A 'third rescue'?
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Observing this year's sesquicentennial of the rescue of the Willie and Martin handcart companies, presenters at the annual Sons of Utah Pioneers Historical Symposium Oct. 14 spoke of a first, second and third "rescue".
Designated as the "first rescue" are the well-documented events in the late fall of 1856, when President Brigham Young sent Church members with teams and provisions to aid the suffering, starving and dying members of the two handcart companies and two accompanying wagon trains stranded in early snows on the high plains of Wyoming and Nebraska.
What has come to be regarded as the "second rescue" transpired in the 1990s, when members of the Riverton Wyoming Stake found that temple ordinance work for those ill-fated pioneers apparently had not yet been performed. Under the leadership of President Robert Scott Lorimer — one of the speakers at the symposium — they mounted a concerted effort to research the family histories of the Willie and Martin people and see to it that proxy baptisms, endowments and sealings were performed for them.
The "third rescue" was defined by Elder Robert F. Orton of the Seventy, the dinner-program speaker at the symposium. He expressed it in this theme for his remarks: "The third rescue: extricating the youth of the Church from the jaws of the adversary by teaching pioneer values and building lasting testimony."
"Given the challenges which youth of the Church face today, are we overly optimistic in thinking the third rescue is possible?" the General Authority asked. "I hope not."
He cited a recent national poll in which teenagers were asked to name without prompting the most important problems facing people their age just now. The primary responses were drugs, smoking and alcohol; peer pressure, fitting in, how they look and how popular they are; and sexual issues such as teen pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases.
"I guess I paint a bleak picture as I read those statistics," Elder Orton said. But he then noted that hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saint youth strive constantly to do what is right. He quoted speakers to the effect that parents, families, schools, communities and places of worship are influential forces in guiding youth away from risky behaviors.
"Let me suggest that teaching pioneer values and building lasting testimony through pioneer treks is another tool available today," he said. He cited Alma 5, beginning with verse 6, where the prophet Alma seems to link a remembrance of one's righteous family heritage with a "mighty change of heart" characteristic of such a lasting testimony.
Getting to know their pioneer forefathers will help today's youth in the Church deal with the challenges they have, Elder Orton said. "Pioneer treks are a vehicle that will help this to happen."
He cited several examples from recent youth pioneer handcart treks. In one such example, the parents of two brothers refused to pay for their basketball camp unless the sons went on the trek. They were not at all excited about it, but their attitude changed. One brother bore testimony at a meeting after the trek, praising his bishop for not giving up on him. The bishop had earlier confided to a trek leader that he felt discouraged because he had been unable to connect with the youth of his ward. After bearing testimony, the young man went to and hugged the bishop. His brother, a recent high school graduate, said he was going to go home and thank his mother for making him go on the trek. He is now active in his singles ward after a long period of inactivity.
"Will this mighty change of heart and conduct occur just because one participates in pioneer trek or just because one descends from a member of the Willie and Martin handcart companies?" Elder Orton asked. "Perhaps not. However, I'm convinced chances of positive results are significantly increased by this experience."
Earlier in the symposium, James B. Allen, professor emeritus of history at BYU, gave a detailed recital of the journey and rescue of the handcart companies.
"What we sometimes don't stop to think about is that the rescue involved literally hundreds of people, not just the two main rescue parties (comprising 48 rescuers)," Brother Allen said. The operation included bishops in Salt Lake City canvassing their wards for two months collecting donations of food, clothing, blankets, utensils and anything else they could, these coming from ward members, many with little means of their own. He said all told, 250 wagon teams were dispatched, carrying supplies to meet the incoming immigrants and that express messengers were constantly going back and forth between the immigrants and the wagon trains.
One of the interesting things, he said, is that the rescue teams that went out did not know where the companies were along the route, particularly the Martin company that was eventually three weeks behind the Willie company, having lagged further and further behind.
Former Riverton Wyoming Stake President Lorimer spoke of the "second rescue" and of having helped facilitate the purchase by the Church of the Sun Ranch property on which the Martin's Cove Historic Site in central Wyoming is now located. He said the site has made a profound impact not only on members of the Church but also on others, who observe and experience the Spirit at the Church site.
"These people's experience cannot be duplicated (elsewhere), cannot be replicated, cannot be bought, sold, and it doesn't belong to anybody," he said. "The only thing that can be done with it is to give it away. And the more we give it away, the more we get it back."
Deverl and Joan Byington, recently returned Church missionaries at Martin's Cove, appeared in the character of handcart pioneer rescuer Ephraim Hanks, and his wife, Thisbee, who had been a Martin handcart company member as a young girl. They gave a presentation similar to what they have given to youth groups at the historic site, recounting the spiritual experience of Brother Hanks, ancestor to Brother Byington, in which he was told in a dream to go out and bring in the handcart people. Brother Hanks experienced miracles, one in which he easily shot and butchered buffalo so he could provide the meat to the starving handcart travelers.
E-mail to: rscott@desnews.com
