In the nineteenth century, converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled to Utah in search of religious freedom and an end to persecution, making their migration a notable part of the American westering experience. Their wagon trains were highly organized compared to those of other westbound emigrants. Led by Brigham Young, the first group of Latter-day Saints, numbering 160 people with livestock and 77 wagons, reached the east bank of the Green River on Wednesday, June 30, 1847. William Clayton recorded that they arrived at 11:30 after traveling eight miles and camped in a line under cottonwood trees beside a river about sixteen to eighteen rods wide, or 297 feet, and too deep to ford. In bad weather and amid hordes of mosquitoes, the men spent three days chopping trees, building two rafts, and floating the wagons across the Green River. By Saturday, July 3rd, the party had crossed. Three weeks later, on July 24th, Brigham Young arrived in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, where the pioneers began a new life. By 1869, when completion of the Union Pacific Railroad brought a new era of transportation, about 68,000 Mormons had traveled the overland route to Utah.