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Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy
The Mormon handcart tragedy of 1856 is the worst disaster in the history of the Western migrations, and yet it remains virtually unknown today outside Mormon circles. Following the death of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church, its second Prophet and new leader, Brigham Young, determined to move the faithful out of the Midwest, where they had been constantly persecuted by their neighbors, to found a new Zion in the wilderness. In 1846-47, the Mormons made their way west, generally following the Oregon Trail, arriving in July 1847 in what is today Utah, where they established Salt Lake City. Nine years later, fearing a federal invasion, Young and other Mormon leaders wrestled with the question of how to bring thousands of impoverished European converts, mostly British and Scandinavian, from the Old World to Zion. Young conceived of a plan in which the European Mormons would travel by ship to New York City and by train to Iowa City. From there, instead of crossing the plains by covered wagon, they would push and pull wooden handcarts all the way to Salt Lake. But the handcart plan was badly flawed. The carts, made of green wood, constantly broke down; the baggage allowance of seventeen pounds per adult was far too small; and the food provisions were woefully inadequate, especially considering the demanding physical labor of pushing and pulling the handcarts 1,300 miles across plains and mountains. Five companies of handcart pioneers left Iowa for Zion that spring and summer, but the last two of them left late. As a consequence, some 900 Mormons in these two companies were caught in early snowstorms in Wyoming. When the church leadership in Salt Lake became aware of the dire circumstances of these pioneers, Younglaunched a heroic rescue effort. But for more than 200 of the immigrants, the rescue came too late. The story of the Mormon handcart tragedy has never before been told in full despite its stunning human drama: At least five times as many people died in the Mormon tragedy as died in the more famous Donner Party disaster. David Roberts has researched this story in Mormon archives and elsewhere, and has traveled along the route where the handcart pioneers came to grief. Based on his research, he concludes that the tragedy was entirely preventable. Brigham Young and others in the Mormon leadership failed to heed the abundant signs of impending catastrophe, including warnings from other Mormon elders in the East and Midwest, where the journey began. Devil's Gate is a powerful indictment of the Mormon leadership and a gripping story of survival and suffering that is superbly told by one of our finest writers of Western history..
Price: $12.75
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Fire of the Covenant: The Story of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies
Share in the pathos and spiritual power of the handcart experience The author of the acclaimed historical fiction series The Work and the Glory brings another dramatic chapter in Church history to life in Fire of the Covenant, a novel about the 1856 Willie and Martin Handcart Companies. Elder Lund weaves his fictional characters into the tapestry of actual historical events helping us feel a part of the companies who set out for Zion late in the season during the first year of the great handcart migration. Trapped by early winter snows in Wyoming, these Saints driven by the "fire of the covenant" they had made with God rose to heights of unsurpassed courage and endurance. Their story will thrill you to the core..
Price: $9.79
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Handcarts to Zion: The Story of a Unique Western Migration, 1856-1860
It is unparalleled in history, the procession of Latter-Day Saints pushing handcarts from Iowa City and Florence (Omaha) to their promised Zion by the Great Salt Lake. Many of the three thousand hardy souls who trudged across thirteen hundred miles of prairie, desert, and mountain from 1856 to 1860 were European converts to the Mormon faith. Without funds for wagons and oxen, they carried their possessions in two-wheeled carts powered and aided by their own muscle and blood. Some of the weary travelers would finally be welcomed by their brethren in Salt Lake City; others would go to wayside graves or get caught in early winter storms in the Rockies and hope to be rescued by the parties sent out by Brigham Young. The migration is described in Handcarts to Zion, which draws on diaries and reports of the participants, rosters of the ten companies, and a collection of the songs sung on the trail and at "The Gathering." LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen dedicated the book to his mother, Mary Ann Hafen, who wrote about the long journey in Recollections of a Handcart Pioneer of 1860: A Woman’s Life on the Mormon Frontier, also a Bison Book. .
Price: $7.36
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Before Zion: An Account of the 7th Handcart Company
Though young in the Church, the Scandinavian Saints of the seventh handcart company left their farms and shops to follow the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They taught His gospel throughout Denmark, Norway, and Sweden where they were beaten by mobs, jailed, and survived on diets of bread and water; they, like Peter and John, were grateful to be counted worthy to suffer in Jesus’ name. But the trek west would stretch this group of farmers and artisans further still, as they placed their all on the altar of sacrifice in their quest for Zion. The members of the 7th Company were ordinary people who by virtue of their faith in the gospel became remarkable people who accomplished extraordinary things. This is their story..
Price: $18.36
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Doe Sia: Bannock Girl and the Handcart Pioneers (Amazing Indian Children)
Radiates a strong love for the outdoors Rings with authenticity [The author] has steeped himself in Indian lore and legend. These are a few of the rave reviews by educators and childrens book critics for the Amazing Indian Children series, which and draws accolades for its sensitive, accurate portrayal of Native American history. Most importantly, it entertains boys and girls ages 913 with spine-tingling adventure based on historical events. Set in the mid-1800s in the Great Plains region, Doe Sia tells of an eleven-year-old Bannock girl who is already known for her bravery: She and her heroic pet, Otterdog, saved a little boy from drowning. On the other side of the world, Danish Emma also gains a reputation for valor when she rescues an elderly man from a burning farmhouse. When Emma immigrates to America and joins the Mormon Handcart Pioneers, she meets up with Doe Sia and they form an immediate bond. The two are caught together in a blinding snowstorm and must rely on their witsand Doe Sias native wilderness savvyto survive..
Price: $4.80
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Recollections of a Handcart Pioneer of 1860: A Woman's Life on the Mormon Frontier
In the summer of 1860, the author of these recollections, then six years old, walked beside her parents’ handcart from Florence, Nebraska, to Salt Lake City. The family, converts to Mormonism, had left their comfortable home near Bern, Switzerland, to make the long journey to the Mormon Zion. Nearly eighty years later Mary Ann Hafen published this account of her life, giving an unparalleled, candid, inside view of the Mormon woman’s world. Called to go with the Swiss Company to settle the "Dixieland" region of southern Utah—a hot, dry, inhospitable land—Mary Ann's family lived in thatch, dugout, and adobe houses they built themselves. While still hardly more than a child, Mary Ann cut wheat with a sickle, gleaned cotton fields, made braided straw hats for barter, and spun and dyed cloth for her dresses. Always sustained by her faith in the church, she took part in a millenarian scheme that failed—a communal order—and entered a polygamous marriage, raising almost single-handedly a large family. Like Anne Ellis, Elinore Pruitt Stewart, and a handful of other pioneer women of the West, Mary Ann Hafen has left an authentic, matter-of-fact record of poverty, incredibly hard work, and loss of loved ones, but also of pleasures great and small. It is a unique document of a little-known way of life. .
Price: $2.94
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