A trip to the Museum of Church History

We went to the Church History museum this weekend. We watched the documentary on The Willie and Martin Handcart company, and saw the art people have done on the event.

2 impressions. They were WAY FAR away from Salt Lake, not like 1 day or 2 away. It was a week or 2 away! Also, I am a wimp! I don't think I could have done what they did and had such a good attitude at the end. They all recorded in their journals, they did not regret coming when they did. Because they knew God through the experience.
This is a painting of just how cold it might have been.


This is a depiction of Ephriam Hanks killing a buffalo and bringing the meat to the saints. He had a horse "laddened down" with meat to give to them. He was in the rescue party! This is him giving them the meat.

They were rationed down to 8 oz. of flour for the adults and 4 oz. for the children. How welcome was the sight of some good ol meat!










This is a picture of the 4 rescuers who rode as fast as they could day and night to find where the handcart companies were, and let them know that help was on the way. They then took the saints into a grove of trees to help them be protected from the weather. The rescuers recorded "the sight of the condition of the saints would soften the heart of the hardest of men" When they arrived, the saints had stopped moving because they litterally had no more energy. They had no food to help them get more energy. They were just waiting in their camps.


This is after the rescuers had come and saved the saints. They had to leave their handcarts and everything in them, because the condition of the handcarts was so bad, because they used green wood, and they slowed them down to much. So they just walked away from EVERYTHING they had owned. This was very difficult for them. (Imagine dragging everything you had across as far as you could go, and then just leaving it. Because it was either continue with the stuff and not make it, or leave it and hopefully make it to Salt Lake and live.) The rescuers knew the hardest part of the journey was still in front of them an accent up a mountain that was 5 miles long!


This is a picture of what 2 sisters walking to Salt Lake might have looked like. Not ride in the handcart, but WALKED!















This whole exhibit is so sombering. It really brought to life what actually happened. What a unexpressable joy it was to have the rescuers come. If you remember right, Brigham Young said leave this conference right now, go and get your teams of horses and leave right away. The sisters in the congregation took off their pettycoats, jackets, blankets, and everything of the best quality to have the rescue party take with them. The rescue party left. Now the state of the rescue party's homes was not all set. They still hadn't got their crops in from the fields, they had not prepared to leave their families behind with all the work of the fall harvest behind them. They just left. It wasn't like the wives could have brought the fields harvests in, because the husbands and men took the work horses with them to rescue those on the trail. So, they lost the crop that year. It was their first growing season in the Salt Lake valley for some of the families, so they didn't have a lot of stored up food either. The end of the documentery was very joyful! They said that 1200 people crossed the plains we lost 200, but 1000 made it to the salt lake to be able to worship and grow and build their beloved temple the way THEY wanted to! It was a success. Even the Willie and Martin handcart company was a success.


Ok, changing gears. We thought so many times how we would have loved to have Grandpa Bob with us. Because he loves church history and would have loved to see what we saw.


This is the pocket watch that was in John Taylor's pocket and saved his life at the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph.









These are the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.









This is a replica of a covered wagon that was typical of what you would have traveled in. (This is the back of the wagon. The person driving the wagon was on the front side) The typical age of the person driving the handcart was 8-12. Because the father was off fighting in the mormon batalion. And the mom was taking care of the kids. You didn't ride in, or sleep in the wagon. You walked by and slept under, becasue This is what your stuff was in.