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Show The Mormon Migration Released through courtesy of Uie L'tah Historical Landmarks Association, As-sociation, 8')6 Xewhouse Building Suit Lake City, Ctah "Moving West" was nothing new to the Mormons who first established estab-lished themselves near Palmyra, New York; then at Kirtland, Ohio, next in Jackson County, Missouri; for a few years in Nauvoo, Illinois and then temporarily at Florence, Nebraska. Due to their plans of colonization coloniza-tion and settlement, it was neces sary to have a line of communication communica-tion from the east to the west and they did not, therefore, entirely sever connections with any place they ever occupied. Within a period of twenty years. 1830-50, it may be truly said that they covered the country from the Atlantic to t!ie Pacific, maintaining maintain-ing an emigration establishment in New York, a colonization project in San Bernardino, California, with mobile headquarters and many supply stations between eastern and western points. A large part of 1846 was consumed consum-ed in traveling across southern Iowa, with stops for weeks or even ev-en months at Mt. Pisgah and other oth-er places. Winter Quarters, on the present site of Florence, near Omaha, was established in the winter of 1846-47. Animals, equipment equip-ment and supplies were purchased; Jonathan Browning made new guns and repaired the old ones. Everything was in readiness when 143 men, three women, two children and three colored servants, serv-ants, with 73 wagons, livestock and supplies, set out from Winter Quarters under the leadership of Brigham Young on March 14, 1847. Youn? anticipated a later heavy Mormon migration. The route along the north side of the South Platte river was worn deep by thousands of wagons which passed over it prior to 1847 and the grass was grazed close by hundreds of animals. The route selected, therefore, there-fore, was along the north side of of North Platte river, where feed was more abundant and there was less interference with their migration. migra-tion. The right-of-way of the Union Pacific occupied the Mormon Trail at intervals from Omaha through f.-emont and in places as far west as North. Platte. From North Platte the old route ran close to Scott's Bluff, through Old Fort Laramie, Casper, past Independence Independ-ence Rock and Devil's Gate Split Rocx. The Sweetwater was closely followed fol-lowed as far as the present site of Burnt Fork. At Burnt Ranch, the road turned sharply up the hill to the left over South Pass, through Pacific Springs, Farson, along the Big Sandy, thrcugn Church Buttes to Fort Bridger. From Fort Bridger the trail ran south of the present town of Evan-ston Evan-ston and entered Echo Canyon just below its upper end. A monument mon-ument there indicates the junction of the old emigrant road with the Lincoln Highway. The Mormons followed Echo Canyon to the present site of Echo, down Weber Canyon to Henefer, along Brown's Creek, through East Canyon, then over Big Mountain and Little Mountain into Emigration Emigra-tion Canyon. From Fort Bridger, they followed in the tracks of Hastings Hast-ings and the Donners as far as the present town of Henefer; from that point over a road made the year oefore by the Donners from Henefer Hene-fer to Salt Lake City. When the Mormons arrived in Salt Lake Valley, Miles Goodyear was carrying on indifferent farming farm-ing and some trading near Ogden. His rights were purchased for three ohouse.nd dollars and he moved or. witn his retinue of trappers, traders trad-ers and Indians. . A Mexican subject was living near Blufidale, south of Salt Lake City, when the Mormons arrived in Salt Lake Valley. After the Mexican Mex-ican Government ceded Utah, this man's rights, presumably obtained under a Mexican land grant, were purchased by Hunter and Beck-stead. Beck-stead. While there would be no difficulty in writing biographies of prominent promin-ent men connected with the original orig-inal Mormon migration of 1847, Brigham Young is historically the overshadowing character. From the scholastic viewpoint, however, Orson Pratt was perhaps per-haps the most distinguished of the original pioneers. He was born in Washington County, New York, in 1811 and early in life identified himself with the Latter Day Saints Chuich. He was a member of the first " Company of Ten" which left Winter Win-ter Quarters in 1847, and narrated events along the road; latitudes, longitudes and altitudes were determined de-termined by him. He possessed a brilliant mind and was intellectually active and made many literary, scientific and mathematical math-ematical contributions after his arrival in Utah, also edited a paper published in the interests of the church in Liverpool and wrote a series of pamphlets ' on Mormon-ism. Mormon-ism. Perhaps his most unique contribution con-tribution to literature was a compilation com-pilation of a First Reader, a Second Sec-ond Reader, Book of Nephi and the Book of Mormon, using the Deser-et Deser-et alphabet. His most pretentious work was the "Key to the Universe." Uni-verse." He established the Great Salt Lake Meridian at the south-cast south-cast corner of the Temple Block. Major Howard Egan was another distinguished memoer of the first party of emigrants. Major Egan kept a diary of his various journeys, jour-neys, which was published under ihe title of "Pioneering the West, 1846-73." He made several trips from Salt take City to California; one route from Salt Lake City west bears his name. Orin Porter Rockwell was the outstanding member of the pioneer pion-eer company as a scout. An at- tempted assassination of Governor Boggs occurred at Independence, Missouri on May 6th, 1842. Rockwell Rock-well was charged with making this attempt, although the evidence was never clear. If we can believe General Patrick Edward Connor, the charge did not rest very heavily' heav-ily' on Rockwell's mind and he is alleged to have told Connor that he shot at Boggs and was damn sorry he didn't Kill him. One of Rockwell's greatest exploits ex-ploits was carrying news of the invasion in-vasion of Utah by Johnston's Army Ar-my from Fort Laramie to Salt Lake City, a distance of 513 miles, in five days and three hours. In person, Burton described Rockwell as a tall, strong man. with leather leggings overhanging! hus huge spurs, the saw-handles of two revolvers peeping from his blouse; he wore long, grizzly locks, plaited and gathered at the nape of his neck; his manners were these of a jovial, devil-may-care English ruffian. Rockwell was a frontiersman and scout; not an empire builder. He lacked the impelling intellect of Orson Pratt and the constructive mind of Brigham Young, but he stood guard while they worked. In a safely established society, there was nothing he carea to do and, like many others of his class, he retired to the outer fringes of civilization where he would not be disturbed by the monotonous niceties nice-ties of a service cluT5 existence. He had his fling, when, like Kipling's "Tommy" he was "Porter this and Porter that." History is fairer than those who would obliterate his name. |