170 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-clay Saints was first organized 

 at Fayette, in the State of New York, and its headquarters were 

 moved gradually westward, until a considerable settlement was formed 

 in Jackson County, Missouri. Here it was expected that the New 

 Jerusalem would be built, but an organized system of persecution 

 drove the Saints out of the State of Missouri, and in 1839 they took 

 refuge in Illinois, where they built the city of Nauvoo, in Hancock 

 County, on the banks of the Mississippi, and enjoyed a short respite 

 from persecution. But in 1844 popular hostility broke out with in- 

 creased violence, and Joseph Smith (who had been frequently brought 

 before judicial tribunals, and invariably acquitted) proceeded with 

 his brother Hyrum to Carthage, where they surrendered themselves 

 prisoners on a charge of treason, the Governor of Illinois having 

 promised them protection and a fair trial. On the 27th of June, 1844, 

 a large body of men, with their faces blackened, surrounded the 

 prison, and murdered the two brothers Smith. Several of these men 

 were indicted for murder, and were tried about a year later, but they 

 were acquitted. The persecution of the Mormons did not slacken 

 after the death of their prophet, and in September, 1845, an armed 

 mob commenced burning houses in Hancock County, while the au- 

 thorities declared that the State was unable to protect the Mormons, 

 and they must therefore go. Preparations were made by Brigham 

 Young, President of the Twelve Apostles, and the other leaders of 

 the church,to explore the Rocky Mountains in accordance with an 

 expressed intention of the deceased prophet, and in February, 1846, 

 the exodus of the Mormons commenced. It was not, however, rapid 

 enough to satisfy their enemies, and in September the city of Nau- 

 voo was burned by an armed mob, after several days' siege, and the 

 remnant of the Mormons was driven across the Mississippi into 

 Iowa. In the spring of 1847 Brigham Young, with a party of pio- 

 neers, started from his w T inter-quarters on the Missouri in search of a % 

 place of settlement. On the 24th of July he reached the Great Salt 

 Lake Valley, after a laborious march of more than one thousand 

 miles through an unexplored country. After erecting a fort, and 

 hoisting the stars and stripes upon what was then Mexican territory, 

 President Young hastened back to the banks of the Missouri, and in 

 the fall of 1848 he arrived once more in Salt Lake Valley, with eight 

 hundred wagons, and the main body of the Mormons. The severest 

 hardships were undergone by these people, not only during their 

 march, but during the first two years after settling in this barren 

 valley, four thousand three hundred feet above the sea, but strict dis- 

 cipline was enforced in the camp, and a careful system of rationing 

 was maintained, until an abundant harvest at last put an end to the 

 necessity. In 1850 the Territorial government of Utah was organ- 

 ized by act of Congress, and Brigham Young was appointed Governor 

 by the President of the United States. From that time forward the 



