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N0KFQ > TODAY 24.07.13 17:36l 85 Lines 4163 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 2039_KB0WSA
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Subj: Today in History - Jul 24
Path: IZ3LSV<F1OYP<N9PMO<JE7YGF<XE1FH<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130724/1456Z 2039@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.55
Jul 24, 1847:
Mormons settle Salt Lake Valley
After 17 months and many miles of travel, Brigham Young leads 148
Mormon pioneers into Utah's Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Gazing
over the parched earth of the remote location, Young declared,
"This is the place," and the pioneers began preparations for the
thousands of Mormon migrants who would follow. Seeking religious
and political freedom, the Mormons began planning their great
migration from the east after the murder of Joseph Smith, the
Christian sect's founder and first leader.
Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont, in 1805. In 1827, he
declared that he had been visited by a Christian angel named
Moroni, who showed him an ancient Hebrew text that had been lost
for 1,500 years. The holy text, supposedly engraved on gold
plates by a Native American prophet named Mormon in the fifth
century A.D., told the story of Israelite peoples who had lived
in America in ancient times. During the next few years, Smith
dictated an English translation of this text to his wife and
other scribes, and in 1830 The Book of Mormon was published. In
the same year, Smith founded the Church of Christ--later known as
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--in Fayette, New
York.
The religion rapidly gained converts, and Smith set up Mormon
communities in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. However, the
Christian sect was also heavily criticized for its unorthodox
practices, which included polygamy. In 1844, the threat of mob
violence prompted Smith to call out a militia in the Mormon town
of Nauvoo, Illinois. He was charged with treason by Illinois
authorities and imprisoned with his brother Hyrum in the Carthage
city jail. On June 27, 1844, an anti-Mormon mob with blackened
faces stormed in and murdered the brothers.
Two years later, Smith's successor, Brigham Young, led an exodus
of persecuted Mormons from Nauvoo along the western wagon trails
in search of a sanctuary in "a place on this earth that nobody
else wants." The expedition, more than 10,000 pioneers strong,
set up camp in present-day western Iowa while Young led a
vanguard company across the Rocky Mountains to investigate Utah's
Great Salt Lake Valley, an arid and isolated spot devoid of human
presence. On July 22, 1847, most of the party reached the Great
Salt Lake, but Young, delayed by illness, did not arrive until
July 24. Upon viewing the land, he immediately confirmed the
valley to be the new homeland of the Latter-day Saints. Within
days, Young and his companions began building the future Salt
Lake City at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains.
Later that year, Young rejoined the main body of pioneers in
Iowa, who named him president and prophet of the church. Having
formally inherited the authority of Joseph Smith, he led
thousands of more Mormons to the Great Salt Lake in 1848. Other
large waves of Mormon pioneers followed. By 1852, 16,000 Mormons
had come to the valley, some in wagons and some dragging
handcarts. After early difficulties, Salt Lake City began to
flourish. By 1869, 80,000 Mormons had made the trek to their
promised land.
In 1850, President Millard Fillmore named Brigham Young the first
governor of the U.S. territory of Utah, and the territory enjoyed
relative autonomy for several years. Relations became strained,
however, when reports reached Washington that Mormon leaders were
disregarding federal law and had publicly sanctioned the practice
of polygamy. In 1857, President James Buchanan removed Young, who
had 20 wives, from his position as governor and sent U.S. Army
troops to Utah to establish federal authority. Young died in Salt
Lake City in 1877 and was succeeded by John Taylor as president
of the church.
Tensions between the territory of Utah and the federal government
continued until Wilford Woodruff, the new president of the Mormon
church, issued his Manifesto in 1890, renouncing the traditional
practice of polygamy and reducing the domination of the church
over Utah communities. Six years later, the territory of Utah
entered the Union as the 45th state.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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