Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Together behind for a similar cause? Could they leave their beautiful Pennsylvania Valley, and endure the hardships of a long journey, only to face the difficulties of establishing a new home in a "less inviting land"? Most of the family soon proved that they were worthy of their heritage, as they began to make plans for the long journey to Utah. The company was to include Valentine and Harriet with their three young children, Valentine's brother and wife—Henry and Leannah Rock—with their baby girl, Valentine's widowed mother, and several other brothers and sisters from the families. The Rock family had a good deal of property to be disposed of before they left, but they soon converted their assets into means and equipment for the new undertaking. Then sometime during the year 1856, they started on their journey. Did they guess, when they left home, that it would be several years before they reached their destination? As for Mary Catherine, she started on her great adventure with all the eager enthusiasm of a fourteen- year-old. Little did she dream of the soul-testing experiences which were to come to her as a pioneer woman of Mormonism! Ever since the beginning of the great exodus from Nauvoo to Salt Lake Valley, the Saints had gathered in temporary settlements along the banks of the Missouri River to prepare their wagon trains for the long journey across the plains. During the first two years, most of them had assembled at Winter Quarters on the western bank of the river, but after 1848, they had made their headquarters at Kanesville on the Iowa side. By 1852, however, the last of the refugees from Nauvoo had gone on to the Valley, and the town of Kanesville was occupied by local settlers, who called it Council Bluffs. At best, it was a three-month journey across the plains from the Missouri River to Utah; so if a pioneer company hoped to complete the arduous trip during the summer months when travel was easiest, it was necessary for them to start in the late spring or early summer. When that was not possible, they usually remained in Iowa until the following spring. When our travelers left Pennsylvania, they had a long way to go before they reached the Missouri River, but since the first western railroad had been completed as far as Iowa City by that time, they probably made that part of the journey with comparative ease. Somewhere in western Iowa, they would assemble the teams and wagons they needed for the rest of the journey. It seems, however, that they arrived too late to complete the journey that year, so they all settled down to make the most of their stay in Iowa. Pottawattamie County, in the western part of the state, was a beautiful country of luxuriant prairie and forest land, which reminded them of their Pennsylvania homeland. The coming of the railroad to Iowa, and the Mormon settlement at Council Bluffs, had greatly stimulated the growth of the country, as it was easy for later emigrants to obtain work on the farms and in the rapidly growing communities. Valentine Rock, who was an expert rock-mason, must have found ready employment in new construction projects. So the family had little difficulty finding places to live and worthwhile work to do during the time they remained in Iowa. Some time within the first year after they left home, Valentine found it necessary to make a return trip to Pennsylvania. By this time, some of his wife's brothers and sisters, who had been working away from home when the family first left, were glad to join their brother-in-law when he returned to Iowa. In the end, only two of the eleven sons and daughters of Conrad Smith chose to remain in Pennsylvania—Charles, the eldest son, and Hetty, the fourth daughter. Descendants of these two are still living in the old family homes, peacefully carrying on the old Pennsylvania-Dutch traditions of their ancestors. If the family in Iowa hoped to continue their journey to Salt Lake Valley in 1857, they were doomed to disappointment. That year, the Saints in Utah—who thought they were safe in their mountain retreat from the persecutions of their enemies—were threatened with a new danger. The President of the United States was sending an Army to invade the Utah Territory and destroy the Mormons! The news that the Army was approaching spurred President Brigham Young to drastic action. All of the missionaries who were far away at the time were called home, and all new emigration to the val- lev was discontinued. Meanwhile, many obstacles were put in the way of the Army by the Utah Militia, and their arrival was delayed throughout the winter. In the spring, President Young sent all the Saints further south, and prepared to leave the city in ashes if the Army made an attack. On June 26th, however, the Army marched through the city very quietly— not a person was stirring within the city—and established a camp known as Camp Floyd forty miles southwest of the city. With a hostile army at their very door, silence reigned in Zion most of that year. Not until October 1858 was it considered safe to hold a Conference of the Church, and it was not until 1859 that emigration to the valley was again permitted. When the time finally came for the emigrants in Iowa to continue their journey after three years of