Essentials in Church History / A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"

by Joseph Fielding Smith

Orson Pratt’s Vanguard

Monday, July 5, 1847, the company took up their march and arrived at Fort Bridger on the 7th, where they camped. Here they repaired the wagons and shod their horses, preparatory for the rough mountain travel which would lead them to the end of their journey. July 9, they continued on to the head of Echo Canyon, which was reached on the 12th. At this place President Young was taken ill with mountain fever. He ordered Elder Orson Pratt to take a company and precede the main body of pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. This advance company, consisting of twenty-five wagons and forty-two men, traveled down Echo Canyon, with instructions to look for the trail of the Reed-Donner party.^[5] This they found after some difficulty, for it was almost obliterated. It was necessary for a detachment with proper tools to go on ahead and construct a road for the wagons. From this point on to their destination, they encountered the most difficult portion of the road over which they traveled. They passed down into East Canyon and over Big and Little Mountains into Emigration Canyon, which they named “Last Creek.” July 21, President Brigham Young sent Erastus Snow to meet Orson Pratt with a message for him to bear northward after entering the valley, and select the first convenient place for plowing and planting seed. The reason for this apparent haste was that the season was well advanced and every moment counted in the growing of their seed. Elder Snow overtook Orson Pratt on the afternoon of the 21st and together they entered the valley, with one horse between them. Seeing what looked like a field of waving grain to the south, they first journeyed in that direction only to find that they saw canes growing near the banks of what is known today as Mill Creek. Remembering the words of President Young, they retraced their steps and passed on to the north. When near the mouth of Emigration Canyon, Erastus Snow discovered he had lost his coat which was thrown over the saddle and he went back to find it, while Orson Pratt continued on to the north to the present site of Salt Lake City. The following day others of the advance company entered the valley.

The Land Dedicated

July 23, they moved north and camped on what was subsequently known as the Eighth ward square, now occupied by the Salt Lake City and County Building. Orson Pratt called the camp together, dedicated the land and invoked a blessing on the seed they were about to plant. The ground was found so hard that the first attempt to plow was unsuccessful, and several plow-points were broken. By placing a dam in the stream (City Creek) they soaked the ground and in the course of a few days several acres were plowed and planted. The season being so late nothing came of their planting, save the garnering of potatoes about the size of a pea or a walnut, which served for seed the following year and produced a good crop.

“This is the Place”

On the 24th of July, 1847, President Brigham Young with the main body of the pioneers, entered the valley. He was resting in a carriage driven by Elder Wilford Woodruff and as they emerged from the canyon and pulled up onto a ridge President Young, who was ill, requested Elder Woodruff to turn his carriage around so that he could look upon the valley. This was done, and President Young gazed in silence for a few moments. Then with an expression of satisfaction, he said, “This is the place, drive on.” They entered into the valley and camped with the members who had preceded them. They had found the promised land and a resting place for their weary feet, where they could fulfil the predictions of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.

Notes

[1.] Outcasts from “civilization,” with little to eat and little to wear; with few expressions of sympathy, and less help extended in their direction, it was only natural that the Saints on the plains at times would be despondent. President Young constantly labored to cheer and strengthen them. Shortly before the departure of the Pioneer band, he requested Elder William Clayton to write something that would encourage the people. Within two hours Elder Clayton had written the following remarkable hymn, and set it to the music of “All is Well,” an old English tune:

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;

But with joy wend your way.