Two western states are celebrating their centennials this year, and the Church played significant roles in the settling of each.
Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, becoming the nation's 43rd state. Just a week later, on July 10, Wyoming was admitted as the 44th state.But long before the 1890s, colonists called by the Church had settled in the two areas, contributing to the growth and development that led to statehood.
As early as 1853, Orson Hyde led a group of 39 colonists into Wyoming, settling what became known as Fort Supply, about 12 miles southwest of Fort Bridger. Six years earlier the Mormon Pioneers, on their 1847 trek to the west, spent a day at Fort Bridger, which then consisted of two double log houses with adjoining corrals.
Elder Hyde later organized a second company of 53 colonists. Of these, he wrote: "The people generally responded to my call in a manner that became them; some few exceptions. It is not always those who are the most able and the most anxious . . . that really do the most. This is found to be true in raising and fitting out this company. It is one thing to wear the name of `Mormon' and another thing to do the work of a Mormon."
Such were the early efforts of colonization in Wyoming by Mormon settlers, which efforts later resulted in the founding of Mormon communities in western Wyoming's Star Valley and north central Wyoming's Big Horn Basin.
Two years after the Church began a presence in Wyoming, Brigham Young at the April conference in 1855 called 27 men to go on a mission to the Indians in the Salmon River area of Idaho, raise crops and build houses and forts.
While the settlement was only temporary, they laid a foundation for other settlers. Some observers feel that had the Mormons not established their settlement and made friends with the Indians, especially with Chief Tendoy, who, in turn, influenced other tribes, the settlement of Idaho would have been delayed many years.
The first permanent settlement in Idaho was in Franklin, just over the Utah border, which was colonized by Latter-day Saints in 1860.
Colonization has always been a part of the heritage and culture of the Latter-day Saints. Acting upon revelations received in February 1831, Joseph Smith called for a gathering of the saints to establish communities for the building of Zion. Early members assembled briefly in western New York, which at that time was essentially an unsettled frontier. They later moved to Ohio, Missouri and Illinois before arriving in the Salt Lake Valley to begin their most intensive colonization efforts.
In the West, the Mormon colonization efforts resulted in the founding of some 500 communities, stretching from Canada to Mexico.
Most feel the period of colonization is over. While it is true that members of the Church are no longer required to pull up stakes and settle in a new frontier area, there are still opportunities, in the broad sense, for colonization.
We may "colonize" our own hearts and minds, preparing ourselves to accept the Lord's counsel given by His prophets, much as the early colonists followed prophetic guidance in preparing areas for settlers.
When missionaries go to lands where the gospel has not been taught previously, they are, in the highest definition of the word, colonizers for the Lord.
We colonize each time we help reclaim lost and wandering souls from the vast waste lands of sin and corruption and help them find their way back to the source of the everlasting waters of life, Jesus Christ.
Each time we choose to stand in holy places, we stake our claim as colonizers upon sacred ground. When we turn from temptation to walk in the paths of righteousness, we forge trails to eternal life.
The children of Israel were colonizers in Canaan, a land promised to them as a royal inheritance. Before they could occupy that land, they were commanded to cleanse it of idolatry. (See Deut. 12:1-3.) By removing the idols from before them, the children of Israel would not be tempted to worship those idols. We, as modern-day colonizers, need to cleanse from our own lives those things that prohibit us from worshipping the only true and living God, our Heavenly Father.
We must recognize Him as the One we worship, and His Son as our Redeemer. To be colonizers in righteousness, we must not build on the shifting sands of temporary wealth and worldly wisdom. Instead, we must build upon the bedrock of the everlasting gospel.