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Show Page 123 New York. During his tenure, the leaders in Nauvoo had settled definitely on plans for the relocation of the entire Church membership. Brigham Young favored the Great Salt Lake basin, described in maps and reports he had obtained by men such as Fremont and Captain Benjamin Bonneville, although he continued to explore the advantages of Oregon, Texas, and even Vancouver Island. As early as August 1845, however, the council had laid out the projected emigration to the Salt Lake Valley and were going ahead with the construction of wagons. Orson Pratt was instructed to gather as much tithing money as possible in order to bring temple building to completion and to help outfit the companies designated to leave in the spring. In addition, Orson managed to obtain several dozen "six-shooters" in New York, to be used for the protection of the 42 emigrants. Before leaving New York, Orson entertained numerous times the celebrated Robert Owen, congressman from Indiana and son of the founder of the New Harmony social experiment. Owen was zealous to revive his father's communitarian practices, and wished to locate his followers at Nauvoo once the Mormons left. Orson seemed to have him persuaded; but Owen ultimately forgot about Nauvoo in the midst of his numerous advocacies, among them opposition to organized religion and slavery. Another prominent visitor was the explorer Thomas Jefferson Farnham, whose widely publicized 1839 foray into Oregon territory made him enthusiastic about the possibility of Mormon settlement there. Farnham offered any assistance in his power, but Orson was skeptical: "I (think) in my heart that we have had enough of Gentile assistance & that the time (has) nearly arrived for us to 43 assist ourselves." Orson also helped outfit his printer, Elder Samuel Brannan, who |