This Month in Church History
July 1847: Pioneers Arrive in the Salt Lake Valley
Brigham Young (1801-1877, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the time of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith, organized the Latter-day Saints into companies that would travel across the United States and into the wilderness as they searched for a land where the Saints could live safely, and the Church could welcome members from throughout the world. Brigham knew the place he was searching for. He had seen it in vision and when asked where he was going, he would reply, “I will show you when we come to it. . . . I have seen, I have seen it, in vision, and when my natural eyes behold it, I shall know it.”1
On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young looked out at the Salt Lake Valley for the first time. After a journey of more than a thousand miles through prairie, desert, and canyons, the sight was breathtaking. This was a place where the Saints could settle and establish another stake of Zion. They could build homes, cultivate orchards and fields, and gather God’s people from around the world. And before long, the Lord’s house would be established in the mountains and exalted above the hills, just as Isaiah had prophesied.2 Looking out across the valley, Brigham studied the scene for several minutes and said “It is enough. This is the right place, drive on.”3
Throughout the world people have left their religious traditions and some left their families and homes to join the Latter-day Saints as modern-day pioneers, much like the early Saints.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf stated:
“I have no ancestors among the 19th-century pioneers. However, since the first days of my Church membership, I have felt a close kinship to those early pioneers who crossed the plains. They are my spiritual ancestry, as they are for each and every member of the Church, regardless of nationality, language, or culture.”4
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our faith is strengthened by the accounts recorded by early and modern pioneers. Their stories of faith and courage remind us of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ and encourage us to remain on the covenant path.