1) Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faced persecution and violence in the 1830s-1840s in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, culminating in the death of their leader Joseph Smith in 1844. 2) In 1847, seeking religious refuge, thousands of Mormons embarked on a journey led by Brigham Young to establish a settlement in Salt Lake Valley, Utah. 3) The California Gold Rush beginning in 1848 attracted thousands of prospectors, known as "forty-niners", fueling rapid population growth in California through the discovery of gold and other precious metals in the region.

1. Objective: To examine the increased settlements of Utah and California. Forty-niner Mormon Tabernacle

2. Joseph Smith Since its founding in 1830, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were often harshly treated and persecuted by their neighbors. There was violence directed against the Church, its members, and its leader, Joseph Smith . This among other reasons caused the body of the Church to move from one place to another- Ohio , Missouri , and then to Illinois where church members built the city of Nauvoo .

3. 1846 - This is the only known photograph of Nauvoo, Illinois during the time it was the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

4. Joseph Smith being tarred and feathered by a mob. (Harper's Weekly)

7. Approximately 1,300 miles

8. A Mormon camp in Iowa along the route to Winter Quarters after expulsion from Nauvoo in 1846.

9. Members of a wagon train along the Mormon Trail

10. A scene along the Mormon trail.

11. The trail over a steep mountain.

12. Approaching Chimney Rock along the North Platte River in Nebraska. (William Henry Jackson, 1929.)

13. Independence Rock on the Mormon Trail by William Henry Jackson.

14. South Pass, Wyoming, by William Henry Jackson

15. Painting by William Henry Jackson depicting the pioneers first view of the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

17. Mormon Tabernacle Choir - listen

19. Gold and Silver Strikes - The CA Gold Rush began in 1849, attracting thousands of gold hunters known as forty-niners .

22. Audio: The Story of Levi Strauss & Co.

24. Audio: A Miner’s Life Chinese miners working an abandoned tailing.

27. I came from Salam city with a wash bowl on my knee, I am going to California, the Gold dust for to see. It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry, the sun so hot I froze to death, oh brothers don't you cry. Oh California that's the land for me; I'm going to Sacramento with a wash bowl on my knee. I'll be in San Francisco soon and then I'll look around, and when I see the gold lumps there, I'll pick them off the ground. I'll scrap the mountains clean my boys, I'll drain the rivers dry, a pocketful of rocks bring home, so brothers don't you cry. A Song Sung by the Forty - Niners

29. During the early days of the Gold Rush, there was little crime. Gold was plentiful, as was space. By 1849, however, the rivers and streams were crowded, and the easy gold was mostly gone. Men from around the world, who traveled for half a year in life-threatening conditions to get to California, were bitterly let down. Some killed over claims. And some turned to stealing, which became such a problem that in 1851 the state Legislature passed a bill that allowed the death penalty for stealing property worth more than $100. Many of the miners were young, wild and adventurous. Many an armed miner lost his hard-earned gold dust to professional gamblers in saloons where liquor flowed freely. The result was a steady stream of unpremeditated homicides, most of which arose from personal disputes and occurred in or near drinking establishments. During one period, a killing occurred every weekend for 17 straight weeks in Mokelumne Hill in Amador County, CA.