--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Fisher, Ha collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 15 number: 9 published: 1912-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Ha Fisher, "“The Three Pioneer Women of Utah”," *Improvement Era* 15, no. 9 (July 1912): 830–832.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1509unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1509unse start_page: 830 end_page: 832 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1912-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1509unse publication_year: 1912 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1912, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # “The Three Pioneer Women of Utah” 830 IMPROVEMENT ERA. this first journey over the untrodden way, but more than once did these "ministering- angels" prove that no mistake was made in bringing them. Instead of being a burden, they proved a blessing to the travelers. They served and washed and cooked and helped to keep the camp in order. And toward the close of the journey when even the strongest were becoming weak and weary, our Pioneer Women cheered and encouraged and comforted the Pilgrims, and tenderly cared for the sick as only women can do. They suffered patiently when the sun beat down on the barren deserts, when the rain fell in the shady mountain gorges. They breathed no murmur of complaint when their shoes wore from their feet and night fell on bloody traces on the cruel stones. On they plodded, wading rivers, crossing deserts, climbing mountains, trusting still in God. ' When they emerged from Emigration canyon and entered the Great Salt Lake Valley, a picture — the most lonely and desolate they had yet seen on all their weary way — met their gaze. They had longed to find the pasture green or the sheltering, leafy tree, but in the valley there were no meadows, no trees — only a sunburned waste. Grief that could not be expressed pierced the hearts of our heroines. Tenderly and tearfully they thought of the friendship ties they had severed, thought of the homes they had left where the country was all like a garden. Was it for this they had toiled and sacrificed and suffered? Alas ! must they live and die in such a place ? They had sought a safe retreat, and truly here they had found it ! This was the home God had decreed for them. On their pilgrim journey they had endured all things without complaint, their courage had never faltered, their faith had never failed, and even now they bore their disapointment with a patient grace. It was not for pleasure, not for praise, not for the distinction, that they came. It was their faith, their devotion, their divine heroism that brought them to be Utah's Pioneer Women. "The very place!" exclaimed President Young as he scanned with prophetic eye not only the barren valley, but the sublime possibilities of the future which prayerful faith and patient toil would unfold. In spite of the disappointment, preparations were soon begun 'to, firmly secure themselves in the land that was henceforth to be their home. The season was late, but crops were immediately planted in the hope of a harvest. The summer months wore away, and in the early fall. Presidents Young and Kimball and a few others set out to meet the second company that had left Winter Quarters. Starvation and danger from hostile Indians confronted our heroines, but they faced them bravely and permitted their husbands to journey forth to greet the coming Saints. Oh ! those were trying days. The few supplies of the company were fast being exhausted and the settlers were forced to subsist on rations of four ounces of flour per day and a little milk. But before the scanty harvest was reaped, even the flour was exhausted, and hunger compelled them to eat wild roots and even drink the glue from cooked raw-hides. Still, the pioneer life was not without beauty. Our mothers found among the gray sage brush the lovely Sego Lily. Sweet blossom of hope ! How it must have cheered and gladdened their lonely hearts ! CONJOINT SESSIONS M. I. A. CONFERENCE. 831 How it must have held secret communion with their spirits ! They admired its exquisite beauty and it made their lives more beautiful. They loved its purity, and it made their hearts more pure. They inhaled its fragrance, and it gave them power to exhale a spirit of love and hope. Late in October a second company of pilgrims reached the valley bringing with them new supplies and courage and cheer for those who had remained in anxious waiting. As soon as it was thought wise, Harriet Young and her husband left the old Fort where until now the entire company had lived together for protection from hostile Indians, and went to live where today stands the Beehive House. President Young built for his wife Clara a little dwelling near her mother, and Ellen and her husband soon abandoned the old Fort for a private home. With the exception of a journey undertaken later one spring by sister Harriet, from which she returned the following summer, the remainder of the lives of our Pioneer Women was passed amid the scenes of the early colonization of Utah. They beheld the barren valleys they had found being gradually transformed into a prosperous city. The months of their lives faded into years of pleasure and peace and joy mingled with all their privations. So, with toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing, the years wore away, but not without leaving their traces. In June, 1868, Time brought the seal of Death and stamped it on the brow of Ellen Kimball's husband. In her widowhood she moved with her children to Bear Lake Valley, but three years later she suffered from dropsy and returned to Salt Lake to consult a physician and to walk for the last time in the valley she had been one of the first to enter. This completed her life's work, and on November 22, 1871, she was laid to rest by the side of her illustrious husband. In life a kindred tie had united the hearts of our Pioneer Mothers, and in death the spirits of the eldest two were not long separated1. Just one month later, December 22, the summons of departure came to Harriet Young. A complication of disorders in a system naturally delicate and fast becoming worn and weary ended a life that for three score and ten years had been spent in self sacrifice and service. For Clara there still remained seventeen years of pilgrimage and one deep draught of sorrow for her to drink. She must see Zion's leader, her husband, on August 29, 1877, fall before the sickle of the Universal Reaper. This heavy loss sanctified her life, and she continued to bless and serve until one winter afternoon eleven years later her heart failed her — the heart that for sixty years had throbbed with love for humanity. So lived arid labored and died Utah's three Pioneer Women. Theirs is an obscure story, but their part in the early colonization and development of our State, was none the less effective, none the less faithful and true, although comparatively silent. Patient, faithful, enduring women ! For their unselfish service we love and honor them, countless generations will remember and revere their names. They leave to future ages a blessing even greater than their work. The records of their sainted lives reveal three pure, devoted, noble characters. Theirs were the hands that began the work of making our Moun- 832 IMPROVEMENT ERA. tain State blossom. They endured the hardships and privations necessary for Utah to be adorned today with spreading cities, towering buildings, majestic temples, beautiful homes. They toiled to conquer the unfruitful soil that you and I might today enjoy rich fields of growing grain and orchards all abloom, groves and gardens, and crystal streams fresh from the hills of eternal snows. By the works that they began the barren desert of Utah twenty years ago had been transformed into our mountain home, our garden of variegated beauty ! "Oh Pioneer Women! Could thine eyes but see All this, the glory that thy life has wrought; Beauty that blossomed from thy barren lot; Strength that is fruit of thy fidelity; The truth of all thy trust upon thy gaze, — Thy hands would raise from dust in clasp amaze ! "Oh Pioneer Women! from thy lowly door Cities have sprung; the seeds of nations sown, The paths thy tender feet have trodden down The masters of the earth are grateful for. Women of many tears, dost thou behold The iron of thy years is turned to Gold!" The Granite stake M. I. A. prize male quartet sang "Annie Laurie," after which the benediction was pronounced by Sister Lavon Smith, of Bear River stake. At the Sunday morning meeting in the Tabernacle the combined M. I. A. choruses of the Jordan stake, Wm. M. Cox, director, sang, "Utah We Love Thee," and prayer was offered by President Anthon H. Lund- The Jordan stake choruses then sang, "Praise Ye the Father," by Gounod. President Joseph F. Smith presided. The next thirty minutes were occupied by a sample preliminary program. Elder Edward H. Anderson spoke on, ''The purpose and method of preliminary programs." The subject "Faith-Promoting Topics," was taken up under three heads (a) A re-told story, by Clarissa A. Beesley, (b) Personal Experiences, Dr. George H. Brimhall, and (c) A vocal duet, "The Lord is my Shepherd." by Margaret Summerhays and Melvin Peterson. The remarks and stories will be printed later. A solo was then rendered by Miss Edna Evans entitled "Fear Ye not, O Israel," after which Elder Junius F. Wells gave the following: "