Prophet traveled much to nourish the infant Church
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"During the month of April 1830T, I went on a visit to the residence of Mr. Joseph Knight, of Colesville, Broome County, New York. . . ."
This is the first recorded entry in the History of the Church of the journeys of the Prophet Joseph Smith after the Church was organized April 6, 1830. That journey, from Fayette, N.Y., a distance of about 75 miles, was the first of many the Prophet would make during the next 15 months, from April 1830 until July 1831, when he arrived at Independence, Mo.Many of the Prophet's journeys were made under difficult circumstances. He wrote of an incident en route from his home in Harmony, Pa., to visit the saints in Colesville, N.Y., a distance of about 25 miles, in August 1830:
"Well knowing the determined hostility of our enemies in that quarter, and also knowing that it was our duty to visit the Church, we had called upon our Heavenly Father, in mighty prayer, that He would grant us an opportunity of meeting with them that He would blind the eyes of our enemies, so that they would not know us, and that we might on this occasion return unmolested. Our prayers were not in vain, for when within a little distance of Mr. Knight's place, we encountered a large company at work upon the public road, amongst whom were several of our most bitter enemies. They looked earnest at us, but not knowing us, we passed on without interruption."
Sometimes the Prophet used varied modes of travel in a single journey. For example, he wrote of his journey from Kirtland, Ohio, to Independence, Mo.: "We went by wagon, canal boats, and stages to Cincinnati. . . . We left Cincinnati in a steamer, and landed at Louisville, Kentucky, where we were detained three days in waiting for a steamer to convey us to St. Louis. At St. Louis, myself, Brothers Harris, Phelps, Partridge and Coe, went by land on foot to Independence, Jackson County, Mo., where we arrived about the middle of July 1831T, and the rest of the company came by water a few days later." (History of the Church, Vol. 1, p. 188.)
