''Clayton's Guide'', ''Clayton's Emigrant Guide'', or as when published, ''The Latter-Day Saints' Emigrants' Guide'', published by ''Missouri Republican Steam Power Press, Chambers & Knapp, 1848'' and written by William Clayton, was one of a number of very popular guidebooks written to support the

westward expansion The United States of America was formed after thirteen British colonies in North America declared independence from the British Empire on July 4, 1776. In the Lee Resolution, passed by the Second Continental Congress two days prior, the colon ...

of the United States in the mid-nineteenth century when organized emigrant

wagon train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western television series that aired for eight seasons, first on the NBC television network (1957–1962) and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and reached the top of the ...

s began to form in large numbers at various river ports on the Missouri River.

Description

Clayton's guide covered landmarks and distances starting from

Council Bluffs Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The population was 62,799 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, te ...

and going to the

Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, partic ...

along the

Mormon Trail The Mormon Trail is the route from Illinois to Utah on which Mormon pioneers (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) traveled from 1846 to 1869. Today, the Mormon Trail is a part of the United States National Trails Syst ...

. The guide recorded the distance between landmarks like Chimney Rock and Devil's Gate and gave suggestions for camp locations and where to find water and forage. He collaborated with

Orson Pratt Orson Pratt Sr. (September 19, 1811 – October 3, 1881) was an American religious leader and mathematician who was an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints). After the succession cri ...

and Appleton Harmon to create a wagon-wheel odometer, or roadometer, to record distances more accurately. They were the first pioneers to scientifically measure the distances on the overland trail.

Writing and sales

Hoping to use the profits from the guide to finance his family's migration, Clayton got Brigham Young's approval of the project. On Brigham Young's behalf, Willard Richards wrote to Nathaniel H. Felt in St. Louis and William Pickett, asking them to help publish the guide. Clayton had 5,000 copies published. The guides were sold for five dollars each, but were in high demand. Joseph E. Ware's ''The Emigrants' Guide to California'' copied information from Clayton's guide for the section between Fort Laramie and the Bear River. Many pioneers used Clayton's guide; first editions are rare, presumably because they were well-used. In 1852, Fisher and Bennett started to sell unauthorized copies of the guide for fifty cents each. Clayton offered to sell them the copyright, but the press refused on the grounds that "the considered themselves perfectly safe without it." He considered selling guides to emigrants in England to circumvent Fisher and Bennett's plan, but he wasn't in England long enough to enact it.

Footnotes and references

References

External links

''Clayton's Guide'' (BYU ebook)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latter-Day Saints' Emigrants' Guide, The 1848 books LDS non-fiction Mormon migration to Utah Works by William Clayton (Mormon)