side of the Platte River was chosen to avoid encounters with travelers walking the existing Oregon Trail on the south side. In view of the great need of the great multitude of Saints traveling west, church leaders decided to avoid possible arguments over grazing rights, access to water, and camping.
In July 1847, the advance division reached the Salt Lake Valley, with division heads Erastus Snow and Orson Pratt entering the valley on July 21.
The Brooklyn Ship
In November 1845, Samuel Brannan , editor and publisher of the small newspaper The Prophet , was called upon by church leaders to charter a ship that would bring its passengers from the eastern United States to California. Over two months, Brannan managed to recruit 70 men, 68 women and 100 children, a total of 238 people. Brannan negotiated a price of $ 75 for adults and half for children with captain and shipowner Abel W. Richardson. On February 4, 1846 (the same day as the Mormon Exodus from Nauvoo), the Brooklyn left New York Harbor for her six-month voyage to the Pacific coast of California . The journey should be the longest made by any Mormon enterprise. The Brooklyn ship sailed from Brooklyn Harbor, New York, south across the Atlantic Equator to Cape Horn and stopped at the Juan Fernandez Islands, then to the Sandwich Islands ( Hawaii ) and finally at Yerba Buena ( San Francisco ) on May 29 July 1846, after five months and twenty-seven days at sea. The dangerous journey cost the lives of ten passengers, nine of whom were buried at sea.
After arriving in California, Brannan moved to the Greenriver to meet Brigham Young and tried to convince him to move on to California with all Mormon settlers, but the latter refused. Some of the passengers on the Brooklyn stayed in California, some responded to Brigham Young's call to gather at the Great Salt Lake and moved through Nevada to Utah.
The Mormon Battalion
While the Saints were traveling in Iowa, they received a call from the US federal government to provide 500 men for the war with Mexico . This was an opportunity to demonstrate loyalty to the United States and also to get much-needed money for the train to the Rocky Mountains. Wages and clothing for the men of the Mormon battalion (who were not given a uniform) were an essential part of the financial support to get equipment and food for the train. In addition, the 500 men were fed by the US government. They moved on a southern route to San Diego, where they were signed off and, for the most part, after they had still earned money through various jobs in California, traveled to their families, who had since arrived in Utah. The Mormon Battalion was not involved in acts of war, but completed the longest infantry march in American history.
Missionary work in the East and in Europe
Through constant missionary work, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gained new followers in the eastern United States and Europe. They were advised to unite with their fellow believers in the Rocky Mountains. As early as February 1, 1848, Orson Spencer, President of the European Mission, issued instructions:
- "The channel of Saints' emigration to the land of Zion is now open. The long looked for time for gathering has come.... The resting place for Israel for the last days has been discovered.... Let all who can gather up their effects, and set their faces as a flint to go Zionward in due time and order .... It is now designed to fit out a ship's company of emigrants as soon as practicable. The first company this winter ought to be embarked from Liverpool, as early as the 9th of February. The presidents of conferences are requested to forward to us the number of those who are prepared to emigrate by the 9th of February, and also the number that will be ready by the 23rd of February. "
- (The way is now open for the emigration of saints to the land of Zion. The long-awaited time of gathering has now come .... The resting place for Israel for the last days has been discovered ... Let all who can, their wealth gather and make their face like a pebble and go towards Zion at the right time in the right order ... It is now planned to equip a group of emigrants as early as possible, the first group to embark in Liverpool on February 9th. The Presidents of the Conferences are asked to tell us the number of those who are prepared to emigrate by February 9th and the number of those who are ready by February 23rd.)
The immigrants, especially those from Europe, provided the new country with much-needed skills, as the converts were to a large extent artisans and industrial workers. The number of converts was particularly large in Scandinavia, Switzerland and Germany, and above all in Great Britain. Therefore, in addition to Americans, these peoples made up a significant part of the pioneers in Utah.
Organized train west
Immigration to Utah was already planned with foresight and long-term from the advance department under the direction of Brigham Young. Along the way, farms were set up that produced food for the following groups, ferries were built and operated, which on the one hand made it easier for the followers to cross rivers and on the other hand brought in urgently needed money from other travelers by charging ferry fees. Where necessary, the path was also expanded, for example by removing obstructive rocks in the mountains. With regard to the many who followed, the advance department also kept precise records of path lengths, pastures, water points, special waymarks and dangers.
In Europe, emigrants were looked after by missionaries who organized trips together for larger groups. An observation by Charles Dickens , who visited the emigrant ship "Amazon" as a reporter, illustrates the situation. After he has precisely described the overall impression and some scenes, he summarizes his impression:
- What awaits the poor people on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, I do not know what blissful delusions they are now indulging in, from what miserable blindness their eyes will then be opened, I do not pretend to be able to say. But I went on board their ship to testify against them, if they deserved it, which I fully believed was the case. To my great amazement, they did not deserve it, and my attitudes and inclinations must not influence me as an honest witness. I strode across the deck of the Amazon, unable to deny that any notable influence so far has produced a remarkable result that better known influences are often lacking.
The handcart pioneers
In order to make it possible to emigrate to Utah with less funds, numerous pioneers set out from 1856 to 1860 with minimal equipment stowed on handcarts instead of covered wagons pulled by oxen or horses, with the men pulling the wagons.
Today they are exemplified in Latter-day Saints' Church of Jesus Christ of sacrifice and strength of faith. Two groups got into particularly bad trouble because they had started their journey too late in the year and were caught by a violent onset of winter early on. Despite rapid rescue operations from Salt Lake City, deaths from exhaustion, hunger and cold resulted in numerous deaths.
The permanent emigration fund
In order to enable low-income converts to emigrate to Utah, Brigham Young created the Perpetual Emigration Fund in 1849, which was fed partly from church funds and partly from donations. Low-interest loans were granted from this fund to finance travel expenses and equipment costs. The immigrants were supposed to repay that money in cash, goods, or labor after they established themselves in Utah. Since money was always tight, applicants were ranked according to their professional skills and length of membership.
In total, around 30,000 immigrants were supported by the fund. In the course of the enforcement of the anti-polygamy laws, the fund was dissolved by the state in 1887 and the assets confiscated.
The settlement and cultivation of the Rocky Mountains
The Salt Lake Valley in the southeast of the eponymous Great Salt Lake , which Brigham Young - as he said at the behest of God - had chosen as a settlement area, was very inhospitable. The few who knew the area did not give the Mormons a chance because there would be frosts even in summer. However, there was plenty of water, fed by the snowfall in the Wasatch Mountains. This water was to be used. The Mormon pioneers became the first Anglo-Saxons to practice arable farming with artificial irrigation. Some had copied the methods used by Indians and Mexicans when they were with the Mormon battalion.
The forested mountains also provided plenty of timber and firewood. However, the first winter should be extremely difficult. The supplies that we had brought with us had melted down considerably, and finally the first had only arrived in July. A great harvest could no longer be expected. The log cabins hastily built from logs were cramped and food was very scarce. The pioneers had to resort to sparse wild vegetables and huntable animals in order at least not to starve to death.
Establishing settlements
Almost the first urban planning act, Brigham Young marked out the site on which a new temple was to be built. From there, Salt Lake City was measured in squares made up of streets of generous width. The plan for the city of Zion that Joseph Smith had drawn up and carried out in Nauvoo was followed. This was done in all settlements. For this reason, the streets in the metropolis of Salt Lake City are still of sufficient width for traffic, in small towns that have not developed further but are unnecessarily wide.
Brigham Young not only founded Salt Lake City, but also expanded the settlement area more and more as planned, with the next settlement being founded every day's journey by horse-drawn carriage. Missionaries were called to found the settlement and were given the task of giving up their previous home that they had developed themselves and, together with other families who had been called to do so, to build a settlement with appropriate agricultural land and irrigation systems on the new site. The development of ever larger areas was necessary mainly because of the constant influx of new converts.
The California gold rush
For the Mormon pioneers, the California gold rush was a godsend. In 1848, a year after Salt Lake City was founded, prospectors began pouring into California through the new settlement. The Mormons exchanged their exhausted draft and pack animals for new ones, restored the animals and sold them to other prospectors. They sold them fresh vegetables from their own cultivation in exchange for flour , bacon , beans and various items of equipment. The gold rush in California was therefore an important source of money and survival aid for Utah in the first few years.
The Utah War
The Utah War brought expansion to an end in 1857. Settlements that were far away, such as San Bernardino in California and Las Vegas in Nevada, which the Mormon pioneers founded, were abandoned and settlers concentrated roughly in what is now Utah. The stationing of US military in the neighborhood of Salt Lake City marked the end of the Utah war and at the same time the end of the isolation of the Mormons, who did not like having to live with "infidels" in the neighborhood, especially with soldiers from which they did not expect a moral standard that was acceptable to them. The influx of new converts to Utah continued unabated.
Agriculture
When the pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, there were no trees there . In the desert-like areas, almost nothing but sage bushes grew. Only the streams that were fed by snow water from the mountains had more vegetation. The first attempt to plow the dusty, dry, hard ground ended with the plow breaking. Artificial irrigation was necessary. The pioneers developed a water law that is unique in the USA , so that everyone could enjoy the vital water and the burden of building and maintaining the irrigation systems (dams for water storage and irrigation ditches ) was distributed as fairly as possible among all. It was possible to grow all common crops such as wheat , corn , barley , potatoes , etc. in the area around what would later become Salt Lake City . In addition, orchards were planted and vegetable gardens created.
The year 1848 was an agricultural disaster. Crickets multiplied unchecked and threatened to destroy the entire, urgently needed grain harvest, which had already been decimated by frost breaks. They were fought desperately, but there were too many. Suddenly rescue was approaching in the form of seagulls, who invaded in great flocks from Salt Lake, devoured the crickets and thus saved the settlers from famine . A memorial was therefore erected to the seagulls on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
The keeping of grazing cattle and dairy farming was mainly concentrated in the Heber Valley, a side valley, and was mainly handled by pioneers from Switzerland. In 1850 Brigham Young sent families to the Utah Valley, south of the Salt Lake Valley , around Utah Lake , with the task of colonizing this valley as well. The bank between the Wasatch Mountains and the lake was particularly suitable for growing fruit, while the areas to the north and south-east of the lake became Utah's most important growing area for sugar beet.
In later years, and after establishing settlements across Utah, Church leaders also initiated agricultural experiments. For example, sericulture was attempted in the south , but it was not particularly successful. Sugar beets were grown around Salt Lake City so that the coveted sugar would not have to be imported from the east at great expense. It was always about becoming as independent as possible and producing everything in one's own region as far as possible. Indigo and cotton were also grown on an experimental basis.
trade
In order to reduce the dependence on outside traders and to achieve better prices, a trading cooperative was founded in 1868, the Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution, which acted both as a supplier for required goods from outside and as a buyer for regional products.
Mining and industry
At first, efforts concentrated on founding industries close to agriculture: sawmills, tanneries and leather processors as well as grain mills formed the beginning. Soon ore was mined and iron extracted in southern Iron County, but the quality was not very high. In France, a complete sugar factory was bought, which has given a district of Salt Lake City the name Sugarhouse to this day. However, there was a mistake in the compilation of the equipment, which had to be brought to the Rocky Mountains in a covered wagon. This is why granulated sugar was never produced, only sugar syrup. The mountains of Utah are rich in various ores. The soon started silver mining attracted a number of "unbelievers".
culture and education
Unlike in other societies on the edge of civilization, the Mormon pioneers made sure to convey and enjoy culture and education. There were even dancing events during the midwestern train. Schools and a theater were soon established, and secondary schools soon followed. The pioneers even designed their own alphabet, the Deseret alphabet, which was intended to make communication easier for the large number of immigrants, many of whom had a different mother tongue. Time and again, individuals were given the task of continuing their scientific or artistic training in the East or even in Europe and then passing on what they had learned in Utah. The Mormon tabernacle choir , whose roots go back to the pioneering days, is famous .
The railway construction
The construction of the transcontinental railroad was viewed ambiguously. This completely ended the previous isolation. On the one hand, this had the advantage that goods could now be transported to Utah faster and cheaper. This meant that there was no longer any need to be a pioneer and produce almost everything regionally. On the other hand, this could also lead to a stronger influx of "unbelievers" and thus disturb peace and the free practice of religion.
In any case, Brigham Young saw more advantages than disadvantages in the railroad and promoted construction in Utah as best he could. Finally, the railroad made travel easier for the Saints as well, so that new converts no longer had to endure such hardships to get to Utah. It also made travel easier for missionaries sent all over the world. Thus, the Mormon pioneer era came to an end in 1869 with the completion of the transcontinental railroad and the hammering of the final nail at Utah's Golden Spike National Historic Site .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ May, Dean L. Utah: A People's History, p. 57. Bonneville Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1987. ISBN 0-87480-284-9 .
- ↑ Roberts, BH (1930). A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Century I 6 volumes . Vol.3, Ch.71, p.25. Brigham Young University Press; ISBN 0-8425-0482-6 (1930; hardcover 1965) (out of print)
- ^ Slaughter, William and Landon, Michael. "Trail of Hope: The Story of the Mormon Trail". p. 23, 24. Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1997.
- ↑ Walker and Dant, p. 318
- ^ Sun, Conway B. Ships, Saints, and Mariners: A Maritime Encyclopedia of Mormon Migration, 1830-1890 pages 33. Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press, 1987
- ↑ Millenial Star X, 40-41, cited in Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young the Colonizer, The Deserent News Press, Salt Lake City 1940, p. 87
- ^ Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young the Colonizer, The Deseret News Press, Salt Lake City 1940, p. 9
- ↑ Charles Dickens, The Uncommercial traveler , Chapter 22 "Bound for the ridge Salt Lake", originally played on Literature Network
- ↑ A personal account of a participant's experience can be found in Mary Ann Hafen, Recollections of a Handcart Pionier , private print from 1938, reprinted by the University of Nebraska Press 1983, pp. 13-27
- ↑ See Utah History to Go: Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company
- ↑ See Brigham D. Madsen, Gold Rush Sojourners in Great Salt Lake City 1849 and 1850 , University of Utah Press 1983
- ↑ Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young the Colonizer, The Deserent News Press, Salt Lake City 1940, pp. 149-157
- ^ Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young the Colonizer, The Deserent News Press, Salt Lake City 1940, p. 11