Historians note early LDS role in California

SACRAMENTO — The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has suffered from a kind of "historical amnesia" regarding the contributions and influence of 19th-century Latter-day Saints in California and the impact of the gold rush on the fledgling Utah Territory.

But by the early 20th century, California became an experiment in whether Latter-day Saints could live outside the Intermountain West as a tiny minority among their secular neighbors and still remain faithful to LDS teachings. Today it stands as a model for international church growth and is home to more Latter-day Saints than any state outside Utah.

That's the take of historians and an emeritus LDS general authority, who detailed their findings Friday at the annual conference of the Mormon History Association. More than 400 participants have gathered for the three-day event with the theme, "Growth and Gateways: Mormonism in a Wider World."

Several of Friday's presentations centered on LDS involvement in California history. Kenneth Owens, professor emeritus at California State University-Sacramento, said Brigham Young's decision to settle in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, rather than lead his flock farther west to California, eventually put him at odds with Latter-day Saints who had traveled there by sea, thinking they were preparing for others to follow.

The group sailed, at the urging of Young and other early church leaders, from New York to San Francisco as other LDS immigrants were crossing the Great Plains, to prepare the way for the bulk of Latter-day Saints to colonize northern California, then a part of Mexico.

But President James Polk's declaration of war with Mexico promoted a change in plans, and when the leader of the California group, Samuel Brannan, tried to persuade Young to continue on to the Pacific after his arrival in Utah, his proposal was rejected.

Young told Brannan and others a day after their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, "I am going to build a city here, I am going build a temple here ... we have no business in San Francisco. The Gentiles will be there pretty soon."

Less than a year later, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill by a group of workmen, including Mormon Battalion veterans, and the rush to California ensued. While Latter-day Saints in Utah benefited financially from the unexpected rush of travelers headed west, Young began to see California as a threat to the future of LDS settlement and expansion in Utah, Owens said.