JOURNAL OF T H E IRON C O U N T Y MISSION JOHN D. LEE, CLERK December 10, 1850—March 1, 1851* EDITED BY GUSTIVE O. LARSON**
INTRODUCTION
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ORMON exiles heavily charged with a sense of mission located in the Great Basin in July, 1847. Theirs was a task of building an earthly "Kingdom of God." The blood of Israel was to be gathered out of Babylon and brought to Zion to labor collectively in creating a self-sustaining commonwealth preparatory to Christ's millennial reign. Thousands in America and foreign lands heard the Latter-day Saint message of deliverance and flocked to the valleys of the mountains to identify themselves with this movement. Exploration of the wilderness proceeded under general church direction. Organized companies went out from the first colony on the shores of the Great Salt Lake to settle on every stream and occupy every habitable valley in the basin. John D. Lee's account, which begins in this issue of the Quarterly revives for us the journey of one of these colonizing companies of a century ago. It was a company sent into southern Utah for the purpose of manufacturing iron. Its spirit was expressed in terms of an "Iron Mission." For a half century prior to Mormon arrival the region which became known as Iron County had been crossed by the Spanish Trail connecting Los Angeles with Santa Fe. Thousands of horses and mules had been driven from California to markets in New Mexico in exchange for Mexican goods. W h e n United States troops occupied California in 1846-47, members of the Mormon Battalion were stationed in Cajon Pass to block illicit traffic on that end of the Spanish Trail. Captain Jefferson *This record of the pioneering and settlement of Parowan, mother colony â&#x20AC;˘of Iron County and much of southern Utah, will appear serial y in this and The next Iwo issues of the Quarterly. This installment of the journal covers the oeriod December 10-31, 1850. P **Gustive O. Larson is Director of the L. D. S. Institute at the Branch Agricultural College, Cedar City. He is a prominent authority on Mormon Emigration history, and is the author of several studies, including the wellknown Prelude to the Kingdom.
