Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Mormon Migration and the Creation of Utah

Episode Date: July 26, 2026

In the middle of the 19th century, thousands of adherents to a new religion abandoned their homes, crossed rivers, endured brutal winters, and traveled more than a thousand miles into an uncertain wilderness. They were not searching for gold, land, or adventure. They were trying to preserve a community that had been driven from place to place by suspicion, violence, and fear. It became one of the most important religious events in American history. Learn more about the Mormon Migration on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Shop the store at Shop.Everything-Everywhere.com Sponsors Hexclad Get 10% off your order at hexclad.com/DAILY Mint Mobile Save 50% on Unlimited premium wireless plans starting at $15/month at MintMobile.com/EED Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! DripDrop Go to dripdrop.com and use promo code EVERYTHING for 20% off your first order! Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Discord Server: https://discord.gg/Ds7Rx7jvPJ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the middle of the 19th century, thousands of adherents to a new religion abandoned their homes, crossed rivers, endured brutal winters, and traveled more than a thousand miles into an uncertain wilderness. They weren't searching for gold, land, or adventure. They were trying to preserve a community that had been driven from place to place by suspicion, fear, and violence. It became one of the most important religious events in American history. Learn more about the Mormon migration on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Legendary has arrived in Alberta with BetMGM Casino. Sign up to unlock access to over 4,000 casino games, including exclusive slots you can't

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Monday 9 to 5 for the best time to shop this summer. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon Church, was founded by Joseph Smith in 1833. The religion was founded on a book published by Smith, known as the Book of Mormon. Smith claimed that the book was a translation that he had completed after an angel came to him and showed him some golden plates. The book revolves around a pre-Columbian Hebrew settlement in the United States. The settlement is visited by Christ after his crucifixion and his disciples establish a church there.

According to the books, over the next several centuries, the church that had been established was destroyed in a war between two tribes, the Nephites and the Lamanites. Despite this destruction, one of the Nephite members manages to bury the golden plates depicting his people's history. Said to have been buried in a hill located in upstate New York, the golden plates were meant to eventually be rediscovered and used to help reestablish, the Church in America. The Book of Mormon attracted many believers to Joseph Smith, leading to the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1834. As the church

grew, people moved to be near their prophet. They believe that they would form a Mormon city called New Zion, which would be a spiritual kingdom of heaven on earth. Smith claimed that New Zion would be located on what was then the western frontier in Missouri. This led many Mormons to move to an around Missouri to help prepare the city. Smith and his fellow church leaders were initially based in New York, but migrated to Missouri first settling in Curtland, Ohio, and then in Missouri itself. The newfound Mormon population in the region led many of the established residents to take pause. Many viewed the newcomers as an unorthodox religious group with clannish tendencies and practices that deviated from acceptable social norms. On October 30, 1838, during a violent

conflict between Mormon settlers and their opponents in Missouri, a force of roughly 200 armed men attacked the Mormon settlement at Hans Mill, where many residents had gathered for protection. The attackers killed 17 Mormons and wounded more than a dozen others. The massacre occurred shortly after Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued an order calling for the Mormons to be driven out of the state. Joseph Smith was arrested and convicted of treason in 1838. He was sentenced to death, but Smith and his fellow Mormons managed to escape to Illinois before it could be carried out. The Mormons created a new settlement in Illinois, known as Nauvu. Located by the Mississippi River, the settlement quickly became a popular destination for Mormons.

Thousands of people began moving to the city, and the population reached 20,000, briefly surpassing the population of Chicago. A massive temple began construction there as well. Within the city, Smith was the undisputed leader, controlling both political and spiritual life. He was able to establish a Mormon militia, making the city almost independent from the rest of the state, and giving it massive political power and authority. The Mormon population also voted as a unit and openly ran drills with their militia, raising concern among the non-Mormon population. These fears escalated after Smith declared that he was going to run for president.

In 1844, anti-Morman newspapers were established to campaign against Smith and the Mormons. The press began to report on the Mormons and Smith, hoping to smear their image and reduce their political clout. They mainly focused on the practice of polygamy, which Smith had privately authorized. The Smith managed to destroy the newspaper he didn't escape without consequence. He was arrested in 1844 and charged again with treason. He was killed in June of that year when an anti-Mormon mobbed. attacked the jail. As so often happens when religious leaders are killed, Smith became more powerful in death. The church portrayed their prophet as a martyr, giving the Mormons a figure to rally behind.

However, hatred towards Mormons continued leading the group being forced out of Illinois in 1846. The group was led by their new prophet, Brigham Young, who had been chosen to lead by his fellow Mormons. Young had joined the church in 1832, after converting to the faith, Young spent his time traveling and preaching. His commitment to the church led Smith to name him as one of the 12 apostles, the church's senior leadership. Young and the other apostles needed to move the Mormons out of Illinois quickly as mob violence continued to escalate and Nauvoo's city charter was revoked. They began to consider different options for where to move, including California, Canada, and Texas. However, they ultimately chose to move to the Great Salt Lake Valley

in what is today the state of Utah. The location was preferable because they needed a large space to construct their proposed city of New Zion and desired isolation to freely practice their faith without any intervention. The Mormons began selling their homes and farms to purchase the horses, cattle, and wagons needed for the journey. Young determined that roughly 3,000 families and 2,500 wagons were to take the journey to their new home. Young split the migrants into smaller groups, using the pattern provided by the Old Testament of the Bible when the Jews crossed the Red Sea. The migrants were named the Collective of Israel in honor of this. The Mormon migration was planned a start in the spring of 1846,

but it actually began in February two months earlier. The reason for the early departure was that relations with the locals had gotten so strained that they could no longer stay. The first group to make their way out of Navu consisted of roughly 1,600 people. This initial group was sent earlier to establish temperament, living spaces in eastern Iowa. Acting as an advance party, this initial detachment focused on locating suitable campgrounds and constructing or restoring bridges and roads to facilitate the passage for subsequent travelers.

Furthermore, they were responsible for setting up camps, sewing crops, and creating wells to sustain the rest of the migration. The advanced group eventually stopped near Omaha, Nebraska. When the Mormons reached there in June of 1846, the area became known as the Winter Quarters. This setup enabled the remaining travelers to gather together for the subsequent stages of the trip. This level of organization proved beneficial for the succeeding parties, which included the youth, the elderly, the sick, and the wounded, making their arrival at the site much more manageable. Despite the careful planning, their stay at winter quarters was difficult.

Many of the migrants suffered in poor housing and did not have enough food. Combined with the terrible winter conditions in late 1846 and early 1847, many members of of the group got scurvy or malaria. Over 600 people died before the arrival of spring. For the second part of the migration, Young led an advanced party made up of 25 wagons. The goal was to determine the most effective route across the Great Plains and mark the trail for everyone else. They hoped to create a new route rather than the more commonly traveled Oregon Trail as they feared any interactions with non-Mormon travelers. This new route became known as the Mormon Trail. 12,000 to 15,000 Latter-day Saints left Nauvue and surrounding settlements during the broader

exodus. The route they chose was far more hostile than the more well-known Oregon Trail. The main difference was that the Mormons took a path across a desert which offered significantly more dangers than the hospitable valleys that earlier people took. They were also warned against settling in modern-day Utah. Young and the other Mormons were informed that it would be difficult to set up agriculture due to the desert conditions, as well as the hostile Native American tribes that were living in the area. However, Young disregarded the dangers because he was drawn to the lack of population. Additionally, the nearby tribes are small in number, so he didn't view them as a major threat. Another reason the area was desirable was that the nearby mountain range had

freshwater streams that could be perfect for irrigating farmland if they were properly set up. This decision meant that the group needed to stay extremely organized. Each group's leader had to maintain and keep records of the amount of time traveled to ensure that their fellow Mormons could travel as efficiently as possible. Brigham Young and his early group stopped on July 24, 1847 after 111 days on the road. When Young reached the Great Salt Lake Valley, he stopped, looked around, and determined that it was the perfect place to settle down. After the Salt Lake Valley was designated as the 7th and,

settlement site, the Mormons went to work building their new community. They dammed a mountain streams, irrigated the land to plant crops, built new homes, and fortified the area. In their new settlements, the Mormons were relatively safe from outside persecution and were able to live their lives and practice their religion without fear. By the end of the century, nearly a hundred different Mormon settlements had been established in the Salt Lake Valley. When the Mormons first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, the territory was still considered part of Mexico. However, the land was seated to the United States in 1848 during the Mexican-American War. Seeing opportunity in 1849, Brigham Young proposed to the United States government that they

form a new state called Desert. Young's proposed state was massive, containing all of modern Utah, most of Nevada, and parts of Idaho, New Mexico, California, and Arizona. By establishing the entire region as a new state, Young thought that he could use a state government to protect their religious beliefs. Unfortunately for Young, the territory was considered way too large and did not meet population requirements to be admitted to the Union. As a consolation, the U.S. government established the Utah Territory in 1850, and Young was appointed its first territorial governor. Young continued to submit bids to the U.S. government to make Utah a state, but the proposals were repeatedly rejected for not meeting population requirements. In reality, the main reason why Utah was

rejected as a state was most certainly because of the Mormon's religious practices, as other states had been able to join the union without meeting population requirements. The Mormon religion was foreign outsiders who saw their group as a dangerous voting block. The other main reason the state proposal was rejected was the practice of polygamy. The majority of the American population was uncomfortable with the practice and viewed it as a sin. The discomfort with Mormons in the U.S. at the time led to what became known as the Utah War in 1857 and 1858, when the U.S. government sent troops into the territory to establish federal control. Approximately 150 people were killed in the conflict,

the vast majority of whom were civilians killed in the Mountain Meadows massacre. Approximately 120 non-Mormons in a wagon train heading to California were killed by a Mormon militia. Several thousand reached the Salt Lake Valley by the end of the 1840s, and migration continued through the 1850s and 1860s. According to the National Park Service, nearly 70,000 Mormon pioneers followed the overland route to the Great Salt Lake Valley between 1847

and the arrival of the Transcontinental Railroad in Utah in 1869. Utah eventually became a state in 1896. The change only occurred after Mormon leadership renounced the practice of polygamy. Today, the church claims approximately 60% of the population of Utah as members, while independent polling has reported a number closer to 40%. The Mormon migration of the 1840s was more than just a wagon journey. It was the relocation of an entire religion and the culmination of a major American conflict over religious freedom

and political authority. It also ushered in the beginning of a new struggle over land and power in the Great Basin. It preserved the Latter-day Saint movement, reshaped the settlement of the entire American West and left a legacy that remains central to the identity of both Utah and the Mormon Church today. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by Olivia Ash. My big thanks go to everyone who supports a show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups

on Facebook and Discord. This is where everything happens that's outside of the show. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you too can have it read on the show.