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<title>Mormon handcart pioneers</title>
<authors>Wikipedia</authors>
<publisher>wikipedia.org</publisher>
<publishedplace>network</publishedplace>
<publishedyear>2010</publishedyear>
<edition></edition>
<category>Featured articles</category>
<section id="37159" fatherid="0" title="" lv="" priority="-1" level="1">
The Mormon handcart pioneers were participants in the migration of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS Church) to Salt Lake City, Utah, who used handcarts to transport their belongings. The Mormon handcart movement began in 1856 and lasted until 1860.
Motivated to join their fellow Church members in Utah but lacking funds for full ox or horse teams, nearly 3,000 Mormon pioneers from England, Wales, Scotland and Scandinavia made the journey from Iowa or Nebraska to Utah in ten handcart companies. The trek was disastrous for two of the companies, which started their journey dangerously late and were caught by heavy snow and severe temperatures in central Wyoming. Despite a dramatic rescue effort, more than 210 of the 980 pioneers in these two companies died along the way. John Chislett, a survivor, wrote, "Many a father pulled his cart, with his little children on it, until the day preceding his death."Quoted by Hafen and Hafen (1981), p. 102.
Although less than 10 percent of the 1847–68 Latter-day Saint emigrants made the journey west using handcarts, the handcart pioneers have become an important symbol in LDS culture, representing the faithfulness and sacrifice of the pioneer generation. They continue to be recognized and honored in events such as Pioneer Day, Church pageants, and similar commemorations. The handcart treks were a familiar theme in 19th century Mormon folk music and have been a theme in LDS fiction, such as David Farland's novel In the Company of Angels, Gerald Lund's historical novel, Fire of the Covenant, and Orson Scott Card's science-fiction short story, "West."

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<section id="37160" fatherid="0" title="Background to the migration" lv="" priority="-2" level="1">
The Latter Day Saints were first organized as the Church of Christ in 1830.  Early members of the Church often encountered hostility, primarily due to their practice of withdrawing from secular society and gathering in locales to practice their distinct religious beliefs. Their neighbors felt threatened by the Church's rapid growth in numbers, by its tendency to vote as a bloc and acquire political power, by its claims of divine favor, and by the practice of polygamy.O'Dea (1957), pp. 41–49, 72–75. Violence directed against the Church and its members caused the body of the Church to move from Ohio to Missouri, then to Illinois. Despite the frequent moves, Church members were unable to escape opposition, which culminated in the extermination order against all Mormons living in the state by Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs and the murder of its leader Joseph Smith in 1844. Brigham Young, Smith's successor as Church leader, said that he had received divine direction to organize the church members and head beyond the western frontier of the United States.O'Dea (1957), pp. 1–85; Allen and Leonard (1976), pp. 103–256.
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<section id="37161" fatherid="0" title="Need for handcart companies" lv="" priority="3" level="1">
Soon after the first Mormon pioneers reached Utah in 1847, the Church began encouraging its converts in the British Isles and elsewhere in Europe to emigrate to Utah. From 1849 to 1855, about 16,000 European Latter-day Saints traveled to Utah by ship, rail and then ox and wagon. Although most of these emigrants paid their own expenses, the Church established the Perpetual Emigration Fund to provide financial assistance for poor emigrants to trek west, which they would repay as they were able.  Contributions to expand the fund were encouraged.Hafen and Hafen (1981), pp. 22–27.
When contributions and loan repayments dropped off in 1855 after a poor harvest in Utah, President Young decided to begin using handcarts because the Latter-day Saints who remained in Europe were mostly poor. Young also believed it would speed the journey.Hafen and Hafen (1981), pp. 28–31.
Young proposed the plan in a letter to Franklin D. Richards, President of the European Mission, in September 1855. His letter was published in the Millennial Star, the Church's England-based periodical, on December 22, 1855, along with an editorial by Richards endorsing the project. The cost of the migration was expected to be reduced by one-third. The response was overwhelming — in 1856 the Perpetual Emigration Fund supported the travel of 2,012 European emigrants, compared with 1,161 the year before.Hafen and Hafen (1981), pp. 29–34, 46.

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<section id="37162" fatherid="0" title="Outfitting" lv="" priority="-4" level="1">
Emigrants departed from an English port (generally Liverpool) and travelled by ship to New York or Boston, then by railroad to Iowa City, Iowa, the western terminus of the rail line, where they would be outfitted with handcarts and other supplies.Hafen and Hafen (1981), pp. 40, 44, 91, 153, 157, 180.
Built to Brigham Young's design, the handcarts resembled a large wheelbarrow, with two wheels five feet (1.5 m) in diameter and a single axle four and half feet (1.4 m) wide, and weighing 60 pounds (27 kg). Running along each side of the bed were seven-foot (2.1 m) pull shafts ending with a three-foot (0.9 m) crossbar at the front. The crossbar allowed the carts to be pushed or pulled. Cargo was carried in a box about three feet by four feet (0.9 m by 1.2 m), with 8 inch (0.2 m) walls. The handcarts generally carried up to 250 pounds (110 kg) of supplies and luggage, though they were capable of handling loads as heavy as 500 pounds (230 kg). Carts used in the first year's migration were made entirely of wood ("Iowa hickory or oak"); in later years a stronger design was substituted, which included metal elements.Hafen and Hafen (1981), pp. 53–55; Dekker (2006), p. 45; 
The handcart companies were organized using the handcarts and sleeping tents as the primary units. Five persons were assigned per handcart, with each individual limited to 17 pounds (7.7 kg) of clothing and bedding. Each round tent, supported by a center pole, housed 20 occupants and was supervised by a tent captain. Five tents were supervised by the captain of a hundred (or "sub-captain"). Provisions for each group of one hundred emigrants were carried in an ox wagon, and were distributed by the tent captains.Hafen and Hafen (1981), pp. 58–59, 157; Dekker (2006), p. 41.

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<section id="37163" fatherid="0" title="1856:  First three companies" lv="" priority="5" level="1">
The first two ships departed England in late March and mid-April and sailed to Boston. The emigrants spent several weeks in Iowa City, where they constructed their handcarts and were outfitted with supplies before beginning their trek of about 1,300 miles (2,093 km).Hafen and Hafen (1981), pp. 43–58.
About 815 emigrants from the first two ships were organized into the first three handcart companies, headed by captains Edmund Ellsworth, Daniel D. McArthur, and Edward Bunker.Exact counts of the number of emigrants are not possible both because of incomplete records and because some emigrants dropped out along the way.  For example, see Hafen and Hafen (1981), p. 199. The captains were missionaries returning to their homes in Utah and were familiar with the route. Most of the sub-captains were also returning missionaries.Hafen and Hafen (1981), pp. 53–59.
Across Iowa they followed an existing road about 275 miles (443 km) to Council Bluffs, following a route that is close to current U.S. Route 6. After crossing the Missouri River, they paused for a few days at a Mormon outpost in Florence, Nebraska (modern-day Omaha) for repairs,  before beginning the remaining 1,030-mile (1,658 km) journey along the Mormon Trail to Salt Lake City.Kimball (1979).
The companies made good time, and their trips were largely uneventful. The emigrant companies included many children and elderly individuals, and pushing and pulling handcarts was difficult work. Journals and recollections describe periods of illness and hunger. Like other companies traveling on the Emigrant Trail, deaths occurred along the way. Hafen and Hafen's Handcarts to Zion lists 13 deaths from the first company, seven from the second, and fewer than seven from the third. Journal entries reflect the optimism of the handcart pioneers, even amid their hardships:Emigrant Priscilla M. Evans of the third company, as quoted by Hafen and Hafen (1981), pp. 82–83.

The first two companies arrived in Salt Lake City on September 26 and the third followed less than a week later. The first three companies were regarded as having demonstrated the feasibility of emigrating using handcarts.Hafen and Hafen (1981), pp. 59–79.

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