Brigham Young served as prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 30 years and directed the establishment of more than three hundred communities throughout the American West. Affectionately known as "Brother Brigham," he sent the original company of settlers to St. George in 1861 to establish the "Cotton Mission," part of a plan to make the Latter-day Saints more self-sufficient by founding southern communities where cotton, grapes, and other crops could be produced. The settlers struggled in the early years as they tried to raise crops in alkali soil with less than 8 inches of annual rainfall. Young customarily visited the settlements once each year to preach and uplift the Saints, and during his visits to St. George he laid plans for construction of the Tabernacle and the Temple, public work projects that helped carry settlers through a time of dire poverty. He decided early to establish a winter home in St. George, but first a telegraph line from Salt Lake City had to be built so he could communicate with Church headquarters and conduct business from Dixie. In 1871 he purchased a home one block north and one block west of here; its back portion had already been built by James Chesney in 1869. Young kept the original house and added a spacious two-story front section in 1873. At age 69, he began spending winters in St. George, living in the home three to five months each year until his death in 1877, seeking the mild winters, relief for his rheumatism, and freedom from the pressure of his duties as Church president. The home later came to belong to the LDS Church and was refurnished as a historical landmark, standing as a symbol of the pioneers' success in creating a prosperous and civilized life in a desolate and isolated place.