The first winter the pioneers spent in the Salt Lake Valley was a mild one, a great blessing but not one that removed all hardship.
Of that first winter, Elder Parley P. Pratt of the Quorum of the Twelve wrote: "The winter was mild and pleasant, several light snows and sever frosts; but the days were warm, and the snows soon melted off. The cattle did well all winter in the pastures without being fed. Horses, sheep and cattle were in better order in the spring than when we arrived, I mean those which were not kept up and worked or milked, but suffered to live where there was grass. Early in March the ground opened and we commenced plowing for spring crops." (Comprehensive History of the Church, p. 304, citing letter of Parley P. Pratt to Orson Pratt, Sept. 5, 1848, Millennial Star, vol. xi, p. 22.)Approximately 1,700 pioneers spent that first winter in the Salt Lake Valley, living in the Old Fort on the site of present-day Pioneer Park, as well as its additions on the north and south sides. (Atlas of Mormonism, p. 82.)
After his arrival in September 1847, Elder Pratt noted: "We . . . found a city laid out and a public square dedicated for a Temple of God. We found also much ground planted in late crops, which, however, did not mature, being planted late in July; although there were obtained for seed a few small potatoes, from the size of a pea upward to that of half an inch in diameter. These being sound and planted another year produced some very fine potatoes, and, finally, contributed mainly in seeding the territory with that almost indispensable article of food." (Parley P. Pratt Autobiography, p. 331.)
Because of the lack of provisions brought with them and the lack of sufficient crops from their first planting, the wintering pioneers resorted to eating sego roots and thistle tops. (Short History of the Church, p. 126.)
Housing inside the fort in adobe quarters with roofs made of poles, brush and earth was sufficient for the pioneers through most of the mild winter. But heavy rain during the late winter and spring caused a big problem as the roofs leaked severely. "The roofs of the houses were made rather flat. The result was that nearly every house leaked during the first winter, and umbrellas, where such a luxury as an umbrella was owned, were frequently in demand to shelter those engaged in cooking and even in bed persons would be seen sitting or lying under an umbrella." (CHC, p. 303.)
Elder Pratt described mid-winter with a positive flair, writing: "The opening of the year found us and the community generally in good, comfortable, temporary log or adobe cabins, which were built in a way to enclose the square commenced by the pioneers, and a portion of two other blocks of the city plot. Here life was as sweet and the holidays as merry as in the Christian palaces and mansions of those who had driven us to the mountains." (Parley P. Pratt Autobiography, p. 334.)
In his address during the April 1967 general conference, President Thomas S. Monson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, cited experiences of others that described a different atmosphere:
"Mrs. Rebecca Riter describes Christmas Day in 1847 in the valley of the Great Salt Lake: `The winter was cold. Christmas came and the children were hungry. I had brought a peck of wheat across the plains and hid it under a pile of wood. I thought I would cook a handful of wheat for the baby. Then I thought how we would need wheat for seed in the spring, so I left it alone.'
"The crude homes were described by a small boy in these terms: `There was no window of any kind whatever in our house. Neither was there a door. My mother hung up an old quilt, which served as a door for the first winter. This was our bedroom, our parlor, our sitting room, our kitchen, our sleeping room, everything in this room of about 12x16 feet. How in the world we all got along in it I do not know. I recollect that my dear old mother stated that no queen who ever entered her palace was ever more happy or proud of shelter and the blessings of the Lord than was she when she entered that completed dugout.' "