On this Sabbath the main pioneer company, camped near the Weber River at the foot of Echo Canyon, spent the day in fasting and prayer. Elder Heber C. Kimball reported that President Brigham Young was deathly ill and proposed that all the men humble themselves before the Lord so they could obtain His power to turn away sickness and disease from the camp.
Elder Kimball proposed that eight or 10 wagons remain behind with President Young until he had regained his health sufficient to travel. The others could proceed toward the Salt Lake Valley in order to put some potato seeds in the ground. "We have little time to spare," he emphasized.In the evening Elders Kimball, Wilford Woodruff and Ezra T. Benson of the Twelve went onto a high hill and held special prayer.
Monday, July 19:
According to Wilford Woodruff, this day's route was "the worst road we have had on the journey." Time and again they had to go up and down steep ridges. They were careful to get on to what they called "Pratt's Pass," the route scouted by Orson Pratt a few day's earlier and the same route taken a year earlier by the Reed-Donner party.
The advance company continued to widen and strengthen the Donner Trail as they ploughed on for 6.5 miles. Meanwhile Orson Pratt and John Brown explored ahead.
Tuesday, July 20:
The main camp was delayed in its march until 11 a.m. due to blacksmithing repairs on broken wheels. William Clayton recorded, "Although there has been a road cut through, it is yet scarcely possible to travel without tearing the wagon covers."
Brigham Young's rear company of about eight wagons started early in order to travel in the cool of the day.
Wednesday, July 21:
This was an exciting day in the pioneer journey. Elder Willard Richards sent a letter via Erastus Snow to Orson Pratt giving instructions about entering the Salt Lake Valley and planting seeds. Brother Snow caught up with Elder Pratt in the morning and both of them went ahead of the vanguard company to explore. At the top the broad expanse of the beautiful valley lay before them. "We could not refrain from a shout of joy which almost involuntarily escaped from our lips the moment this grand and lovely scenery was within our view," recorded Elder Pratt that night.
Members of the main company started their trek at 6:30 a.m. to try to get as far as they could this day. Most difficult was ascending and descending the steep mountain ridges.
Brigham Young's rear company stayed at East Canyon Creek because of sickness among them.
Thursday, July 22:
Most of the pioneers reached their destination of the Salt Lake Valley this day. Only those few in Brigham Young's rear company for the sick were still behind. Thomas Bullock, expressing the feelings of the group, wrote, "A very extensive valley burst upon our view, dotted in three or four places with some timber." He could not help shouting, "Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, here's my home at last!"
Elder Orson Pratt went back to the main encampment and met in council with his fellow apostles Willard Richards and George A. Smith. They concluded that Elders Pratt and Smith would immediately lead a group of eight men into the valley to locate appropriate places for planting. All others would be left in the canyon to clear a road through the thick brush.
President Young's company resumed its journey at 7:30 a.m. and traveled eight miles over the rough road up East Canyon Creek to the bottom of Big Mountain.
Friday, July 23:
The pioneers broke camp at 7 a.m. and made their way to the south branch of a stream (City Creek) flowing out of the northern mountains surrounding the Salt Lake Valley. This flat land blessed with outstanding soil had been located the day earlier by Orson Pratt's company. At 9:30 the apostles called a prayer meeting at the spot later occupied by the Salt Lake City and County Building.
Elder Pratt recorded, " . . .
afterT imploring His blessings upon our labours, we appointed various committees to attend to different branches of business, preparatory to putting in crops, and in about two hours after our arrival we began to plough, and the same afternoon built a dam to irrigate the soil, which at the spot where we were ploughing was exceedingly dry."
Brigham Young's small group of wagons continued to thread its way through the mountains, first the five miles up Big Mountain, then the six miles down, and then four more miles up Little Mountain and down to Last Creek (Emigration Creek). While on Big Mountain, President Young asked Wilford Woodruff to stop his carriage for a few moments so that he could look at the Salt Lake Valley. "The spirit of light rested upon me and hovered over the valley," the Church leader noted, "and I felt that there the Saints would find protection and safety."
Saturday, July 24:
Around noon the few wagons that included President Brigham Young, Elder Heber C. Kimball, and the sick members of the pioneer company emerged from Emigration Canyon. President Young, though still weak from illness, stood up in Elder Woodruff's wagon. He noticed a conical peak (Ensign Peak) in the distance at the north end of the valley. He recognized it as the same mountain he had seen earlier in vision. He said, "It is enough. This is the right place, drive on."
Sunday, July 25:
This was the first Lord's Day in the Latter-day Saints' refuge in the West. Two general services were held - one at 10 a.m. and the other at 2 p.m. Each of the apostles present had a chance to speak as well as a few others.
Brigham Young counseled that anybody who chose to work on the Sabbath would lose five times as much as he would gain by the work. He established the first land policy for the new community. No one would buy or sell land; rather each man would have as much land measured to him as he could till, but that he was fully expected to be industrious and take care of it.
Monday, July 26:
This was a day of hard work for most of the pioneers as they plowed and planted their new agricultural plots. Others went by assignment to make a road to gather timber in City Creek Canyon to the north.
The apostles and a few others in their general council took off in a private exploring expedition. The small company proceeded up the mountains to a place they named Ensign Peak.
The Brethren determined the general location of the new temple in the middle of the city that lay before them.
Epilogue:
During the first week in the valley, the pioneers plowed and sowed 53 acres with potatoes, peas, beans, corn, oats and buckwheat. Explorers studied the entire Valley of the Great Salt Lake and some of the adjoining canyons. The first roads were made to timber lands. The first saw pit was constructed.
On July 29 another 200 Latter-day Saints arrived comprised of the Mormon Battalion sick detachment and some Mississippi Saints that had also wintered in Pueblo. These additions raised the total number in the valley to about 350.
Three weeks after the arrival in the valley, the first contingent of 71 men and 33 wagons started its journey back to Winter Quarters. On Aug. 26 Brigham Young and the apostles led another group of 108 men back toward Winter Quarters. The 180 people left in the Valley tended the crops and continued building a fort at the present location of Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City. Their number was increased by 1,500 from the so-called "Big Company," led by Elders Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor. They arrived in late September and early October.
Sources: Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 562-65; Journal of Discourses 13:85 and 16:207; Norton Jacobs Diary, Church Archives; William Clayton's Journal, 299-321; Wilford Woodruff's Journal 3:231-37; "Private Journal of Orson Pratt," Millennial Star, June 1, 1850, 177-79; Comprehensive History of the Church 3:211-24, 268-75.