the mormon pioneers crossed the plains in april 1847.
when did the mormon pioneers cross the plains?
april 1847
the journey was taken by about 70,000 people beginning with advance parties sent out by church leaders in march 1846 after the 1844 assassination of the mormon leader joseph smith made it clear the group could not remain in nauvoo, illinoiswhich the church had recently purchased, improved, renamed, and developed because of the missouri mormon war, setting off the illinois mormon war. the well-organized wagon train migration began in earnest in april 1847, and the period (including the flight from missouri in 1838 to nauvoo), known as the "mormon exodus" is, by convention among social scientists, traditionally assumed to have ended with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. not everyone could afford to transport a family by railroad, and the transcontinental railroad network only serviced limited main routes, so wagon train migrations to the far west continued sporadically until the 20th century.
mormon pioneers
after the companies arrived in utah, the residents generously opened their homes to the arriving emigrants, feeding and caring for them over the winter. the emigrants would eventually go on to latter-day saint settlements throughout utah and the west.





























section::::1856: willie and martin handcart companies.:sweetwater river crossing.





























one of the most persistent and popular stories regarding the mormon pioneers was about three of the rescuers who helped the pioneers cross sweetwater river. the most popular telling, by solomon kimball, states:
mormon handcart pioneers