“The key to faith is what we are willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it.”
~Elder Cloward, Church of Latter Day Saints
Few years in the Far West were more notable than 1846. That year saw the start of a war with Mexico, the Donner-Reed party embark on their infamous journey into a frozen world of indescribable horror, and the beginning of the best organized mass migration in American history. The participants of this migration, the Mormons, would establish thriving communities in what was considered by many to be a worthless desert.
From 1846 to 1869, more than 70,000 Mormons traveled along an integral part of the road west, the Mormon Pioneer Trail. The trail started in Nauvoo, Illinois, traveled across Iowa, connected with the Great Platte River Road at the Missouri River, and ended near the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Generally following pre-existing routes, the trail carried tens of thousands of Mormon emigrants to a new home and refuge in the Great Basin. From their labors arose the State of Deseret, later to become the Utah Territory, and finally the State of Utah.
Despite one of the greatest migrations in the history of the US, many gave their lives in pursuit of a better life–and to this day their graves still dot the landscape of the southern Wyoming territory.
Leave a note.