The Mormon Trail starts from Nauvoo, Illinois, which was the major settlement of the Latter Day Saints from about 1839 to 1846, to Utah's Salt Lake City, which was settled by their leader Brigham Young and his followers beginning in 1847. The Mormon Trail from Ft. Kearney to Salt Lake City generally remained the same throughout its use. For more than twenty years during the mid-nineteenth century, between 1846 and 1868, thousands of Mormons traversed southern Nebraska, going east and west, utilizing a network of trails aggregating well over 1,800 miles, considerably more than the famous 1,300-mile-long Mormon Trail from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. As they traveled, the Mormon pioneers made improvements for those to follow. Now began the long climb to the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. We Need Your Help. On July 24, 1847, Young’s carriage rolled into the Mormon camp located in today’s downtown Salt Lake City. From 1847 to 1868, when the transcontinental railroad reached Utah, nearly 70,000 Mormons would follow the trail to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Santa Fe, NM Brigham Young led the first mass migration over the Mormon Trail to the Great Salt Lake in 1847. View trail photo galleries, connect on social media, explore deeper on mobile apps, watch videos, and check out other digital media! They apparently turned north at the canyon mouth, then headed west, crossing Red Butte Creek a… Young led the first migration of Mormons up the Platte River Valley in 1847 to what is now the state of Utah. Explore the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail across five states to see the 1,300-mile route traveled by Mormons who fled Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1846-1847. Quantity 81 boxes, (35.25 linear feet) Collection Number ACCN 0444 Summary The Reed C. Durham papers (1828-1998) consists of research materials about the Mormon pioneers and the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS Church) … 87504. Over the winter, Brigham Young collected travel reports and cross-examined men who had been west along the trail. On July 27, Amasa M. Lyman, Sam Brannan, Rodney Badger, and Roswell Stevens arrived into the valley on horseback and probably made their own trail to the camp on City Creek. They would start in early spring, soon followed by the main body of emigrants. Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and Letters, 1846–1869 is a collection of the original writings of 49 voyagers on the Mormon, California, Oregon, and Montana trails who wrote while traveling on the trail. Although records of the Mormon immigration seem to be better than those of most migrations in the U.S., the records are not complete. The original 1846-1847 Mormon Trail went from Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois to Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska, to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. Santa Fe, NM Two years later gold was discovered in California, and thousands of "Forty-Niners" rushed across the continent. 1847. The Battle of the Alamo (1836) #5. The next year Jefferson Hunt, one of these former soldiers, and others made the return trip to California to pick up supplies. On June 21 the Mormons paused to clamber up Independence Rock, one of the most famous landmarks on the trail, and offer prayers. The Mormon Trail is the 1,300-mile (2,100 km) long route from Illinois to Utah that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled for 3 months. THE MORMON TRAIL. The north-bank trail ended in eastern Wyoming, forcing the Mormon company to cross the North Platte River at Fort John (soon to become Fort Laramie) and merge with the general emigration on the Oregon Trail. PO Box 728 Today, the Mormon Trail is a part of the United States National Trails System, known as the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail. The well-traveled Oregon Trail crossed Nebraska along the south side of the Platte and North Platte Rivers, but Young kept his company on an old fur-trade trace along the north bank, hoping to avoid clashes with anti-Mormons who might be bound for Oregon or California. 1847 July 24 Mormons settle Salt Lake Valley After 17 months and many miles of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 pioneers into Utah’s Valley of the Great Salt Lake. The Mormons followed and improved their track over the most rugged 116 miles of the entire westward journey. Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers were forced to leave Nauvoo, Illinois. Melvin L. Bashore BYU Pioneer Mortality Team H. Dennis Tolley. Six days later, the third anniversary of the assassinations of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the company crossed South Pass and continued toward Fort Bridger, a trading post in southeastern Wyoming. The main difference between the pioneers of 1846-1847 and subsequent Mormon emigrants was that each year the trek became a little easier as a result of experience, established (and enforced) discipline, better roads, ferries, bridges, and the ever-increasing number of trailside services like blacksmithing, medical assistance, military installations, trading establishments, and the telegraph. An American Exodus Explore the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail across five states to see the 1,300-mile route traveled by Mormons who fled Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1846-1847. In 1849 Gold Rushemigrants h… This project covers all 2,157 Mormon pioneers that arrived in Utah in 1847. Learn more about where you can go, historic sites you can visit and more! Check out current news, events, special projects, new research, and more! Thanks to this added information and the previous summer’s experience, the second leg of the journey would be flawlessly executed. This would be the primary route for Mormon emigrants over the next two decades, and within a few years it also would become the preferred route of non-Mormons heading west. Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail With a ground rolling tape measure from the nearby Mormon Trail Center, visitors can find their ancestor's gravesite on the map grid, according to Hoyt W. Brewster, the Mormon Trail Center director. Many were unprepared for a many month-long journey in the harshest of winters, and the hottest of summers. From the east approached a fast-moving wagon train from Missouri, the state that had violently expelled the Latter-day Saints in 1838. "This is the right place, drive on." Do you want to experience the trail? In 1847 members of the Mormon Battalion were honorably discharged at Los Angeles, California from their service in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War. The original Brigham Young-led pioneer company has a separate project page. Depicting members of the Mormon Battalion on their arrival at the Pacific Ocean near San Luis Rey, California on 27 January 1847 after trekking 2,138 miles down the Santa Fe Trail and across the southwestern deserts at the beginning of the Mexican-American War. The Brooklyn carried 239 Latter-day Saints and supplies for anticipated Mormon settlements in the West. In 1847, after years of persecution, the Mormon pioneers would finally have a place of their own where they could live and practice their religion in peace. Authors. Cabin setting at the Mormon Trail Center in Omaha, Nebraska Routes through California, 1846–1848 The sailing ship Brooklyn left New York Harbor in February 1846, bound for California under the leadership of Samuel Brannan. Some made their way from various places in California to Salt Lake City, Utah. Take a look at interactive, historic, and trip planning maps to learn more about locations along the trail. The California Gold Rush (1849) #8. The race was on! Utah Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database, 1847-1868. 87504. Mormon pioneers began their trek to Utah in 1847 to escape religious persecution. TRAIL SEGMENT 2. (The first group arrived on July 24, 1847) (Kimball 1988:49) While many think that the Mormon migration occurred in one swoop across the plains in 1847, in actuality, Mormons crossed the plains from various points over a twenty-three year span. On July 26, nine men were chosen to accompany Brigham Young and explore such places as the warm springs (present-day location of Wasatch Plunge) and Ensign Peak. Please collaborate on a specific year's (1847-1868) project page. On July 24, 1847, Young’s carriage rolled into the Mormon camp located in today’s downtown Salt Lake City. James C. Brown, May 29. Mormon Trail, in U.S. history, the route taken by Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake in what would become the state of Utah.After Mormon leader Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob in 1844, church members realized that their settlement at Nauvoo was becoming increasingly untenable.Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, proposed a 1,300-mile (2,100-km) exodus to the west. May 24, 1847. followed by the sick detachment of the Mormon Battalion under command of Capt. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842) #6. A Jewish historian wrote, “Wherever Mormon influence prevailed, race prejudice was notably absent.” (The Pinkos, 1935) Several years later, Mormon pioneer Fred T. Perris developed the train route through the Cajon Pass that caused the immigration to Southern California in1886 that equaled the Gold Rush, ending the state’s pioneer era On July 29, a large group of the Mormon Battalion entered the valley. The Mormons, due to persecution and suffering, left Nauvoo in 1847. His people were already at work digging irrigation ditches and planting crops for … National Trails Moreover, the 1847 vanguard company would be limited to a handpicked party of 144 men, three wives, and two small boys. Along this stretch of trail, Brigham Young became very ill and fell behind the main company, which entered the Salt Lake Valley two days ahead of him. (Their labors cost them 18 days, causing them later to become trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada.) Charting the 1846 trail across Iowa has proved to be a most difficult task, much more difficult than tracing the trail across Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah, because there are several “Mormon trails… The Annexation of Texas (1845) #7. Description. Main Command TRAIL DATE 20 Mar 1847 DEDICATION DATE before 2008 GPS COORDINATES 33° 36.464’ N 117° 41.612’ W WGS84 by Michael Kindig, 22 June 2008 Mormon Battalion Marker Sycamore Park, Mission Viejo, Orange County, California Description This rectangular rock and concrete marker bearing a bronze plaque, flanked by an Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail Abstract. Mormons and Missourians leap-frogged, sometimes helping each other and sometimes competing, as they continued west. Most of the pioneer families either followed the Oregon-California Trail or the Mormon Trail. Many folks wonder what a national historic trail actually is. Historians have estimated that between 50,000 and 80,000 Mormons crossed the plains between 1847 and 1868.6That is a wide range, and by its very breadth evidences the incompleteness of the existing records. National Trails The Crow family caught up with Brigham Young's pioneer company at Ft. Laramie in 1847 and accompanied it to the valley. Other projects are organized by year of departure. For thousands of Mormons, the great pioneer trail along the north bank of the Platte which paralleled the river about a mile south of here was an avenue of escape from persecution and a roadway to a new life. The length of the wagon trail from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City was about 1,300 mile (2,092 km). His people were already at work digging irrigation ditches and planting crops for the oncoming emigration. The previous year, the California-bound Donner-Reed Party had gone this way and grubbed a new wagon track through the Wasatch Mountains to reach the Salt Lake Valley. PO Box 728 The Father of Public Education - Horace Mann On April 5, the first Mormon wagon train rolled out of Winter Quarters. The Second Great Awakening #10. The historic Mormon Trail developed in two stages: (1) from Sugar Creek across Iowa to Council Bluffs in the winter and spring of 1846, and (2) from Winter Quarters near Council Bluffs to the Rocky Mountains in the summer of 1847. - attributed to Brigham Young. The Mormon Trail (1830)/The Mormon Church (1847) #4. Learn about important points along the Mormon Trail through place descriptions, maps, and journal entries from pioneers who experienced the journey. Read More. The source for this table is the Historical Resource Study: Mormon Pioneer National Historical Trail, pages 136-150 by Stanley B. Kimball, Ph.D, May 1991, United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. Hear from trail staff about how we define these important parts of history. Across the monotonous, undifferentiated, rolling central lowlands of Iowa, the Mormon Trail of 1846 generally followed primitive territorial roads as far as Bloomfield, Davis County, and then vague Pottawattamie Indian and trading trails along ridges from one water source to another, always within fifty miles of the present Missouri state line. Pioneer Companies that Crossed the Plains 1847-1868 . There on July 9 the Mormons branched off the Oregon Trail onto the Hastings Cutoff, angling southwesterly toward today’s Utah. The Gadsden Purchase (1853) #9. The name and dates of an ancestor can be printed up and put into the frame attached to an artificial rock resembling a headstone. Mortality on the Mormon Trail, 1847–1868. Those leaving from southern California blazed the trail that came to be called the Mormon Trail to southern California. 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