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Mormon Trail

Wayne L. Wahlquist

The Mormon migration to the Mountain West began with the expulsion of Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846. The first refugees left the state in early February, and the last were driven out in September. An estimated 12,000 to 16,000 people evacuated Nauvoo and its hinterland and found themselves scattered across Iowa during 1846 and 1847. Upon reaching the Missouri River, they began congregating at the present site of Council Bluffs, which they named Kanesville in honor of Colossians Thomas L. Kane, who had befriended them earlier and who then visited them on the Missouri. A larger number moved to the west side of the river. After examining several locales, a town site--Winter Quarters--was surveyed on the bluff above the west bank of the Missouri in what is now Florence in North Omaha. Here the majority built what shelters they could to enable them to survive the coming winter. Nearly 4,000 spent the winter in cabins, caves, or sod hovels. Approximately 400 did not survive because of inadequate shelter, winter cold, and an outbreak of cholera. An even larger number, approximately 10,000, were scattered in camps across Iowa. Winter Quarters served not only as a temporary hearth, where Mormon leaders could collect their flock and prepare for the long trek to the Salt Lake Valley, but also as the primary launching site for Mormon immigrants for the next several years.

Under Brigham Young, a pioneer company of 148 persons left Winter Quarters on April 14, 1847, to establish a route to the Salt Lake Valley, later to be followed by thousands of others. En route, 19 men left the company on other assignments and 35 persons were added. The company moved west to the Platte River and then continued along its north bank. A well-traveled route, the Oregon Trail, followed the river on its south side. At one point the pioneer company debated crossing the Platte and following the Oregon Trail, but determined that for the thousands to follow, it would be better to keep the Mormon Trail on the north side to minimize contact with Oregon-bound immigrants.

At first, distances were estimated; later they were measured by tying a piece of cloth to a wagon wheel and counting the revolutions. That task proved to be too laborious, and an odometer was rigged that would measure distances automatically. Not only did the pioneer company measure distances (1,031 miles between Winter Quarters and Salt Lake City); they also calculated longitude and latitude coordinates of significant points along the trail and used a barometer to determine elevations. They also recorded vegetation and rock strata through which they passed.

The Mormon Trail followed the North Platte as far as Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Here the pioneer company crossed the river and followed the Oregon Trail to Fort Bridger. At difficult river crossings the company constructed ferries and left small contingents to operate the ferries for immigrant trains that would follow. At Fort Bridger the trails split, the Oregon Trail turning northwestward and the Mormon Trail following the Hastings cutoff southwestward to the Salt Lake Valley, the route pioneered by the ill-fated Donner-Reed company the year before.