In this region of the country the pioneers were constantly meeting with trappers and traders who were familiar with the Salt Lake Valley. They all gave discouraging reports of that region and advised the Saints to locate elsewhere. They spoke more favorably of the Cache, the Bear and other valleys to the north. Among those giving this adverse advice were Major Moses Harris, Thomas L. Smith and Colonel James Bridger. The latter informed President Young that he deemed it unwise to bring a large colony into the Great Basin until it was demonstrated that it would be possible to raise grain there. He stated that he would give a thousand dollars if he knew an ear of corn could ripen in Salt Lake Valley. Undaunted by these unfavorable reports President Young with his band of pioneers pushed on with great vigor.

The Meeting with Samuel Brannan

Wednesday, June 30, 1847, the pioneers arrived at the Green River. The water was very high, with a swift current. After dinner the brethren commenced making two rafts with which to cross the stream. While they were at work Samuel Brannan came into the camp, having come from San Francisco. He had traveled around Cape Horn, from New York to California, with a company of emigrating Saints in the year 1846. Brannan and two others had braved the dangers of the mountains through deep snows to reach the camp of the pioneers, having left on the 4th of April. He brought with him several numbers of his paper, The California Star, and the latest news of the Mormon Battalion. He labored diligently to get President Young to continue on to California and not remain in the barren wastes of the Rocky Mountains. President Young, however, was following the inspiration of the Lord, and not the wisdom of man. The Lord had pointed out to him—as he had to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1842—that the place of settlement for the Latter-day Saints was in the “midst of the Rocky Mountains.”

An Uninviting Country

It should be remembered that in 1847, the Salt Lake Valley was desolate and uninviting. There was little vegetation save the stubby growth of salt-grass, grease-wood and sage that covered the valley, and the few willows and cottonwood trees that stood on the banks of the canyon streams. At that time the Rocky Mountain region and a large part of the plains to the east were little known. The few emigrants who had passed through the Great Basin had made haste to get beyond and into the more inviting parts on the Pacific coast. This vast inter-mountain country was the haunt of the trapper and the hunter, to whom the possibilities and resources of the arid west were not even a dream. The valleys of the mountains had been occupied for upwards of twenty years by these nomads of the desert, who wandered from place to place hunting and trapping, content in the belief that the wild and primitive condition which then prevailed must so remain forever.

As late as 1843, two years before the exodus, the opinion held by the majority in the United States was that the whole territory of the Rocky Mountains was not worth a “pinch of snuff.” Such was the expression made by Senator George H. McDuffie, of South Carolina, in the senate that year. Discussing the settlement of Oregon, he said: “Who are to go there, along the line of military posts, and take possession of the only part of the territory fit to occupy—that part upon the sea coast, a strip less than one hundred miles in width. Why, sir, of what use will this be for agricultural purposes? I would not for that purpose give a pinch of snuff for the whole territory. I wish to God we did not own it.”[4]

The inspiration which came to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1842—and even earlier and which was converted into reality by Brigham Young—shines forth with increased lustre when placed in contrast with the united opinions of all those who were familiar with the land in the year 1847.

Arrival of the Battalion Members from Pueblo

July 1, 1847, the men commenced ferrying over Green River which was continued until Saturday the 3rd. In the evening of Saturday, the camp was called together and the men who desired to journey back to meet their families who were on the plains and supposed to be several hundred miles in the rear, were given that privilege. Five volunteered to return. President Young, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards accompanied the five brethren back to the ferry on Green River. Here they saw a group of thirteen men, with horses and baggage on the opposite side of the river ready to be ferried across. They were members of the Mormon Battalion journeying from Pueblo. They were given three cheers and President Young “led out in exclaiming Hosannah! Hosannah! Give glory to God and the Lamb, Amen!” These men were in pursuit of horse thieves who had stolen several of the battalion horses, of which they had recovered all but one or two. They reported to President Young that the Pueblo detachment of the battalion was within seven days’ march of the Green River. It was decided that as the members of the battalion had not been discharged nor had they received their pay, Samuel Brannan and Thomas S. Williams should return with them to California to pilot them on the way. Brannan was greatly disappointed at the decision of President Young to locate in the Salt Lake Valley.

President Young and companions returned to the pioneer camp with twelve of the members of the battalion, Sunday afternoon, July 4. One of the soldiers, William Walker, had decided to accompany the five brethren back to the camps of the Saints. Sunday was spent by the pioneers in religious service under the direction of the bishops.