The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail Book

Though I loved the book "Angle of Repose", I have to say that this book was a harder read. It is the story of the Mormon Trail, from it's beginning in Illinois, and through the long and hard travels all the way to Salt Lake City.

I was very interested in reading about the trail and the Mormon mentality of helping others and working together for the common good. For a long time I have been interested in Utopian societies and reading about the Mormons was great.

Mr. Stegner made the choice to speak about this group of people from a sociological point of view and never once went into speaking about any religious views. At times, the story lacked part of the backbone to the reasons and choices made by the Mormons, and though there was a little allusion to violent acts done by the Mormons, too little information was given to understand fully what happened historically.

Perhaps this book was written more as an academia book and not meant to the general public, since many things were barely touched upon that would be valuable in understanding the Mormon history and world in general. It is the story of the Mormon trail and the Mormon trail alone, with all the different people that went through it at different times and that emigrated into "Zion".

Since I began crossing over to Southern California and to Oregon on my trusty mini-van over the past ten years, I have been more and more interested in the pioneers who did this same voyage, though the old fashion way: with schooners and wagons and cattle and on foot, through miles and miles of "Indian Territories" and unoccupied lands. Each year I try to read more about these trails and the people who dared go on from this part of the world and to venture forward into the unknown with little to bring along.

The Mormon Trail is similar at point to the California and Oregon Trails, though at times it diverges and goes on a more northerly route. It seems that since Mormons cared about the people who would follow, they took more time and more pains to help level and fix the path, and in time, their trail became a better trail to follow.

I learned several things that I had not known before. The first being that Joseph Smith was massacred in Carthage, Illinois and that he never made the voyage to Salt Lake City, Utah. All that came later with the second leader Brigham Young. That though Mormons accepted bigamy as part of their religion, Emma Smith, Joseph's Smith's first wife, never did and in fact, remained in Illinois and began her own separate church, even though it is recorded that Joseph Smith had 29 wives. That a Mormon man by the name of Piercy sketched a large number of places and people during this period of time, including several of the places the Mormons wintered and rested along the way, like Council Bluffs in Nebraska. I smiled to think of it because some years ago I also painted a water color of Council Bluffs when we camped overnight on our way to visit their famous Zoo. Mostly though, what I learned was the story of the Mormon migration, their hardships and troubles, and their will and resolution to make it come about, their sacrifice and their humanity. Theirs was not an easy journey, and it took all their faith and all their will to endure, and even those that died, they died doing what they passionately believed in, and that I respect truly.

My favorite quote: "The Kingdom is a more cohesive society even yet than most Americans know. The Mormon zeal for genealogy, the temple rituals in which the living are baptized for the dead, the family reunions that may involve five hundred intricately related people, the persistence of undercover Fundamentalist Polygamy, may be subjects of occasional joking, defensiveness, or embarrassment, but the Mormon family and the beliefs that sanctify it are nevertheless sources of a profound sense of community, an almost smug satisfaction. These people belong to one another, to a place, to a faith. History, common effort, a quite remarkable social stability, and a notable cultural adaptation have made it so. The closest thing to it in modern history is Israel, and Mormons are not blind to the parallels. But this Israel is more than a century, finally at peace with its ancient enemies." (pg. 300)