THE SETTLEMENT OF WEBER COUNTY,
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1847-1869
ith the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in 1847, a process of settlement and change started which has had a continuous effect on the area of Weber County to the present. The Mormon emigrants who were led to the Great Basin by Brigham Young were organized into functional groups which took their religious and social directions from the hierarchy of the Mormon church, the Q u o r u m of Twelve Apostles with Young as its president. For the first two decades of the Mormon settlement in Utah, governmental operations were very theocratic in nature, as many Mormons looked forward to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. The entire area of the Great Basin remained ostensibly under Mexican control until the end of the Mexican War in 1848, although little control from Mexico was ever exerted over the area. On 22 August 1847 before returning east to Winter Quarters to aid in the migration of other Mormons to Salt Lake, Brigham Young recommended to the community in Salt Lake City that a president be appointed to preside over the settlement in his absence and that other officials be chosen to help to govern the new community. From that 51
