The first members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who were known as Mormons or Latter-day Saints (LDS), arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. They immigrated to what is now Utah to plant fields, build homes, open businesses, and establish a religious community they called “Zion.”
More of the story
Members of the LDS church had searched for a permanent home since its first leader, Joseph Smith, organized the Church in 1830. Many citizens of the United States disagreed with the practices of the new religion, and sometimes they attacked and killed members of the LDS church because of their religion. Before 1847, the main body of the church moved several times, hoping to find a place where they could practice their religion in peace.
Moving Westward
After Joseph Smith was murdered in Illinois, the new church president Brigham Young decided to lead church members to the far west to find a new home. They hoped to find a place where their members could live together and practice their religion in safety.
Church leaders had read about the Great Basin, which was outside the United States in territory owned by Mexico. At that time, the people living in Utah were Ute, Goshute, Shoshone, Paiute, and Navajo peoples whose ancestral homelands had been here for thousands of years. Utah had not been settled by other European or American people, other than a few fur trappers and traders from England, America, and New Mexico.
The first group of Mormon immigrants arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 22, 1847, after 111 days on the trail. They immediately began planting crops and establishing homes. Brigham Young came two days later and also started to make plans. In 1848, the Mexican American War ended, and the Great Basin became a part of the United States. Once again, members of the LDS church found themselves on American soil. As members of the LDS church built settlements in Utah, their choices influenced the territory’s political, cultural, and economic make-up for years to come.
The Mormon Migrations
From 1847-1869, thousands of Mormon pioneers traveled across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains in covered wagons pulled by horses or oxen. Many walked beside the wagons, and a few groups pulled handcarts. After the transcontinental railroad was finished in Utah in 1869, thousands more church members migrated to Utah by train. Mormon immigrants came from around the United States, England, Scandinavia, Canada, the Pacific Islands, and other regions. From the first settlement in Salt Lake City, Brigham Young sent settlers across Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and into California to establish communities where they could make a home for themselves and their children and create a new Zion. They hoped to make this huge area a new state called Deseret.
Keep Exploring!
Return to the Immigration and Expansion page here.
Return to the I love Utah History home page here.