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Show 159 abandoning their homes by the thousands. This seeming paradox disappears when the true objective point of the "move south" i s understood. The Mormons were not going to Sonora or anywhere outside of Utah Territory. They might abandon their present homes, but they would only rebuild somewhere else within the Territory, where they could better defend themselves and where they could build up the kingdom t o await the day when i t would overthrow a l l earthly power. In I858 Utah Territory included a l l of what i s now Nevada except for the extreme southern t i p (below the 37th p a r a l l e l ) . Utah was centered squarely over the Great Basin, an area with vast unexplored regions in the interior. It was into this harsh, uncharted wilderness that Brigham Young proposed to transplant tbe gathering when i t appeared an overpowering force was surrounding him. Somewhere in the southwestern deserts, Young envisioned a refuge for the Saints. On March 23 the prophet had announced his intention to go there, where he believed there was probably room for 500,000 people to l i v e . Why did Brigham Young believe t h i s ? Where was t h i s apocryphal oasis located? And did the prophet have a precise location in mind? If Brigham Young did not have some exact spot in mind for the new gathering, be at least talked l i k e he did. In a packed meeting in the Tabernacle on October 18, Young claimed, "I know of places enough where I can hide t h i s people and a thousand times more, and our enemies might hunt u n t i l doomsday and not be able to find u s . " 2 1 In his "Sebastopol" speech of March 21, he asserted that David Evans and company of I855 "did not go to the mountain where they were sent, and made no settlement."2 2 ( I t a l i c s mine.) Colonel Dame had been told, "if you can't find the Place, I will go myself," in his meeting with Young on April 7.23 in e a c n 0f these statements, i t appears that a particular place was envisioned. Tbe reference to Evans's White Mountain Mission infers that a |
