July is an exciting time to be in
Utah because there are many events leading up to the big celebration of Pioneer
Day. Residents of Utah and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints in other areas celebrate Pioneer Day in remembrance of the arrival of
the Mormon Pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. The holiday is
celebrated for several weeks and includes concerts, rodeos, and marathons as
well as the big parade on the 24th.
President Gordon B. Hinckley presented
some remarks at a Pioneer Day commemoration concert on July 22, 2001. He counsels the people of Utah and
particularly members of the Church to never forget the sacrifices and
achievements of the pioneers.
I have felt that we must never permit
ourselves to lose sight of the great and singular achievements of those who
first came to this valley in 1847. They came not for riches or gold, but rather
to find a place where they could worship God under the revelations which are
the foundation of this work. They were outcasts, driven and hounded, persecuted
and peeled. Their reliance was on the God of heaven. When they reached this
place, they stopped in spite of entreaties to go on to California or the
Northwest.
As I have said before, they knew nothing really of the climate of
the area, of the conditions of the soil, of the crickets or the grasshoppers with
which they soon became acquainted. They had learned all they could concerning
the Great Basin, but that was precious little. No one before them had ever
grown a potato or an ear of corn or moved a plow to break this sunbaked soil.
In the months leading up to July 24,
1997, members of the Church studied the lives and accomplishments of the Mormon
pioneers. There was a huge reenactment of the pioneer trek with a wagon train
traveling from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Salt Lake Valley. My husband’s brother
and his wife took part in this event. Their experience had a profound effect in
their lives.
In recent years the youth
organizations of the Church started doing “Trek.” The youth and their leaders
are divided into “families” who are members of a handcart company. The youth
have the experience of walking for several days, pushing handcarts, and living
in conditions similar to those of the pioneers. If the youth live near enough
to the pioneer trail, they do their trek along the actual path of the pioneers.
Other groups reenact the experience in their local areas. All come away from
their experience with greater knowledge about their ancestors and other
pioneers and stronger faith in Jesus Christ.
President Hinckley often reminded
members of the Church that we are all beneficiaries of the Mormon pioneers
whether or not we had ancestors among the Mormon pioneers. In these remarks he
shares the following quote made by Brigham Young in 1868 – 21 years after
entering the Salt Lake Valley.
We made and broke the road from Nauvoo
to this place. … Some of the time we followed Indian trails; some of the time
we ran by the compass. When we left the Missouri River we followed the Platte.
And we killed rattlesnakes by the cord in some places, and made roads and built
bridges till our backs ached. Where we could not build bridges across rivers we
ferried our people across, until we arrived here, where we found a few naked
Indians, a few wolves and rabbits, and any amount of crickets; but as for any
green tree, or any green fields, we found nothing of the kind, with the
exception of a few cottonwoods and willows on the edge of City Creek. For some
1,200 or 1,300 miles we carried every particle of provisions we had when we
arrived here.
President Hinckley says that
President Young went on to say: “We prayed over the land, and dedicated it, and
the water, air and everything pertaining to them unto the Lord, and the smiles
of heaven rested on the land and it became productive, and today yields us the
best of grain, fruits and vegetables” (quoted in Nibley, Brigham Young, 441-42).
Then President Hinckley says, “We
must never allow recognition of their trials, of their sacrifices, of their
tenacity, of their faith and their prayers in establishing this great community
to lapse or be forgotten.”
The Mormon Pioneers arrived in the
Salt Lake Valley and began to tame the desert. They built homes and dug ditches
to bring water from the mountains to water their crops. They made the desert
blossom and the Valley to become fertile. Many of them were barely settled when
they were asked by Brigham Young to go to other areas to make more settlements.
Most of the cities in the Mountain West were first started by Mormon Pioneers.
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