KEARNEY, Neb. — This year marks 150 years since the first handcart-pulling Mormon pioneers departed from their staging area in Iowa City, Iowa, for the Salt Lake Valley.
It was an experiment in a more economic form of overland travel — bring more Latter-day Saint converts from the British Isles and Europe across the continent at far-less cost than covered wagons, the smaller, lighter conveyances not requiring the use of draft animals. Each cart carried only 100 pounds of flour and limited provisions.
Though the handcart chapter lasted only about four years, the handcart itself became a historical icon for the entire Mormon pioneer era. Millions are acquainted with Torleif Knaphus's bronze statue on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, for example, depicting a family of handcart pioneers.
In Kearney, Neb., the location where the Mormon, Oregon and California trails converge, the "150th Anniversary of Handcart Pioneers" will be observed June 2 and 3 by a consortium of community organizations. The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument is taking the lead role, with the City of Kearney, the Trails and Rails Museum and Fort Kearny as partners.
Except for the standard admission fee to tour the Archway monument, the event is free to the public and will include handcart demonstrations, 1850s living-history displays, genealogy presentations, speakers, period dances, food, wagon rides and entertainment. A handcart trek will be led by Paul Willie, a direct descendant of Captain James G. Willie, who led one of two ill-fated handcart companies, participants of which suffered extreme hardship and death along the route in Wyoming.
Ronnie O'Brien, show manager and education director for the Archway Monument, said local LDS units are supporting the celebration. During a visit to Salt Lake City Feb. 17, she said Joseph Carlson, a member of the Kearney Stake high council and a professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska, has partnered with her in organizing the celebration. In addition, some 150 youth from the Church will serve in volunteer roles.
The centerpiece of the celebration will be the Archway monument, a $60 million facility that opened in 2000 after two years of construction. It spans Interstate 80 at the site where the Mormon, California and Oregon trails converged. Hence it contains exhibits, murals and dioramas about each of the three trails, including the handcart chapter of the Mormon Trail.
Upon entering the monument, visitors at once see mannequins that appear to be engaged in climbing a rocky hill. In the middle of the hill is an escalator that takes visitors up to the back end of what appears to be a covered wagon. Around the wagon is a 30-foot screen showing a wagon train going down a trail.
Transported into the "wagon" by the escalator, the visitors then view the exhibits telling the story of the trails, of the more modern chapter of the Lincoln Highway, which covered much of the route of the Mormon Trail and generally ran the course of today's I-80.
Besides the Archway, celebration attenders will also be invited to visit the Trails and Rails Museum in downtown Kearney on the original Mormon Trail. The admission fee will be waived on the first day of the celebration. The museum features six historic buildings and an original locomotive, marking the importance of the railroad to Kearney.
And Fort Kearny State Park offers a tour of the fort, built in 1848 to protect travelers along the Oregon and Mormon trails. It features an overland stage and Pony Express station, a reconstructed sod blacksmith shop and a visitors center. Fort Kearny and the city of Kearney are both named for Stephen W. Kearney, the U.S. Army general who, among his other deeds, commanded the Mormon Battalion.
For more information and handcart-trek registration, visit the Web site at www.handcarttrek.org.
