The Iowa Mormon Trail

Few recent publications contain as much original research as does this volume of papers delivered at a symposium held in Des Moines, Iowa, in May 1996. The purpose of the symposium was to “identify, mark, map, and celebrate the historic Mormon Pioneer Trail in southern Iowa” (v). Interestingly, participants included both Mormon and non-Mormon scholars and experienced as well as novice historians, including eighth-grade students. These students, supported by grants from the Iowa Department of Education, spent two summers interviewing longtime residents for oral histories about the Mormons in Iowa and reconnoitering the terrain around Mt. Pisgah on what turned out to be a successful search for signs of the Mormon Trail.

The symposium also included reports from local historians along the Mormon Trail. These reports demonstrate extensive research into pioneer diaries and county and cemetery records, including findings from exploration of the terrain, such as the “footprints” (223) of fence posts indicating boundaries of camps and burial sites, as well as the correct site of the Chariton River Camp. (The straightening and realigning of the river in 1906 had led to the original erroneous identification of the campsite.)

Presentations by well-known LDS scholars examine familiar and also little known aspects of Iowa trail history. James B. Allen discusses the reasons the Saints left Illinois, and Donald Q. Cannon describes the settlements they abandoned. William G. Hartley justifies the ill-timed spring exodus of the Saints in 1846, while Richard E. Bennett defines the exodus as a refining experience that strengthened the Church. Carol Cornwall Madsen presents women’s experience on the Iowa Mormon Trail. Her inclusion of many diary excerpts and valuable information from reminiscent accounts produces an excellent chapter on female travelers.

Sometimes scholars fail to describe Mormon experiences in a worldwide context. Stanley B. Kimball reminds us that the pioneer trek was part of a “westward surge” of many emigrants looking for new land and adventure (86). He categorizes the Mormon travelers into groups such as women, singles, children, and African Americans. Loren N. Horton, retired senior historian of the State Historical Society of Iowa, gives a brief history of events, such as the drive for statehood, that were occurring in Iowa at the same time the vanguard company of Mormon pioneers slogged through the mud.

A discussion of the social life and entertainment of the travelers is also included. William Pitt’s Brass Band buoyed up the spirits of the Saints and earned money by performing in settlements along the trail. The book also contains accounts of hardships in the Nauvoo Poor Camps, which were populated by those forced at gunpoint to leave the city in the fall of 1846.

The editors are to be commended for producing this fascinating volume that provides new and useful information on this less familiar portion of the Mormon pioneer story—the evacuation of Nauvoo and the trek across Iowa to Winter Quarters.