PBS show documents Salt Lake-bound handcarts

PROVO — A locally produced documentary will air nationally tonight on PBS.

KBYU Television (Channel 11) will show "Sweetwater Rescue: The Willie and Martin Handcart Story," which it produced for PBS in conjunction with WETA.

The story, which airs at 8 p.m., marks the sesquicentennial of the heroic rescue of two handcart companies bound for Salt Lake City. Treacherous snowstorms stranded the companies on the high plains of Wyoming.

The hourlong film documents the stories of both the pioneers and the rescuers sent by Brigham Young.