The Swiss Saints — The Providential Call to Santa Clara

In 1861, Brigham Young called a group of Swiss converts to settle in Santa Clara. A.R. Mortensen and Andrew Karl Larson note that this call was remarkably providential, as the Swiss pioneers possessed specific skills in viticulture and intensive farming that were largely absent among the earlier American-born settlers. Their arrival provided the expertise necessary to cultivate grapes and fruit, which eventually became the economic backbone of the Cotton Mission when cotton itself proved difficult to sustain. The timing of their conversion in Europe and their arrival in Dixie is cited in historical accounts as a divine preparation for the survival of the Southern Utah colonies.