Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/293

Rh was nothing to tempt the Gentile emigration. He desired isolation, that he might build up "the kingdom." A detachment of one hundred and forty of the Battalion joined the pioneers en route on the 4th of July, and advanced westward with them to the Salt Lake Valley.

On the 22nd of July the apostle Orson Pratt and a few others reached the rim of the Salt Lake Basin, and the next day they rode over a portion of the valley, exploring for a camping-ground near wood and water. They returned to the camp of the pioneers, and reported that they had found the place that Joseph had spoken of where the Church could be located, and where the Saints could increase and multiply without molestation.

On the morning of the 24th of July, 1847, when Brigham Young and the body of the pioneers first got a glimpse of the Great Basin, there was a universal exclamation—"The Land of Promise! The Land of Promise!—held in reserve by the hand of God for the resting-place of His Saints!" Thus writes the historian. After a tedious journey over unmade roads, a distance of 1,100 miles, and passing through so many difficulties by the way, it would have been strange indeed had the weary travellers gazed upon the beautiful scenery of Salt Lake Valley without admiration and "ecstacies of joy." From the mouth of the canon through which the pioneers entered the valley, the view is ravishing. In the distant west the Great Salt Lake lies glistening like a sheet of silver, and in every direction that the eye can travel lofty mountains bound the horizon.

Brigham was sick when he reached the Valley, but he was no less enthusiastic than the others, and was fully satisfied that they had reached the Zion of the Mountains, that had been the theme of ancient prediction.

On the banks of a small stream southwest of the Tabernacle block, the pioneers made their first encampment, and, as soon as their horses and cattle were unhitched and cared for, the Valley of Great Salt Lake was consecrated to the Lord.

In the same hour the ploughs were taken from the wagons and the earth was upturned to receive the seed for the autumn crops, upon which so much depended for the support of the