47 East 200 North St. George, UT 84770 (435) 627-4525 museum@sgcity.org Mon - Sat: 10am - 5pm 3rd Thursday 10am - 9pm Return to Current Exhibits Return to Past Exhibits Willie and Martin Remembered: A Tribute to the Mormon Handcart Pioneers Show available: January 13, 2007 through March 24, 2007 Between 1856 and 1860, ten companies of European emigrant handcart pioneers, set out from Iowa City, Iowa to Salt Lake City, Utah, in pursuit of religious freedom. The companies used handcarts rather than ox-drawn wagons, hoping to make the trip faster and less expensive. These travelers had already experienced an extensive voyage, beginning with an ocean journey from England. Their ships arrived in New York or Philadelphia, where they boarded trains, traveling another 1,300 miles to Iowa City, the end of the line. They continued their westward journeys, pulling or pushing handcarts which held their provisions and belongings. Most of these emigrants were city dwellers not prepared for the many miles they would travel by foot. Of those ten handcart companies, eight made it in relative safety. The fourth and fifth companies, under the guidance of John Martin and Edward G. Willie, started out later in July 1856 because their handcarts and provisions were not ready when they arrived in Iowa City. Three months later, nearly 1,200 emigrants were trapped in snows on the plains of eastern Wyoming, near the Sweetwater River, without adequate food or shelter and 700 miles from their destination. Teams of rescue wagons loaded with provisions were dispatched from Salt Lake City in October of that year under Brigham Young’s command to help the stranded travelers, initiating one of the most historic and poignant rescues of 19th century western America. By the time the handcart companies reached the Salt Lake Valley, more than twenty-five percent of their members had died along the way from exhaustion, starvation, and extreme winter weather. For both the pioneers and the rescuers, it was a journey of faith. Those historic events of 150 years ago have influenced contemporary artists to create works of art that recall that heroic time, while exploring the meaning they have today. Fifty well-known artists in Utah volunteered to create works of art that depict the rescue of the Martin and Willie handcart companies. What makes this exhibition particularly significant is that of those artists, at least seven have direct ancestors who were part of the rescue, either as stranded travelers or members of the rescue parties. These loaned paintings on view at the St. George Art Museum were brought together in a shared exhibition, “Willie and Martin Remembered: A Tribute to the Mormon Handcart Pioneers” formerly at and courtesy of the Museum of Church History and Art and the Museum of Utah Art & History. This is a chance to see the work of major artists and learn about an historical event. A public television documentary and accompanying book, “Sweetwater Rescue: The Martin and Willie Handcart Story” have also been developed to commemorate this historic event.