The ebb and tide of Mormonism in the Middle Missouri Valley from 1846 to 1853 flowed with tragedy and triumph of epic proportions.

Today, the area where the Mormons stayed for those brief few years is a 50-mile circle of rich farmland and suburban development surrounding the metropolitan district of Omaha/Bellevue, Neb., and Council Bluffs, Iowa. Back in the mid-1800s, the towns in the area were known as Winter Quarters, Council Point and Kanesville, which later became Council Bluffs.The Mormon epic in the Middle Missouri Valley saw about 30,000 religious refugees arrive, lay over a time to recoup their strength and then rumble away in covered wagons along mud- or dust-choked roads.

During the seven years of such lay-overs, the shifting population of Latter-day Saints left a profound historical imprint. The Mormons built more than 50 communities, established many town and county governments and organized courts and post offices.

They also built roads, bridges, ferries, schools, churches, a tabernacle, mills and businesses. They published five newspapers, operated a number of hotels and supply houses, and provided a score of other community services.

Embarking to the Great Basin, they took part in the staging of the greatest migration in American history - the westward Mormon trek. Following them in considerable numbers over their roads, bridges, and ferries were California gold rushers and subsequent settlers.

Although of short duration, the pioneers' stay in the Middle Missouri Valley was a pivotal point in Church history, according to some historians. Longtime Mormon friend and observer Thomas L. Kane, as he looked back on the tragically severe winter of 1846-47, wrote:

"This winter was the turning point of the Mormon fortunes. Those who lived through it were spared to witness the gradual return of better times. And they now liken it to the passing of a dreary night, since which they have watched the coming of a steadily brightening day."

The Mormon epic in the Middle Missouri Valley began in 1846 when mobs forced the Latter-day Saints from their homes in Nauvoo, Ill., onto the icy, wind-swept prairie. The vanguard company in this exodus crossed the frozen Mississippi River in February. Avoiding the state of Missouri, they traveled all winter in covered wagons over the width of Iowa, a distance of some 300 miles. The members built, on an average, one bridge a day during the last month as they traveled through southwestern Iowa.

The vanguard company reached the district known as Council Bluffs at the Missouri River in June 1846. At these high, scenic bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, wagons halted while about 500 men were selected for the Mormon Battalion. Afterwards, the vanguard of the saints crossed the river into Nebraska to "misery bottoms," a stock-foraging area thick with wild pea vines and rushes. From there they continued to a high plateau above the river where they established Winter Quarters.

Church leaders negotiated with the Pottawattamie and Omaha Indians, and received permission from them to settle upon their land. Until 1854, the Missouri River was the dividing line between the United States and what was designated as "Indian Territory."

Because the saints needed grass, firewood and water, they spread out in many small settlements. Incredible industry followed throughout the district. In Winter Quarters, for example, the city of 41 blocks was built with neighbor helping neighbor until most had cabins. Their industry continued to develop city government, schools and trades, especially those to make and outfit wagons. Members started a mail service. Musical cultural events were held as members took time for dances and concerts.

Despite efforts to lighten the burdens, the winter of 1846-47 took a cruel toll. Terse notes from the journal of Helen Mar Whitney on a bitterly cold Dec. 7, 1846, tell of a bleak day within the long winter:

"Abigail Pond, a wife of Bishop Newel K. Whitney, died. Two of her sisters died a day or two before. They had lately arrived from Nauvoo and were still living in tents."

Some 365 deaths between September 1846 and May 1848 are noted on a plaque at the Winter Quarters Pioneer Cemetery.

The days of Winter Quarters were numbered. On April 7, 1847, Brigham Young led a group of pioneers west seeking a permanent home for the saints. By the time he returned in November of 1847, the U.S. Indian agent had asked the saints to move off Indian Territory. So in 1848, those unprepared to go west left Winter Quarters and moved back across the river into Iowa and started rebuilding.

They chose the already started settlement of Kane, which they expanded and renamed Kanesville. This community was named in honor of their faithful friend, Thomas L. Kane.

In December of 1847, in Kanesville, Brigham Young was sustained as President of the Church. He told the congregation "not to be surprised if a city should be built here." He was sustained in the Church's first tabernacle, a log structure 40 feet by 60 feet. (History of the Church 3:620-21.)

Members continued to build roads, ferries and bridges throughout southwest Iowa and through the Platte Valley in central Nebraska in succeeding years.

According to historian Merrill Mattes, more people heading for California crossed at Mormon ferries in Old Council Bluffs than at any other area along the Missouri River. They discovered that the way west was shortest from Council Bluffs, and by crossing at the North Mormon Ferry, they didn't have to cross the Platte River.

Today, the well-traveled Mormon Bridge links segments of Interstate Highway 680 near the site of the North Mormon Ferry.

These public works benefitted scores of thousands of California gold rushers and settlers. The public works were built at no cost to taxpayers or to later governments. Saw and grist mills built and operated by the LDS supported a widespread construction effort in many of the communities they built.

As the gold rushers reached upwards of 10,000 in the Middle Missouri Valley in 1849, the farms and businesses of Latter-day Saints became very profitable.

Some of the businesses that boomed from the "warm weather traffic" in the valley included:

- LDS mills, which were kept busy selling ground feed and grain to gold rushers. Gold rushers were so eager to cross the river with their teams they traveled early in the spring before the grass began to grow.

- Blacksmith shops that did a brisk business repairing wagons, making chains and other fixture and tools for the would-be prospectors.

- Orson Hyde's biweekly Frontier Guardian. This newspaper carried lots of advertising, current reports of trail conditions, names of passing gold rushers, information about ferry crossings and reports on Indians. Copies of the newspaper were eagerly purchased by gold rushers.

- Jonathan Browning's arms shop. According to his tongue-in-cheek advertisement in the Frontier Guardian in 1849, he crafted "revolving rifles and pistols; also slide guns, from 5 to 25 shoters. All on an improved plan, and he thinks not equaled this far east."

- Big mercantile stores. These rapidly developed in Kanesville in 1850 and 1851 to service gold rushers and freighting companies that passed through Kanesville, Council Point and Ferryville.

- Member-operated ferries, both north and south of Kanesville and in eastern Nebraska over the Elkhorn River. The North Mormon Ferry over the Missouri River between Ferryville and then-abandoned Winter Quarters prospered by carrying gold rushers. However, members used the South Mormon Ferry, also over the Missouri River, and just south of the Platte River. This allowed them travel on the south side of the Platte River where the LDS migrants found fresh grass, water and firewood.

- Stage coach lines north, south, and east of Kanesville. These were established while still-migrating LDS members had control of western Iowa businesses. Steamboat service from New Orleans and St. Louis brought tons of merchandise and more than 8,000 European saints up the Mississippi River to the Missouri River. The saints disembarked at Council Point.

Generally, outside commerce cooperated well with these LDS-owned businesses. Riverboat captains readily gave copies of river-town newspapers to Orson Hyde for the benefit of his Frontier Guardian to supplement the U.S. mail from Des Moines, Iowa, which was frequently interrupted.

Despite the prosperity offered in the Middle Missouri Valley, it was not regarded as a permanent home by most of the members. Most soon packed their ox-drawn covered wagons and expeditiously made the thousand-mile trek to the desert valley in the West.

As more and more people arrived, land prices began rising. In 1852, members took advantage of higher prices as they prepared to sell their property and travel west. During this period, a five-column headline and story in the Frontier Guardian invited non-LDS to buy LDS developments in southwest Iowa, which had then been opened for settlers. In bold letters, the headline read: "Pottawattamie County for Sale." The accompanying story listed more than a dozen businesses. The story brought the desired results as non-members flocked in and purchased the soon-to-be deserted businesses and properties. Some squatters occupied property without paying, however.

Old problems with persecution resurfaced as early as 1850 and 1851 in Mills County, south of Kanesville. Gangs of men on horseback with rifles came, probably from Missouri. They stopped land sales, closed courts and eventually forced LDS villagers and farmers to leave.

In 1853 a U.S. Land Office opened in Kanesville, but by then members were all but gone. After the LDS presence dwindled in 1853, Kanesville was re-named Council Bluffs, and streets were renamed.

About 500 members remained behind after the Mormon exodus. Most, but not all, were migration drop-outs. One who remained faithful was Joseph (J.E.) Johnson who stayed at Council Bluffs as editor and publisher of the Weekly Bugle. This was the second LDS newspaper and was later combined with the Frontier Guardian. Johnson also owned a large emporium supply house on the north side of Main Street (now called Broadway). He was a member of the new Council Bluffs city council. He owned, with his brother, William, a number of city lots.

From the same presses in Council Bluffs that printed the Bugle, Johnson edited and printed another newspaper, the Omaha Arrow, the first newspaper in Omaha. He was an ardent champion of local commerce. Later, after publishing newspapers in Crescent, Iowa, and Wood River, Neb., Johnson moved with his family to Utah. He arrived there in about 1862.

Another faithful member who stayed behind was Hadley D. Johnson, who became Nebraska's first representative to U.S. Congress in 1854. He was one of the founders and promoters of Ft. Calhoun, a small town 10 miles north of modern Omaha. When a claim jumper shot and killed one of the founders of Ft. Calhoun, Hadley generously gave his interest in the town to the man's widow and her son. Like J.E. Johnson, Hadley D. Johnson was a man of considerable influence in Iowa and Nebraska long after the last saints emigrated.

In 1856, another wave of activity returned to the Winter Quarters site, now re-named Florence, as handcart companies from Iowa City began passing through. Local people scorned the impoverished trekkers. Newspaper articles ridiculed the trains. At some towns in western Iowa, handcart companies encountered signs, "Plague in Town Do not Enter." Church leaders took the "hint" and swung the route to the town of Wyoming, about seven miles north of Nebraska City.

By 1860 the last handcart company left. But the impact of the Mormons on the Middle Missouri Valley was a lasting contribution with traces that remain today.

- Gail Geo. Holmes of the Benson Ward, Omaha Nebraska Stake, is a stake patriarch and resident historian. He has lived in the area for 37 years, and has studied local Church history much of that time. In his research, he has studied journals, original newspapers and legal documents.