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Show 124 EARLY HISTORY OF THE MORMONS. events and motives which led to their planting such a settlement in the midst of a barren wilderness, may not be without interest. The City of the Great Salt Lake, the capital of the settlement, was founded in 1847, by a religious community of people known among us by the name of Mormons, but who style themselves the " Latter- day Saints of the Church of Jesus Christ." It is situated in lat. 40° 46' north, and long. 112° 6' west, at the foot of the western slope of the Wahsatch Mountains, an extensive chain of lofty hills, forming a portion of the eastern boundary of what is known in our geography as the " Great Basin." The origin of this new religious sect in our country is well known, and therefore it will only be necessary to advert to it very briefly. It was first organized in 1830, under the auspices of Joseph Smith, the founder; and, after a temporary residence in Kirtland, Ohio, was removed to Jackson county, Missouri, where by divine revelation " the saints" were directed to build a magnificent temple, the pattern of which was to be revealed from on high. The corner- stone of this edifice was laid, but the builders were eventually driven from the State by an armed mob. They next removed to Illinois, where, upon the bank of the Mississippi, they built a flourishing city, which they called Nauvoo. They lived here until 1844, when they became obnoxious to the inhabitants of that State also, and were finally attacked by an enraged multitude, and their prophet, Joseph Smith, and his brother Hyrum, murdered in the jail # of Carthage. During the year 1845, these persecutions continued; and threats of greater outrages being held out, the Mormons found their situation no longer tolerable within the boundaries of that State, and at length, in a solemn council, determined to abandon their homes in their city of Nauvoo, and to seek, in the wilds of the Western wilderness, a spot remote from the habitations of men, where, secure from lawless violence, they might worship according to the rites of the new religion they had introduced. Into the particular causes which led to the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri and Illinois it is not the province of this report to inquire. The facts have long been before the country, and its judgment has been passed upon them; but the results of the persecutions to which they were subjected have been as curious as they were wholly unlooked- for. The Mormons having resolved to emigrate, preparations for the journey were immediately commenced, by hastily and at much |