Looking Westward.

Why the "Mormons" Migrated.—Foreseeing that the Nation would turn a deaf ear to his patriotic appeal for a peaceful and just settlement of the slave question, the Prophet began to contemplate the removal of the Church from close proximity to the scenes of strife and carnage that were about to be enacted. It was highly necessary that a people chosen for such a purpose—to prepare the world for the ushering in of the Reign of Righteousness—should remain upon earth to accomplish their mission. In order to so remain, they must be out of the way of the troubles that were imminent, and, so far as possible, keep out of the way until the divine judgments predicted had gone forth and done their work. This was one reason why the Latter-day Saints migrated to the Rocky Mountains.

Driven to their Destiny.—Their cruel expulsion from Missouri had indirectly contributed to their safety; for when the war-cloud which had long been gathering finally burst, it poured out much of its fury upon those very lands from which the Saints had been driven.^[1] And now, their enforced pilgrimage into the all but untrodden wilderness of the Great West likewise preserved them from many trials that would have fallen to their lot had they tarried within the area seriously affected by the stern events that followed.

Fleeing the Wrath to Come.—It was a next-best course that the fugitive people pursued. Originally they were cast for a very different role, but not being ready to enact that role, another part was assigned them, one destined to prepare them for the greater performance that is yet to follow. In order that the community might survive, and accomplish, when the time came, the mighty task of "redeeming Zion," it was imperative that they should "flee the wrath to come."

The Exodus Foretold.—The removal of the Saints to the region of the Rocky Mountains, was the theme of a prophecy uttered by Joseph the Seer nearly two years before his death, and nearly four years prior to the beginning of the famous "Mormon Exodus." Nauvoo, Illinois, where he then resided, is on the east bank of the Mississippi River, and on the west bank, just opposite, is the little town of Montrose. From the Prophet's personal history, I now quote an entry of Saturday, August 6th 1842:

"Passed over the river to Montrose, Iowa, in company with General Adams, Colonel Brewer and others, and witnessed the installation of the officers of the Rising Sun Lodge, Ancient York Masons, at Montrose, by General James Adams, Deputy Grand Master of Illinois. While the Deputy Grand Master was engaged in giving the requisite instructions to the Master-elect, I had a conversation with a number of brethren in the shade of the building, on the subject of our persecutions in Missouri and the constant annoyance which has followed us since we were driven from that State. I prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction, and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains. Many would apostatize, others would be put to death by our persecutors or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, 'and some of you will live to go and assist in making settlements, build cities, and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains."'^[2]

Anson Call's Narrative.—One of the men who heard that prediction was Anson Call, afterwards a prominent colonizer in various parts of the Rocky Mountain region. His account, descriptive of the Montrose incident, follows:

"A block school-house had been prepared, with shade in front, under which was a barrel of ice water. Judge Adams was the highest Masonic authority in the State of Illinois, and had been sent there to organize this lodge. He, Hyrum Smith, and J. C. Bennett, being high Masons, went into the house to perform some ceremonies which the others were not entitled to witness. These, including Joseph Smith, remained under the bowery. Joseph, as he was tasting the cold water, warned the brethren not to be too free with it. With the tumbler still in his hand, he prophesied that the Saints would yet go to the Rocky Mountains; and, said he, 'this water tastes much like that of the crystal streams that are running from the snow-capped mountains.' . . . . I had before seen him in a vision (i.e. while having a vision), and now saw, while he was talking, his countenance change to white—not the deadly white of a bloodless face, but a living, brilliant white. He seemed absorbed in gazing upon something at a great distance, and said: 'I am gazing upon the valleys of those mountains."'^[3]

The Seeric Power.—Joseph Smith, at that time, was standing on the west bank of the Mississippi River, fifteen hundred miles from the Rocky Mountains; yet he saw these grand old hills, crowned with unmelting snows, and seamed with rugged gorges down which the crystal torrents were flowing as they flow today. He actually beheld, with spirit vision, these objects—beheld them so vividly, that had he been permitted to carry out his partly formed purpose of leading his people to their new home in the wilderness, he would have recognized this land, and would have been able to say, as Brigham Young said, upon beholding Salt Lake Valley: "This is the Place."^[4]

Another Prophet and Seer.—But Joseph did not live to accompany his people upon their historic journey. Another mighty leader was raised up to pilot modern Israel to their promised land. Of Brigham Young it is related, that while crossing the plains west of the Missouri River, in the spring and summer of 1847, he had a vision of the region that he and his fellow pilgrims were about to inhabit. He saw a tent settling down from heaven over the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, and heard a voice proclaim: "This is the place where my people Israel shall pitch their tents." Such is the testimony of Erastus Snow,^[5] one of the principal men who came with President Young to the Rocky Mountains. Consequently when the great Pioneer said, "This is the place," he was repeating words that had been spoken to him—repeating them while viewing with natural eyes a scene that his spirit eyes had already beheld.

Human Wisdom vs. Divine Guidance.—What availed, after that, the pessimistic forebodings of the mountaineer, James Bridger, who camped with the Pioneers just after they passed the Rocky Mountains, and whose laconic speech, "I would give a thousand dollars if I knew an ear of corn could ripen in Salt Lake Valley," has been often and variously quoted? What availed the roseate account given of the California Coast by the ultra-optimistic Samuel Brannan, who, after sailing with a "Mormon" colony from New York and landing at the Bay of San Francisco, crossed the Sierra Nevada, met the Pioneers on Green River, and endeavored to persuade them that the flowery slopes of the Pacific were a better place of abode for the exiled people than the parched alkali wastes of "The Great American Desert?" Brigham Young knew better than Colonel Bridger or Elder Brannan what was for the best. Looking past the present into the future, he had for all such warnings and persuasions, one reply: "This is the place."

Prophecy Fulfilled and Vision Verified.—Brigham Young was not the man to ignore divine guidance. His own vision was before him, beckoning him on; and Joseph Smith's prediction behind him, urging him forward and pointing out the way. The Latter-day Saints were to "become a mighty people"—not in California, not along the Pacific Coast, but "in the midst of the Rocky Mountains."

Footnotes

1. The history of guerilla warfare and its merciless suppression along the Missouri-Kansas border, amply bears out this assertion.2. Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, p. 85.

This prophecy began to be fulfilled early in February, 1846, when the first companies of the migrating Saints left Nauvoo for the West, crossing the frozen Mississippi on the ice. About the middle of June they reached the Missouri River, then the frontier of the Nation, where their further progress was delayed for a whole season by the enlistment of the "Mormon" Battalion—five hundred men—who responded to a call from the Government and volunteered to assist the United States in its war with Mexico.3. "This was followed," continues the Call narrative, "by a vivid description of the scenery of these mountains as I have since become acquainted with it. . . . . It is impossible to represent in words this scene which is still vivid in my mind—the grandeur of Joseph's appearance, his beautiful descriptions of this land, and his wonderful prophetic utterances as they emanated from the glorious inspirations that overshadowed him. There was a force and power in his exclamations of which the following is but a faint echo: 'Oh the beauty of those snow-capped mountains! The cool refreshing streams that are running down through those mountain gorges.' Then, gazing in another direction, as if there was a change of locality: 'Oh the scenes that this people will pass through! The dead that will lie between here and there.' Then, turning in another direction, as if the scene had again changed: 'Oh the apostasy that will take place before my brethren reach that land! But, he continued, 'the priesthood shall prevail over its enemies, triumph over the devil, and be established upon the earth, never more to be thrown down."' Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, pp. 85, 86. Note.4. The journey of the Pioneers began at Winter Quarters (now Florence, Nebraska) about the middle of April, 1847. It ended on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, July 24th of the same year. The company, led by President Brigham Young in person, consisted originally of 143 men, three women, and two children. The men were well armed and equipped, and the company traveled mostly in covered wagons, drawn by horses, mules and oxen. Four large companies of emigrants followed immediately after the Pioneers, arriving in Salt Lake Valley during the autumn.5. See Apostle Snow's discourse of July 25, 1880, reproduced in the "Improvement Era" for June, 1913.