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We've been taught all our lives how awful the Pioneer trek west was...that so many died due to the journey...but a new study shows something quite different. Evidently the mortality was not that much higher than the mortality experienced in the rest of the country during the 1850's...the one outlier was of course the Willy- Martin handcart expedition which experienced a 16.5 mortality rate.



http://www.sciencecodex.com/mormon_pion ... ent-137558

Craig Paxton wrote:We've been taught all our lives how awful the Pioneer trek west was...that so many died due to the journey...but a new study shows something quite different. Evidently the mortality was not that much higher than the mortality experienced in the rest of the country during the 1850's...the one outlier was of course the Willy- Martin handcart expedition which experienced a 16.5 mortality rate.



http://www.sciencecodex.com/mormon_pion ... ent-137558

What is stranger, is that an exodus / pilgramage was never needed in the first place, nor to settle a land of zion. Zion is whever you are, as the church now advocates.

Zion is useful if a bunch of religious leaders want to control and exploit the economic gain that accompanies such movements however.

Craig Paxton wrote:We've been taught all our lives how awful the Pioneer trek west was...that so many died due to the journey...but a new study shows something quite different. Evidently the mortality was not that much higher than the mortality experienced in the rest of the country during the 1850's...the one outlier was of course the Willy- Martin handcart expedition which experienced a 16.5 mortality rate.



http://www.sciencecodex.com/mormon_pion ... ent-137558

From listening to the hoopla over Mormon pioneers you'd think that no one else ever did anything like it. The whole damn country was settled by pioneers for heavens sake. Outside of the hand cart disaster (stupidity) Mormon pioneers were no more extraordinary than thousands of others before and after them. After all some one pioneered Missouri and Illinois before the Mormons even existed.

cafe crema wrote:

Craig Paxton wrote:We've been taught all our lives how awful the Pioneer trek west was...that so many died due to the journey...but a new study shows something quite different. Evidently the mortality was not that much higher than the mortality experienced in the rest of the country during the 1850's...the one outlier was of course the Willy- Martin handcart expedition which experienced a 16.5 mortality rate.



http://www.sciencecodex.com/mormon_pion ... ent-137558

From listening to the hoopla over Mormon pioneers you'd think that no one else ever did anything like it. The whole damn country was settled by pioneers for heavens sake. Outside of the hand cart disaster (stupidity) Mormon pioneers were no more extraordinary than thousands of others before and after them. After all some one pioneered Missouri and Illinois before the Mormons even existed.

Absolutely true...and this doesn't even extend back to the Native Americans who were our first pioneers (and had enormous real life problems we will never find out about, but hit them just as hard--or harder--than any far later, European-descended, pioneers).

The gender breakdown of the Mormon immigrants that came over is quite balanced, with 26,615 females and 28,306 males.

Kinda shoots down the argument for the need for polygamy because there were more females than males.

Tator wrote:

The gender breakdown of the Mormon immigrants that came over is quite balanced, with 26,615 females and 28,306 males.

Kinda shoots down the argument for the need for polygamy because there were more females than males.

Ah, but there were more females than a certain type of male - the type with the desire for more than one "partner" and the power to make it so regardless of the effect on the other, weaker males. How many "lost boys" did the society create?

The gender breakdown of the Mormon immigrants that came over is quite balanced, with 26,615 females and 28,306 males.

Tator wrote:Kinda shoots down the argument for the need for polygamy because there were more females than males.

malkie wrote:Ah, but there were more females than a certain type of male - the type with the desire for more than one "partner" and the power to make it so regardless of the effect on the other, weaker males. How many "lost boys" did the society create?

Yep, more fodder to show how cruel the practice of polygamy is but if the right Joe comes along and says that God wants it that way it must be alright.

Craig Paxton wrote:We've been taught all our lives how awful the Pioneer trek west was...that so many died due to the journey...but a new study shows something quite different. Evidently the mortality was not that much higher than the mortality experienced in the rest of the country during the 1850's...the one outlier was of course the Willy- Martin handcart expedition which experienced a 16.5 mortality rate.



http://www.sciencecodex.com/mormon_pion ... ent-137558

Last year in Elder's Quorum, I started off a lesson by writing the following numbers on the board:

300
369
4
250
10
3
~65
22
1.3
6

Then we went through, and they had to figure out which number applied:

- In years, how long was the "Pioneer Era" (from first wagon train to the railroad)?

- In thousands, approximately how many Mormon Pioneers crossed the plains during this time?

- In thousands, approximately how many Mormon Pioneers died during the trek?

- In thousands, approximately how many migrants traveled the Oregon Trail from 1840 - 1860?

- In thousands, how many miles long was the Mormon Trail?

- In years, how long was the "handcart" era (from first to last handcarts)?

- How many total "trains" (i.e. groups of wagons or carts) of pioneers were there?

- How many of those were handcart companies?

- In thousands, how many people traveled by handcart?

- How many people died in the handcart companies?


Many people expressed surprise as we went through and matched up the numbers. It was a fun exercise.

Mormon are tricked into believing it is good for their kids to attend Handcart camps, to experience the supposed suffering of the fools who pulled a handcart across the midwest in order to become a cult member.

Are Jewish kids also required to attend summer concentration camp so that they understand the suffering that many of their ancestors were dealt by their german captors?

The handcart camps are nothing more than brainwashing camps designed to retain Mormon youth.

On my Cambodian speaking mission, I remember trying to explain to members how much trouble the pioneers went through. It was a tough sale given what they had personally endured during the Vietnam war and reign of Pol Pot.