The Latter-day Saints under inspiration from a prophet of God gathered to the Rocky Mountains in 1847 to fulfill their prophetic destiny. Here they would become a mighty people, build temples and disseminate the gospel throughout the world in preparation for the second coming ofjesus Christ. Eight years after the pioneers had entered the Salt Lake Valley, Thomas Thurston, Charles Peterson and others entered the Morgan Valley and commenced a settlement. Those early years were wrought with trials and hardships. Floods, frosts, and hordes of grasshoppers took their toll on the crops that were necessary for survival; while smallpox and diphtheria brought death and misery to many homes in the Valley. However, the Saints persisted. President Jedediah Morgan Grant, a counselor in the First Presidency of the Church had promised through an apostolic blessing that the Valley would produce and become a stronghold in the Kingdom of God. In July 1877 Morgan was organized into a stake of Zion by Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards, who were acting under the direction of President Brigham Young. The Morgan Stake grew and prospered for one-hundred and four years when it was finally divided in March 1981 into the Morgan Utah Stake and the Morgan Utah North Stake. During those years eight men were called and given the opportunity to preside at different periods of time over the Morgan Stake. Their administrations were impacted by persecution, a depression, world wars, and countless other problems that tested their inspired leadership as well as the faith of the Saints. (D&C 115:6)