An Early Record by Edward Bunker

Edward Bunker

Edward Bunker’s history recounts his first encounter through the Sierras and the Truckee Meadows. Several of his descendants live nearby the soil he trod upon nearly 150 years ago. 

Edward moved to Nauvoo in 1845, already having been baptized, he was told to work on the temple and/or the Nauvoo House, which he obediently did.

As he camped where he worked, disgruntled mobs broke out and began burning outlying farms and drove the homeless Saints into Nauvoo. Brother Bunker joined the militia to serve as a guard while assisting some of the persecuted saints’ move.

Quoting Edward from his own journal writes:

“The presiding priesthood compromised with the mob and agreed to leave Nauvoo. Then I crossed the river to Montrose . . . while at Montrose, I became acquainted with Emily Abbott and we were married in Nauvoo by John Taylor, February 9, 1846, just before Brother Taylor crossed the river to join the Saints at Sugar Creek.”

The couple had very few of the necessities needed to travel with the saints westward: Edward needed to obtain work. After three weeks, they scraped up enough provisions to live on. The newlyweds went to Garden Grove where some of the expelled saints had gathered. There they stayed until Edward went to Missouri with the intention of earning money to buy a team and wagon.

“At this time a report reached us that the United States government had called for a company of Saints to go to Mexico. I did not believe it, but the spirit of the Lord directed me to go home. So the following Saturday with the side of a bacon slung over my shoulder, I started for home, thirty miles distant. As I neared my destination, I met some brethren hunting stock and they confirmed the report I had heard concerning the call for a battalion. They also told me that Brigham Young had written a letter to the Grove calling on all the single men and those that could be spared to come to the Bluffs, 140 miles distant west, to assist the families and care for the teams of those who had joined the battalion, they in turn could have the use of their teams to bring their families to the Bluffs.”

“Next day being Sunday, I went to meeting and heard the letter read. Volunteers were called for and I was the first to offer my service. . .”

“The next morning [Monday] we filed out of camp and went to Trading Point on the Missouri River, where the Battalion was camped for a few days. We took up our line of march for Fort Leavenworth where we received our arms and camp equipment. We had the privilege of drawing our clothes or the money in lieu thereof. Most of the Battalion men received the money and sent the greater portion of it back to our families. We moved out a short distance from Fort Leavenworth and went into camp waiting for Col. Allen, who was sick at the fort. On learning that Col. Allen was dead, Lieutenant Smith was given command of the Battalion and he put on a forced march to Santa Fe.”

“When we got to Santa Fe we drew all of our money and sent a portion of it back to our families. Col. Cooke was left at Santa Fe by order of General Kearney to take command of the Battalion and lead it to California. At Santa Fe I was detailed as assistant teamster to Hyrum from guard duty. One detachment of the Battalion consisting of the women and sick men were sent to Benton’s Fort to winter and another detachment sent will refer the reader to [Daniel] Tyler’s History. I will add, however, that on the 27^th of January we reached San Luis Mission where we remained a short time. Then we moved up to Los Angeles at which place we remained until we were discharged on the 16^th day of July.”

“Having drawn our pay and procured an outfit, we prepared to return to our homes by way of Sutter’s Fort and across the North Pass of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Old Emigrant Trail. While crossing the mountains we met Captain Brown and Sam Brannon from Salt Lake Valley. Brown, to draw the pay for his company, and Brannon to meet the company of Saints who had gone to California by water.”

“The returning men of the Battalion divided into three squads on their return trip, and I was in company with Brothers Tyler, Hancock and others. We met Brown near where the company of emigrants, enroute to California, had perished the winter before, and saw the skeletons and bones of those unfortunate people lying on the ground unburied. Brown brought word from Brigham Young that those of the Battalion who had not provisions to last them into Salt Lake Valley had better remain in California during the winter. Some of the brethren turned back and few others continued eastward. I was in the latter number and we arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the 16^th of October, 1847. After resting awhile, we proceeded on our journey towards the Missouri.”

~Anita Hicks~

The Mormon Battalion

The Mormon Battalion

Sam Brannon and the saints on the ship Brooklyn arrived in Yerba Buena in July of 1846. That same month, 541 men enlisted in what has become known as the Mormon Battalion. When war broke out with Mexico, President James K. Polk sent messengers to the beleaguered saints moving across Iowa. Brigham Young was informed that if he enlisted 500 of his men for a year, they would be paid for their service. This opportunity to serve the country appeared to be a real boon to Brigham Young. He said, “Let the Mormons be the first [U.S. soldiers] to set their feet on the soil of California” (Macomber, “The Mormon Battalion,” Friend, July 1996). He encouraged their service and gathered them together before they left. Brother Brigham made a promise that “on condition of faithfulness,” they would be spared from battle, their expedition would result in great good, and their names would “be handed down in honorable remembrance to all generations” (Urtinus, Journal of William Hyde, July 18,1846; 1:60). Brigham had good reason to recognize this as an opportunity. The saints could show their loyalty to the country while earning money for their families. (Macomber, “Exploring,” Friend, July 1996).

“On July 21, 1846, the Mormon Battalion began their march. There were thirty-five women and forty-two children, most of whom were families of the soldiers who accompanied the battalion on their journey” (Macomber, “Exploring,” Friend, July 1996). The women were employed as seamstresses, laundresses, and cooks for the marching men.

Five companies of men endured brutal forced marches by Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Jackson Smith who replaced Lieutenant J. Allen whom the battalion had greatly admired. If marching through desert sands without sufficient water weren’t enough, the men who became ill, suffered from the battalion’s brutal doctor. His treatment for all ailments was a spoonful of calomel and arsenic. Daniel Tyler wrote in his memoirs the doctor was tyrannical, abusive, cruel, and wicked. “It appears that the Colonel and Surgeon are determined to kill us, first by forced marches to make us sick, then by compelling us to take calomel or to walk and do duty” (Tyler, A Concise History, 160).

The battalion arrived at their California destination shortly after the Mexicans surrendered in January 1847. The promise Brigham Young declared had been fulfilled in the sense they never engaged in battle. It took them six months through the most miserable conditions to arrive; six months later they were discharged. Eighty-one were pressured to re-enlist for another six to eight months.

As the majority of the Battalion members were mustered out July 16, 1847, they were anxious to reunite with their wives and families. Many of them traveled northeast, where they were met by Sam Brannon along with a few members of the Mormon Battalion sick detachment who had wintered at Pueblo, Colorado. Brannon’s group made a hasty trip to California to secure back wages for those in the sick detachment; those who became too ill to continue the march. They traversed the same route through the Truckee Meadows as before.

Brannon’s group also carried a message from Brigham Young stating the scarcity of supplies necessitated the single men of the Battalion stay in California. They were directed to seek gainful employment for the winter before they resumed their trek to Utah, which they did. Some of these men went to work for John Sutter who employed them to build a mill at Coloma and Natoma. As luck would have it, six of these Battalion men were with James Marshall at Coloma when gold was discovered on January 24, 1848. One of the Battalion veterans at the site was Henry Bigler who recounted the initial discovery in his journal. It is from his diary the official account of the event is taken.

When the Mormon Battalion finally finished their long, arduous, 18-month trek from Iowa, back again to Winter Quarters, they had walked 4,000 miles in all. Many of them found their families had not fared much better than themselves. The ultimate goal of securing funds and showing loyalty to the government had been achieved with a toll: some of their family members had died and some of their wives had given birth under extreme poverty. Both battalion men and their families had been refined by fire. Dire circumstances either broke them or made them stronger.

Those who profited from their experience in pioneering went on to great leadership in religious as well as community affairs. Early western history would never be the same if it weren’t for many of the battalion members who broke ground for agriculture or who colonized and organized cities throughout the future states of Arizona, California, Utah, and just as importantly, Nevada.

Samuel Brannon: California's First Millionaire

Samuel Brannon       

The year 1846 was a precipitous year for the church. The saints who had been expelled from Nauvoo were trailing across the continent. Their progress had been excruciatingly slow being hindered by hardships and weather conditions.

In the meantime, 238 saints answered the call to gather in a different fashion. Samuel Brannon advertised in the New York Messenger, a Mormon newspaper, that he had chartered a ship, the Brooklyn (Davies, Mormon Gold). The small, well-used ship began its arduous journey on the same day as the saints who trudged west by wagon in February.

Sam Brannon was appointed by Elder Orson Pratt of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to lead this little band on a 24,000-mile voyage. He presided as they journeyed around South America’s Cape Horn to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and then on to California, crossing the equator twice in the meantime. Most of them survived cramped living conditions, sickness, harsh weather, boredom, and storms that blew them off course. At the worst of times, these saints would be found praying and singing.

The Brooklyn Ship saints arrived in Yerba Buena (San Francisco) in July 1846, months before President Young departed Winter Quarters for the Rockies. The Brooklyn saints had no choice but to remain in California until they knew where the main body of the church would settle. It didn’t take long before the group determined that California should be the saints’ resting place with the obvious temperate climate and conditions that California offered. They established the first school, the first post office, first bank and first library in Northern California with the heavy supplies that Brigham sent on the ship with them. Brigham Young charged them to travel with the large bulky supplies of essentials since it would have been more difficult to carry them in wagons across prairies, deserts and mountains.

In the spring of 1847, Brother Brannon along with two other companions rode east from California to Nevada via San Francisco through the Truckee River route to find Brother Brigham. Sam found the early vanguard group in Green River, Wyoming. He tried repeatedly to persuade Brigham to settle in Northern California and take advantage of the rich opportunities there. Brigham Young responded, “Let us go to California, and we cannot stay there over five years; but let us stay in the mountains, and we can raise our own potatoes, and eat them; and I calculate to stay here” (Widtsoe, Discourses of Brigham Young, pg 475). The saints had been pushed out of lands that other people desired; now they would try land that nobody desired.

Sam stayed with the main body of the saints for 10 days, but because of his obstinate and self-serving nature, he returned to California disappointed by Brigham’s decision. As he returned to California, he used the same trail as before. Thus, Sam and his traveling companions were another early group of members to venture into what we know as the Truckee Meadows. As he approached the top of the Sierra Mountain pass, he stopped to talk to a group of Mormon Battalion members heading east to join the saints on the plains. Sam used his persuasive powers of speech to sow seeds of discontent by encouraging the men to stay in California rather than join with Brigham.

Sam had an illustrious career as a businessman, contributing to his famous place in history. Some of his fellow ship mates who accompanied him on the Brooklyn criticized him for his greed and exploitation while others under his stewardship were starving and struggling. James Skinner recorded in his autobiography, “The president of the company, Sam Brannon, he and his family lived high at the expense of the poor and needy, the widows and orphans. What he didn’t need [he] sold, which laid the foundation for wealth that he afterwards accumulated” (Kenneth N. Owens, Gold Rush Saints, pg.44).

When gold was discovered at Coloma, California, on January 24, 1848, Brannon immediately established a store near Sutter’s Fort in anticipation of the gold rush. He then appropriated the church printing press to print a special edition paper broadcasting the rich gold stike. He hired Mormon Battalion men to take the papers east while he rode his horse to San Francisco to make the announcement. Sam stepped off the ferry, “took his hat off and swung it, shouting aloud that gold was found” (Kenneth N. Owens, Gold Rush Saints, pg.131).

 As a result of his entrepreneurial spirit, Brannon became California’s first millionaire. Among his many accomplishments, he helped map out and plan the city of Sacramento as well as promote growth in Nevada by investing heavily in the Comstock Lode silver mines. Without Sam’s announcement in his newspaper, The California Star, the gold rush would not have been broadcast so far and wide so quickly. More than any other person, he was the catalyst that sparked the flurry of activity through the Truckee Meadows area as well as California.

Brigham Young requested that Sam join with the main body of saints. Instead of complying with Brigham’s desires and strong sentiments to stay in Utah, Sam went back to California directing his attention toward investments, business and power. He had many business ventures along with land holdings, but eventually his fortune changed. His family fell apart. When he died, he was broken both spiritually and physically. He died a pauper and for two years no one claimed his body for burial.

Thomas Rhoades: The First Mormon in the Truckee Meadows

Thomas Rhoades

Early records indicate that Thomas Rhoades and his family have the distinction of being the first Mormon group to travel through the present day Truckee Meadows area then proceed over the Sierras into California in the early fall of 1846. (J. Kenneth Davies, Olympus Publishing, Mormon Gold). The Rhoades family joined the church while living in Illinois in 1834. From the start, Thomas was a faithful, active member. When persecution of the Mormon population increased, the Rhoades family were targeted and afflicted with the mob’s cruelty. While attending church one Sunday, the mob burned his home, at the same time killing a close personal friend. This, in conjunction with the Nauvoo expulsion, prompted Thomas to join the saints heading west. While camped on the Mississippi River, the family experienced great hardship. Thomas approached Brigham Young with an idea that could help alleviate the suffering. He wrote, “[L]et me go now. I have nearly 200 persons who will gladly follow me to wherever I may choose. Let me take them and go westward until I find a suitable place—I understand that California has much to offer in a good climate and soil—let me take these and blaze the trail west. Should I venture too far, I’ll return when the settlement has been made by you” (Gail R. Rhoades, Footprints in the Wilderness).

Brigham held a council to consider the idea, then granted permission for the westward journey by stating: “[G]o with my blessing. Your company will be the Trailblazers that will pave the road to Zion. When the spring comes, I will follow with the strongest of my company and after that, another will follow me, and so forth until all the saints have been removed from this place; and soon, we may be able to establish the Zion of which Brother Joseph spoke of . . . wherever that place may be” (Gail R. Rhoades, Footprints in the Wilderness).

The Rhoades’s group advanced toward Iowa and shortly came to the Missouri River. There they camped near another emigrant group going the same direction. Two of the men introduced themselves as George Donner and James Reed. Since the Donner-Reed parties were less familiar with overland travel, George and James asked the more-seasoned Thomas Rhoads to join their party. Thomas consented on one condition: the Donner-Reed parties would concede and abide by the direction and rules of the Mormon wagon train. Both Donner and Reed agreed to the mandates stipulated.

The Donner/Reed and the Rhoades groups traveled together without much incident; occasionally running into an occasional skirmish with the Indians who became more difficult the farther west they traveled.

When both groups arrived at Fort Bridger, they had a decision to make. They could choose to use the Hastings cutoff, fabled to be a shortcut, or continue on the safer, slower, middle route. Unfortunately, the Donner Party chose the Hastings cutoff leading to a calamitous demise for many of their group while the Rhoades’ company chose the more conservative middle route. The separation led the Donner and Rhoades parties down two completely different paths and outcomes. 

The safer route took Thomas and his party through the Salt Lake Valley before anyone knew it was to be the saints’ future home. It is uncertain exactly which direction they took from there, but we know they passed through the present-day Reno-Sparks area via the Truckee route sooner than the Donner party.

After the Rhoades arrival at Johnson’s Ranch, north of Sutter’s Fort, California, on October 5, 1846, family members settled in the Sacramento Valley where they began employment with John Sutter.

 Thomas and his family were then in the perfect locale and position to take advantage of the gold discovery on January 24, 1848. Thomas later joined some of the Brooklyn Ship saints as well as several of the Mormon Battalion veterans panning for gold in the nearby American River at a place commonly referred to as Mormon Island. By the time Brigham Young sent a letter in 1849 to the Rhoades asking them to relocate to Salt Lake, Thomas’s wife had died. He gathered one of his sons, three daughters, Sam Brannon, Abner Blackburn, and others to leave California with $17,000.00 of his own gold money and $13,000.00 as collected tithing. He successfully buoyed the lagging economy of Salt Lake. The gold was used to create coinage for the newly founded territorial mint. Thomas benefited quite well during those few years in California.  Brigham touted him as being the richest man in Utah to come out of the gold fields.

California would not be the last state where Thomas mined gold. Three years after arriving in Utah, Thomas was the only man Brigham Young and Chief Walker of the Ute Nation entrusted to secretly mine gold in the Uintah Mountains. Years earlier, the Ute Indians had been victimized by the Aztecs as slaves in the gold mines of Utah. The Utes had no use for gold, so when Brigham Young encouraged Chief Walker to divulge the location of the mines, Chief Walker resorted to a compromise with him. The location would be revealed to only one man who would be under constant surveillance. If the location was divulged at any time, the man would be killed. This man would be allowed only as much as he could carry in his arms at one time and the Utes would not be of any assistance. That man was Thomas Rhoades.

 According to family papers and tradition, the first load weighed 62 pounds. There were several more trips in the ensuing years, each trip took two weeks. It is said that “the Angel Moroni on top of the Temple is overlayed with gold brought from the Indian mines, and also in the spacious rooms of the Temple can be found woodwork with trimmings of said gold” (Pioneer Heritage Library in the LDS Family History Suite infobase.)

Saints of the Sierra: the Westward Migration

To some extent, pioneer saints who passed through, camped, or lived in the shadow of the nearby Sierra are deemed historically insignificant to the development and economy of Northern Nevada. Mormon Station/Genoa and the Donner Party are appropriately chronicled in great detail but little reference is made to Mormon pioneer figures of the same era. Relevant to the broader picture are significant contributions made by men and women who traversed on sod worn down from weary saints, driven from their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois because of their religion. In contrast, most textbook histories focus on those who willingly left their homes to pursue adventure or supposed wealth. 

An estimated 20,000 people lived in Nauvoo prior to the exodus in 1846. Within a few months 15,000 were strung out on the plains. Putting it succinctly, Daniel H. Ludlow writes, “For Brigham Young and his associates, the 1846 exodus from Nauvoo, far from being a disaster imposed by enemies, was foretold and foreordained – a key to understanding LDS history and a necessary prelude for greater things to come. From a later perspective too, scholars of the Mormon experience have come to see the exodus and colonization of the Great Basin as the single most important influence in molding the Latter-day Saints into a distinctive people.” “(Reed C. Durham Jr., “Westward Migration, planning and Prophesy,” in Daniel H. Ludlow, ed. Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 5 vols. [1992], 4:1563).

 From the expulsed saints, various groups branched out to contribute a spectrum of influence in the westward migration of the 1800’s. Facing a rugged forced march, five hundred beleaguered refugees were inducted into the U.S. military as the Mormon Battalion to fight the Mexican/American war. At the time of the Nauvoo expulsion, 238 saints left New York on the ship Brooklyn eventually landing in Yerba Buena/San Francisco; providentially providing the means to help jump start modern California.  Thomas Rhoades and his party of 200 saints helped provide needed tithing funds for the saints in Salt Lake. Thomas’ son, Big John Rhoades, provided assistance in the Donner Party rescue efforts. All of the parties were in the right location at the right time to prosper from the gold rush thus enabling the church some much needed capitol.  The Mormon Battalion, the Brooklyn ship saints and the Thomas Rhoades party were independent pieces of a puzzle that came together to comprise a divine destiny. All the pieces substantiated a base whereupon the gospel could grow and thrive in the latter days.

The Truckee Meadows and Northern Nevada have a rich and vast Mormon record that parallels the dispersed saints era. It is a heritage that goes well beyond the first one hundred years of its later official church organization in 1910. Men and women who traversed this locale in the 1800’s weave an intricate tapestry of life. They contribute stories of tragedy and triumph, riches and rags, security and upheaval. Mormon pioneer journals and recorded history demonstrate how significantly interwoven their lives were with the broader historical scenes of their generation.

Preface by Author Anita Hicks

Preface

I was called to be the chairman for the Sparks Stake, Valley Ward Relief Society Sesquicentennial program in 1992. The March evening was to include a historical presentation featuring many of the past presidents. Having no need to be a historian before; I felt it a daunting task to trace our church roots. Burning questions spun into a frenzy of activity to discover the identity of the first Relief Society president and develop a story line for each president thereafter.  I came to realize it was an impossible task with the information I could glean at the time.

Somehow during my research, I ran across a yellow lined notepad my father, Farrel Ross, wrote on about the origins of the Sparks Branch in 1910. It seemed to me a miracle that he documented the first Relief Society president’s name. Other names and dates no one knew filled the page. Regardless of who I questioned about the early decades of the branch organization, no one knew all the answers, including my father.

The experience in ’92 gave me a fleeting thought that a centennial would be in order for the year 2010. Thinking 18 years was an interminable amount of time to worry about a centennial, I tucked the notes, pictures and written history away without a second thought.

Seventeen years later while reviewing some family history, I came across the same yellow lined paper entitled, “History of the Church in Sparks.” The first date written was, “1909, missionaries were sent from the California Mission to conduct church meetings in Sparks.” I then realized I was looking at a date one hundred years ago.

I felt completely overwhelmed with a desire to promote a centennial event to commemorate the auspicious occasion of the organization in our area. Unclear as to proceed, I thought I could contribute my sesquicentennial Relief Society information and my father’s church related pictures taken while he was a professional photographer. I’m not a writer by profession; I had no intention of writing a volume of history. I had something far less in mind, maybe a scrapbook I could copy off for those who were interested.

My brother-in-law, Melvin Knight, who was serving in the Sparks Stake Presidency at the time, approached me about doing a bigger enterprise. He had grand plans to prepare a 500 page book, throw in a tri-stake celebration, form a committee to help me, and do it all within 7 months. The centennial celebration was a huge success. It included many hundreds of displays, slide shows, pictures, music and talks. The tri-stake committee did a fantastic job. 

Since then, the history has been a work in progress, full of delays and frustration punctuated by many miracles, but clearly taking more than 7 months. For the most part, I received a great deal of support. The Lord directed me to people and places I would never dream of. A vast majority of acquired information was from 1941 onward. I discovered general knowledge of earlier decades was scarce.  Living in a transient area proved to be detrimental for easy access of information. Those who could authenticate information had either moved or died.

Beginning a history with only a few facts meant the hunt was on. Far more time, money and effort were exerted getting acquainted with the early saints. Those saints who forged through very different, difficult times so they could raise their children in the gospel. As a result, I gathered more than enough information about the organization, buildings, missionaries and people to write several volumes

My first focus ranges from the years 1910-1941. It also includes a short history of the very earliest of saints who traversed through our area. The second starts in 1941 with the history of the new Reno Stake of Zion, and ends in 1974 when the Reno North Stake was divided and Sparks Stake was organized. The third will include the formation of the Sparks Stake, and more particularly the Reno temple construction and dedication. It will include a list of all the branch presidents, bishops and stake presidents from 1910-2010.

  I never set out to research, compile or write a scholarly work. I must say up front, this history is abundantly full of information that contradicts some local legends and dates.  I don’t feel comfortable with the scrutiny new facts may illicit.  As a result, I offer my apologies for information that may contradict some sources that others feel are more legitimate. With that as a consideration I’ve tried to document where I can, considering my circumstances. History, at its best, can be inaccurate. Take for example, the address of the original C Street chapel built in Sparks. There have been four different addresses written in various documents. I chose one that seemed reasonable.

Earlier generations were called on to sacrifice their time and means far more than we do today. In several cases the early saints had children who slipped beyond the confines of church activity. They expressed to me their disgruntled feelings about their parents’ whole hearted devotion to the church. Regardless of their posterity’s interpretation, the forefathers of the church in our area were indomitable characters who laid the foundation for growth and prosperity.

I felt a compelling drive to tell stories of common folks who made an impact through their concerted efforts. As it turns out, I discovered that a blog might be the best format to disseminate the information and pictures I’ve collected. 

My hope for this effort is to partially fill the void left by untold tales of the past. I assume the blog will be used as a resource for family history as much as anything else. I am sure some of the stories and people I write about will not be known to their families. There should be something for everybody. Some will find laughter, some will find awe, but in the end it should meet the Lord’s standard which is to show His hand in all things.

Join me in the journey each week as we explore our local history through this blog. My many thanks to Steve Nord who set up the Facebook page and this blog. He will be a regular contributor. We ask that you leave comments on the blog if you have any further insight or information regarding our topics.

~Anita Hicks~