--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Ivins, Anthony W. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 29 number: 1 published: 1925-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Ivins, Anthony W., “The Utah Pioneers Had a Definite Purpose,” *Improvement Era* 29, no. 1 (November 1925): 3–8." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2901unse 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: improvementera2901unse start_page: 3 end_page: 8 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1925-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2901unse publication_year: 1925 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 1925, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Utah Pioneers Had a Definite Purpose Improvement Era Vol. XXIX NOVEMBER, 1925 No. 1 THE UTAH PIONEERS HAD A DEFINITE PURPOSE By President Anthony W. Ivins. "And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which yc came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And it shall be when thy son asketh thee, in time to come, saying. What is this? thou shalt say unto him. By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage." It was in commemoration of this event that the feast of the Pass- over was instituted by ancient Israel, and is observed until the present day. The 14th day of the month Abib was observed as a holy day, a day sacred to the ancient Israelites because of the power of the God of their fathers, which had been manifested in their behalf. It has become a custom among the Latter-day Saints, and is be- coming more and more recognized by all people who occupy this intermountain country, to observe the Twenty-fourth day of July as a holiday, a day of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. And when the son asks his father why this day is thus observed, he answers: "It is because on this day, 1847, the 'Mormon' Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley and laid the foundation on which a great empire was to be constructed." My conception of a pioneer is one who goes in advance of others to remove obstacles, blaze trails, and prepare the way, that those who follow after may travel over safer, and more convenient roads. Roads made by men thread the world. We travel over them now on bands of steel, in luxurious motor cars, or through the air. Only yesterday many of these roads were mere trails, blazed by intrepid, fearless men, through unknown forests, across trackless deserts, or over snow dad mountains. The lure of gold, the lust of conquest, the unconquerable desire of man to go into unknown fields for new discovery, the devotion of a Jesuit Priest, or Friar of the Order of San Entered at the Post Office, Salt Lake City, Utah, as second class matter. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July Z, 1918, $2 per annum. Address Room 406, Church Office Building, Salt Lake City, Utah 4 IMPROVEMENT ERA Francisco, to carry the Cross to the unbelieving heathen, regardless of the sacrifice involved, freedom from religious and political thraldom, are among the impulses which have moved men to depart from the beaten paths, and enter new and untried fields, whether it be in science, sociology, or the discovery and colonization of unknown parts of the earth's surface. It is the spirit of the pioneer which prompts finite man to reach out, in his endeavor to penetrate the infinite. The tragedy and romance of the trails blazed by the pioneers of this inter-mountain country, now so well known and understood by us, will never be told or written. It cannot be, because the men who made unrecorded history along these devious ways have long since gone to travel the unknown paths of another world, leaving little of written history behind them. On these old trails men have perished from thirst in summer, and for want of food in winter, have been massacred by savages, have killed one another for possession of the precious fluid contained in the water holes which are scattered along the way, and murdered for the gold taken from the hills through which the trails passed. Young men and maidens have plighted their faith as they traveled over them, mothers have given birth to children, and holy men have sacrificed their lives for religion's sake. No one can tell the story, as time and fate have recorded it. Who of these pioneers was first to enter this inter-mountain region, I do not know. Lewis and Clark had gone up the Missouri and down the Columbia, as early as 1803-1806, more than two years having been consumed in making the journey from St. Louis, Mo., to the mouth of the Columbia and return. We now make the same journey, in luxury in two days. In 1832, Captain Bonneville and party wintered on the Salmon river, in Idaho, and in the same year Nathaniel Wythe, a member of the Bonneville party established Fort Hall. In 1836, Marcus Whitman and Henry Spaulding crossed the continent with wagons, their wives accompanying them, the first white women, and the first wagons to make the journey, so far as we are aware. Whitman, with his wife and twelve others were later killed by the Kayuse Indians, people whom they had gone into Oregon to serve and bless. As early as 1823, Jedediah Smith, with a small party of trappers had explored the Salt Lake Basin, and gone south from that point, along the western base of the Wasatch mountains, to the Rio Virgin, which he followed down to its junction with the Rio Colorado, and crossed into the present state of Arizona. In 1830, William Wolfskill and party traveled over the same route to a point near the junction of the Rio Virgen with the Colorado, where they turned west across the desert to Las Vegas on to the Mojave and through the Cajon Pass to California. UTAH PIONEERS HAD A DEFINITE PURPOSE 5 The first effective effort made looking to the colonization and development of community life in the Rocky mountain region was by the "Mormon" Pioneers, who entered the Salt Lake Valley in July, 1847, seventy-eight years ago. It is true that others had passed over the road before, isolated forts and trading posts had been established, Father Escalante had entered the valley nearly a century before, but no one had come to stay and develop community life. The country was thought to be impossible, so far as agricultural development was concerned, having value, in the estimation of those who were familiar with it, as a fur-producing region only. When the Utah Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley it was a wild, inhospitable part of the great west, the hunting ground of the Ute, the Pahute and Shoshone, and when these people saw the white man come, with his covered wagon and plow, so forcefully portrayed in the re-production of Emerson Hough's great story, with his flocks and herds to eat their grass, and his civilization to frighten away the game which abounded, they naturally resented his encroachment. Eter- nal vigilance was the price of safety, and even then the pioneer was never safe. Food and clothing were necessary, and these could be obtained from cultivation of the soil, and their flocks and herds, these gave them food with which to sustain their bodies, clothing with which to cover them. They became their most cherished possessions- Thus the pioneers became, like Israel of old, a pastoral people, little attention being paid to the professions, and other occupations by which men now acquire wealth. It was in such environment, associated with men of like character, that my boyhood and early manhood was spent. I, too, became a tender of flocks and herds, first for others, later for myself, and the ideals which have governed my life were formed under these circum- stances. They were men of few words, those silent riders of the hills and plains, men of unsurpassed courage, but with hearts as tender as the hearts of women, where acts of mercy were required, which was fre- quently the case. Not many audible prayers were said by them, but when the day's work was finished, and the blankets spread down for the night, many silent petitions went up to the Throne of Grace, in gratitude for blessings received, and prayer for others desired. One day, long after, a poet put the attitude of these men into verse, and this is what he said: "O Lord, I've never lived where churches grow, I love creation better as it stood The day you finished it so long ago, And looked upon your work and called it good. "I know that others find you in the light That's sifted down through tinted window panes, And that I, too, find you near tonight In this dim. cjuiet starlight, on the plains. 6 IMPROVEMENT ERA "I thank thee. Lord, that I am placed so well, That thou hast made my freedom so complete, That I'm no slave of whistle, clock or bell, Or weak-eyed prisoner in a walled-up street. "Just let me live my life as I've begun. Give me work that's open to the sky, Make me a pardner with the wind and sun. And I'll not ask a place that's soft or high. "Let me be easy on the man that's down, Make me free and generous with all, I'm careless. Lord, sometimes when I'm in town. But never let them call me mean or small. "Make me big and open, like the plains on which I ride. Honest as the horse between my knees, Clean as the wind that blows behind the rain, Free as the hawk, which circles down the breeze. "Forgive me, Lord, when sometimes I forget, You know the reasons, which are hid, You know about the things which gall and fret, You know me better than my mother did. "Just keep an eye on all that's said and done, Just right me always, when I turn aside. And guide me on the long, dim trail ahead Which stretches upward, toward the Great Divide." Such was the character of the men who laid the foundation for the empire which is being builded in this Rocky mountain region. Not all alike, it is true; there were good and bad among them, just as there are among doctors and lawyers, merchants and manufacturers, preachers and politicians. Let us analyze, for a moment, the character of man this prayer portrays. He was not an egotist, whose vision was confined to his own restricted environment; he knew that other men found the Lord in temples built with hands, just as be found him there in the solitude of the plains, under the stars. He was not a Pharisee, who magnified the faults of his fellow, while blind to his own imperfections, but one who, acknowledging his own weakness spread the mantle of charity over that of his neighbor. He was not a man who sought the downfall of his neighbor that he might rise to greater heights, but just a brave, plain spoken man, who asked nothing but to be left to his chosen occupation, knowing that the Lord was knocking at the door of the hearts of all men, and that if they would only keep the latch- string on the outside, as it always hung on his cabin door, the Lord would come in and bring peace to their souls. The coming of the Utah Pioneers was not a thing of chance. They were not a body of aimless wanderers, going they knew not whither, but a company of intelligent, educated, thoroughly organized men, the peers of any of their time, going to a destination which had been carefully decided upon, for the accomplishment of a definite UTAH PIONEERS HAD A DEFINITE PURPOSE 7 purpose. That this was the case is shown by a discovery which, some time ago, I made while searching the records in the office of the historian of the Church. Upon a few sheets of manuscript, yellow with age, I found the following, which appears to be of sufficient importance and interest to be presented on this occasion. Manuscripts on file in the office of the historian of the Church, and from which the History of Brigham Young is compiled, contain the following: Feb. 26, 1847. (Winter Quarters). I spent the afternoon and evening in council with Elders H. C. Kimball. O. Pratt, E. T. Benson, W. Woodruff, Geo. A. Smith, A. Lyman, N. K. Whitney, William Clayton and J. M. Grant. Conversa- tion ensued relative to journey westward, the construction of boats, pioneers traveling, location, seeds, irrigation science, etc. ' The following day, February 27, minutes on file in the office of the Church historian, evidently original, read as follows: Joseph Hart will tan hides. The captains of 100 pick up 12 hides and take them to Joseph Hart. B. Young has bought up 100 b. seed corn. Has 300 b. seed corn to go in Pioneer Co. I want them to pay 100 a bushel for seed corn and then they won't feed it to their cattle — get mules and wagons and get to know in one week what we have on hand now get the Pioneers fitted out. If those who go this spring have to fit out the pioneers themselves what right have those who stay to expect anything at the mountains when they come? 400 pounds per team, 300 pounds pro- visions, farming utensils, cooking uiensils, 25 bed blankets, plows, etc., log chains 8. We have to search for land that can be irrigated. My company take 10 prairie and Diamond plows. Two blacksmiths with bellows and tools, carry 10 bushels coal, you want to start your plows the day after you get there. If the Pioneers take horses and mules the next company will not be in fear of Indians — take 20 plows, that Co. and 10 set drag teeth. I want you to be ready by the 15 th of March. Take 5 bus. corn, and all the millet and barley and peas, beans. 2nd Co. Potatoes, Buckwheat, Fall Wheat and Rye. Leave by 15th or 20th of June. Each team 1, bus. seed corn, 1 J^ bus. oats, 1 bus, potatoes, I peck millet, 1 peck barley, 14 bus. white beans, garden seeds all kinds, pack all peas can scrape, all the flax and hemp seed. 3 00 provisions for three men, 400 pounds of corn or meal for team. Each horse and mule thoroughly shod with new shoes, and an extra set of nails prepared. This record shows attention to detail rarely equalled. It proves beyond contradiction that these men had carefully considered, and without fear executed the great undertaking upon which they had embarked. The details of the journey west had been carefully worked out, and the social, industrial and scientific aspects of their purpose considered. That they knew they were going to an arid region, where irrigation would be necessary is plainly shown, and from the fact that the day before the main company entered the valley steps had already been taken to divert the waters of City Creek onto the land which was being prepared for cultivation, it is evident that the proper mode of proceedure in such cases was understood. The entire history of the movement of the "Mormon" people to the west shows that there was a master mind to conceive, and a master hand to execute. It was the mind and hand of Brigham Young, acting under the direction of the Lord, whose agent he was. 8 IMPROVEMENT ERA in the accomplishment of a purpose declared by the prophets thousands of years ago. . With the evolution of the past century the day of the pioneer, as it applies to our western frontier, has passed. We have no desire to recall it. Our faces are turned to the future, not to'the past; we cannot, however, ignore the past, with its mighty influences, which has given to us the present, and the hope it has brought for the future. The for- ward looking man knows that there is pioneering yet to be done in every field of research which leads on to increased intelligence and knowl- edge, for, notwithstanding all our wisdom and knowledge, we are only on the threshold of that which is yet to be acquired; we cannot, how- ever, in our hope for the future, ignore the ideals for which our fathers lived, strove and died. They taught us faith in God, and service to him and our fellowmen. They taught us loyalty to our country and its laws, they taught us by example and precept the fundamentals of honor, virtue, integrity, industry, economy. These truths remain fundamental, no matter what the future may bring. They are needed today as much as ever before; they will be needed as long as eternity may endure, they must never be forgotten, nor allowed to depart from our lives. This is the priceless heritage which our pioneer fathers have bequeathed to us. Hope Hope, the eternal comforter! Blessed is" his solace and words of com- fort to the distressed and faithless. He walks beside the spiritless and cheers them even whe^n desolation promises to be the only reward. Hope walks with Faith and keeps him strong and cheered in his mission of force and execution. May I walk with them both that I may ever have strength and courage to accomplish all that my Father sent me here to do. Hope soothes when we are heartsick and disconsolate. He leads us to believe we may attain to all that we desire. He leads the explorer to the ends of the earth, and the banished towards phantom homes. He returns with memories of lost ideals and points out to us a new star of promise. If we push him aside, he returns again after many days with even a kindlier and more cheerful light. He walks with us in the desert of desolation, and like a mirage he leads us on, and on, until the last ounce of energy is gone. When the last friend has deserted and stars are dead, Hope lifts us up and casts a beam of light across the midnight of gloom until again we see our course anew. Aye, more, he stands by the death couch while death stands at the door. And when at last, death conquers, even then Hope, with solemn mien, points beyond the grave with "trembling hand and bids us believe in him. He who would destroy Hope would blot out the light that has guided the human race across the stormy ages of war and bloodshed to brighter scenes. — J. E. Hickman, Logan, Utah.