BEGINNINGS

Brigham Young

In June 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother were murdered in Carthage, Illinois. Leadership of the Church passed to Brigham Young, who at that time was the longest-serving apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Brigham Young became responsible for the continued existence of the Church. He:

• led the first group of pioneers across 1000 miles of unpopulated prairie and, in 1847,  reached the Salt Lake valley in present-day Utah.
• subsequently regulated the influx of over 70,000 people from the United States and  Europe and founded over 350 settlements, amongst them towns in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Canada and Mexico.
• led the Church for 33 years.
• died in Salt Lake City in1877 at the age of 76.

The Pioneers

The Latter-day Saints (as the members of the Church are called) were driven by mobs from their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois in 1846. They crossed Iowa and spent the winter in Winter Quarters, Nebraska near to present-day Omaha. Under the leadership of Brigham Young, the first group of pioneers left Winter Quarters in the spring of 1847 and arrived in the Salt Lake valley on July 24th, 1847. The distance covered was approximately 1,600 kilometers.

Between 1847 and 1869:

• The pioneer groups used covered wagons, horses and handcarts for their trek across the prairie.
• Many thousands of people came from other countries, especially from Great Britain and Scandinavia.
• The pioneers moved to the west of the United States to begin a new life and to worship God.
• Over 70,000 people crossed the prairie to get to Salt Lake City (even more came after the completion of the railroad in 1869).
• Spreading out from Salt Lake City, the pioneer families settled vast tracts of the western United States.