Around here this is a day for celebrating. In 1847 the members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints had finally found a place of safety in the valleys
surrounding the Great Salt Lake. I am sure that when their prophet Brigham
Young declared, “ This is the Place!”
there were quite a few that inwardly thought , “It is? This barren, sagebrush filled spot, is the
place where we have been led?”
It had to be with mixed feelings that they walked down the mountain canyons into that arid area, feelings
of relief, gladness that their journey had come to an end, disappointment that
the place did not offer the promises of any ease or luxury. In July it was probably a day to wipe sweat from their brows. After all, these pioneers were human, they
had crossed the Great Plains, the deserts in the tops of the Rocky
Mountains, they knew eking a living from this sort of surroundings
would not be easy.
Some of them had been city dwellers, accustomed to a
different type of life. They had traveled through Missouri,
Iowa, etc. and had seen the rich farm lands of
the Midwest.
On they came, following divine direction. Past Indians, crossing deep rivers, noting the scarcity of
civilization, just Ft. Laramie and then Ft. Bridger.
I so admire the faith of those people, who set to doing, to
living, meeting the many challenges that came their way so that it truly became The Place. After a few years they had made a spot thriving
with education, culture and many of the
finer things that they had left behind.
Being a convert to the faith I cannot claim those Utah pioneers. But I still celebrate, thinking not just of
the Utah
pioneers, but those of my own. Settling Wyoming in the
1800’s. Two ancestry lines go back to
the 1600’s in the claiming of the eastern seaboard in Massachusetts,
Connecticut, South
Carolina, All these people
had to have more than grit and determination.
All had to have a goodly measure of faith to help them carry on in the
face of the things at that time in history that could deter them from accomplishing dreams. All came with the hope of a better life than
the one left behind.
When we step into the unknown, whatever it might be, it is a
pioneering step. The step will affect
others coming behind us, particularly those of our family. Today is my pioneer day too, so glad my
forebears made the choices that placed me in this land.
