THE MORMON EXODUS TO UTAH

By Brigham H. Roberts.

THE author of this account of the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, is the official historian of the Church of Latter-Day Saints. He Was editor-in-chief of the Salt Lake "Herald," and in 1898 Was elected to Congress. His election greatly agitated the country, and in 1900 the House of Representatives voted him constitutionally ineligible, as a polygamist, to a seat in that body.

The organization of the Mormon exodus was in many respects remarkable. A pioneer company was sent ahead as a path-finder. Nauvoo was turned into a vast wagon shop. Way stations were established, with repair shops, and a flour mill. The company here described, numbering 1,553 persons, with 566 wagons, followed the Oregon trail from Fort Laramie over the Great Divide to Fort Bridget, thence southwest to the present site of Salt Lake City, which was reached on July 23, 1847.

THE serious business of preparing for the continuation of the march into the wilderness, the completion of the exodus from the United States, was not neglected. It was considered in many council meetings of the presiding authorities, it it was the chief topic of conversation and of discussion wherever two or three were gathered together. Thought upon it finally so crystallized in the mind of Brigham Young that on the 14th of January, 1847, at Winter Quarters, he was prepared to announce The Word and Will of the Lord" upon the march of the Camps of Israel to the West.

After the revelation was received and announced to the Saints, preparations were made both for the formation of the pioneer company and companies to follow immediately on its trail. Word was sent to the various encampments naming the men whom President Young desired to go with him in the first pioneer company and those who were to take the lead in organizing the other companies to follow.

Fort Laramie was situated about two miles from the South bank of the Platte, on the left bank of the Laramie River and about a mile and a half from its confluence with the Platte.

On the 12th of June the main company of the Pioneers arrived at the Platte ferry, to find that their advanced company was employed in ferrying over the Oregon emigrants, carrying their goods over in the "Revenue Cutter--their leather boat, floating over the empty wagons by means of ropes; but the stream was so swift and deep that the wagons would roll over several times in transit in spite of all efforts to prevent it. Ordinarily the Platte was fordable at this point, but this was the season of high water. The brethren received for ferrying over the Oregon emigrants 1,295 lbs. of flour, at the rate of two and a half cents per pound; also meal, beans, soap and honey at corresponding prices, likewise two cows, total bill for ferrying $78.00."

The Pioneer company remained five days at the Platte crossing. They made various experiments in ferrying over their wagons, first stretching a rope across the stream and trying to float single empty wagons over attached to the aforesaid overstream rope, and drawn by other ropes ; but the current, deep and swift, rolled them over and over as if they were logs, much to the injury of the wagons. Then the experiment was made of fastening from two to four wagons together to prevent capsizing in transit, but the mad stream would roll them over in spite of all the ingenuity and care of the men. The small rafts were tried with a single wagon, but the difficulty of polling a raft in water so deep and swift was so great that frequently they would be swept down from one to two miles, though the stream was not more than from forty to fifty rods wide. The plan that proved the most successful was to use a raft, of which two were made constructed with oars, well manned, with which a landing with a single wagon could be effected in about half a mile. In this way wagons even partly loaded could be ferried over, but most of the goods of the camp were carried across in the leather boat the "Revenue Cutter.

Their course now followed up the Sweet Water River, which they forded back and forth several times to the South Pass, along the Oregon route. They were in frequent contact with companies of Oregon emigrants, and occasionally met companies of traders, trappers and mountaineers moving eastward. Near the South Pass, for instance, at which the company arrived on the 26th of June, they met a number of men from the Oregon settlements, led to this point by one Major Moses Harris, who had been a mountaineer for twenty or twenty-five years. He had extensive knowledge of the country from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. "We obtained much information from him in relation to the great interior basin of the Salt Lake," says Orson Pratt, "the country of our destination. His report like that of Captain Fremont's is rather unfavorable to the formation of a colony in this basin, principally on account of scarcity of timber.

At Green River ferry the Pioneers remained until the 3rd of July, detained by the necessity of making rafts with which to effect the crossing of that stream as its waters were high. The camp moved three miles from the ferry down the right bank and there spent the Fourth of July "Independence Day," some of them noted in their Journals, also "the Lord's Day." At this encampment it was decided that a few of the Pioneers should return eastward to meet the large emigrating companies of Saints now enroute from Winter Quarters, and act as their guides to Green River.

At this point the Pioneer company left the Oregon road taking Mr. Hasting's new route to the Bay of San Francisco, journalizes Orson Pratt, "this route is but dimly seen as only a few wagons passed over it last season." "We took a blind trail, is Erastus Snow's account of the departure from Fort Brigadier, "the general course of which is a little south of west, leading in the direction of the southern extremity of the Salt Lake, which is the region we wish to explore. Fortunately for us a party of emigrants bound for the coast of California passed this way last fall, though their trail is in many places, scarcely discernible."

From the arrival of the camp at Green River, various members had suffered from what they called mountain fever." At the camp on Bear River President Young himself was severely stricken with the malady. The main encampment moved westward, but eight wagons and a number of leading brethren remained at Bear River with the President, expecting to follow in a few hours. Closing his journal entry for the day's march, Orson Pratt rather sadly says "Mr. Young did not overtake us to-night." His next day's entry in the Journal begins "Early this morning we dispatched two messengers back to meet Mr. Young, being unwilling to move any farther until he should come up." These messengers were Joseph Mathews and John Brown. They found President Young had been too ill to move, but was improving.

The journey was resumed, following Reed's route up a small stream, a company of about a dozen men going in advance of the wagons with spades, axes, etc., "to make the road passable, which required considerable labor." The camp moved about eight and a half miles during the day, their road in the last two miles of the journey leaving the small stream up which they had traveled to cross a ridge into another ravine in which they camped. They spent some four hours in labor with picks and spades on the latter part of the road. After an encampment was made, Orson Pratt and a Mr. Newman went further down the road to examine it. "We found that Mr. Reed's company last season," journalizes Orson Pratt, "had spent several hours labor in spading, etc., but finding it almost impracticable for wagons they had turned up a ravine at the mouth of which we had camped, and taken a little more circuitous route over the hills." On the morning of the 17th after examining the road over which they had passed the day before for some distance back, and satisfying himself that no more practical route could be found, Elder Pratt directed that the camp spend several hours labor on the road over which they had already passed before resuming their march.

Soon after sunrise of the 19th the two pioneers of this advance company, Orson Pratt and John Brown, started along the route of last year's emigrants to examine the road and country ahead. They continued along the road over which they had passed the day before and ascertained that it left Cannon Creek near the point where they had turned back to camp, and followed a ravine running west. This they ascended for four miles when they came to a dividing ridge from which they "could see over a great extent of country." Here they tied their horses and on foot ascended a mountain on the right for several hundred feet. "On the south west we could see an extensive level prairie some few miles distant which we thought must be near the lake." It was ; and this is the first view any of the Pioneers had of Salt Lake Valley.

Accordingly on the morning of the 21st Erastus Snow, mounted, rode alone over Pratt's route of the day before and overtook him on the afternoon of the 21st. Leaving the camp to proceed with their task of improving the road down Emigration Canon, Elders Pratt and Snow proceeded down the canon "four and a half miles," where the creek passes through a small canon "and issues into the broad valley below." "To avoid the canon," says Orson Pratt, "the wagons last season had passed over an exceedingly steep and dangerous hill."