The Saints — The Desert Blossoming as a Rose

Richards recounts the arrival of the Latter-day Saint pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. At the time, the region was a barren, alkaline desert that many explorers deemed uninhabitable. Richards frames the subsequent agricultural success, the irrigation of the land, and the establishment of hundreds of settlements as a collective miracle and a literal fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that 'the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.' He views the survival of the Saints in this environment as evidence of divine intervention in the gathering process.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in History of the Saints, July 24, 1847):

July 24, 1847 About 11:45 AM Brigham Young riding in the carriage of Wilford Woodruff entered the Salt Lake Valley for the first time. Wilford would later describe that he stopped there on the benchland and turned his carriage so that the ailing president could look over the Valley. President Young was for a time enwrapped in vision. At last he said, “This is the right place. Drive on.” From there they turned north and joined a number of their brethren camped near City Creek who had already been in the Valley for two day. When President Young arrived he found the men hard at work, plowing, planting, and constructing irrigation. Some five acres had already been cultivated near Main and First South. The next day was the Sabbath and about 10:00am the men assembled for worship around the cannon. One of the first sermons delivered was by George A. And what of that place they had found. As they entered what they called “The Great Basin” they saw it ringed with high mountains “like pyramids towering towards heaven” on all sides, some of which were beautifully capped with an abundance of snow. The lake shimmered a dark silvery blue in the distance.