They had sloshed in the cold rains of Nebraska. They had danced in the shadow of Independence Rock. They had slept in a Baptist Church on a night when winds repeatedly collapsed tents.

Finally, after 93 days on the trail, with lips blistered and feet sore, the Mormon Trail wagon train re-enactment entered the Salt Lake Valley July 22 to a hero's welcome."Look who has come to greet you," President Gordon B. Hinckley said in his remarks referring to the vast audience, estimated to be about 50,000, that lined the hills and filled the parking lots at This Is the Place State Park.

President Hinckley greeted the trekkers by looking at several with their sunburned faces and scraggly beards and playfully observed: "You look as if you've come a thousand miles." And that's exactly what the modern pioneers had done. They had journeyed 1,070 miles from Winter Quarters, Neb., now a part of Omaha, to Salt Lake City.

President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, and President James E. Faust, second counselor, offered the invocation and benediction, respectively. Sisters Marjorie Hinckley, Frances Monson and Ruth Faust accompanied their husbands to the ceremony.

Elder M. Russell Ballard, member of the Quorum of Twelve and chairman of the Church's Sesquicentennial Committee, conducted the ceremony. He was accompanied by his wife, Barbara.

Also seated near the monument were several members of the Quorum of the Twelve and their wives. Many members of the Seventy and their wives were present in the audience.

The re-enactment of the pioneer trek, though not sponsored by the Church, began April 21 and followed the pioneer trail, as much as possible, through Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah. The re-enactment culminated with a tearful and triumphal entry into the Salt Lake Valley 150 years after the advance party entered in 1847.

"You have done something really extraordinary," President Hinckley told those who had made the long journey. "You have caught the imagination of all of us. . . . You have brought to the attention of millions upon millions of people across the world the story of the unparalleled migration of our people from Nauvoo, and from Liverpool and beyond to this valley in the mountains."

Even though the re-enactment trek didn't perfectly mirror the experience of the original pioneers, still, said President Hinckley, the modern trekkers "experienced in a very real way much of the hardships of 150 years ago.

"Your wheels again cut deep into the sandy soils of Nebraska. The silhouette of your wagons against the Wyoming sky created a new picture of unique and wondrous beauty. There was a certain romance in what you have done. But there was also hardship."

President Hinckley spoke of having met with the wagon train group at Simpson's Hollow, Wyo.,[on July 5.] (See July 12 Church News.) "Our jet aircraft flew above you as you made your way to the Green River crossing," he said. "That experience alone told something of what has happened during this past 150 years.

"Now you are here. You have finally arrived, you have reached the valley, after you have come so very far - some of you all the way from Nauvoo. You have reached the end of the trail, of which tens of thousands before you, dreamed in the long ago.

"The picture greeting you today is different from what it was in 1847. The desert has truly blossomed. Thousands of automobiles travel paved roads. Airplanes thread the skies. But with all of this I feel we may have lost something that you have become re-acquainted with.

"We do not look at the starry heavens at night and contemplate the wondrous things of God. We do not marvel at the sunrise and the sunset which mark the passing days. Heat and cold, snakes and insects, sickness and accidents, do not bring us face-to-face with the realities of our pioneer forbearers.

"You have experienced all of these. You have also come to know something of dependence upon one another. You have taught us again the value of organization. You have reminded us of the discipline that marked the companies that traversed what is now Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah so very many years ago.

"As I reflect on the initial event which we commemorate, I am certain that Brigham Young knew long before he saw this valley that this was the place in which to locate his people. Today we can dismiss from our eyes what we see, and look at this valley as he first saw it. Jim Bridger had spoken very discouragingly of this area. Sam Brannan had pleaded that they go on to California. But no. Brigham Young recognized the reality of prophetic vision when he declared, `This is the right place.'

"I marvel at his boldness. No plow had ever broken the soil of this valley. He and his people knew nothing of the seasons, of the insects, of the certainty of water, of the frosts and the storms. Thousands were coming behind him. But there was no doubt in his mind. He stated that Joseph Smith had seen this valley in vision, and that he knew it as the place to locate his people.

"All of us are the beneficiaries of that bold insight and vision," he said.

Also included on the program were Deedee Corradini, mayor of Salt Lake City, and Gov. Michael O. Leavitt, who urged residents of the state to "unite our determination to be the pioneers of this day . . . and not flee the challenges of society, but be constants."

President Hinckley's comments culminated a morning of commemorating the arrival of the re-enactment wagon train. Activities had been organized to re-create the events and the excitement that surrounded the arrival of the original pioneer companies.

Since pioneer companies were typically welcomed into the valley with a band, drummers and children, the re-enactment wagon train was led into the valley by the Lehi (Utah) Silver Band, that bounced and swayed as members rode in a horse-drawn wagon that was built as a replica of a 1890s band wagon, and the American Fork (Utah) High School drummer corp.

The wagon train was also led by horse riders who, in pioneer times, were assigned to watch for companies at the mouth of the canyon, and then rode through the city streets announcing the coming of another pioneer company.

Those wagons that had traveled the distance from Winter Quarters to Utah then entered the state park from Emigration Canyon. Spectators, many dressed in pioneer-like attire, lined the dirt road, waving and shouting cheers as the wagons passed. Missionaries from the Utah Salt Lake City Mission held flags of many countries to represent how the Church has flowed over its Utah borders into the far reaches of the world.

As the wagon train worked its way into the park, 90 Church Educational System teachers and families dressed in white greeted the train by waving white handkerchiefs. The people symbolically represented the 6,000 who died along the original pioneer trail.

Some wagon participants reacted to the jubilant mood by standing on the sides of the wagons while holding firmly to the canvas tops and shouting their excitement.

Many participants said their hearts were too full to express their emotions, but between the tears, described how a wave of joy washed over them as they entered the park and were greeted by cheering crowds.

"The trail was so intense," said one sunburned participant, "that I was always an inch from breaking into tears. When I saw the crowd and heard the excitement, all the emotions boiled over."

Following the wagons into the state park were the handcarts that had traveled the distance. They were followed by other wagons and handcarts that had joined the wagon train along the trail, as well as others who walked the trail.

Throngs of people, who greeted the first wagons on top of the plateau, were led in singing "Come, Come, Ye Saints" as the wagons headed toward the monument. Company A, which was composed of wagons that had traveled the entire distance, was then ushered onto the grassy area surrounding the This Is the Place Monument where they circled the monument - as if under the direction of Brigham Young who stood poised atop the monument - and waited as Elder Ballard related stories about the sacrifice and effort of some of the wagon train participants.

The wagons then moved to a nearby staging area while handcart participants who had traveled the entire distance took their place around the monument. Among the handcarts was a handcart built by members in Russia that traveled through all the missions in Russia and Ukraine. The handcart carried 1,000 handwritten testimonies and handmade dolls from members in the former Soviet Union.

Prior to President Hinckley's remarks, the International Children's Choir, dressed in the costumes of the world's many nations, treated the audience with several songs, including pioneer songs.