Emerson, Manitoba

Emerson is a small border town on the Canadian side of where Manitoba, Minnesota, and North Dakota merge. It’s directly south of Winnipeg, Manitoba, the area where my wife spent some of her childhood years (Winnipeg to her, Winterpeg to me. It’s frigid during the winter months) It's rare to find a little, out-of-the-way-place as this that has an early tie to the LDS Church. What is the tie?

a.      The first general conference held outside the United States was held here

b.      Emerson almost became the end destination for the Saints

c.       Sidney Rigdon’s break-off church moved  here from Pittsburgh

d.      Elder N. Eldon Tanner was born here

Yesterday’s answers:

1.      B.   The Saints crossing the frozen Mississippi River the day they left Nauvoo

During a brief period in late February 1846, the weather became so bitterly cold that the Mississippi River froze, enabling the Saints to walk over the ice with their wagons. For the Latter-day Saints, this part of the great exodus story was the equivalent of the miracle of the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea.

Holzapfel, Richard Neitzel, Their Faces Toward Zion (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996), 24.

2.      B. The Saints felt that it would give their land a sense of holiness

The Saints named the features in their new land, giving such Biblical names as Salem to a town, Israel and Enoch to canyons, Jordan to a river, Mount Nebo and Ensign to prominent peaks, and Jacob’s Ladder to a group of hilltops. There is an interesting analogue between three features in the Holy Land and three features in Utah—between the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake, the River Jordan (Israel) and the Jordan River (Utah), and the Sea of Galilee and Utah Lake. The similarities between the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake, such as the salt content and the freshwater intake of both, are obvious. The rivers connecting both saltwater lakes function in like ways. Additionally, both Galilee and Utah Lake were important fisheries, providing people with a critical exploitable resource. While many dissimilarities exist between the two regions—elevation and climate, for instance—the Mormon pioneers saw themselves reenacting the great exodus of ancient Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land. Brigham Young, their leader, became the “American Moses” who led his people to a new promised land in the Great Basin. Giving the features of the land biblical names helped create a sense of holiness for the newfound Zion.

Holzapfel, Richard Neitzel,  Their Faces Toward Zion (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996), 48.