Mountain Green and the Church CHARLES S PETERSON WILLIAM A BILLS JAMES HENRY ROBISON JOHN ROBINSON JR In 1846 and 1847 thousands of Saints fled Nauvoo, Illinois, leaving behind their homes and property, to escape the mobbings, killings and other depredations heaped on them because of their religious beliefs. They traveled westward to Council Bluffs, Iowa, then across the trackless plains to the valleys of the Rocky Mountains where they settled down in compara¬tive peace and safety. It wasn't long after their arrival in the Great Salt Lake Valley that Pres¬ident Brigham Young began his remarkable colonization program, assigning families to settle surrounding areas near Salt Lake City, headquarters of the Church. Among them were a handful of families who braved the treacherous and unhospitable Weber Canyon to establish homes in the beautiful Valley of Mountain Green. Almost as soon as they had erected crude homes and cleared the land for crops, their thoughts turned to establishing a Branch of the Church. Charles Shreeve Peterson had settled further up the River at what was called Weber City. He was called by the Church to look after the spiritual needs of fam¬ilies locating in the western part of what was to become Morgan County. William Andrew Bills settled in the Mountain Green area in 1858 and, accord¬ing to his diary, was immediately sustained as President of the little Branch, a position he held for four and a half years. In 1860 a log building, 18 by 25 feet, was erected on the north side of the road between Gordon Creek and Dry Creek. This building was used for school, Church and as a Community Center. 42