Deseret

By Sherrie Johnson

As the Saints began to settle the Salt Lake Valley and to prepare for others to arrive, Brigham Young named the new territory Deseret, a Book of Mormon word meaning “honeybee” (see Ether 2:3). He wanted to encourage the people to turn the wilderness into a “hive” of activity. It turned out to be a very fitting name.

The first of the 10 pioneer companies of 1847 arrived in July. Soon an adobe fort and 450 log cabins were built, and 2,078 hectares were cultivated.

By the next spring, provisions were dangerously low. Clothes were wearing out, food supplies were diminishing, and more settlers were arriving. Each person was limited to about a quarter of a kilogram of flour per day. To survive, families ate crows, wolves, thistle tops, wild berries, bark, roots, and sego lily bulbs while anxiously awaiting the growth of their crops.

In May and June, however, hordes of black crickets, some as big as a man’s thumb, began devouring the crops. All who were able took sticks, shovels, brooms, or whatever else they could find and battled the intruders.

The Saints dug trenches around the crops, drove the crickets into them, and tried to drown the pests. Still they came. Brigham Young later joked that when they killed one cricket, two more came to bury the first.* It must have seemed that way to the hungry Saints.

For over two weeks they fought the crickets while praying for help. Finally, on the Sabbath, while Charles C. Rich was preaching during church, huge flocks of gulls flew in from the Great Salt Lake and began to devour the crickets. The gulls ate until they were full, vomited what they had eaten, and ate again, repeating this strange behavior for many days until they had saved much of the crops.

The Saints were humbled and knew that God was watching over them. This testimony helped them endure, for their trials were not over. The next winter was severe. Frequent snows kept the ground covered. Cattle could not find feed, and it was very difficult for the men to go into the mountains to get firewood. Strong winds and cold also made life in hastily built log cabins miserable.

The following spring, some Saints were making plans to go to California, where they could find milder weather and better supplies. Hearing of these plans, President Heber C. Kimball, First Counselor to Brigham Young, promised that in the Salt Lake Valley, “in less than one year there will be plenty of clothes and everything that we shall want sold at less than St. Louis prices.”

President Brigham Young made his own promise: “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.” With this encouragement, most of the people stayed.

As promised, the Lord did temper the elements. The next year’s harvest was large enough to feed the nearly 6,400 Saints who had made their way to Deseret.

President Kimball’s promise was also fulfilled. In 1849, gold was discovered in California. Thousands of people rushed west to seek their fortunes. By the time they reached the Salt Lake Valley, their wagons needed repairs and they needed supplies. These needs created jobs for the Saints.

Also, in their rush to reach the gold fields, many discarded stoves, clothing, furniture, and other items to lighten their wagons. The Saints were able to go out on the prairie and find much of what they needed to build comfortable homes. And merchants on their way to California with wagonloads of goods learned that ships had already taken most items to California. Discouraged, they sold their wares in Salt Lake City at very low prices rather than carry them to California, where they might not be able to sell them at all. Within three years of the Saints’ arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, supplies were abundant in Deseret.

Also as promised, temples began to rise. One of the first things Brigham Young did upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 was identify a site for the Salt Lake Temple. It was started in 1853 and dedicated in 1893.

The first temple completed in the West was in St. George. It was begun in 1871 and was dedicated on 6 April 1877 during a general conference of the Church. Temples were also dedicated in Logan in May 1884 and in Manti in May 1888.

By 1900 four temples were in operation, and more than 280,000 members of the Church lived in the Rocky Mountains. The Saints had passed through many trials and faced still more. But the Church was firmly established, and the Saints had learned many lessons that would see them through coming bad times.

Seagulls and Crickets, by Jack Vigos; courtesy of International Society, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers

St. George Temple

Logan Temple

Manti Temple

Salt Lake Temple