Page 142 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Southwest USA & National Parks

140  SOUTHERN UT AH INTRODUCING SOUTHERN UT AH  141

The Mormons
Salt Lake City was
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was founded painstakingly laid out
by Joseph Smith (1805–44), a farm worker from New York State. in a grid system over
the unpromising, and
In 1820 Smith claimed to have had visions of the Angel Moroni. previously unsettled,
The angel led him to a set of golden tablets, which he translated landscape of Utah’s Salt
and later published as the Book of Mormon, leading to the Lake Basin. The grid
founding of the Mormon church. This new faith grew rapidly ensured wide streets,
decent-sized houses,
but attracted hostility because of its political and economic and enough land that
beliefs, and because it practised polygamy. Seeking refuge, the each family could be self-
Mormons moved to Illinois in 1839, where Smith was killed by A 19th-century depiction sufficient. By 1900, many
an angry mob. Leadership passed to Brigham Young (1801–77), of Joseph Smith’s vision. farms and more than
300 towns had been
who led church members westward. Salt Lake City was founded The Angel Moroni is seen founded across the West
delivering the tablets that
and Young led his followers to establish farms across Utah’s became the Mormon and Southwest.
wilderness. Today, about 55 percent of Utah’s citizens are Mormons. scriptures.
On the great trek westward,
pilgrims rode or walked for a year, Brigham Young
leaving Illinois in 1846 and arriving
in Utah in July, 1847. Born in Vermont in 1801 of a
Protestant family, Brigham
Young, carpenter, painter,
and glazier, joined the
Mormons in Ohio in 1832.
He took charge of the
great migration west
from Illinois in 1846,
arriving in Salt Lake City
in 1847. In 1849 he
established the territory Brigham Young in
of Deseret, which middle-age
encompassed present-
day Utah. “Deseret” means “Honeybee” in the
Book of Mormon and symbolizes industry.
Young’s vision and organizational skills helped
Mormon pioneers were intrepid and successful; the settlers turn the desert into fruitful
after they had established themselves in the Salt Lake farmland. During his long life, he had several
valley, church members fanned out across the west, disputes with the federal government, whose
establishing agricultural colonies in their wake. One authority he both resisted and recognized.
of these colonies was in Las Vegas (see p123), where Despite being removed from political office in
30 Mormons, sent here by Brigham Young, built a 1857, Young was head of the Mormon church
mission and a small fort. until his death in 1877.
The Great Mormon Trek West
In 1846, Brigham Young led a band
of Mormons west in the hope of
escaping persecution and founding
a safe haven in the Salt Lake valley. Mormon missionaries
Young wished to find “a place on preach their faith throughout
Earth that nobody wants.” It was an the world, placing great
extraordinary enterprise, in which the emphasis on their social and
philosophical concerns.
pioneers traveled across bleak prairies The church enjoys a high
and over mountains in primitive rate of conversion, and
wagons, braving the fierce winter and church membership
summer weather. Those who could continues to grow.
not afford oxen hauled all their
possessions in hand carts. The St. George Mormon Temple was constructed
Brigham Young and his wives, nine of whom are seen under the aegis of Brigham Young. For the fifteen
here, illustrated Mormonism’s most controversial practice, million Mormons worldwide, it is a potent symbol
polygamy. It was outlawed in 1890 to appease the US of a faith based on work, sobriety, and cooperation,
Government and pave the way for Statehood in 1896. with the emphasis on humanitarian service.

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Feature template “UK” LAYER
(SourceReport v1.3)
Date 18th October 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm