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Las Vegas Mission (1855-1857)
Some of the first western settlers that came to the Las Vegas Valley were missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In May of 1855, at the direction of then Church President Brigham Young, thirty-two missionaries were sent to evangelize among Native Americans and establish a mission outpost in the Las Vegas Valley.[1] The mission would eventually be abandoned in December of 1857 due to growing political issues revolving Mormons and the threat of Native American attacks.
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Reasoning
Between the years 1847 and 1869, over 60,000 mormon immigrants came and settled in the Salt Lake Valley.[2] With the influx of population came many settlements throughout Utah making Brigham Young more inclined to expand the Church’s geographical area outside of the Salt Lake Valley. Young directed many members of the Church to settle in areas surrounding Utah, such as the Cache Valley, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.[2]
Mormons hoped that their expansion would result in both a larger geographical area for the Church as well as providing new missionary opportunities.[3] Missionary opportunities came with an increase of interaction with Native Americans. Some of the initial interactions resulted in Mormons being able to gain influence among different Native American groups.[4] This gained influence opened up missionary efforts among Native Americans. Mormons had a unique attitude toward evangelizing among Native Americans. Their belief was that Native Americans came from Israelite descent who at one point migrated to America around 600 BCE, but fell into transgression which caused them to lose favor in the sight of God. Mormons saw Native Americans as people who had gone astray and believed it to be their duty to reintroduce them to the faith they had lost over many centuries.[5] For this reason many mormon mission outposts were established in the west.
One of the areas that was chosen to establish a mission was the Las Vegas Valley.
The Las Vegas Valley was chosen based off of its geographical location as a midway point between Cedar City, Utah and San Bernardino, California. The exact site selected was the Las Vegas springs because its small stream created the only oasis for miles.[6] Shortly after settling in May of 1855, construction of the Las Vegas Mormon Fort and houses surrounding it began to take place.[7]
Prominent Missionaries
- ^ Schoenwetter, James; Hohmann, John W. (1997). "Landuse Reconstruction at the Founding Settlement of Las Vegas, Nevada". Historical Archaeology. 31 (4): 41–58. ISSN 0440-9213.
- ^ a b Jackson, Richard H. (1978). "Mormon Perception and Settlement". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 68 (3): 317–334. ISSN 0004-5608.
- ^ Meinig, D. W. (1965). "The Mormon Culture Region: Strategies and Patterns in the Geography of the American West, 1847-1964". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 55 (2): 191–220. ISSN 0004-5608.
- ^ HOLT, RONALD L.; O’Neil, Floyd; Tom, Lora (2006), "OCCUPATION & DEPENDENCY", Beneath These Red Cliffs, An Ethnohistory of the Utah Paiutes, University Press of Colorado, pp. 3–31, ISBN 9780874216370, retrieved 2019-11-06
- ^ Tarcay, Eileen (1959). "Among the Lamanites: The Indians and the Mormons". Western Folklore. 18 (2): 131–134. doi:10.2307/1496477. ISSN 0043-373X.
- ^ Hunter, Milton R. (1939). "The Mormon Corridor". Pacific Historical Review. 8 (2): 179–200. doi:10.2307/3633392. ISSN 0030-8684.
- ^ Dumke, Glenn S. (1953). "Mission Station to Mining Town: Early Las Vegas". Pacific Historical Review. 22 (3): 257–270. doi:10.2307/4492065. ISSN 0030-8684.