12 Days Until Trek - Letter Writing

Can you imagine how welcome news from loved ones on the trail would be? Connection is a core need for humans. In gathering to Zion, Latter-day Saints left loved ones. Through letter writing, a very common 19th-century occurrence, pioneers were able to keep in touch with those they left. Communication along the trail from one group to another was also important. Both written and verbal communications helped leaders organize travel and minimize disruptions.

"Travelers had a normal desire to keep in touch with loved ones on and off the trail. On May 4, 1847, Charles Beaumont, a returning trapper on the Oregon Trail, crossed the Platte River to meet the pioneers. In exchange for a little bread and salt, he agreed to take some letters to Winter Quarters if they could be written within fifteen minutes. In six and a half minutes, fifty letters were ready. Thereafter letters went back and forth via Saints traveling in both directions. Regular mail service began in 1850 as the federal government established mail stations. It was not uncommon for westbound immigrants to find letters waiting for them at such stations. Letters could even be sent to England from some mail stations as those at Kanesville (Council Bluffs) and Fort Laramie."

Selection from Stanley B. and Violet T. Kimball's 2011 book, Villages on Wheels: A Social History of the Gathering to Zion.

AI-generated image.