Western Places, American Myths: How We Think About The West

5 | Mormon WestsThe Creation and Evolution of an American Region

135 Driving west from Denver or Cheyenne or north and west from Las Vegas, a traveler crosses an invisible line somewhere in the Rockies or the Great Basin that marks the boundary between the Mormon and non-Mormon West. Although not immediately obvious, a few more hours of travel will bring the visitor to farms, towns, and cities with a distinctive cultural imprint. There are few places in the United States where there is such a distinct and recognizable cultural region, a fact recognized by innumerable observers over the years. The Mormon landscape (from place names to architecture to cemeteries ), the Mormon religion (from beliefs to practices to institutions and customs), and the Mormon people (from demographics to dress) have long attracted the attention of writers and travelers who have visited this region.1 Not only is the Mormon West distinctive, but also it has persisted for over a century and a half in spite of governmental and private initiatives and the intrusion of modern American popular culture that have threatened its distinctiveness . Its persistence, however, does not signify an archaic, unchanging place, rather the term Mormon West is a plural designation, its plurality revealed in its changing character over time and space. The process by which the Mormons initially tried to establish a utopian agrarian society in the arid valleys of the intermountain West and the Great Basin involved significant elements of their belief system, beliefs based on a combination of American frontier ideas of egalitarianism and cooperation combined with Puritanical interpretation of the Bible. The resultant settlement geography included remarkable elements of foresight and planning, but significant examples of ad hoc adoption of new strategies reflecting un5 | Mormon Wests The Creation and Evolution of an American Region richard h. jackson anticipated environmental, political, and economic events. The farms and villages established by the Mormon settlers were thus a work in progress from their initial establishment, changing as the goals, knowledge, and economic goals of the Mormon leaders and their followers changed. The idealistic utopian agrocentric society envisioned by the early Mormon leaders was doomed to failure by the very American values of individualism, competition, and materialism that the Mormon faithful brought with them to the West, but Mormon struggles to remake the environment according to their vision of the stewardship conferred upon them by their God created the distinctive land and people today recognized as Mormon country. Origin of the Mormon West Understanding the Mormon region begins with understanding the origin (temporally and spatially) of this quintessential American religion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed Mormon)2 was founded by Joseph Smith Jr. on the American frontier of the early 1800s.3 Smith’s parents farmed and operated a small store in and around the town of Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, but moved west in 1816, settling in Palmyra, New York, on the proposed route of the Erie Canal. Religious fervor in the western New York region of the time affected the young Smith, prompting his own fervent prayers, which he claimed culminated in divine revelations that led to founding of the church.4 Smith officially organized the church on 6 April 1830, moving the church headquarters to Kirtland, Ohio, in the Western Reserve in early 18315 (Map 5.1). Kirtland is important in understanding the Mormon West because of important doctrines and practices introduced there by Smith, beliefs and practices that shaped the Mormon experience thereafter. One of the important doctrines introduced by Smith was that of “gathering ,” the idea that converts to the new church were to join with the rest of the members to enable them to form a community of believers. Central to this community were concepts of Christian fellowship and construction of places of worship, including temples. Like other religious groups the Mormons believed that temples were holy sites where the profane secular world could intersect the higher sacred spheres, literally cosmic centers necessary for sancti fication of sacred ordinances such as baptism and marriage.6 Responding to Smith’s call to “gather,” Mormon converts swelled the population of Kirtland, resulting in erection of the first Mormon temple in 1836. Other principles introduced by Smith in Kirtland included the concept of a utopian city he called the City of Zion, based on his New England heritage. Smith repeatedly 136 | richard h. jackson Map 5.1. Migration of Mormons to the Salt Lake region...