Theunicornhunter 2 Posted July 24, 2004 (edited) A segment of American HistoryTheHistoryChannel Pioneer Day is a state holiday in Utah but "Pioneer Day" celebrations are held all over the country. While the holiday specifically recognizes the day Brigham Young led the first party of immigrants into the Salt Lake Valley, there are pioneers in all of our personal and state histories who endured great hardships to establish the cities we now enjoy. Many different groups made the trek West. Whether the journey was to obtain land, gold, or religioius freedom the trail was difficult and many died CNN recently ran an article about the Donner party - a group of pioneers (not part of the Mormon migration) heading to California that left too late and were trapped in the mountains by winter. The tales of Western migration shudder with the suspicion that the Donner party survived by cannibalism.CNN Here's a link to a holiday origins page: holiday Here's a link to the church website LDS.org A quote from the above site: Thomas L. Kane, Nauvoo "Dreadful, indeed, was the suffering of these forsaken beings. Bowed and cramped by cold and sunburn, alternating as each weary day and night dragged on, they were, almost all of them, the crippled victims of disease. They were there because they had no homes, nor hospital, nor poor-house nor friends to offer them any. They could not satisfy the feeble cravings of their sick: they had not bread to quiet the fractious hunger cries of their children. Mothers and babes, daughters and grandparents, all of them alike, were bivouacked in tatters, wanting even covering to comfort those whom the sick shiver of fever was searching to the marrow Edited July 24, 2004 by TheUnicornHunter Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
