Dearborn independent. [volume], July 23, 1921, Page 10, Image 10

About Dearborn independent. [volume] (Dearborn, Mich.) 1901-1927

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
10
BjMBj tjj rmSS
I Tir.aBEAV "BBa:E EHbk v bwbbbl Rara. hJBw aw . ' jT.mLi". 'CfeSii
n li v vi .i - n
i 1041 17 . , . Minftntf kv lianric rCT IO DC I HOI It .VI UKUIU, .illiwiukK, " im. "llfnam I Olnl it
I, ,. .ht PtaHl Advl of the Mormo. p b.od ...o .!. "JJJ'kiK JnJV-T I lo th. 0,..f b. bcr"d. Tht MtiM', coc.p.oo of .b, l.dt, oa
0
N MAPS depicting
the western part o:
the United States in
the later 40 s and tor
decades later, there ap
pears an area somewhat
vaguely outlined, extend
ing vcstvtrd and south
ward from the valley of
the Great Salt Lake, and
designated The Great
American Desert. Earlier
than the period mentioned,
the er.r.re region from the
UUaoari to the Rocky
Mountains was so known.
In a work entitled The
the Great ll'est. by Colonel Dodge, L.
S A. published in 1877. we read: When I
scho my map of the United States showed be
tween the Miss nri River and the Rocky Mountains
i lone and broad white blotch, upon which was printed.
,n small capitals. 'THE GREAT AMERICAN DES
ERTUNEXPLORED.' "
At the time of the first settlement of what is now
the state of Utah, by the Mormon pioneers, the Wa
satch Mountains were regarded as the eastern boundary
of the Great American Desert. John C. Fremont, in
h:s official report of explorations, refers to the region
as the Desert; and the name (iaf Desert Basin has
found a place m American literature. Later maps
show an area, greatly restricted when compared with
earlier delineations, as The Great Salt Lake Desert.
It is interesting to note that this region of uncertain
boundaries is the only area in North America to which
the designation 'Desert"' is applied.
On July 24, 1847, the subjugation of the Great
American Desert was begun. As an unbroken waste,
an isolated empire of death that claimed high toll of
those who were so venturesome as to invade its saline
solitudes, the desert no longer exists. Behold ! it blos
soms as the rose !
As a dav of general patriotic celebration, the Twenty
fourth of July is second only to the Glorious Fourth,
in the hearts of Utah's people.
On the day named, Brigham Young, the intrepid
pioneer, successful colonizer, and, as the Mormons
sincerely believe, insp red prophet, entered Salt Lake
Valley in charge of a small colony, which was the
vanguard of migrating hosts of Latter-day Saints. The
achievement may be well commemorated in story and
song. It was the advent of the conquering army of
invasion into the stronghold of the realm of desolation.
The story of the march thither has never yet
found pen or tongue adequate to the telling it de
serves. To understand it even in scant outline we
must go back nearly a year and a half.
February, 1846, had witnessed the beginning of the
Mormon exodus irom Illinois. Mormon eyes and
hearts were confidently turned toward the West aye,
even beyond the frontiers, not only of civilization but
of the nation, for the region to which they were bound
was then a part of the Mexican domain. The migrat-
The Conquest of the Desert
By DR. JAMES E. TALMAGE
Of tht Council o! the Twelve. Church of Jcut Christ o Latter-day Saiata.
ing body consisted of two divisions, and each was sub
divided into companies of hundreds, fifties and tens,
with captains to direct. An officer with a hundred
volunteers went ahead of the main body to select a
route and prepare a road. In the spring of 1846 there
were more than a thousand wagons of the Mormons
rolling westward, and the line of march stretched from
the Mississippi to the Missouri. There were in the
company not half enough draft animals for the arduous
journey, and but an insufficient number of able-bodied
men to tend the camps. Women had to assist in driv
ing teams, sheep and neat-stock, and in other labors
of the exodus. When the camp halted in the early
evening a town seemed to spring as if by magic from
the prairie soil ; concerts and social gatherings were
usual features of the evening rest.
By July a goodly part of the pilgrim hosts had
reached the Missouri. Several temporary settlements
were established, the chief of which was named Kanes
ville, now Council Bluffs. Iowa. During the late sum
mer and autumn several thousands crossed the river and
founded Wrinter Quarters, now known as Florence,
Nebraska, then within the Pottawatomie and Omaha
Indian lands. All intentions of continuing the west
ward march that year were abandoned, through an
event of great import which, for a time, greatly
disturbed the equanimity of the camp.
War had broken out between Mexico and the
United States. General Taylor's victories in the early
stages of the international strife had been all but
decisive; but the American Republic was on the march
to the western ocean, and the provinces of New Mex
ico and California were in her path. These comprised,
in addition to the territory now designated by those
names. Utah. Nevada, portions of Wyoming and Colo
rado, as also Arizona ; while OregQn, then claimed as
a British possession, included Washington. Idaho and
portions of Montana and Wyoming. It was the plan
of the national Government to occupy these provinces
by quick and decisive action ; and a call was made upon
the Mormons to contribute to the general force by
furnishing a battalion of five hundred men to serve in
the war with Mexico.
Five hundred men fit to bear arms to be drafted
from the emigrant camp! What would become of fhe
rest? Already women and boys had been pressed into
service to do the work of
men ; the resources of the
company were taxed to the
utmost; and back along
the line of travel were
many graves whose ten
ants had passed to their
last sleep through hard
ship and exposure.
But response to the na
tion's call was prompt and
hearty. "You shall have
your battalion," said Brig
ham Young to Captain
James Allen, the muster
officer, "and if there are
not young men enough
you shall have the old men."
Within a week after President Polk's message was
received the Mormon Battalion had been massed, com
prising in all five hundred and forty-nine souls, and
straightway the march to Fort Leavenworth was be
gun. The path from the Missouri to the Pacific led
them over two thousand miles, much of the distance
through desert wastes, which, prior to that time, had
not been trodden by civilized foot.
Colonel P. St. George Cook, the federal commander
of the Mormon Battalion, has written: "History may
be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry."
Many of the soldiers were disabled by the hardships
of the journey, and numerous cases of sickness and
death were chronicled. General Kearney and his suc
cessor. Governor R. B. Mason, military commandant
of California, wrote in high praise of the Mormon
Battalion ; and in their official report stated that they
had made efforts to prolong the soldiers' term of serv
ice ; but most of the men chose to rejoin their fam
ilies as soon as they could secure their honorable dis
charge. Let us return to the main body. In April. 1847,
an advance company set out from Winter Quarters
to pioneer the way to the almost unknown West. This
party, as originally constituted, comprised a hundred
and forty-four men; but a case of illness, which ap
peared at the start, reduced the number by one. Three
of the pioneer band were accompanied by their wives,
and with the women were two children, making a
total of one hundred and forty-eight souls.
In the Black Hills the pioneers were delayed a
week at the Platte, a stream which, though usually
fordable at this place, was at the time so swollen as
to make fording impossible. The food supply had
shrunk to meager proportions. In their slow march
the company had been passed by a number of well
equipped parties bound for the Pacific; but most of
these were overtaken at the river.
Among the effects of the Mormon company wasJj
leathern boat, which on water served the intended
purpose of its maker and on land was used as a wagon
box. This, together with rafts specially constructed,
was now put to good purpose in ferrying across the
river, not alone themselves and their little P1"0!1'
but the other companies and their loads. For tnis
bbV bw lal bbbPB w BaLav rJIIaM Bl ,Jl3 bmIBMIB ti.KtJrJ&Mt
I bwtbp wr9rwf " m JflrTaaaw rffe Ifl bWtJI Eal flS ajflaM anan
fat aHa W ir aav' eL vaVcK. m aT TriaB aw VBSaaV aVlaQaH aVaV aCBraas
' aw' waaw ja vW S4w -fla lLxTFWt1 ' awS
f-A EXlc (Aalal HMHaH lal VI Al
t H aw v "Wrw BaMpB wfjeCxfm BaV I aPBazCW- ' Jll ft'j1
' . 3? daflam Br: l awa ,r t ijsMStwEMm ?c!ivffEaaaHal
t JaBaai ak aaaw a mm Hf.' j L4awr AaraHMai nr .wi aa n yuuir wLTnB laiwus
Tht Deacrt al tabdacd Group iaclallacioa ia the Public Mueum. Milwaw ill Wisconsin, bowiaj aa ladiaa family ia camp.