On March 19, 1947, Elders Dean S. Farnsworth and P. Ross Wynn gave a lengthy presentation over radio station WARM in Scranton, Pennsylvania. While the occasion for the radio address was the centennial of the pioneer arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, don’t let that put you off as a non-Utahn – it’s really a brief history of the pre-Utah church, together with some then-current claims about what made Mormons desirable citizens.
I think the value in a record like this is first, how much fun would it have been to address the world when you were a missionary over the prevalent communication technology! and, this gives us an indication of what the elders thought would be good selling points for Mormonism in a mostly secular, largely social and civic way.
Utah Centennial
Just a little over one hundred years ago explorers and pioneers began to move westward in search of new homes, new lands, and other desires of their hearts. This year the people of Utah are observing the one-hundredth anniversary of the entrance of the pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley by staging festive and religious celebrations throughout the year. Many who have visited Salt Lake City have seen a city which has literally grown up in the middle of a salt desert. Of course, the people of Utah are extremely proud of the achievements and progress of the city and state which have been made in such a comparatively short time. The success of this undertaking has and is depending on the objectives and ideals of the settlers. To understand the motives and goals of these Utah pioneers, one would have to go back to the spring of 1830 when a Church was organized in Fayette, New York, which became officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Today that same group is perhaps more commonly known as the “Mormon Church.” It sustained as its first prophet and leader, a young man named Joseph Smith.
After the organization of the Church, the members were driven, plundered by mobs, persecuted, and murdered. In 1842 the prophet, Joseph Smith, prophesied, “The Saints will continue to suffer much affliction and will be driven to the Rocky Mountains; many will apostatize; others will be put to death by our persecutors, or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease; and some will live to go on and assist in making settlements and build cities and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.” (end of quote)
Joseph Smith never lived to see his prophecy fulfilled for in 1844 he met a martyr’s death by the hands of a mob which was trying to stamp out a Church whose members were God-fearing Christians.
Seeing that the death of Joseph Smith did not destroy the unity of the Mormon people, the mobsters then settled their attacks upon the members of the Church. In the spring of 1846 this religious group of people were forced to leave their homes, including the largest city in the state of Illinois, known as Nauvoo, and flee to the West. It was hard for them to leave Nauvoo, known as the “beautiful,” with its temple constructed at a cost of over one million dollars amid extreme poverty. However, under the able guidance and inspired leadership of Brigham Young, who was chosen and sustained as their next leader, the great exodus of Mormon Pioneers commenced. With complete faith in their leader, the Saints went forth bravely in search of homes where they could live according to their beliefs.
Many outstanding events took place in their long trek westward. While encamped at Council Bluffs, Iowa, soldiers brought a request from the President of the United States for them to furnish five hundred men to assist in the war with Mexico. In reply to this presidential order the required number of men were recruited, and formed the now-famed Mormon Battalion which marched through two thousand miles of wilderness and desert to San Diego, California. This one trek has been acclaimed the longest infantry march of all time, and only recently the centennial of the march was widely celebrated in the city of San Diego.
The loss of these men made it necessary for the large group of Saints to divide into smaller groups.
In the spring of 1847 the Journey continued from their “Winter Quarters,” which is now Omaha, Nebraska. The first group, under the leadership of Brigham Young, consisted of 148 men, women, and children, with seventy-two prairie schooners.
Occasionally the pioneers met traders and trappers who gave them information concerning their future home in the Great Basin. One of these was a grizzled, weather-beaten frontiersman who announced: “I’m Jim Bridger.”
“I’m Brigham Young,” replied the Latter-day Saint leader.
“Oh, you’re the ‘Mormons’ I’ve heard about. Where’re you going?” Bridger asked.
Brigham Young answered, “We’re looking for a place where there is plenty of land, timber, and water. Thousands of my people are to join us in building a new Zion. Now about the great Basin?”
“No, that isn’t any good. It’s only a desert, a dead sea, and a lot of salt flats,” Bridger replied. “It certainly lacks timber.”
“Does it contain any streams of water?” the Mormon leader anxiously asked.
“A few small ones, but it also contains horned toads, wolves, grasshoppers, and crickets. The Indians eat bushels of crickets,” replied Bridger.
“Can corn be grown around the Great Salt Lake?” inquired Brigham Young.
“No, that can’t be done,” answered Bridger, “and I’ll give one thousand dollars for the first ear of corn ripened in the open air out there.”
The leader of the exiled Saints replied, ‘If there is water, we’ll raise not only corn but anything that will grow in this latitude. I’m looking for a desert country where the Saints will have to work hard in order to earn a living and will not be molested.”
After the conversation they continued on their way. The trail followed in the journey westward is now the route of the Union Pacific Railroad through Nebraska, then across Southern Wyoming and down into the valley of the Great Salt Lake, which was then owned by Mexico.
On July 24th, 1847, the small band of Mormons came out of the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains to a spot overlooking the present city and valley of Salt lake. It was then that Brigham Young studied the view before him and expressed with satisfaction, “This is the place. Drive on!” It was the place which had been made known to him in a vision, and where they could become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, as the Prophet, Joseph Smith, had prophesied.
This prophesy was rapidly fulfilled, for in 1869, there were approximately eighty thousand people who had migrated to Utah for the privilege of living their religion. By then the Salt Lake City Tabernacle was completed, and has since become world-famous for the weekly Tabernacle Choir and Organ Program broadcast from Temple Square.
All of this had been accomplished before the railroads reached Utah in the Year 1869.l But there were some Saints, however, who expressed discontent, and grumbled over these tasks.
To this, Brigham Young replied, (quote) “We have been kicked out of the frying pan into the fire, and here we are and here we will stay. God has shown me that this is the spot to locate His people, and here is where they will prosper …
“As the Saints gather here and get strong enough to possess the land, God will temper the climate and we shall build a city and a Temple to the most High God in this place. We will extend our settlements to the East and West, to the North and to the South, and we will build cities and towns by the hundreds, and thousands of the Saints will gather in from the nations of the earth. This will become the great highway of nations …
“Take courage, brethren … Plow your land and sow wheat, plant your potatoes.
‘It is our duty to preach the gospel, gather Israel, pay our tithing and build temples. The worst fear that I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax cold, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to Hell! This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true, but my greatest fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth.” (unquote)
The latter-day Saints settled in the valleys of the mountains primarily to worship the Lord and to keep His commandments, and also to develop a peaceful commonwealth where others of their faith might be gathered to enjoy the fruits of their labors without molestation.
So there in the valleys in the top of the mountains they remained to grow and develop in their own way, and thus fulfilling prophecies made by the Prophets, Isaiah and Micah about 700 years before Christ. In Chapter 4 of Micah it states, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all people shall flow unto it.” The same prophecy is made in Isaiah 2:2. During the past century many people, both tourists and honest-hearted people desiring to learn more of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, have come to Salt Lake City which is truly established in the top of the Mountains.
There are many other facts which indicate that the people of Utah have become a mighty people as prophesied by Joseph Smith. A few of the accomplishments which show the progression of the pioneers of the past one hundred years are as follows:
The larger part of Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Western Colorado, and parts of California and Oregon were originally settled by the Latter-day Saints. They have founded 615 cities, towns, and villages. At present 65% of Salt Lake City is comprised of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while 74% of the state population are members. The Church is, without a doubt, the responsible element for most of the progress in Utah.
According to a recent survey, Utah ranks “first” in the overall field of education compared to the other forty-seven states, a fact reported in the “Look magazine, February 18, 1947. Literacy among the latter-day Saints is over 99.7%.
The Church has produced many men of distinction. In proportion to the population more Utah-born men have achieved success than men of any other state. This fact was revealed in a study of “Who’s Who in America,” by a well-known research professor at Columbia University.
The birth rate in Utah is the highest and the death rate the lowest of the forty-eight states according to 1944 vital statistics. The marriage rate is nearly twice as high as the average for twenty of the leading nations, and divorces number about one-third of the average for fifteen nations. Illegitimate births are fewer than one-tenth of the average for twenty-two civilized nations.
Irrigation in a modern sense was first practiced on this Western Hemisphere by the Mormon pioneers under the inspired guidance of Brigham Young. They “made the desert blossom as a rose” by diverting water from the rivers and streams to vast acres of land in some of the richest valleys in the world.
The women of Utah were probably the first ones in modern times to exercise woman suffrage. The Latter-day Saint women sponsor a Relief Society which is the oldest women’s organization of its kind still in existence in the world. Some of the objects of this society are to seek out and relieve the distressed, and to maintain high moral standard within the Church and community.
Likewise, the Church sponsors a very extensive Welfare Program which is being lauded by the world for its success. it is organized to handle cases of poverty and unemployment among its members, and today there is no need for any member to be on government relief.
Nearly 80% of the latter-day Saints are engaged in productive occupations. Nearly 75% of them own their own homes.
The facts and examples pointed out are but a few of the outstanding achievements which have come about from a group of people living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. it is not our purpose or desire to boast of these facts, but it is merely to bring them to the attention of others that they may understand the principles and ideals which have led, and are leading men and women to such notable heights.
The lives of the Saints portray such desirable attributes as faith in God, courage to face the unknown future, and the will to live honorable and upright lives. These three characteristics reflect in the good work and the worthy achievements which have prepared the Saints to stand ready, at the close of the first century in the Great Basin, to be judged by the great test set forth by the master of us all: “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” They have brought forth fruit to the world with the same faith today that Paul, the apostle of old, was prompted with, namely – “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” With such an understanding of the Latter-day Saint people one can comprehend the joy which permeates their hearts, especially during this the Centennial year of the arrival of the Saints in the Great Basin of Utah.