On what was known as the Upper Crossing of the Sweetwater, east of the South Pass, between three and four hundred miles east of Salt Lake, Elder Taylor's division met the returning pioneers. That band of men had entered the Salt Lake Valley, selected a site for a city, commenced the erection of a fort, plowed several acres of land and planted late crops; and having left a few of their number with some members of the Mormon Battalion who had joined them there to continue the work, they were now on their way back to Winter Quarters with the glad news that a gathering place had been selected for Israel. The morning that Elder Taylor's division met the returning pioneers, there was a flurry of snow. The heavens were darkened, the bright sunshine which they had enjoyed without a cloud to obscure it for weeks together, was now shut out from view, and snow fell two or three inches deep. Snow! and in September, too! Was that the kind of climate they were going to? The hearts of some sank within them, and the prospect looked gloomy enough. But that which produced fears in the breasts of the timid, only provoked laughter from Elder Taylor. He bade them be of good cheer, and laughingly proposed to insure the lives of the whole company at five dollars per head. Elder Taylor and other leading brethren in his division met in council with the Apostles in the pioneer company. What a weight of responsibility rested upon these men! They had selected a location for a great people in an unknown climate; they had planted seed in an untried soil; they knew they would have to depend upon new methods of agriculture to mature their crops--irrigation--would it succeed? There were tens of thousands of people on the banks of the Missouri waiting for them to return to lead them forth into the wilderness, to the new home; the means of getting them there this body of men in council must devise; they were founding a commonwealth in the wilderness; the whole world was watching their movements and would hold them morally responsible for any disasters that might occur. With this burden upon them, they might well hold council meetings, whenever convenient, in order to discuss their present situation and future prospects.