The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-24
Work of the Handcart Missionaries
Neglected Page in Mormon History
Religious Enthusiasts Pushed
Their Carts 1000 Miles to
Missouri River Ten Years
After First Settlement.

one OF the most dramatic incidents
vi early pioneer Utah, and one that.
perhaps better than any other thing.
uispiays the sort of character that dis
thSuished early Mormon leadership. is
an unwritten chapter. barely alluded
10 by Bancroft's history, entirely over
looked by Whitney's voluminous work,
ana now known about by but very few.
even of the older citizens, of today.
perhaps in all the worlds history of
heroic endeavor i'm the PROSECUTING of
religious beliefs it would be difficult
10 md more striking example for the
oratory of eulogistic sentiment than
that of this unwritten chapter of Nor
mon history. which deals with the de-
parture of the first very large band or
Mormon missionaries, who went out
into the world to preach their message
OF salvation, just ten years after the
settlement of Brigham Young and his
party of religious refugees in the val
ley of the Great Salt lake.
In verse and prose alike, and on the
painters canvas. poets, orators and
artists have sung their praise 10 the
pioneer bands who urged the patient
OK cross the western wilds: to the cou-
rageous companies of gathering Saints
who on foot pushed or pulled the two
wheeled handcart, bearing food chill
dren. the aged and the sick, from the
to the battalion of Mormon boys who
left their departing families who were
about TO undertake that great pioneer
journey OF lS47 and themselves Shout
dered the nations guns to march in the
war with Mexico; and TO the legions of
young men who, in the prime of prom
(ise and aspiration, turned away from
business, love and home to share their
gospel with others. But, with strange
nnaCCOnntahilitV stirring
In the drama of Mormon history has
been overlooked by the eulogy of
tongue, pen and brush. 1t is the
''handcart missionaries" who. in the
spring of 1857. walked LOCO miles with
their two-wheeled carts from Salt
Lake City TO the Missouri river.
On the morning Of April 23 1851.
seventy-five Mormon elders, after as
sembling on the Temple block. start
ed on this long, arduous journey. They
were followed to the mouth OF Emil
grafton canyon by hundreds of people.
many weeping bitterly at the awful
possibilities that lay ahead of the de-
parting missionaries. On June 10,
forty-eight days later. they arrived at
Florence, Neb., travelling a distance of
1852 miles In forty and one-half days
or an average of twenty-five miles
day. with as much as thirty-five on
some days.
The accompanying photograph IS n
picture of one team" that pushed one
of the carts labeled 'Zion's Express"
They are Philip Margetts. Utah's vet
eran actor. seated in the center; Sey-
mour b. Young. a present Salt Lake
physician. on the right, and David
Wilkin. who died a few years ago at
Orangeville Emery county.
These handcart missionaries were
made up of young. middle-aged and ell
derby men. They were farmers, me-
chanics. tradesmen, merchants and
clerks" and there were among them
Americans. Englishmen. Scotch. Irish.
Welsh Danes, Swedes, Norwegians.
Germans and some Of other nations"
They went to all parts of the world,
the United States. Canada. Europe and
South Africa.
The handcarts used were some OF the
same that had been pulled across the
plains by the five handcart Immigrant
companies of the preceding year. They
had been reconstructed, painted, can
vas tops added. and on the sides were
printed such mottos as Truth VIII
Prevail Blessings Follow Sacrl-
fice,' Merry MormOns," Zion's Ex-
press
: The daily notes of a diary written by
himself each day of the journey. were
kindly loaned to The Herald by Philip
Margetts. The record. among many
interesting things. shows two very
contrasting features. With biSterS on
feet lameankles, sore muscles, break
ing carts TO be mended. bodies cold
from extreme temperature and wet
limbs from wading through streams
encountering of several snowstorms in
the Rocky mountains, with as much as
twelve feet deep of snow in one
place. clothing wet through from trav-
cling in numerous transforms on the
plains, occasionally meeting with In
dams, grizzly bears and other wild ami
mais-with all this the party, through
out the entire journey, were in the
highest spirits and continual cheerful
ness, with always some form of pleas
Nnt amusement each evening after
supper, such as singing. pitching quoits
and footracing. Think of running n
SOO-yard race, which Mr. Margetts did
one evening, after travelling twenty
nine miles; he won the race, the diary
says. which meant an oyster supper
later in St Louis.
The handcart immigrants of the pre-
vious year walked across the continent
because they were poor and could not
afford to buy wagon outfits; while the
handcart missionaries walked back
over The same trail in spite of their
owning plenty of horses, mules, oxen
and wagons at their homes in the val
ley. The former came TO JON tneir
friends and brethren with the welcome
of a supposed nearby millennium in
Zion: the latter left their dearest
friends and associates to go into an
unwelcoming world of what to them
was Babylon. The former came with
visions of far better homes and COM
forts of living than they could ever
have hoped for amid the poverty of
their European vocations: the latter
went with the knowledge that not only
they themselves, but also their fami- |
lies left behind. must be liable to want
or even poverty. The gathering hand |
cart Saints came to better themselves; |
the departing handcart missionaries
went for the sake of their fellow men. !
sIt Is the will of the Lord that you go |
and walk with handcarts,' said their |
leader. Though we scarcely under |
stand the need and the purpose of
making the trip in the severest way
nossible," was the reply Of seventy-four |
elders, I'VE go. and go with good /
cheer.
surely a Dallin or a Young Gould
conserve in everlasting statuary the
memory of the high courage and devo- |