Don't Know Much About

The Mormon Crossing of Iowa

While many people are aware of the hardships of the Mormon Winter encampment of the Mormons near Omaha, few realize the mark the Mormons left on Iowa.

Join historian Russ Gifford to learn more about the Mormon influences in Iowa. When local mob violence erupted in Nauvoo, Illinois, in September of 1845, it destroyed hundreds of homes and farms belonging to followers of the murdered prophet Joseph Smith. It was Smith who had created the Mormon settlement there after their expulsion from Missouri some years before. But after this further outbreak of continued violence, those remaining realized they had no choice. It was time to leave not just Illinois but America.

This set-in motion three waves of displaced religious followers of the new church leader, Brigham Young. Young saw their future in the desolate region of Mexico, far from America, and from other people. But that path cut across Iowa in the early months of 1846, and this harrowing passage put 2500 people with 500 oxen-pulled wagons on trails that soon turned to muddy quagmires. And this was only the first wave of the exodus.

Mired axel deep in mud over and over again, the first 100 miles, which should have taken only 10 days, took a month.

Despite the challenges and hardships, these forerunners were to break the path for the far larger group that would be following them out of Nauvoo. This original group of men left encampments of log cabins, dug wells, planted gardens, and prepared the way in multiple sites for the massive wave who would follow.

By mid-April, another 10,000 Mormons hit this trail - and the winter held on to cause them equal hardships. A third group, the final 700, followed later in the year. The delays were costly, and the weather never improved. In all, the situation set the stage for the tragic winter encampment we know as the Winter Quarters west of the Missouri near Omaha. But realize, along with the camps along the way, there were a vast number of Mormon encampments on the east side of the Missouri, spread within 40 miles of Council Bluffs.

Our focus in this talk will be the experiences of this mass exodus in the state of Iowa. We will look at the camps created along the way - Garden Grove, and Mt. Pisgah, and of course those near Kanesville/Council Bluffs. We will note the situations and the results to see how Iowa changed the Mormons - and how the Mormons changed Iowa.