Devil's Gate

by David Roberts

  and economic concerns regarding emigration

  1834 missionary tour of

  1847 pioneer journey of

  eloquence of

  English mission of

  in Far West

  Florence departure claimed against advice of

  and growth of Mormon settlement

  handcart emigration advocated by

  handcart pioneers greeted by

  human life undervalued by

  Jones and

  Kimball’s relationship with

  knowledge of late arrivals disclaimed by

  letter to Fort Seminoe volunteers by

  literacy of

  lobbying for Utah statehood by

  as Machiavellian

  Martin Company greeted by

  materialism of

  as micromanager

  Millennial Star established by

  monuments to

  Mormon conversion of

  and Mormon destiny

  Mormon Reformation and

  mountain fever suffered by

  and Mountain Meadows Massacre

  Nauvoo temple bought by

  obsessive pennypinching of

  plural marriage and

  positive spin on handcarts by

  as practical genius

  and rescue efforts for Willie and Martin parties

  responsibility for handcart disaster and

  resupplies sent by

  Rigdon discredited by

  rise to leadership by

  and Smith’s murder

  sons of

  spin on handcarts by

  State of Deseret established by

  steam engine scheme of

  and success of Mormons

  title of

  travel speed overestimated by

  as Utah governor

  wishful thinking by

  Young, Clara Decker

  Young, Joseph A.

  Loader family and

  Young, Mary Ann Angell

  Young, Phineas

  Zedekiah, King of Judah

  Zion

  doctrine of blood atonement in

  Far West as

  handcart trail to

  Jackson County, Mo., as

  Kirtland as

  looming economic crisis in

  in Missouri

  Nauvoo as

  Salt Lake City as

  Smith’s edict on

  zeitgeist of

  Zions Bank

  Photographic Insert

  Joseph Smith, founder and first Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (COURTESY OF THE LDS CHURCH HISTORY LIBRARY)

  Brigham Young, the second Prophet of the church and the man who led the Mormon emigration to what is now Utah. Young was also the architect of the handcart plan of 1856. (COURTESY OF THE LDS CHURCH HISTORY LIBRARY)

  Franklin D. Richards, president of the European mission in England, superintended the departure of thousands of handcart Saints from Liverpool in 1856. That summer, traveling in fast carriages with other returning missionaries, he passed the Willie and Martin Companies on the plains and urged them on. (COURTESY OF THE LDS CHURCH HISTORY LIBRARY)

  Edward Martin, leader of the fifth and last handcart company of 1856, the one that suffered the greatest number of casualties. (COURTESY OF THE LDS CHURCH HISTORY LIBRARY)

  James G. Willie, leader of the fourth handcart company. (COURTESY OF THE LDS CHURCH HISTORY LIBRARY)

  As they traversed Iowa, the handcart Saints were sometimes cheered, sometimes taunted by the settlers of the villages they passed through. (COURTESY OF THE LDS CHURCH HISTORY LIBRARY)

  Patience Loader, whose memoir of the trek is the most vivid account written by any of the handcart Saints, and her brother Robert, later in life. (SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, GERALD R. SHERRATT LIBRARY, SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY)

  A William Henry Jackson painting, faithful to the last detail, of one of the handcart companies passing Devil’s Gate. (SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, GERALD R. SHERRATT LIBRARY, SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY)

  Captain George D. Grant, who led the rescue expedition that set out from Salt Lake City in October to try to find and save the Willie and Martin Companies. (COURTESY OF THE LDS CHURCH HISTORY LIBRARY)

  Nellie Pucell Unthank, a nine-year-old Saint in the Martin Company, lost her lower legs to frostbite but lived to the age of sixty-nine. According to a friend, “She never knew a moment of freedom from pain.” (SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, GERALD R. SHERRATT LIBRARY, SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY)

  A replica of The Handcart Pioneer, the famous sculpture cast in 1926 by Torleif S. Knaphus. (COURTESY OF THE LDS CHURCH HISTORY LIBRARY)

  One of the last surviving authentic handcarts, from a slightly later expedition, conserved in the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City.

  A modern replica of an 1856 handcart.

  Devil’s Gate, the 300-foot-high notch carved through a granite ridge by the Sweetwater River in western Wyoming. Near here the Martin Company suffered its most desperate days.

  Members of the West Valley, Utah, stake, in period garb, pulling a replica handcart at the Mormon Handcart Visitors’ Center.

  In Martin’s Cove, where their ancestors came to grief, members of the West Valley stake pay homage to their memory.

  A simple concrete marker indicates the Mormon Trail as it crosses Rocky Ridge, the hardest pull along the whole 1,300-mile gauntlet from Iowa City to Salt Lake City.

  In many places in Wyoming, the old ruts of the Mormon Trail are still visible.

  The Sweetwater River in winter, looking much as it did when the Willie and Martin Companies crossed it in October 1856.