More than a dozen bonfires burning in communities along the Mormon Trail in Iowa and Nebraska the night of Feb. 3 symbolically radiated a kinship felt by many non-LDS residents with Latter-day Saints observing the Nauvoo exodus sesquicentennial.

Campfires were sponsored simultaneously in 12 Iowa counties by chapters of the Iowa Mormon Trails Association, members of which are more than 90 percent non-LDS. Besides Montrose, communities holding ceremonies included Council Bluffs, Mt. Pisgah, Garden Grove, Keosauqua, Osceola, Murray, Afton, Macedonia and Orient.Bill Price, public affairs missionary and a commemoration organizer, said it is gratifying the exodus would be observed so widely in central Iowa, as there is only one stake of the Church in that part of the state.

In Iowa, the event is an official part of this year's state sesquicentennial.

Similar ceremonies were sponsored in two communities by the two-thirds non-LDS Nebraska Mormon Trails Association. Brian J. Hill, association president and president of the Kearney Nebraska Stake, said fires were kindled in Kearney and Lexington.

And Montrose, Colo., sister city to Montrose, Iowa, held a campfire ceremony as well, along with a torch procession by youth in the Montrose Colorado Stake.

Lying directly across the Mississippi from Nauvoo, Montrose, Iowa, is where the Saints landed as they crossed the river in 1846.

In remembrance, bonfires were kindled on the Nauvoo and Montrose sides of the river. Another was lit in the parking lot of the Montrose City Gym. Hundreds of residents and visitors crowed into the gym to dine on stew in a bread bowl, and apple cobbler.

A standard script for all campfire ceremonies was read in Montrose by descendants of James A. Newberry. He was a friend of Joseph Smith, whose farm and home at Argyle hosted thousands of Saints who were starting their trek through Iowa, according to program participant Elaine Tweedy Foley. The Saints camped in the backyard, and many buried their loved ones who had died there.

"Tonight, as we warm ourselves by this fire, other fires are being lit . . . where the Mormon Trail wends its way west," the script for the programs read. "This fire is symbolic of our respect and pride for these early pioneers. . . . We are lighting a campfire this day to remember that 150 years ago tonight the first Mormon pioneers went to sleep knowing it was their last night in their homes. They could not have dreamed the tests they would face. They could not think about the dear ones who would be buried along the way. They could only face the future with faith and a determined desire to settle together again in a more peaceful valley."

Leaving the building in Montrose, each spectator at the 150th anniversary commemoration was asked to take a tiny bundle of kindling to add to the fire, a demonstration of respect.

Guest speaker was Stanley B. Kimball, a Church member, Church history scholar and a professor at Southern Illinois University. He spoke of the role of Montrose in Church history, such as it being the location where flocks of quail, exhausted from a long flight, fell at the feet of destitute Saints and were gathered for food. Dr. Kimball said there is corroborative evidence that the incident took place, because some of the quail fell on passing riverboats.

In Council Bluffs, Iowa, which was founded as Kanesville by the Saints to be a way station for those coming later, the Iowa Mormon Trails Association captured a portion of the campfire. Bob Schulz, association president said it will be kept alight at the Grand Encampment site until the association wagon train arrives there later in the year. Then, he said, it will be carried to Miller's Hollow, the nucleus for Kanesville.

In Montrose, Colo., the fire was kindled at 6 p.m. MST to coincide with the campfires started at 7 p.m. CST in Iowa and Nebraska. In Montrose, Iowa, Elder Hugh W. Pinnock of the Seventy took a call by cellular telephone from R. Dwight Rawlings, stake president, and Mayor pro-tem Tom Cheney in Montrose, Colo. The two reported that the fire was burning. "I took the phone out to our fire so they could hear it crackling," Elder Pinnock said.