On his way to Carthage, Ill., Joseph Smith described the Saints as "the best people under the heavens." Then, with solemn foresight, he added, "Little do they know the trials that await them."But in 20 months' time, they were tasting those trials. It was February 1846. The Mormons began to cross the frozen Mississippi and gather at their first staging area: Sugar Creek. The name was inviting. But the only sweet thing about that campground was the chocolate-colored stream that flowed through it.The plan was to start settling the Great Basin by fall. But huge frustrations ate away at the schedule. Many straggled in to Sugar Creek belatedly. It took weeks, rather than days, to assemble. Some were so poorly prepared that provisions ran low even before the journey began.And it was so cold. A typical journal entry reads: "The snow had to be cleaned away to pitch the tents, and our beds were made upon the frozen ground. … It was impossible to get warm."The spring thaw unleashed another daunting problem on Iowa's rolling terrain: 250 miles of mud.From a hilltop they would survey the next bog. Down they went, doubling up on horse spans or ox teams to get through the mire and up the next hill. Then, repeat.Hundreds of accounts refer to the ever-present muck. For example:"Our feet would sink into the deep mud at every step, … and we had the cold, pitiless rain beating down upon us all the way 'til we were chilled and shaking."The rain "continued through a greater part of the day and night. … Our experience during those days could not be written, neither could time erase them from my memory.""Here we are likely to remain for some time, … as the roads are almost impassable.""On the 17th … rain … continued the remainder of the night, so we remained there till the 19th.""The muddy camping place … was one not easily forgotten.""Few teams … could go half a mile without help. … Continued raining very hard. Roads getting worse and worse. "Wilford Woodruff writes of entering a mile-long mud slue where his wagon wheels sank to the hubs. He worked all night until daybreak to get through it, "in mud and water nearly knee deep, and at the same time kept a watch on the cattle."Wilford also told of a full day when they traveled less than a mile. In the evening he returned and got the embers from their breakfast fire, brought them to the new camp and used them to cook dinner.After many weeks of this, Brigham Young asked William Clayton to write a hymn that would help the mud-spattered Saints "forget the many troubles and trials of the journey." Two hours later, Clayton had written "Come, Come Ye Saints." Around campfires, they sang it with heart.Parts of that hymn seem to be encouragements from the Savior himself, up ahead on a hilltop, inviting those people to keep coming. They eventually reached him. They would testify that all really was well. The route was right. The destination was right. The delays worked out. Whether the mud was literal or figurative, all was well. It still is.Sources: History of the Church, 6:554. Carol Cornwall Madsen, "Journey to Zion: Voices From the Mormon Trail." Madsen, "In Their Own Words: Women and the Story of Nauvoo." "A Woman's View: Helen Mar Whitney's Reminiscences of Early Church History." Matthias F. Cowley, "Wilford Woodruff, His Life and Labors."
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