Their property in Hancock County, Illinois, was little or no better than confiscated; many of their houses were burned by the mob, and they were obliged to leave most of those that remained without sale; and those who bargained sold almost for a song; for the influence of their enemies was to cause such a diminution in the value of property, that from a handsome estate was seldom realized enough to remove the family comfortably away; and thousands have since been wandering to and fro, destitute, afflicted and distressed for the common necessaries of life, or unable to endure have sickened and died by hundreds; while the Temple of the Lord is left solitary in the midst of our enemies; an enduring monument of the diligence and integrity of the Saints.
While the Saints were passing through those scenes of persecutions, sufferings and deep affliction, many glorious manifestations of divine approbation were given them, which we should have been happy here to record, did our limits and the nature of the work admit.
The Saints in the wilderness continued their journeying as circumstances would allow; having to cut their way through woods and valleys, over rivers and mountains, a distance of fourteen hundred miles. At length, on the 21st of July, 1847, the pioneers discovered a beautiful valley beyond the "Pass" of the great Rocky Mountains, being a portion of the Great Basin of Upper California, near the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake. On the 24th the President and first company entered this their present home; other companies, year after year, continue their emigration to this point. Here Israel will remain till the indignation of an offended God is poured out upon the nations. Here will peace and happiness dwell, while nation is at war with nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and here the people of "many nations shall come and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Micah iv: 2.
Though persecution, poverty, sickness and trials of every
