You make it sound as if these myths are more common than my life experience can agree with. (One branch of my family tree was in the middle of the arrival and settlement of SL Valley.)

I've been an active reader and participant in Utah history for over 60 years and have never even heard about 2/3 of what you term "popular" beliefs.

"Historians" and journalists seem to think their agendas and biases are the norm.

I agree that there are many myths associated with the Mormon trek westward, but must take exception to the following statement:

"It was actually a great adventure," the NPS report continued. "Over the decades, Mormons have emphasized the tragedies of the trail, and tragedies there were, but generally after 1847. Between 1847 and the building of the railroad in 1869, at least 6,000 died along the trail from exhaustion, exposure, disease and lack of food. Few were killed by Indians. To the vast majority, however, the experience was positive -- a difficult and rewarding struggle. Nobody knows how many Mormons migrated west during those years, but 70,000 people in 10,000 vehicles is a close estimate.

"To the 143 men, three women and two children who left Winter Quarters, the 111-day pioneer trek of 1847 was mostly a great adventure, with a dramatic ending."

The NPS report and the article mention that thousands of people died on the way--but I am not sure it is accurate to say that it was a "great adventure" to be threatened by marauding mobs and forced to leave one's property by people threatening to kill you and your family.

Who's to say that this "new" history is correct? The truth of the matter is that these early Saints were driven out of the U.S. Not to dwell on the negative, but surely these people were a bit weary from all of the persecutions and the martyrdom of their prophet. I'm just grateful that they went West and established a place where they could finally find peace.

I'm a docent at the Church Museum of History and Art. We've been apprised of many of the myths spoken here. But I don't totally agree that the trip west was super fun all the time--it wasn't like a vacation. If you read the accounts from journals that Susan Arrington Madsen compiled or co-compiled, "I Walked to Zion," "Growing up in Zion" and "I Sailed to Zion," you will get some perspective of the trek west.

Imagine being on a 3-month camping trip where you had to walk instead of drive to your destination in a Fifth wheel, many times forging your own roads. Imagine coming to the United States from England where you lived in a crowded city and had never cooked over a campfire. Imagine coming to a locale with MINIMAL (I did not say "one") trees, alkaline soil, and harsh winters, without a railhead or a store where you could buy supplies. Imagine coming to a place where no one else in the country chose to settle during the great expansion west. Imagine creating an economy in an isolated situation. The pioneers WERE remarkable.

From the accounts I've read, their faith was that they were heading to Zion, and that was the primary source of good spirits.

They knew they would have to put in the labor and sweat to build Zion, but it would be a place of peace and surrounded by friends, in contrast to the places they had left, which hadn't quite made the switch to "diversity", "civil rights", "voting rights", "equal housing" and such ideas, yet. :)

During my docent training (four months' worth, once a week for four hours) we heard regularly from historians at the Church Museum, and we were and continually are educated as to the duties of the historians and the museum staff.

Historians there don't seek to invent new versions of history. Yet, they are scrupulous in their constant investigation of first-hand (from pioneers themselves) as well as historical evidence (newspapers of the times, other views not necessarily of the Church) of the early pioneer times and the early times of the church. All artifacts are thoroughly investigated for accurate provenance. While new findings don't reinvent history, they do corroborate it or bring events and people to our understanding in expanded or corrected ways. It is helpful to learn of more than one witness to an event.

We are strictly instructed to present history that is accurate and backed up with historical evidence, and to never perpetuate the ever evolving Mormon myths. Yes, we have them too.

I am grateful to Larry H. Miller and his wife who are funding the Joseph Smith papers project, which is evidence again, of the thoroughness of the Church's historical department.

I am a descendant of third company 1847 pioneers and of the Martin Handcart Company.

Many of the stories I have heard and read may have an element of exageration in them, but not as much as many historians would like to believe. For some reason these finders of fault take the faith and Devine intervention out of the stories.

Elder Lund says it well in his fiction book on the Martin and Willie companies, that some of the stories told if not entirely accurate should be told.

My great grandmother was 8 when she and her 12 year old sister pushed one of the two family carts. Three of her family of 9 died. Then in her 50's she and her husband pioneered the Mormon area in southern Alberta. She died in her 90th year a few months from her sister. So far as I have been able to tell they were that last survivors.

Who wrote that for the Park Service? They do not sound credible nor informed! That's too "revisionist" against the FACTS.
Why was it repeated in this publication?

I'm sure that we promulgate too many of the myths we hear but putting down the difficulty of the trek is not the way to clear anything up. If you have ever tried a re-enactment or have lived (even for a few days) as they had to live, you would change your mind.

They had to leave all they knew and often with much less than they needed, trek hard, take care of one another (often without husbands if theirs were in the Mormon Battalion or dead), and fight the elements to escape severe persecution.
What fun!

It did get easier after the Continental Railroad came through but the first 20 years of the Mormon Trail were not easy.

How many of us could make that same trip today?

Take a look at what we (LDS) buy and sell today. It's fiction, especially historical fiction. Tall tales. Truth just isn't exciting enough anymore, but should be.

The pioneer stories might seem simplistic, but are much more interesting than a lot of the garbage being peddled.

I searched for the famous "this is the place" statement among the contemporaneous records of the day and actually found two places where that statement was made. Both were during the first ten days in the valley.

One was when several people wanted to explore beyond the Salt Lake Valley for a better location. Brigham was quoted as saying that they could explore all the wanted but in the end would find that "this is the place". He also made a similar statement when he indicated that "this is the place" where the temple would be built.

Wilford Woodruff's diary does not record the famous statement when Brigham Young looked out over the valley on July 24th however. He merely states that Brigham Young "expressed his entire satisfaction with the location". Perhaps that is why Wilford Woodruff in 1880 account possible combined these events together. Certainly looking over the valley and solemnly declaring "This is the Place" has a better ring to it that solemnly declaring "I am Entirely Satisfied with this Location". :)

Happy Pioneer day everyone.

"Some myths" is an understatement. It's an odd situation when you see someone bearing a testimony and crying about a story that you know to be a myth. Do you tell them?

Excellent article. I hope more people will read it. My great-grandfather was in the second company into the valley so I have grown up with all the stories.
It is a proud story and of great inspiration. We however view it from our time and place. The fact is that was the way people travelled at that time. To understand what hardsip meant to them and what it means to us we need to know more about their time.
It is true, however, that this was a forced march and relocation of a whole people who would have rather have stayed where they were.

The whole LDS church based on one big myth. Why should we be surprised?

The biggest myth is that these were "brave" Mormon pioneers. In fact, they were running for their lives after getting their butts kicked across the country for marrying other people's daughters to old men who already had wives.

This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

"Myth busters" -- Yes, I see a lot of that. Makes you wonder whether what people identify as "the Spirit" is as unmistakable a guide to truth as they make it out to be.

Myths abound about the westward trek of the mormon settlers .. what is true and not true is hard to distinguish but my family's favorite story regards my ancestor, Hilda. She was one of the original settlers of the Salt Lake valley and was apparently a wonderful cook .. the early Mormon settlers were very resourceful .. On the freezing trek over the mountains they had ran in to hard times and clothing was at a premium .. they had no hats at all and were freezing, literally. Hilda had a great idea and she took to cooking very small, hot pies. She would take the pies and put one at each end of a strip and make something along the shape of the headphones of today .. the heat from the pies kept the settlers toasty and warm and enables them to make it across the Wasatch and to "the place" .. this brilliant but simple idea of Hilda's inadvertently earned the settlers the name that has stuck with them to this day .. they were then and they still are, the orginal Pioneers.

Many may have a distorted view of the tragedy or sufferings, since they are dwelt upon a lot.

However, as previously stated, this was NOT a vacation for anybody involved. Most of the participants, many of whom had emigrated from Europe, were NOT outdoors-people, but rather "city slickers." There weren't McDonalds and Taco Bells along the route, or nice showers and king mattresses at the end of a long, dusty day. It was their faith that motivated them, and buoyed their spirits. (Some folks don't understand that concept, to be sure.)

In the late 1850s, my great-great grandmother, at the age of 13, walked every step of the way from Genoa, Nebraska to Ogden, herding the family cow. Nowadays most 13-year-olds are yappin' on their cell phones and hanging out at the mall. Different times.

History, real history, is well usually a little different than the Gerald Lund type stories. In our case key pieces of our history are usually not discussed, with the result being that we don't know some pretty important things. But times are changing. The internet makes books written by pretty good historians (inside and outside the church) available for reading. Comptons's "In Sacred Lonliness", Bushman's "Rough Stone Rolling, Fawn Brodie's "No Man Knows my History", Quinn's "Origins of Power", Juanita Brooks book on the Mountain Meadows Murders, etc. The result is alot more skepticism about the history we hear in seminary, gospel doctrine classes, etc. Alot of people still only know the official versions of key historical events, but it is changing. The new knowledge will eventually require a more forthright discussion of doctrines and historical events. This will undoubtedly lead to many people feeling uneasy, perhaps shake their faith. It has mine. Weirdness I can deal with. Lying is harder for me. I hope we all become more informed. Knowing what really happened ultimately will be a good thing, at first it may hurt, but the truth is better than believing a lie.

"Utahns today often skew our perception and understanding of the entire history of what happened on the Mormon Trail by dwelling on the sufferings of a few."

Is it just me, or has this been a recent thing? As I was growing up, I seldom heard about the Martin-Wiley handcart tragedy.

If anyone is "skewing" it's either the church, or the media, or both.

As some stated above, we often look at the hardships the pioneers faced without realizing that even the "city slickers" lives were fraught with what we would term to be overwhelming hardships. Still, even the pioneers that came after the original pioneers did not have an easy trip. Even today, the idea of leaving everything known behind is a terrifying concept. Throw in the idea that you may not have much to eat and that you cannot bring many things with you, and many today would probably refuse. Even if not that many died, even one would be a lot if it was your own child/father/mother.

It's good to see this organization admit that lies have been told over the years. Kudos to the truth tellers!!!

I don't know about you, but 111 days out on the range and 1,032 miles of walking sounds like a blast to me!

And to think that they got to leave their old, dirty, brick homes for this adventure must have been a real joyous occasion.

There is way too much casual talk of "lies" thrown around these days. Not all untruths are lies. Faith-promoting rumors and legends don't necessarily start with someone making a story up out of whole cloth, with intent to deceive. An old person might remember something from his youth through rose-colored glasses; someone hearing him recount the tale may misunderstand his words, taking something as literal that he meant figuratively, and so on. Pretty soon, a mildly inspiring story turns into a full-scale Cecil B. DeMille production -- and all without anyone ever consciously intending to deceive anyone.

Accusing someone of lying is a serious attack on his character. It's the kind of thing that used to get people shot dead in duels. Now every keyboard-pecking thumbsucker in his mother's basement feels free to throw the "liar" charge around at the drop of a hat. It's a dang poor thing, if you ask me.

I still like the line from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" I quoted above.

To Barbara @12:14

I can't stop laughing about your story about "grandma Hilda" baking hot pies and wearing them as ear muffs as they crossed the Wasatch and that was how they became known as "pioneers." (At first I thought you were serious.) You belong on television!

The pioneers in the handcart companies that followed the disastrous Martin and Willey companies in 1857 through 1860 were facing statistics that showed a much higher mortality rate than was the case by 1869.

A "picnic" is a feast with all you can eat. The Marie Hafen account of the 1860 handcart trek tells of constantly being at the margins of their food supply, since they had to balance the amount of food they could pull against what they needed to eat during the journey. What the handcart pioneers did was a lot like being on the first few Space Shuttle missions after the Challenger blew up. You hope that lessons were learned, but you also know that the real lesson of that tragedy was that there are no guarantees.

Pioneering was easier when the Church started sending wagons and teams from Utah to Omaha to pick up people at the Council Bluffs railhead. After the Civil War, as the Union Pacific pushed west, there was a more permanent presence being established of trains and US Cavalry and settlements along the trails west. That was the safest time to be a pioneer.

Do you have to die to prove that it was a difficult trek. Why don't some of you walk or ride in a wagon to let's pick Coalville.( Or is most cases your nearest Wal-mart.) Then get on this site and tell us your vacation stories.

Do you have any idea the hardships I've faced driving in rush hour on I-15 (without the pot pies on my head to keep my ears warm). Once, when the weather was hot, my air conditioning didn't work. Those pioneers had it easy!

Is it possible that we fabricate just a bit to make our ancestors seem more heroic? Most pioneers probably didn't think they were doing anything that exceptional, just traveling (or walking) like most people did at the time. Except for the tragic Handcart companies, who truly suffered, the others probably took the long trek pretty much in stride as a necessary means to a desired end.

I guess that mormons were the only ones who sacrificed and came westward? I guess no other groups experienced hardhship? I guess no other groups have been persecuted?

I really think you all are living in a dreamw orld. Um-teen times the mormon population has encountered similar circumstances. The difference is they have accepted, reconcilled and moved. I guess victimization and hardship are engrained so much in the culture that it will take many more generations to move on.

Anyway good luck with that moving on thingy but most of all Happy Mormon Quanza to you all.

After carefully reading this story, I think the National Park Service is pushing a greater "myth" than any of the ones mentioned in the article. Not one of those "myth busters" surprised me one bit--I can only think of one of the myths that I've ever heard seriously told. Most of them are the sort of variations that simply happen when different people describe the same event after the fact.

Two years ago, I stood looking out over the hills of Herefordshire from Benbow's pond and was filled with awe that anyone from such a lovely area could bear to leave it--and every time I cross Nebraska, I am filled with appreciation at the courage it must have taken to walk farther and farther into the barrenness with faith as your only shield.

As a woman, I think of walking in long dresses during the HOT summer, of getting soaked during prairie storms, sleeping on the hard ground. Practical things like cooking with not enough food, having a period, bearing a child. Helping your tiny ones along. VACATION? HA!

My husband's families buried children at Winter Quarters and several family members in the Willie Company. NOT FUN!

Some myths accompany ALL LDS History! In fact, unless you have the rose-colored glasses and are willing to say the emperor's new clothes are really beautiful (you have a "testimony" of it), ALL LDS History is simply a string of MYTHS!

I agree with you. These are not lies the Church has made up to deceive people.

I have noticed that although this section is called MormonTimes.com, that many who really don't like the Church or its members use it as a forum to tell us all of the things they hate about the Church. If you don't like the LDS Church, that's just fine, but do you have to be so hateful about it? Go somewhere else and spew your venom and leave us alone.

I have read some of the diary entries of these pioneers and they did try to be cheerful and upbeat, but it still was a hard journey and I for one will not state that it was fun or easy. There's no way that was the case.

The decision to go west was not for gold or adventure, but rather for religious freedom.

I love it 'Anon 5:13'... "Happy Mormon Quanza" back at ya! I would love to chat more but I have an Ox cart I needing to get moving......

No way. There has never been any spin or myth assocaited with pioneers or Thee Church. It's all fact.

there is more to life than all this LDS Crap!!!

It's in the nature of ALL people and storytelling as a whole, especially when the "core facts" are told and retold orally, for some exaggerations and half-truths to enter. This is just as true of the Mormon pioneers as it is of ancient Native American tribal accounts, stories of American immigrant experiences, and the fact/fiction mix of the American Conquest/Discovery (depending on whose viewpoint you buy into).

Interesting that the National Park Service states that the 1847 wagon trek was not a trial by fire. That, too, depends on perspective. Perhaps that particular journey was relatively safe and comfortable--especially in comparison to others--but the trial by fire involved years of enduring persecution and leaving possessions behind as well as any discomforts on the journey. So the "truth" on the issue of how a story is told can be very much a matter of perspective.

If anything in this article has shaken anyone's testimony, that testimony needs much deeper roots. That's about the long and the short of it.

How do you think people in the 1800's in England cooked? It was over fires! Hearth fire, camp fire- the only difference is lack of bricks, and the pioneers had rocks.

Maybe you ought to brush up on your history a bit more...

No vacation:

In fact, most of the European settlers worked much harder trying to make a living in Europe, and they did regard the trek as a pleasant diversion. Long days driving a wagon or walking over the grassy plains beat working in a Scottish coal mine by a long way.

It's true that people died on the trip, but it's also true that people were more likely to die in the 19th century wherever they were, but particularly in the crowded cities which lacked modern sanitation. There weren't Taco Bells in Dresden or Edinburg either, so their absence on the prairie was probably not a considerable hardship to my ancestors as it is to modern Mormon teenagers who play trek for three days and think they've internalized the experience of the 19th century. Years from now, they'll tell their kids about the deprivation of running out of Snickers bars halfway through the weekend.

All suffering is comparative. The pioneers had never become accustomed to indoor plumbing, HVAC, or traveling by minivan on interstate roads. They typically walked wherever they needed to go. Don't cling to your mythology. The truth is much more interesting.

I truly immortalize and recognize the true sufferings of our early pioneer saints! Why after 161 years do people decide to "change" history? I hiked and walked the trail of the early pioneers! What spirit! What faith! Our generation has had it so good that we have become comfortable and rather lazy! At least families were closely knit to endure such hardships! Nowadays mom and dad have to make the ever ending buck to "have!" There's no excuse for children running the streets to find something to do and then parents wonder why their own kids are making bad choices! I salute the early pioneers for their humble dedication to families! Certainly we lack this attribute to nourish our own?

First, people forget that the first pioneer groups weren't running from Nauvoo. Most had stayed in Nebraska for well over a year.

Second, I have ancestors from the original journey, the Mormon Batallion and a handcart company. Those in the handcart company did record in their journals how much they enjoyed it.

Third, one reason for the disaster of the Willey and Martin handcart companies were that both men ignored the advise of church leaders. They also got separated from the wagon train because they got arrogant and traveled ahead of it. This was an example of human folly and should be treated as such.

Finally, the Mormon migration was one of the most successful in the history of man! This should be celebrated and due accolades given to Brigham Young. The death rate of Mormons was MUCH smaller than that of the Oregon trail and arguably even lower than that of people living on the frontier.

There is pretty good evidence that the current site of the Martin handcart monument in Wyoming is at least 60 miles too far west. Absolutely no artifacts supporting the historicity of the site have been found. None. It's a total con job by myth pushers at the LDS church.

It has been some good readin' but I gots me ox carts to pull. Peace out bros and sis's.

Thank you all of you mythbusters who take the opportunity to point our what you consider myths or flaws in our understanding of Mormon history. If only you had pointed these things out to us earlier, before we became so deluded.

Seriously, all 8 of my great grandparents walked/rode across the plains. My father's grandfather was 12 at the time and he said that he had a good time. What do you know...he was 12.

It is true that many companies of pioneers left at a reasonable time and traveled to Salt Lake without major incident. Does that lessen their sacrifice or their dedication? The church leaders were not trying to put the member's lives in peril.

Then there is my great great grandfather who lost his son before the Willey company left, survived the experience on the trail, arriving in Provo, lost his wife and another child, and then marched back to Ohio and eventually joined the RLDS Church. Perhaps his story is the one that the mythbusters would prefer to focus upon. That's fine, except most of his children ended up in Utah as members of the LDS Church.

Jason please refrain and pray on it. What you may think is a myth will become reality one you have prayed and the holy spirit is acknowledged. My friend you just need a little faith and need to stop beind such an anti.

And virtually the only part of the "Mormon" Trail of 1847 that was actually broken by the first Saints to arrive in the Salt Lake Valley was the last half mile or so at the bottom of Emigration Canyon. The rest was scouted, marked, and cleared (at great cost; remember the Donner Party) by earlier groups of pioneers.

You want to experience a rough road? Try moving in among a bunch of LDS when you aren't one of them. The trek is hard. And I even like most of them I've been introduced to, but I learned early on not to expect any of them treating me like I belong.

And the National Park Service is renown for historical accuracy???? After traveling 1032 miles they had to do what? Plant food for the following "adventurers". So, why not an experiment, plant some wheat tomorrow. See how well it grows in 95 degree heat. Oh, get the water out of city creek not your home faucet. All "adventurers" Mormon and Non-mormon had it harder than we can understand. BTW, the Donner "adventurers" that preceded the Mormons through the valley didn't participate in cannibalism either, which is also some of the new history.... Give me a break, "new" history is always fiction. It just isn't as interesting to read as Mr. Lunds.

It's unfortunate that some chose these forums as a venue to attack people's beliefs. Since it's something that you don't understand, why don't you just leave well enough alone-- live and let live? (Notice, I DIDN'T say, "If you don't like Utah, then leave.") Apparently, one's faith can be very threatening to others, but I don't understand why the feeling to attack others. Why not just let it pass? Why take the time to read something like this if that's the feeling? (And please don't tell me that you're tired of Utah Mormons pushing things on you-- I grew up in Utah and lived a few other places, and those who resent Utah Mormons have a lot bigger problems that they should try to work out before criticizing the Mormons! Utah's not that strange!)

As far as the sacrifice of the pioneers and the "myths," none of those mentioned came as a big surprise to me. I think that anyone who believes these hasn't been paying close attention. Last, while many of the experiences of the pioneers were common to the time, I think we should all remember the significance of leaving one's home. It's a powerful sense to have a place of one's own, and to leave that for one's faith in God is significant, even if the day-to-day activities weren't far from what they would have been doing anyway. All Utahns whould be grateful that the pioneers didn't take the easy way out by staying where they were.

One of the genius moves of Brigham Young was to refer to the displaced Mormon people as "pioneers" rather than "refugees." Like one of the earlier prophets said "we left of our own free will and choice because they made us."

Thank goodness we have Pioneer Days, instead of Refugee Days.