Chapter VI.
The Mormon Trek to Nauvoo

How Did They End Up on the Mississippi?**

The whole Mormon saga is one never-ending exodus—like the Bible, but with swamps, prairies, and angry American neighbors wielding pitchforks instead of Pharaohs.

Mormons got booted from every place they tried to settle—too different, too fast, too organized, and way too stubborn for the locals.

Their fate: a non-stop march from swamp to swamp, state to state, river to river, until finally they landed where nobody else wanted to live (Utah desert).
Every stop was another chapter in their battle for survival and a shot at a “New Promised Land.”

1. Beginnings: New York, Ohio, Missouri

They started in New York (Palmyra, Fayette)—first church founded in 1830.
Didn’t last: not exactly welcomed (read: harassment, rumors, financial troubles). So off to Kirtland, Ohio (near Cleveland).
Between 1831 and 1838, Kirtland was the Mormon epicenter.

First grand LDS temple built here (Kirtland Temple—still standing as a museum and pilgrimage spot!).

This is where Joseph Smith had “revelations,” where the church’s logistics and—let’s be honest—first scandals were born (the collapse of the “Mormon bank” started their fall in Ohio).

Early 1838:
Things get ugly—financial mess, threats, even assassination attempts on Smith.
Smith and his inner circle flee Kirtland for Missouri (it was a full-on group move).

2. Missouri—The “Promised Land”

Smith proclaims that the real “New Jerusalem” should be in Missouri (Jackson County). Mormons flood in—trouble starts fast:
The locals don’t trust this “weird sect”—Mormons are organized, getting rich, preaching equality, and “taking over.”
It escalates to bloody riots, back-and-forth pogroms, and deep-seated hate.

Governor of Missouri, October 27, 1838, issues the infamous Extermination Order:

“Mormons must be driven from the state or exterminated.”

Only such order in US history—basically legalized hunting Mormons like wild animals.

3. Fleeing to Illinois—Nauvoo is Born

Barely escaping with their lives, thousands of Mormons cross the Mississippi into Illinois. At first, local authorities welcome them (read: see a chance to fill up the swamps, boost the economy).
Smith buys land by the river—Nauvoo is born:
They build a city, Mormon Jerusalem, Las Vegas, and Twin Peaks all in one!

Nauvoo

Nauvoo (pronounced “nah-VOO”) in Illinois, 1839–1846:
The world HQ for the Mormon movement.

After being run out of Missouri (deemed “subversives”), in 1839 they bought land on the Mississippi, in a dying settlement called Commerce.
Smith gives it a new, “biblical” name: Nauvoo (from Hebrew: “beautiful, wonderful”—because Mormons love naming things their own way).

They turbocharged development:
– roads, bridges, churches, workshops,
– instant urbanization,
– at its peak, almost 12,000 residents—more than Chicago at the time!

Built the massive Nauvoo Temple—symbol of their power and independence.
Created their own courts and local government—basically an independent state.

Smith wasn’t just a “prophet”—he was mayor, militia general, and, depending who you ask
 king of his own theocracy.
Power, money, hundreds of followers, a newspaper, and his own little army.

He starts meddling in local politics, even runs for President of the USA (no kidding).

In 1844, Smith orders the destruction of a critical newspaper—The Nauvoo Expositor—which was the last straw.
He and his brother Hyrum get arrested and thrown in Carthage Jail (near Nauvoo).

The Lynch Mob
June 27, 1844:
An armed mob (about 200 men) storms the jail,
Joseph and Hyrum defend themselves—Smith even fires a pistol, reportedly killing or wounding one or two attackers (depends who’s telling).
He’s shot, falls from a second-story window.

Mormons see Smith as a martyr.
Skeptics: “Classic American lynching of a self-made prophet with his own army and harem.”

Joseph Smith was killed by a mob.
His death shattered the movement—some followed Brigham Young to Utah, others split into different Mormon churches.

“Mormonism” = many churches:
The big LDS in Utah, RLDS (now Community of Christ), FLDS (the polygamy folks), plus a handful of smaller spin-offs with their own Book of Mormon “updates.”

The irony?
Smith wanted to be America’s Moses—ended up like a religious mob boss: gunned down by an angry crowd, Wild West style.

** Exodus to Utah**

After Smith’s death (1844), Brigham Young takes over—Mormons have to run again.
They cross the Mississippi in winter, slog through Iowa, Nebraska, prairies and deserts, finally, in 1847, reach the Great Salt Lake Valley (modern Utah).

That’s where the “permanent” kingdom begins—Salt Lake City, the American Promised Land.

Salt Lake City

Last stop on the American pilgrimage:
Salt Lake City—the Mormon Jerusalem, capital of the “Saints of the Last Days,” Brigham Young’s dream, a nightmare for anyone who loves coffee and beer.

1. The Great Trek – 1846–1847

After Smith’s murder and pogroms in Illinois, Brigham Young leads the Mormons west.
Hundreds of miles across plains, mountains, deserts—caravans, families, cattle, the whole chosen-people package.

2. “This is the Place”

Summer, 1847:
Brigham Young points at a dusty desert valley on the shores of the Great Salt Lake and famously declares:

“This is the place”—here, in the desert, we’ll build a new Promised Land.
“Don’t fear the future—it’s already been here.”

Why here?
– Because it was far from everything: Mexico, USA, Native tribes, desert. Nobody wanted them, so you couldn’t do better.

3. Building a City-State

They build irrigation, cities, temples, all the infrastructure—from nothing, on pure dust and mud.
Salt Lake City quickly becomes the new “Kingdom of Deseret”—a real-life theocracy run by the Church.

The iconic Salt Lake Temple goes up, still the top LDS symbol.

4. The Mormon Way

Salt Lake City grew by total Mormon organization:
streets in a perfect grid, temple square in the middle, booze and coffee bans everywhere (still not Vegas—unless you’re singing hymns).

5. The Waves Keep Coming

Mormons invite their own (missionaries, converts from Europe—even some Poles!).
They farm, build industry, and try to stay self-sufficient—until

Utah gets made a state.

The feds start cracking down on polygamy,
the Church has to “civilize” (read: ditch the harems and pay taxes).

Today:

Salt Lake City is a metropolis with a Mormon heart—home of the LDS Church, the world’s genealogy capital, paradise for boring tourists and hell for craft brewers.
The city thrives on tourism (temple, Mormon history), sports (2002 Winter Olympics!), tech (“Silicon Slopes”—Utah’s Silicon Valley), and
 coffee (to spite the purists).

Salt Lake City is the American dream of a Promised Land—founded in the desert by people run out of every state they ever lived in.
The Mormons built it all from scratch:
their own myth, their own state, their own economy, and a vibe you won’t find anywhere else.

For the LDS Church—it’s the center of the world.
For a skeptic—it’s proof that if you want something bad enough, you really can turn a desert into a capital city.

Salt Lake City? Not a happy ending—an American one:
when you lose everything, you start over on the sand.

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