The settlement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in the Salt Lake Valley and surrounding area was achieved through moving from settlement to settlement until they made a permanent home in the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains. In 1847, they trekked en masse across the great plains of the United States until they reached what is now northern Utah. The setting of establishment was led by Brigham Young. The church organized and directed the efforts. It is "the planning and founding of more than 500 communities in the American West, [and it] is regarded by many planning historians as one of the most significant accomplishments in the history of American city development".Deseret News Publishing Company

The presence of the Saints in the valley led to the efforts of a transcontinental railroad in which Promontory, Utah, served as the connecting point of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines. Often labeled "the Crossroads of the West", this area became important for people traveling west, particularly for the California Gold Rush. They used techniques of farm villages, plats, and the grid for the initial establishment and at the uninhabited area. Industrialization progressed rapidly through mining, manufacturing, and the establishment of railroads. Salt Lake City, the city where the headquarters of the LDS Church is located, became successful.

Roots of settlement The Church of Christ was the name of the original church founded by Joseph Smith in New York in 1830. Many of the early members, like Smith, came from the American northeast and therefore had been raised using the agricultural and organizational methods common to the area. Persecution, including mob violence, against church members caused Smith and his followers to move from place to place, building communities wherever they went. Smith intended to establish Zion.

Smith's "City of Zion" was based on a self-sufficient agrarian model. In his plan, the city was to be divided so that each family had a -acre city lot to build their home and plant a garden, with one square mile of barns and crop fields surrounding the city for provisions. The saints began building in Kirtland, Ohio, and parts of Missouri, such as Jackson County and Far West, then moved their headquarters to Nauvoo, Illinois. Later,Jackson (1994), p. 23 since they confronted the assassination of Joseph Smith, the Saints decided to leave once more. They migrated from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley under the leadership of their new leader, Brigham Young.

Central institution The driving force in the settlement of the Salt Lake Valley was the LDS Church, with most people living there being church members. This group was familiar with establishing towns, where they all lived and worked together, and promoted the concept of Zion. Mormon settlers were motivated by religion.Hunter (1940), p. 13 Since its earliest days, missionary work had been a prominent responsibility of the church and its members.Our Heritage (1996). pp. 5-19. Proselyting efforts to gain more followers and bring them to Zion played a critical role in the immigration to Utah, which provided manpower for settlement. The Perpetual Emigration Fund was established to finance the travels of converts to Utah.Hunter (1940), p. 14Jensen Dec 2013. Web. Young had envisioned that the "desert blossom as a rose".Hunter (1940), p. 15Our Heritage (1996). pp. 81-91.

Theodemocracy A Theodemocracy was instituted, combining church and state.Hunter (1940), p. 112 The church is organized with a lay ministry, beginning with the president and his counselors, who form the First Presidency and who have oversight for all areas, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and other general authorities, who are assigned responsibility over specified areas, then local leaders of stakes and wards.Hunter (1940), pp. 113–114“How the Church is Organized” There were also tribunals that acted as basic court systems, however, there were no lawyers.Hunter (1940), p. 55 The influx of non-Mormons, as well as a desire to obtain statehood, prompted the church to re-evaluate its system.Hunter (1940), p. 122 The Saints proposed the State of Deseret, with all three branches of government: legislative, judiciary, and executive.Hunter (1940), p. 123 Instead, the Territory of Utah was formed by an act of Congress in 1850, with Brigham Young as governor.Hunter (1940), p. 124 The church's leaders taught their people that they were establishing the Kingdom of God upon the earth.Hunter (1940), p. 120 The leadership of the LDS Church in Utah under Young has been described as "a completely organized and efficient ecclesiastical machine".

Brigham Young

Under Brigham Young's direction, Salt Lake City was constructed to be the headquarters, while other areas were developed under his direction. Young has been characterized as a skilled leader, with contrasting personality and ability from the church's founder, Joseph Smith. "Young inspired his followers by his down-to-earth demeanor and through his skills as a pragmatic organizer and executive."Bringhurst

Upon viewing the Salt Lake Valley, Young declared: "This is the place".Hunter (1940), p. 11. There is some debate on the nature of the quote. Brigham Young is claimed to have said instead, “It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on.” Unable to find valid reference for this claim. This declaration designated the new place that they would begin to settle and develop. Young assigned the task of surveying the immediate area to plan a new settlement to Orson Pratt, who was assisted by Henry G. Sherwood, and conducted the original survey of Salt Lake City, on August 2, 1847. After beginning the first settlement, Young sent parties of explorers to search the rest of the Salt Lake Valley. These parties included men like Albert Carrington, who was sent to the southern part of the valley, and Jesse Little, who was sent to the northern part.Alexander After receiving reports from the explorers, Young directed clergymen and craftsmen to be sent in settlement groups to specified locations. These men extended a church calling. Young would then continually follow up and supervise their efforts through personal visits, often being highly critical of his findings. Young thought that isolation and demand for hard work would be character building for his people and that the Salt Lake Valley possessed the ideal qualities.Jackson (1994), p. 25Hunter (1940), p. 63

Settlement

Beginnings The Intermountain West was "drier and colder" and "less accessible", making the geographical differences from the Mississippi River Valley, their former home, quite profound.Jackson (1994), p. 22 The Salt Lake Valley is between the Wasatch Mountains on the east, the Oquirrh Mountains on the west, Traverse Ridge to the south, and the Great Salt Lake to the northwest. The church leaders' assessment of the area was "based on the reports of trappers, explorers, and erstwhile immigrant recruiters trying to attract settlers to the Oregon or California territories". Lansford Hastings said that the area "offers inducements to no civilized people, sufficient to justify an expectation of permanent settlements", but John Fremont's more favorable report inspired the church leaders to select the Salt Lake Valley as their destination.

The group arrived late in the season, which necessitated a rush to plant crops such as potatoes and corn to meet their needs for the coming winter and provide seeds for the following spring. Jim Bridger had told the newcomers that nothing would ever grow in the Salt Lake Valley, mainly because the ground was so hard.Mormon Pioneer Trail History The ground broke some of the pioneers' plows. In order to soften the ground, the pioneers built a dam in nearby City Creek to flood the ground, which was successful. Some of the Saints had learned irrigation techniques while serving missions in places such as Italy. They acclimated to the harsh winter during the first year.Jackson (1994) The settlers survived the first ten years of settlement, which including harsh winds, rains, snows, frosts, and insect pests.Lesson 41: "The Saints Settle the Salt Lake Valley"

Salt Lake City The headquarters for the church had been determined by Young. The surrounding area underwent immediate planning; it would serve as the center of their new city. One of the first buildings was "the bowery", which was a simple structure designed to be a temporary facility for worship and school. A fence was built, encompassing the city center, in order to provide protection from Indians and the cold winter winds. Inside of the fence, log homes and adobes were constructed for housing. A school was built but without desks, chairs, or other supplies. Later the Saints built tables from wagon parts and windows from cloth, which had been used and stretched into form. Salt Lake city was a planned settlement and a planning map was created before any street or building was constructed, now available in the Library of Congress.

Other areas Bountiful, named after an ancient American city referenced in the Book of Mormon, was the second settlement.Scott Shortly after the pioneers' arrival, Perrigrine Sessions was sent by Young to explore the area just north of Salt Lake City. In September 1847 Sessions gathered his family into their wagon and herded 300 head of cattle into the South Davis Valley. Other families moved into the area and began planting crops the following year. Fifty-three families had established farms in the area by 1850. Tribes such as the Utes and Shoshone occupied parts of the Great Basin. The ever-expanding settlement of the Saints pushed the Indians from their fertile lands. While the Saints did offer some food to help compensate, continual encroachment on their land caused conflict that led to some violence between the two groups. Eventually many of the Indians were forced to leave for reservations and other lands.

49ers Around the same time that the Saints began to settle the Salt Lake Valley, word had spread throughout the United States that gold had been discovered in California. Following the winter, many fortune hunters, or 49ers, started to head west to join in the gold rush. On their journey west, a fair number of these people detoured from the popular path and went through Salt Lake City. This route was not the quickest to California, but they looked to Salt Lake City as a place to rest and stock up on supplies. During this time the settlers in the valley were struggling. The city was still being established, only having about 6,000 residents, and the people had barely survived two disastrous harvests due to drought, frost, and cricket infestation.

The original settlers and the 49ers mutually benefited from each other. The Mormons received outside supplies, i.e. consumer goods and farm implements, and the 49ers received critical aid during their rest stop in the valley. The relationship between the two was generally positive, despite some accounts of conflict. Many of the members brought back large amounts of gold dust. The gold was used to mint gold coins, which the church used for financing and to establish the Deseret Mint until paper currency was issued.Harmer (1966), p. 100 The 1849 Gold Rush brought economic development to the valley and established patterns for future travel to the west coast. When the planning of the Transcontinental Railroad was laid out, experts chose the route through the valley, which helped make Salt Lake City a base for later mercantile and exploration efforts.

Techniques

Settlement in the Salt Lake Valley followed Young's modified version of Smith's "City of Zion". Young followed this plan in the Salt Lake Valley instead of following the common methods used in other parts of the western United States. Settlement tactics included three main traits: the plat, the grid, and the farm village.

The plat