I am LDS and each July we celebrate Pioneer Day- a day celebrating when the first Mormon Pioneers traveled west and entered the Great Salt Lake Valley. In Utah, July 24 is consider a state holiday! Living in Wyoming we just muddle through with a small celebration. A few years ago I had the AMAZING opportunity to partake in a PBS documentary filmed about the Handcart Pioneers of the Martin and Willie Handcart companies who were stranded in an early snow storm in the middle of Wyoming! It was a dream come true for me to be in a film and a wonderful experience to catch a glimpse of what the pioneers endured. I wanted to always REMEMBER the sacrifice the pioneers made for their religious freedoms but also to REMEMBER the day my dream came true.
This silhouette is actually taken from an image of me in the film!! Exciting!! I am in the front pulling the handcart. It was cold (-60 with wind chill) the January of 2006 when we filmed in 4 ft snow drifts. When I pulled the cart to the edge of the hill and saw NOTHING in either direction I was overcome with a feeling of helplessness. How did they manage to survive such treacherous conditions?! Many did die but many also survived and were rescued by a group sent their way from Salt Lake. I gained a new appreciation for the men and women who traveled across the plains! Thousands of immigrants traveled west during the 1850's and 1860's using wagons and handcarts before the railroad was completed.
If you have stuck with me this far- here we are- I made a wood wall hanging with this file and it hangs in my hallway!
Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!!
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