Sugar Creek tested saints in Feb. 1846 during Nauvoo exodus0
On his way to Carthage, Ill., Joseph Smith described the Saints as "the best people under the heavens." Then, with solemn foresight, he added, "Little do they know the trials that await them."
But in 20 months' time, they were tasting those trials. It was February 1846. The Mormons began to cross the frozen Mississippi and gather at their first staging area: Sugar Creek. The name was inviting. But the only sweet thing about that campground was the chocolate-colored stream that flowed through it.
The plan was to start settling the Great Basin by fall. But huge frustrations ate away at the schedule. Many straggled in to Sugar Creek belatedly. It took weeks, rather than days, to assemble. Some were so poorly prepared that provisions ran low even before the journey began.
And it was so cold. A typical journal entry reads: "The snow had to be cleaned away to pitch the tents, and our beds were made upon the frozen ground. … It was impossible to get warm."
The spring thaw unleashed another daunting problem on Iowa's rolling terrain: 250 miles of mud.
From a hilltop they would survey the next bog. Down they went, doubling up on horse spans or ox teams to get through the mire and up the next hill. Then, repeat.
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