Martha Matilda McGill Nelson - Life Story Part Seven

Martha Morgan:A Journey to Zion

Story by Allen Morgan Kendall

Pictures added by Lois C. Berrett

The Iron Mission 

The trip to Salt Lake City may have begun more than the eternal continuation of their marriage. To understand this, we must understand the Iron Mission. When Apostle Parley Pratt led exploration far to the south of Salt Lake valley one of the important discoveries made was that of iron ore. It provided an exciting potential resource to a people striving to become independent of the iron products being shipped at dear prices from the east. In 1851 a company of pioneers were sent to what was then called Little Salt Lake Valley, 250 miles from Salt Lake proper with the specific mission to establish an iron industry for the support of settlements in the Great Basin and surrounding areas. The initial settlement was Parowan, but 

Church in Parowan

the iron works were set up 20 miles to the southwest in Parowan. A fort was built there called Fort Cedar, and it grew into the town of Cedar City. It was selected because of coal to the east and iron ore to the west.

The mission struggled valiantly from the beginning. Between snow and ice, drought, Indian attacks, and poor quality coal, the production of usable iron seemed nearly out of reach. But they persisted for years. As late as June 1855, Pres. Brigham Young was still calling for experienced European iron workers to go to the Little Salt Lake Valley.26

This may have prompted the Morgans to move there. During their visit to Salt Lake City William may have received a call to serve in the coal mining operation when Elder Pratt and others were reminded of his experience. Or he may have been persuaded by brother in law Andrew Patterson, who was already serving there. One thing is certain, there was little personal advantage to their family. They were probably looking forward to settling permanently in Nephi with the dream of a little farm of their own at the base of majestic Mount Nebo. The move to Cedar City was a call to duty, a faithful response to the consideration of the sacred covenants they had just made.

The Morgans were in Cedar City by 1856. Their presence there was again marked by the birth and death of another child. Thomas William Morgan, less than 6 months old, died there on 20 September 1856.27

Although conditions in the iron works had improved since the beginning, in which workers were clothed in rags and sometimes shoeless, these were still difficult years. Payment for workers was made in kind through the store of the Deseret Iron Company, and requisitioned payments usually exceeded store inventory. Coal Creek flooded frequently and inundated the iron works. 

Drought and grasshopper infestation in 1856 began a serious decline in the operation. The Utah War in 1857 sounded the death knell for the iron works with its disruption and draw upon resources. The tension in the area was further increased by the Mountain Meadows Massacre in September of 1857. The operation finally closed in 1858.28

From a practical perspective, the Iron Mission was a failure. But for the Morgan family and the others who sacrificed greatly in this effort much more than iron was produced in the fiery furnace which burned there. Once again the character of the saints who gave much was forged to a more perfect form in a test which could have made them or broken them. The cooperative operation of the church functioned throughout their time there. In 1856 a Female Benevolent Society (Relief Society) was

organized in Cedar City. Martha Morgan would have been a part of it. Martha gave birth to a healthy son there, on 1 Oct 1857, and named him in honor of her father Edward Nelson Morgan.29

26. Shirts, Morris A. A Trial Furnace. Brigham Young University, University Publications. 2001.

27. LDS Church Membership Records.

28. A Trial Furnace.

29. LDS Church Membership Records.