Innovation Sped Up the Migration

What invention sped up the migration?

     a.      Ball bearings in the wheels of the wagons

     b.      Handcarts

     c.       Rubber tires on the wagons

     d.      Steam

Yesterday’s answer:

c.   The Down and Back trains

The handcart era lasted only four years, from 1856 through 1860, excluding 1858. Of the more than 60,000 Mormon immigrants between 1847 and 1868, only slightly more than 3,000 used handcarts, about four percent of the total. Two-thirds (2,000) of the handcart pioneers came in 1856 in five companies. Another five companies totaling one thousand persons traveled by handcart in the remaining years: two groups in 1857, one in 1859, and two in 1860. Despite the hardships the immigrants endured, the handcart method proved feasible for continuing the gathering of the poor with less expense to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund. Each year the Church made improvements in the plan. However, after 1860 handcart travel became obsolete when another plan, the Church “down-and-back”” teams, demonstrated greater success with even less monetary expense.

The second major innovation began in 1861 after a private wagon freight train was able to make the 1,000-mile trip both directions in one season. This approach reduced costs, improved safety (since experienced drivers drove the wagons), and reduced the large surplus of wagons and oxen accumulation in Salt Lake City. The Church called on bishops and stake presidents to recruit experienced men with teams and wagons to go to the Missouri River and bring the European converts to Zion. From then until the coming of the railroad, almost all pioneer traveled by these down-and-back companies.

Plewe, Brandon S., et. at., Mapping Mormonism (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2012) 83, 106.