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Show PREFACE Of the history of the Utah War, much has been written about the military movements of the United States troops and the Mormon militia in and around Echo Canyon. The confrontation is sometimes called the "Echo Canyon War." And despite other attention given to the peace negotiations, the pardon, and the "Move South," I perceive a gap in the history of the war period. While opposing armies on the eastern front were grabbing the attention of the nation, Mormon leaders were formulating contingency plans in the event of a collapse of their own defenses. Despite talk of a smashing military victory, Brigham Young conceived a colossal scheme to be put into action should the Mormon militia fail to halt the advance of the army into the Salt Lake Valley. Here lies the woeful gap which I have attempted to fill in this work. The "Move South" and the possible destruction of Salt Lake City and other cities was a part of this great plan which would uproot the entire "gathering" and resettle it in a series of desert oases hundreds of miles west of Utah's southern settlements. The White Mountain Expedition was the vanguard of the new gathering. Its charge was to search out and locate the first settlements. As the situation in Utah deteriorated, Brigham Young abandoned his plans for a military defense, and the desert operation was put into motion. For months the White Mountain explorers struggled bravely against the Nevada deserts in a desperate eleventh-hour attempt to locate the new gathering place for the Saints. In the process, these men explored 6 |