The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-08-15
THE moRMoSs AND THEIR CITY OF REFUGE.

Between four and FIVE thousand feet above the
ocean level, on the eastern rim Of the Great Basin
In whose unexplored deserts the waters Of the
Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Of CAL
ornia are lost inland salt sea stretches north
westerly from latitude 400 to 400, and between
ll2o and 1l4o of longitude Up to the year ls43,
little was really known of this vast body Of water
it's shapes and tributaries, as the accounts given
by halfbreed hunters and wandering Indians, in
their visits to Fort Hall and other trading posts
on the route from Missouri TO Oregon, had been
as vague and unsatisfactory as they were marvel
lous
Ii was reserved for the adventurous Fremont
to explore, with something like scientific sccu-
racy, these strange regions. Following the wind
ipgs Of the Bear River-its principal tributary
through a wild maze OF Mountains, of the vast
Utah Range, on a gusty September morning be
looked down upon the great object Of bis toilsome
exploration, the Sea Of the mountains. Checker
ed with the shadows of clouds, and broken here
and there by rocky islands and mountain head
lands, it stretched westerly beyond the limit of
VISION. The annals Of modern discovery have
nothing Of more exciting 1hfefest than the partlsi
~~nl"''-tion of this unknown sea. by the young
adventurer and his companions In a frail and i'll
constructed boat Of {ndis-rubber cloth. The ln-
dans whom they encountered had never launched
canoe upon the lake, and, as it had no apparent
outlet, they imagined there was great whirlpool
in its midst, which swallowed up its surplus
waters. Our travellers were the first to visit its
mysterious islands, and break with the cheerful
sound of human voices its long solitude and
| silence.
"They the first that burst
Into that silent SEAL
The lateless of the season rendered the stay of
Fremont brief, and his explorations imperfect.
After spending night on an island in the Lake,
listening to the roar of the sslt-surf beating on
the rocks, and making two or three days marches
along its marshy borders, and having settled its
latitude and longitude, and taken some notice of
the characteristics of the soil and vegetation of
the valley in which 1t lies, he left regretfully,
this strange and interesting region, to pursue his
journey to California, along the skirts of the
Gsaas Basin, and across the Snowy Sisrsas For
two or three years. nothing further was known of
the Great Salt Lake
In the mean time, the Mormons, or Latter Day
Saints, as they love to call themselves, had been
expelled by mob violence from Illinois. A city
Of some twenty thousand inhabitants was left un-
tenanted and square miles of ripened grain were
abandoned to the sun and rains of autumn and
the SHOWS of winter. The wretched exiles had
little leisure for preparation for their long, nm
a. ;c<o ~ Ill -. -
. new home out Of the reach of civilized inhu.
manity. Bearing with them their aged and infrm,
their sick and dying, they passed in mournful
professions through the streets of Nauvoo, and
through their corn fields and orchards the fruit
of which they could no longer gather. Pausing
on the swell of the last wave Of prairie from
whence the gilded spire of the great Temple was
visible they babe farewell forever to their homes
hesrths, and affairs and then set their faces reso-
lutely towards the setting sun:
"Some nstura they dropped but wiped them SOON
The world was all before them where to choose
Their place Of rest, and Providence their guide"
The last sad cavacade left Nauvoo in the autumn
of 1916. 1t had been preceded by several others,
who had engaged to prepare the way for those
who should come after. Delayed by sickness and
want Of the necessary vehicles and teams for their
journey, and DESTROYS to unite the numerous
camps of exiles scattered from the Mississippi to
the Missouri, the early summer Of lS4s found the
pioneer encampment at Council Bluffs, near the
Pottawattomie Indian agency.
ON THO hIiis of tho a High Prairie which here
cf6Hd upon the river, and on the broad alluvisl
fats below them, the tents of the modern Israel
were pitched. A traveller, Thomas l.. Kane Esq :,
of Philadelphia, from whose graphic and brilliant
" Discourse 6store the Pennsylvania Historical So
eiay" we have derived many of the materials Of
this sketch, has described their appearance as he
first reached them, on a bright June morning.
Each hill was crowned with its great camp, white
with canvass, and alive with the stir Of swarming
occupants. The smoke of thousand cooking
fires sreamed lazily upwards Herd-boys were
doing on the slopes, with sheep and oxen cows
and horses around them numbering many thou
sands. Children, almost as numerous, were play
ing about the camps. Women were washing
clothes along little creek; blacksmiths tailors,
and shoemokers, were busy in the open air, or
under the shade of tents Great arbors made Of
birch served them for places of religious worship
and halls of council. Ii was here that the famous
Mormon battalion for the Mexican war was re.
cruited. On the eve of its departure, farewell
ball was got up in primitive style, under the shell
ter of the largest arbor Grave Elders and Chiefs
of the High Council led off the dance, which was
kept up with great animation until the sun had
dipped behind the sharp outline Of the Omaha
hills "Then," says the writer to whom we have
referred, silence was called and well-cultivat-
ed mezzo-soprano voice, belonging to young
lady with fair face and dark eyes, gave, with
quartette accompaniment, little song, a version
of q text touching to all earthly wanderers:
"By tn. rivers of Babylon sat down and wept;
We wept when remembered Ziou!p
There was danger of some expression of feeling
when the song was over, for it had begun to draw
tears but breaking the quiet with his hard voice,
an Elder dismissed the gathering, and asked
Heaven to bless all who, with purity Of heart and
brotherhood of feeling, had mingled in that 80
cietyn After the departure Of the battalion, the
exiles moved on, organized in companies Of tens,
ffties, and hundreds, all under the direction of
the High Council of the Church. Upon the rich
but unhealthy delta between the Nebraska and
the Missouri, they again pitched their tents, and
waited for the struggling emigrants Of their faith
to overtake them. Decimated by sickness, the
winter found them still in the border regions of
Missouri and Iowa, where, divided into several
encampments, they were enabled to sustain them
selves and considerable portion Of their cattle
Early in the spring of ls47, body of one hun
dred and forty picked men, with seventy wagons,
started under the direction Of the members of the