History of the Saints

The Handcart Story Part 1: The Plan

Though relatively few Latter-Day Saint pioneers crossed the overland Trail with a handcart, those handcart pioneers have become representative of the entire pioneer trail experience. The experiences of the Willie and Martin handcart companies in late 1856 have particularly come to represent the whole of the Latter-Day Saint handcart experience. This is not an accurate representation. This episode of History of the Saints presents the larger story of the Latter-Day Saints and handcarts.