Winter Quarters, Nebraska

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Winter Quarters, Nebraska, was an encampment formed by approximately 3,500 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they awaited better conditions for their trek westward during the winter of 1846-1847. Over 800 shelters were built at the settlement just outside of present-day Omaha and it remained populated until 1848.

Wintering Saints had left their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois on relatively short notice and brought limited useful supplies. Conditions at the settlement remained primitive, though efforts were made to provide shelter by building cabins and sod houses. One group of cabins became known as Kimball Row. It consisted of thirteen adjacent cabins, with the homes of church leaders Heber C. Kimball and Newel K. Whitney at either end. The Latter-day Saints actively traded with settlements in northern Missouri and Iowa, exchanging household goods and small amounts of cash for foodstuffs, such as hogs, grain and vegetables, and supplies for the emigration effort. Young Mormon men also produced such handcrafted items as willow baskets and washboards for sale. Church funds also allowed the community to build a much needed water-powered gristmill.

Even with trade, diet in the camp was mainly corn bread, salt bacon and a little milk, with occasional fresh game or domestic meat. Scurvy, known as "blackleg" during this period, became a major problem. Missouri potatoes and horseradish found at old Fort Atkinson helped ease the level of disease, but all residents lacked fresh vegetables in their diet. Tuberculosis (known as consumption), malaria, and unidentified fevers and chills also plagued the temporary settlement. Church member Louisa Barnes Pratt recalled in her memoirs:

"I hired a man to build me a sod cave. He took turf from the earth, laid it up, covered it with willow brush and sods. Built a chimney of the same. . . . I paid a five dollar gold piece for building my sod house, 10 x 12. . . . A long cold rain storm brought more severely again the chills and fever. These with scurvy made me helpless indeed! . . . Many of my friends sickened and died in that place, when I was not able to leave my room, could not go to their bedside to administer comfort to them in the last trying hours, not even to bid them farewell. Neither could I go to see their remains carried to their final resting place where it was thought I would shortly have to be conveyed."

Church records for the first summer do not contain information on disease victims, however later records indicate that, from mid-September 1846 to May 1848, disease caused the deaths of 359 residents.

Today, the area that was once Winter Quarters is part of the community of Florence, a suburb of Omaha. The pioneer community is remembered with several attractions, including the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, Cutler's Park, and the Mormon Pioneer Memorial Bridge. The Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple was dedicated there in April 2001.