Exodus to Greatness

Near here, the Mormon exodus to the Rocky Mountains began on February 4, 1846. In seven years, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called the Mormons, had built Nauvoo to a size comparable to Chicago, with approximately 11,000 population. Fleeing enemies, these refugees crossed the Mississippi River with their wagons on flatboats, except for a few days when they crossed on ice. Under Brigham Young, they crossed Iowa to the Missouri River. On its west bank, they endured the winter of 1846-47 at Winter Quarters in tents, dugouts, and log huts. The trek from there began with the departure of Brigham Young's first company on April 7, 1847, reaching Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Seeking freedom to worship God as they believed, more than 50,000 Mormon pioneers, mostly with ox-drawn wagons or handcarts, crossed the plains to the Rocky Mountains before the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. With Salt Lake City as their base, the Latter-day Saints under Brigham Young, who died in 1877, founded more than 350 communities in the Rocky Mountains.

Nauvoo, Illinois · United States