page_title: Mormon pioneers
section_title: Vanguard company of 1847
hierarchical_section_title: Mormon pioneers / Vanguard company of 1847
caption_attribution_description: "Winter Quarters" by C.C.A. Christensen
context_page_description: The Mormon pioneers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated in the mid-1840s across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah. At the time of the planning of the exodus in 1846, the territory was owned by the Republic of Mexico, which soon after went to war with the United States over the annexation of Texas. The Salt Lake Valley became American territory as a result of this war.
  The journey was taken by about 70,000 people beginning with advance parties sent out by church leaders in March 1846 after the 1844 death of the church's leader Joseph Smith made it clear that the group could not remain in Nauvoo, Illinois—which the church had recently purchased, improved, renamed, and developed because of the Missouri Mormon War, setting off the Illinois Mormon War. The well-organized wagon train migration began in earnest in April 1847, and the period, known as the Mormon Exodus is, by convention among social scientists, traditionally assumed to have ended with the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.
context_section_description: Young organized a vanguard company to break the trail west to the Rocky Mountains, gather information about trail conditions, including water sources and Native American tribes, and to ultimately select the central gathering point in the Great Basin. The initial company would select and break the primary trail with the expectation that later pioneers would maintain and improve it. It was hoped that the group could, wherever possible, establish fords and ferries and plant crops for later harvest. In late February, plans were made to gather portable boats, maps, scientific instruments, farm implements and seeds. Techniques for irrigating crops were investigated. A new route on the north side of the Platte River was chosen to avoid major interaction with travelers using the established Oregon Trail on the river's south side. Given the needs of the large volume of Saints who would travel west, church leaders decided to avoid potential conflicts over grazing rights, water access and campsites.
  In April 1847, Young consulted with members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who had recently returned from the British mission. John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt and Orson Hyde brought money contributed by the English Saints, a map based on John C. Fremont's recent western expedition, and instruments for calculating latitude, elevation, temperature and barometric pressure. Chosen members of the vanguard group were gathered together, final supplies were packed, and the group was organized into military companies. The group consisted of 143 men, including three enslaved African-American men   and eight members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, three women, and two children. The train contained 73 wagons, one cannon, 93 horses, 52 mules, 66 oxen, 19 cows, 17 dogs and some chickens, and carried enough supplies to fully provision the group for one year. Young divided this group into 14 companies, each with a designated captain. Apprehensive of possible danger posed by Native Americans, a militia and night guard was formed under the direction of Stephen Markham.
  On April 5, 1847, at 2 p.m., the wagon train moved west from Winter Quarters toward the Great Basin. With the afternoon start, they made three miles (5 km) and camped in a line a few hundred yards from a stand of timber. Journal records show that Young actively managed the journey, supervising details and occasionally giving reprimands when evening and Sunday recreation became rowdy or group members failed to complete their tasks. On one occasion, he chastised the camp's hunters for being wasteful of flesh ... killing more than was really needed.  Camp was awakened by a bugle at 5 a.m. and the company was expected to be prepared for travel by 7 a.m.. Each day's travel ended at 8:30 p.m. and the camp was in bed by 9 p.m.. The company traveled six days during the week, but generally stayed in camp on Sunday to observe the Sabbath.
  Some camp members were assigned specific tasks. William Clayton was appointed company scribe and was expected to record an accurate description of their journey and the distance they traveled each day. After three weeks, Clayton grew tired of personally counting the revolutions of a wagon wheel and computing the day's distance by multiplying the count by the wheel's circumference. After consulting with Orson Pratt, an accomplished mathematician, he designed a mechanism consisting of a set of wooden cog wheels attached to the hub of a wagon wheel, with the mechanism "counting" or recording by position the revolutions of the wheel. Clayton's design, which he called the roadometer, is the basis for most modern odometers. The apparatus was built to Clayton and Pratt's specifications by the company's carpenter, Appleton Milo Harmon, and was first used on the morning of May 12, 1847. The roadometer showed that the company averaged between fourteen and twenty miles per day. Apostle Orson Pratt was named the company's scientific observer. He made regular readings on scientific instruments, took notes on geological formations and mineral resources, and described pl
caption: Winter Quarters
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