May 27th to June 3rd

Brigham Young

This Week has really passed by quickly. The busier we get the faster

it goes here in Omaha. Working at the visitor centers our shifts go by

so fast, you lose track of days and because you are in your Sunday

best, everyday seems like Sunday.  The missionary work here is

picking up also. President Gardner told us in Zone Conference

“The Lord has people prepared in every city, our job is to find them.”

We had the privilege to take a tour of the Historic sites in Iowa this past weekend.

Let us tell you about them.

Sisters at
Elizabeth Richards Grave

In Council Bluffs Cemetery we visited the Mormon part of that cemetery, only a few

markers remain. Here is a picture of Elizabeth Richard’s grave, she was 15 when

she died here. Also two of the Sisters presented a musical number “Come Come Ye Saints”.

copy the link to play video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12lnJZM-Tso

Next we moved to the middle mark of the Grand Encampment. When Brigham

oung got to this point he had the Saints camp while it was decided where they

would winter. The camp had around 13,000 people waiting for instructions.

Imagine a camp 3 miles wide and 9 miles long of people.

John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt camped on the bluff west of Mosquito Creek.

This was called redemption hill. Others of the Twelve camped here which was the

headquarters of the Grand Encampment. Here is where Brigham Young met James

Allen to talk about the Mormon Battalion. Also Thomas Kane met with Brigham

Young here. They also built a Bowery for Church Meetings here.

Moving on our next stop was the Mormon Trail on the high grass prairie.

This is described as a place where a man could ride his horse and grass was as high as his shoulders.

Sister White on Mormon Trail

Eliza R. Snow, August 26, 1946
“About noon we arrived at the celebrated ‘Council Bluffs’ presenting a scene that

is truly wildly beautiful. We drove on to the flat… covered with a luxuriant growth

of grass…” many communities were built around here.

Hyde Park was the next stop. Here on this ground, in Orson Hyde’s

cabin, Brigham Young was set apart as President of the Church on Dec 5th 1847.

 Orson was the apostle left in charge of the Iowa settlements..

Hyde Park Monument 

Pointe aux poules, alias Traders Point, alias Trading Point, alias, St. Francis,

alias Council Bluffs lived up to its names by moving from place to place! It was

a town largely of Indian wives and children of French, Spanish, and American

trappers and traders who spent the warm months of the year far up the Missouri or

Council Point

far out on the Platte Rivers.
For the Mormons it is near here that the Mormon Battalion men and boys left from

this area for the 2036 mile march to San Diego, and the point of the final mustering area.

Next to the Council Point Historical Marker. Here is the first LDS Settlement in

Iowa. It was the site of the Emigrant Landing  where many Saint came up the

Missouri River and would start their way west. To our family this is where

Edward Phillips and his family settled after leaving from Nauvoo. Here was

the Central Ferry that carried pioneers across the Missouri River.

Edward Phillips

Next to the overlook of the Central Ferry site where a ferry was built that

could carry 2 full wagons with teams across the river. The Missouri River is

very swift and fast. It is a miracle that a ferry could be used to cross the river.

President Gordon B. Hinckley when dedicating the Winter Quarters Temple…” Here they
stopped temporarily, hundreds and thousands of them on both sides of the Missouri River, while moving westward from their homes in Nauvoo, or
from the British Isles and Europe to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.
Many of them died here. ...Great were their trials. Tremendous their
sacrifice.  … We envision the wagons and boats pulling in from the
East and South., While others were leaving these grounds to make
the long march ...to the Salt Lake Valley. .All of this area was once
a place of great industry. Here wagons and handcarts were built. Here oxen,
cows, and other animals, seeds and plants were gathered together to move west.
There was,at times , much of levity here.  There was also much sorrow. “

sisters at Hyde Park