Decisions, decisions, decisions.
A century and a half ago, the future Utah pioneers had a momentous decision to make: where to settle.Their leader, Brigham Young, had a picture in his mind and a feeling in his heart for an area known as the Great Basin. But Young knew little of the region. Was he an explorer? No. Had he experienced a Rocky Mountain winter? No. Had he even been out West? No way. Still, the pioneers listened to him.
What if they had heeded other voices?
Before and during the emigration period, Americans more knowledgeable than Young on the Great Basin were perfectly willing to share their views. In this sesquicentennial year, let's not forget the words of people like T.J. Farnham, an explorer and lawyer.
Farnham predicted: "This region is doomed to perpetual sterility."
And Jim Bridger, a man whose explorer credentials far exceeded Farnham's, personally discussed the agricultural prospects for the Wasatch Front with Brigham Young. According to the Mormon leader, Bridger said, "Mr. Young, I would give a thousand dollars if I knew that an ear of corn could be ripened in these mountains. I have been here 20 years and have tried it in vain, over and over again."
In deciding whether to stay put or cross the Plains, perhaps some of the early emigrants were aware of the views of esteemed newspaper editors.
Editor Samuel Bowles of the Hartford (Conn.) Times called the area "a region whose uses are unimaginable, unless to hold the rest of the globe together or to teach patience to travelers."
After the settlement period was well under way, New York Tribune Editor Horace Greeley, the man noted for the words "Go West, young man," made it clear that Utah wasn't the part of the West to go to: "Let the Mormons have the territory to them-selves. It is worth very little to others."
One pioneer recollected a conversation between Brigham Young and Samuel Brannan, a newspaperman and Western pioneer. Brannan, he reported, told the Mormon leader that "the Saints could not possibly subsist in the Great Salt Lake Valley, as according to the testimony of the mountaineers, it froze there every month in the year, and the ground was too dry to sprout seeds without irrigation, and irrigated with the cold mountain streams, the seeds planted would be chilled and prevented from growing."
The prospective pioneers also were provided food for thought by emigrants who had passed through the area. Historian Herbert E. Bolton observed that these emigrants looked upon the Great Basin as "a country that God forgot."
Politicians also weren't reluctant to offer their two bits' worth.
Illinois Gov. Thomas Ford, noted in LDS Church history as the man who failed to protect Joseph Smith, urged Mormons to steer clear of the Intermountain region. He recom-mend-ed California as a new home: "You would remain there a long time before you would be disturbed by the proximity of other settlements." (Ford proffered his advice in 1845 - four years before the Gold Rush.)
Finally, the eloquent Daniel Webster, a man as willing as he was able to expound on a broad range of topics, delivered this assessment not only of the Great Basin but of the entire West: "What do we want with that vast worthless area, that region of savages and wild beasts, of deserts, of shifting sands and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and prairie dogs? To what use could we ever hope to put those great deserts, those endless mountain ranges, impenetrable and covered to their bases with eternal snow?"
Those who came to Utah paid little heed to the words of Greeley, Bridger and others. Still, in this anniversary year, we ought to be grateful to them for advising Americans to settle elsewhere.
Had last century's "experts" been more optimistic about Utah, our state's current population likely would be much greater.
So with our slow traffic flow, praise the memory of those old-time experts who said "stay away." It could be a lot worse.