3. "This was followed," continues the Call narrative, "by a vivid description of the scenery of these mountains as I have since become acquainted with it. . . . . It is impossible to represent in words this scene which is still vivid in my mind--the grandeur of Joseph's appearance, his beautiful descriptions of this land, and his wonderful prophetic utterances as they emanated from the glorious inspirations that overshadowed him. There was a force and power in his exclamations of which the following is but a faint echo: 'Oh the beauty of those snow-capped mountains! The cool refreshing streams that are running down through those mountain gorges.' Then, gazing in another direction, as if there was a change of locality: 'Oh the scenes that this people will pass through! The dead that will lie between here and there.' Then, turning in another direction, as if the scene had again changed: 'Oh the apostasy that will take place before my brethren reach that land! But, he continued, 'the priesthood shall prevail over its enemies, triumph over the devil, and be established upon the earth, never more to be thrown down."' Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, pp. 85, 86. Note. 4. The journey of the Pioneers began at Winter Quarters (now Florence, Nebraska) about the middle of April, 1847. It ended on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, July 24th of the same year. The company, led by President Brigham Young in person, consisted originally of 143 men, three women, and two children. The men were well armed and equipped, and the company traveled mostly in covered wagons, drawn by horses, mules and oxen. Four large companies of emigrants followed immediately after the Pioneers, arriving in Salt Lake Valley during the autumn. 5. See Apostle Snow's discourse of July 25, 1880, reproduced in the "Improvement Era" for June, 1913. ARTICLE NINE. The Place of Safety. An Inspired Choice.--Who can doubt the wisdom of the choice that made the Rocky Mountains, in lieu of the Pacific Coast, a permanent home for the once homeless Latter-day Saints? Had they gone to California, as Elder Brannan advised, it would have meant, in all probability, their disruption and dispersion as a community, or at all events another painful exodus in quest of peace and freedom. It would have been to invite, from the inhabitants of that region--fast filling up with immigrants from those very States where the persecuted people had experienced their sorest troubles--a repetition of the woes from which they were fleeing. Here in these mountain fastnesses, a thousand miles from the frontiers of civilization, they were safe from mobs and molestation.