In the spring of 1847, a body of one hundred forty-three picked men, with seventy wagons, drawn by their best horses, left the Omaha quarters, under the command of the members of the high council who had wintered there.  They carried with them little but seed and farming implements, their aim being to plant spring crops at their ultimate destination.  They relied on their rifles to give them food, but rarely left their road in search of game.  They made long marches, and moved as rapidly as possible.

Against the season when ordinary emigration passes the Missouri, they were already through the South Pass, and after a couple of short days’ travel beyond it entered upon the more arduous part of their journey, which now lay through the Rocky Mountains.  They passed Fremont’s Peak, Long’s Peak, The Twins, and other summits, but had great difficulties to overcome in forcing their way over other mountains of the rugged Utah range, sometimes following the stony bed of torrents, the headwaters of some of the mightiest rivers of our continent, and sometimes literally cutting their road through heavy and ragged timber.  They arrived at the grand basin of the Great Salt Lake, much exhausted, but without losing a man, and in time to plant for a partial autumn harvest.  Another party started after these pioneers from the Omaha winter quarters, in the summer.  They had five hundred sixty-six wagons, and carried large quantities of grain, which they were able to sow before it froze.

The same season these were joined by a part of the battalion and other members of the Church who came eastward from California and the Sandwich Islands.  Together they fortified themselves strongly with sun-dried brick walls and blockhouses, and, living safely through the winter, were able to reap crops that yielded ample provision for the ensuing year.

In 1848, nearly all the remaining members of the Church left the Missouri country in a succession of powerful bands, invigorated and enriched by their abundant harvests there; and that year saw fully established their commonwealth of the “New Covenant,” the future State of “Deseret.” [Footnote:  The Mormons repeatedly tried to secure the admission of Deseret into the Union as a State under that name—­said to mean “virtue and industry.”]

When Utah was organized as a Territory (1850), the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, was made governor.  In 1857 President Buchanan appointed a non-Mormon to succeed Young.  This act led the Mormons to rebel, but after a display of military force by the Government they acknowledged allegiance.  In 1896, polygamy having been prohibited by Congress, Utah was admitted to the Union.  Since the settlement of the Mormons upon the Great Salt Lake there has been a large immigration into Utah. [The Mormons have spread beyond that State into Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and other parts of the West and Southwest—­ED.]

(1848) THE REFORMS OF PIUS IX, Francis Bowen