What are the names of the three eighteen-year-olds who helped the pioneers cross Sweetwater River?
One of the most persistent and popular stories regarding the Mormon pioneers was about three of the rescuers who helped the pioneers cross Sweetwater River.  The most popular telling, by Solomon Kimball, states:
Three eighteen-year-old boys belonging to the relief party came to the rescue; and to the astonishment of all who saw, carried nearly every member of that ill-fated handcart company across the snow-bound stream. The strain was so terrible, and the exposure so great, that in later years all the boys died from the effects of it. When President Brigham Young heard of this heroic act, he wept like a child, and later declared publicly, "That act alone will ensure C. Allen Huntington, George W. Grant, and David P. Kimball an everlasting salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of God, worlds without end.
This version was quoted by Gordon B. Hinckley, James E. Faust and was previously taught in Sunday School in the LDS Church for both adults and children.Chad Orton notes it would be physically impossible for three boys to carry five hundred people across the river in two hours.  In actuality, the rescue party had several rescuers instead of three, eighteen of which have been positively identified as being at the Sweetwater crossing.  The rescuers brought ten rescue wagons in addition to the wagons the Martin Company had with them. Many survivors wrote about riding the wagons across.  However, because of time constraints, not everyone could ride the wagons. Some were carried, but other survivors wrote that they crossed the river themselves or with the help of people other than the three boys.  The boys mentioned in the story did help some people across, but not "nearly every member" as reported in the mythologized version of the story. While the three boys were among those that helped several across, the ages were wrong. C. Allen Huntington was 24, David P. Kimball was 17, and George W. Grant was 16.  There is no medical evidence that they died from effects of the crossing, and most lived active and relatively long lives.  Outside of Kimball's account, there is no other account of Brigham Young promising everlasting salvation to the rescuers based on a single act. Orton notes that such a promise is inconsistent with church doctrine.  John Thomas notes that Solomon Kimball did not witness the crossing, but relied heavily on other sources, particularly Orson F. Whitney's 1888 account, who also claimed that all of the boys died from the event, even though Huntington was still alive in 1888.
C. Allen Huntington George W. Grant David P. Kimball