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N0KFQ > TODAY 10.02.16 16:22l 64 Lines 2833 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 84302_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Feb 10
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N9PMO<NS2B<N0KFQ
Sent: 160210/1518Z 84302@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
1846
Mormons begin exodus to Utah
Their leader assassinated and their homes under attack, the
Mormons of Nauvoo, Illinois, begin a long westward migration that
eventually brings them to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in
Utah.
The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
had been persecuted for their beliefs ever since Joseph Smith
founded the church in New York in 1830. Smith's claim to be a
modern-day prophet of God and his acceptance of polygamy proved
controversial wherever the Mormons attempted to settle. In 1839,
Smith hoped his new spiritual colony of Nauvoo in Missouri would
provide a permanent safe haven for the Saints, but anti-Mormon
prejudice there proved virulent. Angry mobs murdered Smith and
his brother in June 1844 and began burning homes and threatening
the citizens of Nauvoo.
Convinced that the Mormons would never find peace in the United
States, Smith's successor, Brigham Young, made a bold decision:
the Mormons would move to the still wild territories of the
Mexican-controlled Southwest. Young had little knowledge of the
geography and environment of the West and no particular
destination in mind, but trusting in God, he began to prepare the
people of Nauvoo for a mass exodus.
On this day in 1846, Young abandoned Nauvoo and began leading
1,600 Mormons west across the frozen Mississippi in subzero
temperatures to a temporary refuge at Sugar Grove, Iowa. Young
planned to make the westward trek in stages, and he determined
the first major stopping point would be along the Missouri River
opposite Council Bluffs. He sent out a reconnaissance team to
plan the route across Iowa, dig wells at camping spots, and in
some cases, plant corn to provide food for the hungry emigrants.
The mass of Mormons made the journey to the Missouri River, and
by the fall of 1846, the Winter Quarters were home to 12,000
Mormons.
After a hard journey across the western landscape, Young and his
followers emerged out onto a broad valley where a giant lake
shimmered in the distance. With his first glimpse of this Valley
of the Great Salt Lake, Young reportedly said, "This is the
place." That year, some 1,600 Mormons arrived to begin building a
new civilization in the valley. The next year, 2,500 more made
the passage. By the time Young died in 1877, more than 100,000
people were living in the surrounding Great Basin, the majority
of them Mormons.
Young, however, had not escaped the troubles that plagued the
Church in the East. By early 1848, the Mormons' haven became a
U.S. territory after the American victory in the Mexican War. The
Mormons had finally found a permanent home along the Great Salt
Lake, but its isolation and freedom from persecution was
short-lived.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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