Show pioneer oration lon the following oration was delivered at tho the grantsville Grants ville pioneer day celebration july 24 1923 by wilfred AL M Alc mckendrick Kendrick I 1 am not inclined today to stress tho the incidents leading up to tho the great modern pilgrimage which commenced at nauvoo and ended in tho the valley of the great salt lake neither do I 1 desiro desire to dwell in detail upon the incidents A f that memorable journey of the original pioneers as they turned their backs on civilization and personal security and set their faces toward tho the unknown fraught with peril and sac sacrifice sacra rafice fico and uncertainty and death to a place somewhere toward tho the setting sun rather do I 1 propose to lead you away from these well beaten and time honored paths to higher planes where may bo be viewed the far reaching and comprehensive results achieved by our splendid forbears the cormons mormons Mor Alor mons pioneers whose entrance into salt lake valley was made 75 years ago today Ill history story will record and future generations will proclaim that the courage the magnificent ma will fortitude tho the faith and the vision manifested by these plodding pilgrims which enabled them to overcome subdue and persist notwithstanding every mile of the weary way threatened their extinction has no parallel in history no not one not half has ever been told of tho the hardships of that march A few years ago judge terrell of texas U S minister to turkey during grover Clev elands administration was among a company of tourists on the temple grounds being conducted by tho the guide ito ile asked permission odthe of the guide to speak to the company and it was granted him lie ile said ladles ladies and gentlemen I 1 was a youth of 19 when your people left the city of Nauvoo I 1 stood on the banks of the river and saw them cross to what I 1 believed to be certain death A poorer more bedraggled set of people I 1 have never seen they started with horses and cows cowa hitched to tho the samo same wagon and in some instances took their goods across the river in a wheelbarrow what I 1 witness on en this block today is a veritable miracle tho the path of the latter day saints was marked by footprints of blood and by silent graves from nauvoo to the valley of tho the great salt lake tho the marvel is that they did not all die those of us who saw them go forth into tho the wilderness believed that everyone was marked for death but they found as their prophet said they would the great west and in it as one distinguished gentleman said they have car vel ved an empire out of de solution hidden away in the hearts of this poor bedraggled people away from the eyes of the curious the skeptic the scoffer and tho the wise itse ed among judge terril and his fellows on that occasion were potential patent ial powers and force out of which empires are character truth perceived and mans true relationship to his maker clearly and distinctly understood and so thero there moved out of the last 75 years ago the substance that h has organized and given expression to all 11 those things illi il gli which mako make the inter mull mountain wet west beau beautiful tIVO and desirable I 1 say the intel arst for utah has been really the base for the redemption of contiguous and adjacent territory in years to come this fact will become more evident and more universally believed and feel that I 1 am well within tho the lines of truth when I 1 say that this day will be pioneer day to arizona idaho new mexico and many other western states I 1 remember when only mor mons participated in its celebration and they were looked upon as disloyal to the government by placing its importance rind and on a par with our great natal day the ath of july so deep was the prejudice born bom of bigotry and misunderstanding this too right in the face of the his tA barient rient fact that an ensign was raised ou or a neighboring peak just north of salt lake city and the territory then wa a known as aa upper california and belonging to mexico was possessed by this intrepid b band of 1 loyalists in tho the name of the states government which had so re bently turned its 10 back on oil teem them and cast them out to perish I 1 have characterized the mormon pioneers as the substance aub stanco which has made possible the priceless heritage wo we are enjoying today generally speaking king the word substance means that which stands under and supports anything else whatever then creates upholds classifies anything which our senses behold tile tho we cannot see sec handle taste or smell it is moro more sud than tho the object itself in this way the soul which vivifies vilifies vivi fies moves and supports tho the body is a more potent substance than the hard bones heavy flesh and pulsing blood which it vitalizes vita Vitali lizes zeB another thought webster defines a pioneer as one that goes before to remove obstructions or to prepare the 0 way for another this I 1 is a very liberal and proper conception the pioneer concept which has obtained among us these many years has been too narrow you will observe that tho the learned gentleman does not say that a pioneer Is one that goes before to remove obstructions or prepare tho the way for another in his physical realm brigham ham young and ills his followers did more than this if you are arc to take in tho the depth and the breadth of their pioneering you must not take note only of their achievements in the physical realm but must venture forth into tho the mental and tho the spiritual realms as well sixty years after these hardy souls had laid tho the foundation according to tho the specifications specific actions of the divine architect nicholas murray butler came out with tho the announcement that the human soul had a right to set up and establish relations in ill all of its possessions namely literary sc scientific lenti aesthetical institutional religious |