Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/286

 278 CLYDE B. AITCHISON. property and make preparations for departure without fur- ther molestation. September 9, 1845, the Mormon authorities determined to send an advance party of fifteen hundred to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. In January, 1846, a coun- cil of the church ordered this company to start at once, and announced in a circular to the Saints throughout the world the intention to secure a home beyond the Rockies, a safe haven from the annoyances of their enemies. Through all the winter of 1845-6, the Mormons made every effort to dispose of property they could not easily move and to secure equipment for the march. Houses and farms and all immovable chattels were sacrificed to the best terms avail- able, and the community for a hundred miles around was bartered out of wagons and cattle. The pioneers hastened their departure from motives of prudence. The first detachment, sixteen hundred men, women and children, including the high officials of the church, crossed the river early in February and pushed forward on the march. The main body of Mormons began crossing the day after, and followed the pioneers in large bodies, at frequent intervals, though some little distance behind the first party. By the middle of May or first of June, probably sixteen thousand persons with two thousand wagons had been ferried across the Mississippi, and were on their way to the West. The sufferings of the pioneers (though the hardiest of the whole Mormon host), and of the earlier bands following, is almost beyond description. Hastily and inadequately equipped, without sufficient shelter or fuel, weakened by rheumatism and catarrh, short of food for both man and beast, exposed to every blast of an unusually severe winter, they plodded westward and wished for spring. Spring came, and found them not half way to the Missouri. The excessive snows of the winter and the heavy spring rains turned the rich prairie soil into pasty mud, and raised the streams so that in many instances the emigrants had to wait patiently for the waters to go down. The pioneers laid out a road, and established huge farms in