This article tells a part of the epic adventure of the Mormon pioneer trek to Utah. Jacob Gates was assigned to help handle the emigration of Saints traveling from Europe or the eastern U.S. to Utah, outfitting them for the overland trek at Florence (now greater Omaha), Nebraska. Brigham Young devised a plan that Utah wards would send drivers with wagons and teams of oxen east to Florence to meet the incoming converts. The returning wagons brought not only Saints but equipment that was hard to come by in frontier Utah.
