The Miracle of the Gulls: Seagulls Devour the Crickets and Save the Pioneer Harvest (1848)

The first Latter-day Saints to enter the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 set immediately to work preparing the soil for planting. It was hard, dry, demanding country. Food shortages that winter left the Saints eagerly awaiting their spring crops.

As the crops grew in the spring of 1848 they looked thick and green — a rich yield in sight. Then, in late May, swarms of crickets descended on the fields. For at least a month the Saints fought what some called the Cricket War of 1848. They battled with brooms, brushes, sticks, and ropes. Nothing worked. The crickets devoured acres of grain and vegetables while the army of insects only grew. Reports reached Brigham Young (still leading the second company across the plains) that some were considering leaving for California. Others advised him to stop sending more pioneers to the valley for fear of starvation.

Many prayed with desperation.

Then, in early June, large flocks of California gulls swept into the valley. At first the farmers were frightened — another calamity descending from the sky. But then they watched. The gulls gorged on crickets, drank water from the streams, regurgitated the indigestible parts, and returned for more. Again and again. For days.

The crickets lingered a few more weeks. But the gulls had consumed enough to save the harvest.

The Saints saw the protecting hand of the Lord. The miracle lived large in pioneer memory for generations. Utah's state bird is the California gull. A monument to the gulls stands on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.