Preservation During the Cholera Epidemic at Rush Creek
Published September 3, 2026 at 9:57 AM
Jacob Gates provided an eyewitness account of the cholera outbreak that struck the camp in late June 1834 near Rush Creek. He recorded that his wife, Mary, was present during this trial, which he described as a time when 14 or 15 of the brethren died. Despite the high mortality rate and the severity of the epidemic that affected many in the camp, both Jacob and Mary Gates were preserved and survived the expedition.
In Their Own Words
“Mary was present dureing the time of the cholerra when 14 or 15 of our Brethren were slain by its ravages. She was left alone in the midst of enemies.”
— Jacob Gates, 'Obituary of Mary Snow Gates,' February 11, 1891, and Jacob Gates to Erastus Snow, May 15, 1885, Jacob Gates Collection, Church History Library
Sources & References
Jacob Gates, “Obituary of Mary Snow Gates,” February 11, 1891, typescript, Jacob Gates Collection, Church History Library; Jacob Gates to Erastus Snow, May 15, 1885, typescript, Jacob Gates Collection, Church History Library; both quoted verbatim in Andrea G. Radke, “We Also Marched: The Women and Children of Zion’s Camp, 1834,” BYU Studies 39, no. 4 (2000): 150, 158, full public text at https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/we-also-marched-the-women-and-children-of-zions-camp-1834 — research note: Mary Snow Gates survived the cholera epidemic at Rush Creek that claimed fourteen or fifteen of the brethren, though as one of only a few women in the camp she endured the scourge amid the dying and was afterward left alone in hostile Missouri while her husband continued the march — hardships Jacob later recognized as contributing to her lifelong emotional difficulties, yet she and Jacob returned for both the 1864 and 1869 Zion’s Camp reunions, evidence of the spiritual bond the expedition forged.
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