Mormon Mail and YX Express
"Another significant prelude to hostilities concerned the carrying of the mails between Utah and the States, a vital matter to a people situated far from the frontier. . . .…
Hurt and the Mormons
"More important than Burr's encounters with the Saints in Utah was the concurrent reappearance of the quarrel over the Church's policy toward the Indians. Previous agents, especially Jacob Holeman, had…
Burr and the Mormons
"The short period between 1852 and 1855 was in general a peaceful interlude in the relations between the Mormons and the nation. Although Steptoe, [Secretary Benjamin G.] Ferris, and [Indian…
Steptoe and the Mormons
"Another aggravating development of the period was the arrival of Lt. Col. Edward Jenner Steptoe with a party of 300 soldiers and civilians in 1854. This was no military expedition…
Provisional State of Deseret
"When the Mormons arrived in the Salt Lake Basin, their plans for their New Zion envisaged the creation of a vast empire in the West, with a number of far-flung…
Utah Territory and the State of Deseret
"Although the Church had deliberately built its new home in a region far removed from other settlements, its leaders in 1849 realized that Salt Lake Valley would need a more…
Mormons and the Green River Area
"[T]he uneasy situation in the Green River region worsened. Pursuing the Church's effort to extend its jurisdiction over the area, at the same time following its established practice of bestowing…
Mormon Interference with the Mail
"In November [1852, Indian Gent Jacob Holman] was prepared to draw up a broad indictment of the Saints, touching upon a number of general causes of Gentile-Mormon friction. With the…
The Runaways
"[T]he decade of the 1850s began harmoniously enough. . . . The cordial atmosphere continued briefly after the arrival Fillmore's appointees in 1851. . . . Almost from the first…
Mormons and the Courts
"It was in the judicial rather than the political field, however, that non-Mormons felt most keenly the dictatorial authority of the church. . . .At first the Mormons, believing that…
Causes of Friction Between Mormons and Gentiles
"One basic cause of the difficulties [between Mormons and Gentiles] during [the 1850s], and indeed in later years, was the existence of a public opinion extremely hostile to the Mormons…
Fort Laramie Mail
"A Fort Laramie postmarked letter in existence today is worth a small fortune to collectors. This was the last chance to mail anything this side of California without detouring to…
Mile 753: Fort Laramie Milestone
"Fort Laramie marked the end of the High Plains, the beginning of the long upgrade haul to the Rocky Mountains. It was the end of the line for the sick,…
Cow Column
"The 'cow column,' the first migration to Oregon, consisting of near 1,000 persons, passed by [Fort Laramie] in 1843. Thereafter, the white-topped emigrant wagons became a familiar sight in May…
Mile 582: Pole Creek Station No. 2
"Site unidentified, vicinity of Lodgepole, Nebraska. The route was along Lodgepole Creek, future route of the Union Pacific Railroad into Cheyenne." [N.B. This location is not on the Pony Express…