History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

CHAPTER X.
MIGRATION TO UTAH.
1847.
Camp Near the Missouri—Preparations at Winter Quarters—Departure
of the Pioneer Band—Elkhorn Rendezvous—Route and Routine—Incidents
of Journey—Approach to Zion—In the Canon—
Hosanna! Hallelujah!—Entry into the Valley of the Great
Salt Lake—Ploughing and Planting—Praying and Praising—Site
for a City Chosen—Temple Block Selected—Return of Companies
to Winter Quarters—Their Meeting with the Westwabd-bound
—General Epistle of the Twelve.
In the spring of 1847 we find the saints still in camp
in the vicinity of the Missouri. Considering what
they had been called upon to undergo, they were in
good health and spirits. There is nothing like the
spiritual in man to stimulate and sustain the physical;
and this result is equally accomplished by the
most exalted piety of the true believer, or by the
most stupid fanaticism or barbaric ignorance; for
all of us are true believers, in our own eyes. There
is nothing like religion to sustain, bear up, and carry
men along under trying circumstances. They make
of it a fight; and they are determined that the world,
the flesh, and the devil shall not conquer.
In the present instance it was of course a miracle
in their eyes that so many of their number were preserved;
it was to this belief, and to the superhuman
skill and wisdom of their leader, and partly to their
own concert of action, that their preservation was due.
Frequent meetings had been held by the council to
consider plans for further explorations by a pioneer
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