Struggle For Possession of the West -The First Emigrants by Randall Parrish

The First Emigrants

The First Band of Settlers

It was in 1841 that the first band of settlers began crossing the Plains and mountains to Oregon and California. All who had passed that way before were but wanderers, with no settled purpose of peopling this new land. But these were settlers, men, women, children, and their slow passage westward marked decisively the beginning of a new era. They toiled slowly up the valley of the Platte, finding their only halting-place in all those thousands of miles the rude fur-trader's fort on Laramie River. These were truly the pioneers, and they were so few, only fifteen; Joel P. Walker, wife, sister, three sons, and two daughters; Mr. Burrows, wife, and child; Mr. Warfield, wife, and child, and a man named Nichols. The loneliness, the terrors, the wonders of that journey to the women and children peering out from under the wagon covers as they moved on through those weary months, can scarcely be imagined.

Pioneers in covered wagons, by Thomas Fogarty

Close behind them toiled over the same dim trail Bidwell's company bound for California; but at Fort Bridger this party turned more directly west following the route later made famous by the gold-hunters. A Mrs. Kelsey was the only woman in the Bidwell company. So in the same year the first emigrants passed over the long trails to both Oregon and California.

Succeeding Bands

From this date the stream constantly increased in volume. In 1842 a company of one hundred and twelve men, women, and children, under command of Elijah White, went through to the Columbia River. They had a train of eighteen great Pennsylvania wagons, with cattle, pack-mules, and horses. The next year an army passed that way, consisting of a thousand men, women, and children, bringing with them draft cattle, herds of cows and horses, farming implements, and household goods. This marked the beginning of the end of the old regime. Never again were things the same either on plains or amid the mountains. The period of permanent occupancy had begun.

The Mormon Hegira

Close upon the heels of these earlier emigrants came the great Mormon hegira of 1847. Words can scarcely picture this movement of thousands, in all conditions of life -- men, women, and children, -- bearing with them all their worldly possessions, and for months traveling across the wide Plains, seeking that home which they finally discovered amid the deserts of Utah. Driven from Illinois by enraged citizens, leaving behind a deserted city, this body of religious enthusiasts, under the leadership of Brigham Young, struggled through Iowa, suffering torments from the bitter cold of winter, and the floods of spring, until their second winter's camp was established on the banks of the Elkhorn in Nebraska.

But this halt was only temporary. April 9, 1847, the advance guard departed westward, and all others were expected to follow as soon as possible. The party was furnished with a wagon, two oxen, two milch cows, and a tent, for every ten persons. Each wagon was supplied with a thousand pounds of flour, fifty pounds of rice, sugar, and bacon; thirty of beans, twenty of dried apples or peaches, twenty-five of salt, five of tea, a gallon of vinegar, and ten bars of soap. Every able-bodied man was compelled to carry some kind of firearm, and do his share of guard duty. The wagons were beds, kitchens, and occasionally boats. The average day's journey was thirteen miles. This advance company were three months in reaching the valley of Great Salt Lake, which was chosen by their leader as the situation for their new home.

Mormon Wagon Train in Utah.

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Behind them, in great trains, reaching in almost solid procession from the distant banks of the Missouri, toiled the faithful followers of the prophet. This passing of the disciples of the Church of Latter Day Saints across the wilderness was one of the most wonderful sights witnessed upon the Great Plains, equaled, it is true, and possibly surpassed, in mere point of numbers a few years later by the rush of gold-seekers to California; yet, when one considers the difference in organization and purpose, this vast exodus remains almost without parallel in history. Nor did this strange migration cease with the passing of these pioneers.

Earnest missionaries of the faith toiled with unremitting fervor in the Eastern States and Europe, their numerous converts, usually poor in all but religious enthusiasm, pressing westward in continuous stream across the prairies up to the time of the coming of the railroads. There was no total cessation of the tide. Thousands crossed the Great Plains dragging handcarts containing their baggage, although the Church authorities provided wagons for the women, children, and sick. These hand-carts were primitive but strong, the shafts five feet long, of hickory or oak, with cross pieces. Under the bed of the cart was a wooden axle-tree, the wheels being also made of wood, with a light iron band. The entire weight averaged about sixty pounds.

Thousands of Mormons crossed the Great Plains

dragging handcarts

To each hundred persons the Church furnished twenty of these handcarts, five tents, three or four milk cows, and a wagon to be drawn by three yoke of oxen. The quantity of clothing and bedding taken was limited to seventeen pounds per capita, and the freight of each hand-cart was expected to be about one hundred pounds.

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