The Coolidge examiner., 1935-07-05

no more tolerant than had the people of New
York. Ohio and Missouri. Persecution of the
newcomers continued and after a series of ar.
rests and hcquitinls Joseph Smith was finally
taken In custody a charge OF treason. While
awaiting trial on the charge the Mormon leader.
with his brother. Hyrum. and two others. were
lodged In the jail nj Carthage There. despite a
pledge from Governor Ford that state troops
would protect them, they were dragged out of
the iaii 10y mob on June =. 1914. and the two
Smiths were shot 20 death
The Illinois legislature next annulled the Nau-
VOC city charter and again the Mormons were
homeless Brigham Young had succeeded Joseph
Smith and be and the other Mormon leaders
made proposition that II their prosecutors
would cease their acts of violence and aid the
Mormons In dlsposing OF their property they
would remove from the state This proposition
was accepted and the Mormons contracted for
several thousand wagons and began making
preparations for a move TO California or Oregon
in the early spring.
But 1t was not until February. 1886 that Young
and the other Mormon leaders guided about
I.0o0 OF their people across the frozen surface
of the Mississippi and headed west. This com.
pany reached Council Bluffs Neb on the west
side OF the Missouri river and there erected
200 cabins al a place called Winter Quarters.
In April. 1917 Young. with chosen band OF
i43 pioneers. left Winter Quarters and began
their journey westward In search OF a place
where the Mormons might make home on soil
10 which the sovereignty Of the United States did
not extend. Bot Il he had hoped to find that
place In California he was doomed TO disap.
polntment. For even as he was journeying west.
the Mexican war broke out. California was
seized by the Americans and at the end OF the
war the next year the great empire Of the West
from the Missouri TO the Pacific was under the
Stars and Stripes
On July -. lS47. Young and his pioneers
reached the valley OF the Great Salt lake. Look.
ing out over this valley from the summit OF Big
mountain. the Mormon leader declared simply
This is the place" The wanderers had reached
their Chosen Land. That fan 200 wagons bear
ing Mormon families arrived In the valley. In the
same autumn Brigham Young set out for Winter
Quarters again and came back the following year
with about 100 wagons laden with more families
and supplies.
The opening OF 1S4S saw the beginning OF the
great migration. "The American frontier never
beheld a movement quite Ike that OF the Nor
mons" says a recent historian During the
spring and summer OF that year nearly all Of the
Saints who had gathered at Winter Quarters and
other places along the frontier set out across the
plains until more than 6,0O0 had reached Utah
BY the fall of 1852 this food OF migration had
mounted TO more than 10000
| OF this epic movement the late Judge C. C.
Goodwin OF Utah. In his tribute TO The Mormon
Pioneer" said: a.. II was not like any other
recorded in history. for this exodus to Utah was
a march out OF Despair TO destination on the
unresponsive breast of the Desert.
The Utah pioneers had been tossed out of
civilization into the wilderness and on the outer