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Perpetual Emigration Fund
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== Innovations and evolution of emigrant travel == Efforts to ease the journey for the emigrants and make the program less expensive for them and the church continued over the PEF's lifetime. Initially the emigration route followed a pattern from when the church was headquartered at [[Nauvoo, Illinois]], traveling almost entirely by ship, usually to land at [[New Orleans]] and then take river steamboats up the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]]. Alternatives were sought, however, when this route became perceived as unhealthy with the arrival of [[Third cholera pandemic|cholera outbreaks]] in the late 1840s.<ref name="Divett">{{cite book |last=Divett |first=Robert T. |orig-year=1981 |year=2010 |title=Medicine and the Mormons: An Introduction to the History of Latter-day-Saint Health Care |location=Bountiful, Utah |publisher=Horizon Publishers & Distributors |isbn=978-1-45-371152-1}}</ref>{{rp|p=104-105}} At one point, church leadership believed that members in Europe should be advised to wait until a potential canal was built through [[History of the Panama Canal|Panama]] or [[History of the Nicaragua Canal|Nicaragua]], so they could land in California and avoid the difficult overland journey to Utah from the east.<ref name="Epistle">{{cite news |title=Fifth General Epistle |newspaper=[[Deseret News]] |date=April 8, 1851 |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2569407 |page=1-4 |access-date=January 26, 2024}}</ref> However, as the canal projects failed to move forward, this approach to the voyage never developed. By 1854, church President [[Brigham Young]] was directing [[Franklin D. Richards (Mormon apostle)|Franklin D. Richards]], who had taken over from his brother Samuel leading the church in Britain, to send emigrants to Atlantic seaboard ports instead, there to taken trains as far west as they could go before joining wagon companies the rest of the way.<ref name="Divett"/>{{rp|p=106}} [[File:Handcart 2016-07-12 077.jpg|thumb|alt=Outdoor statue of a man pulling a handcart, with family members on foot around the cart|Statue of handcart pioneers, [[Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters|Mormon Trail Center]], Omaha, Nebraska]] Beginning in 1856, instead of supplying covered wagons with oxen to cross the plains from the western railroad terminus, church leaders organized many emigrants into [[Mormon handcart pioneers|handcart companies]] provided with two-wheeled carts that they would pull themselves, like a very large wheelbarrow. The new approach allowed the PEF to support nearly twice as many individuals as it had in 1855. The increased numbers were also problematic, however, as procuring the additional ships and difficulties in building sufficient handcarts caused travel delays. This led to [[Willie and Martin handcart companies|two companies]] starting the handcart stage of their journey too late in the year, with significant loss of life when they were caught in an October blizzard before reaching Salt Lake City.<ref name="Hafen">{{cite book |last=Hafen |first=LeRoy R. |author-link=LeRoy R. Hafen |author2=Ann W. Hafen |title=Handcarts to Zion: the story of a unique western migration, 1856β1860: with contemporary journals, accounts, reports and rosters of members of the ten handcart companies |orig-year=1960 |year=1981 |publisher=Arthur H. Clark Company |isbn=0-87062-027-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/handcartstozion00lero}}</ref> [[File:John R. Murdock (Mormon).jpg|thumb|left|alt=Black-and-white photograph of a man with thin hair and a beard in a suit and tie, with a stern expression|[[John R. Murdock (Mormon)|John R. Murdock]] led multiple down-and-back companies in the 1860s]] A few more handcart companies followed in subsequent years, the last in 1860 as the final emigration stage reverted to wagon trains. Instead, Brigham Young began promoting the idea of sending teams from Utah with cattle and wagons to meet the emigrants across the plains. By drawing on available resources, it would reduce the challenges and costs of outfitting each group separately, and the wagons could carry the necessary gear and supplies while the majority of travelers walked alongside. Young also suggested that with Utah still having few merchants, existing residents might arrange to have team leaders obtain goods for them back East and bring those items back more cheaply than they could otherwise be obtained.<ref name="Remarks">{{cite news |last=Watt |first=G.D. |authorlink=George D. Watt |title=Remarks By President Brigham Young, Tabernacle, p.m., Oct. 6, 1860 |newspaper=[[Deseret News]] |date=October 17, 1860 |url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2585303 |page=2 |access-date=March 5, 2024}}</ref> These teams became known as "down-and-back companies" based on their journey "down" to the [[Missouri River]] gathering point and back to Utah, and contributed significantly in facilitating the larger emigrant groups organized through the PEF over the course of the decade. For those coming from Europe, the place of departure was typically [[Liverpool]], except for a handful of parties from the continent who sailed to America directly from [[Hamburg]].<ref name="Scandinavia">{{cite journal |last=Mulder |first=William |date=August 1954 |title=Mormons from Scandinavia, 1850-1900: A Shepherded Migration |journal=[[Pacific Historical Review]] |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=227-246 |doi=10.2307/3635565}}</ref> Church agents engaged sailing vessels almost exclusively for the transatlantic crossing until 1868, to keep fares as low as possible (whether paid by the individual or the PEF). By this time, the majority of overseas immigration to the US had already shifted to steamships, and the church followed suit in developing a relationship with the [[Guion Line]] to carry its emigrants as [[steerage]] passengers. The shift to a quicker, more reliable crossing by steam was in part connected to a separate concession from the [[Union Pacific Railroad]], which offered free railroad fare from Omaha for able-bodied men who could help build the roadbed for its portion of the [[first transcontinental railroad]].<ref name="Steam"/> The railroad's completion the next year also eliminated the wagon stage of the journey.
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