Book tells of handcart-pioneer tragedy

AMERICAN FORK — Heidi Swinton and documentary filmmaker Lee Groberg have produced a new book, "Sweetwater Rescue: The Willie and Martin Handcart Story," that details in word and art the tragedy that befell European immigrants as they crossed the Plains in 1856.

While most of the 10 handcart companies of converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made it to the Salt Lake Valley without serious incident between 1856-1860, the Willie and Martin companies left late in 1856 and encountered early snowstorms on the plains.

Brigham Young sent rescuers back hundreds of miles through fierce snow storms to get to them. Two hundred pioneers died.

The sesquicentennial tribute began two years ago. Swinton and Groberg wanted to produce not just an illustrated book of the heroism and sacrifice that defined the tragedy but also a film documentary and an art exhibit of the original art.

"Their story is so compelling," Swinton said. "They left winding roads and thatched cottages, forests and glens for the wilds."

Swinton recently accompanied her husband to England where he is president of the England London South Mission for the LDS Church.

"We are in Southern England so we have great open spaces and many little communities that date back to the time of the emigration of 1856. I find myself marveling at their courage to leave their homelands and venture off to a new country. They had no idea of the mountains and rock that awaited them in contrast to their lush, rolling hillsides."

The most important thing she learned researching the emigrants' stories was that "reliance upon God will carry you through the storms of life."

The book includes 80 original works of art by 43 artists who were commissioned specifically for this project. In the front and back are complete lists of names from the Willie and Martin handcart companies, the Hunt and Hodgett Wagon Trains, and the rescue companies.

"The artwork catches the drama of the experience," Heidi Swinton said. "You feel the cold and the bitterness of the wind. You see the life slipping away in the wilderness. "