The Miraculous Crossing of the Frozen Mississippi River
Published October 23, 2026 at 1:06 PM
Contributed by
Young Woman's Journal Research
During the exodus from Nauvoo, the Saints were being ferried across the river, but the process was too slow for the many people fleeing mob violence. In a single night, the Mississippi River froze solid, creating an ice bridge that allowed the remaining Saints to drive their wagons across to safety.
In Their Own Words
“You know how the brethren were ferrying the saints over the river, but I guess the good Lord knew that they couldn’t get across fast enough that way, so in a single night the Mississippi froze over so the people could drive their wagons across. Talk about the Red Sea stacking up on either side to let the Israelites pass through—that’s old—but who ever heard of a great, wide river making a bridge of solid ice in one night? — The Young Woman's Journal 37:7”
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 37 no. 7 (July 1926). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/23114 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high)
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