Some Important Facts About The Handcart Companies :
The morg had already set up a very standardized way of getting the new converts across the plains, and these immigrants were crossing the plains as a part of that official program. They were mostly English converts and had no concept of western travel so they wouldn't have a clue to do it on their own, so TSCC was the official outfitter here. However BY, notorious cheapskate that he was, was looking for less expensive means to cross (teams and wagons were pricey). So he dreamed up the handcart scheme (oh wait, God did and revealed it to BY. Sorry).
BY also surrounded himself with "yes men" who feared the consequences of failing in their mission. So when they were running behind schedule they slapped together the handcarts with greenwood (not cured) and other poor materials and sent them out very late in the spring. Some of the more knowledgeable morg leaders knew they were exposing them to considerable risk but their voiced concerns fell on deaf ears.
They lost more time when the carts kept breaking down.
At one point Apostle Richards and his well outfitted entourage passed the Willie Company in their wagons. He stopped for a day or two for some preaching, publicly rebuked a dissenter who had encouraged them to winter before getting into the Rockys, and prophecied that they would reach the SL valley without even a hair on their head being lost. He then requested some beef and they gave him their best cow. He said they'd be resupplied at Fort Laramie.
When they got to Fort Laramie there was nothing for them and they had to cut rations more deeply. When the snowstorms hit that's when death set in in a major way. 1/4 of the Martin and 1/6 of the Willie Company perished.
Read Mary Burton's account in the book "Tell It All" by Fanny Stenhouse or Ann Eliza Young's account in "Wife No. 19". Nee Webb, her father was a wagon builder who was in Florence (the point of departure) and in the Richards party that passed them by.
Less Than 3% Of Mormon Pioneers Traveled By Handcart:
Approximately 70,000 Mormons migrated to the Salt Lake Valley before the completion of the railroad in 1869. Brigham Young started use of handcarts in 1856 to cut the cost of travel for all the poor European converts. There were ten handcart companies that crossed the plains between 1856 and 1860. Even after 222 people from the Willie and Martin Companies died from exposure, they kept using the handcarts till 1860.
Of the 70,000 immigrants that migrated before 1869, only 3000, or less than 5% traveled by handcart. Few Mormons actually went west solely by wagon as well. Before 1869 approximately 34,000, or 49% traveled much of the way by train. After the completion of the railroad the remaining 30,000-40,000 traveled from the east coast all the way to Ogden, UT by train. The total number of migrants eventually exceeded 100,000 so less than 3% came by handcart.
Most of the hype and reenactments started during the church's Sesquicentennial celebrations in 1998. They wanted to do some major PR stuff and thus the Willie and Martin Handcart memorial in Wyoming and all the stake youth conferences started doing the reenactments. I went on one myself. That's a long story I should share sometime. It was discovered at this time that for these past 150 years, no one had thought to do the temple work for those that died on the trail. So, of course there was much testimony bearing about it. All of this focus on these very poor, neglected pioneers fits right in with the, we have it so hard/we are so persecuted/aren't we wonderful", complex of the church.
All of my Mormon ancestors, as well as my husband's family, came across the plains and many died. Through their biographies and journals we have come to realize that they accomplished an amazing feat. I don't know if I could, or even would, make the effort. I am saddened because of the sacrifices they made and the suffering they endured.
They Hijacked A Beautiful Part Of Wyoming:
Every year I drive through Wyoming. The stretch between Rawlins and Casper has some beautiful natural lanmarks, including Independence Rock and the Devil's Gate.
Now?...the Mormon church has hijacked the area with signs, visitor's centers and white shirted missionaries, all exploiting the Willie and Martin tragedy.
You would think it was the only thing that ever happened in the area.
Fact is, it is at the crossroads of the Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail and the Pony Express.
But the Mormons want you to think the their "history" is more important. I doubt that you will get the numbers that Cr@ig has listed, the proportions of handcart v. wagon train.
It's just more fodder for the Mormon Mythology Machine.
They were a drop in the bucket.
The area is too beautiful to focus on the dire results of an "inspired" prophet's decisions...unless they want to say the people died becasue Brigham was a cheap bastard...well then, I'd be less averse to the whole thing. But no...Brigham was a Godling, and these folks are all martyrs.
Read more here:
http://www.mormoncurtain.com/topic_mormonhandcarts.html
Handcarts play on the Mormon Cult's continued reaffirmation of suffering and persecution complex models. Now it is a marketing gimic by the Cult - used to pull at the heart strings of potential new income (read: members).