February 15, 1846 – Brigham Young and a group of nearly 2,000 Latter-day Saints braved subzero temperatures to arrive on Sugar Creek in Lee County, Iowa.
The National Road from Dubuque into Iowa City served Gold Rush ‘49ers, stagecoaches, and pioneers in Conestoga wagons. Of course, one of the most amazing “road-trips” of these early days was The Mormon Trail, made up of two routes: the earlier 1846 route across southern Iowa – which began on February 15, 1846, and when the railroad finally came into Iowa City (1856), the Mormon handcart trail (see map above).
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