A pioneer trek

When Heather LaBree, 17, Ekalaka, hears stories about the pioneers, she now has a firsthand understanding of what they went through.

In May, she, six youth and six adults from the Ekalaka area participated in a reenactment of a pioneer handcart trek sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

The Ekalaka group drove to Miles City on May 30 where they met with approximately 190 other teens and leaders from Eastern Montana. The next morning the group dressed in their pioneer clothing before boarding the buses for the ride to Wyoming.

Clothing for girls included long skirts and bonnets, while the boys wore long-sleeved buttoned shirts and wide-brimmed hats. Many of the girls sewed their own pioneer attire with a little adult help and some purchased their clothing at local thrift stores or borrowed from friends and relatives.

Before the trek began, leaders also informed the teens that no electronic devices would be allowed on the trip. Adult leader, Benje Butikofer, said, "I feel like the adults had a harder time with no cells than the kids. The kids did use it as a great excuse for staying up, saying they didn't know what time it was without their phones!" LaBree added, "It was nice to not have to worry about responding to a text or picking up my phone every day."

By 6 a.m. the entire group had loaded onto four charter buses for the 7-hour drive to the Mormon Handcart visitors Center in Martin's Cove, WY.

In 1856, several companies of Mormon pioneers were traversing the 1300 miles from Iowa to Utah on foot, pulling their belongings in handcarts, seeking a new home free from religious persecution. Two of these groups, the Martin and the Willie companies got a delayed start and were stranded on the Wyoming plains by early winter storms. The blizzard conditions forced the Martin company to stop at what is now called Martin's Cove. Many members of the company froze or starved to death before being rescued and arriving in Salt Lake City.

To give the youth a sense of the sacrifices the pioneers made for their faith, the LDS Church now provides handcart treks to groups wishing to reenact a portion of these pioneer experiences.

The young people were divided into 18 "families," each with an adult "ma" and "pa" supervisor. Each family camped together and was assigned a handcart to pull. The 60-pound wooden handcarts were designed so that pioneers could push or pull them. They consisted of a box about the size of a small bed on a modern pickup truck. Each had two, five-foot diameter wheels connected to an axle. Pull shafts seven-feet long were connected to each side of the bed and to a crossbar.

The youth and their leaders hiked and pulled their handcarts approximately 13 miles over two and a half days, with most observing that pushing the handcarts was hard work. Many of the youth commented that pulling the handcarts was a lot more difficult than they thought it would be and gave them a small taste of what the pioneers actually went through.

The trek included reenactments of significant events in the Mormon pioneer history. The 1856 Martin handcart company had to cross the Sweetwater River several times during blizzard conditions. Before one such crossing, many members of the original company felt they could go no further and gave up. Several heroic young men volunteered to assist those who were too weak to cross.

While it didn't snow on the youth trek, strong winds and a very high Sweetwater prevented the group from reenacting the crossing. However, they did have the opportunity later to wade in the river.

Leaders explained to the youth that the majority of pioneers who died during the handcart crossings were men, because they would work all day and then give most of their limited food to their family. Consequently, many pioneer families were left fatherless, with the women shouldering all of the responsibility for their families' welfare on the journey west. The youth reenacted these pioneer women's heroic sacrifices through what was dubbed the "women's pull."

The women's pull began with the men and boys walking away from the women up a mile-long hill, leaving the women to follow later with the handcarts. When the women reached the top of the hill, the men took off their hats and silently watched them pass by. Almost every youth there commented on how this affected them.

The trip was not all work and no play. The youth enjoyed the first evening's lively square dancing so much they wanted to do it again the next night when there was a bit of extra time. They also played pioneer games like 3-legged relays, stick pulls and sack races.

Throughout the trek, each of the youth carried with them the name and story of a pioneer ancestor or of one of the original members of the Martin or Willie handcart companies and was asked to spend a moment remembering them. Most of the original handcart pioneers were immigrants from Europe who had little money. They built handcarts as an inexpensive way to carry their belongings with them to Salt Lake City. They were limited to 17 pounds of clothing and bedding per person so many left behind their heavy winter items. LaBree walked for Ellen Sanders Kimble. "She was not one of my relatives, but she has an amazing story. I picked her because of the troubles she made it through before her trek to the Salt lake Valley and then how she continued to live the gospel when she reached the valley," she said.

When asked what they learned from the experience comments included being grateful for what we have, not complaining, having patience, love and compassion, the power of earnest prayer and relying on our Savior and Heavenly Father no matter what. LaBree summed it up well. "I learned an appreciation for the sacrifice that the pioneers and each one of us make every day to live the gospel."

The pioneers would be proud.