Sweetwater Rescue-Quotes

"Perhaps their suffering seems less dramatic because the handcart pioneers bore it meekly, praising God, instead of fighting for life with the ferocity of animals and eating their dead to keep their own life beating, as both the Fremont and Donner parties did. But if courage and endurance make a story, if humankindness and helpfulness and brotherly love in the midst of raw horror are worth recording, this half-forgotten episode of the Mormon migration is one of the great tales of the West and of America." (Wallace Stegner, "Ordeal by Handcart," in Collier's, July 6, 1956, 78-85.)

Stephen Mark Bartholomew painted a portrait of his great-great-grandmother and her sister. “In researching for this project I was impressed and moved to learn that these teenagers faithfully pulled one of their family’s two handcarts from Missouri until their rescue near Devil’s Gate,” Bartholomew said. “Many times the handcart not only contained their supplies, it often held one of their three-year-old twin sisters Emma or Clara.”

Arizona artist Howard Post is one of the artists commissioned to paint artwork for the project. “Since my wife had ancestors in the Willie Company, I had a special interest in doing this project,” Post said. Post, an experienced landscape painter, said he decided to go with the documentary crew to the historical sites where the handcart pioneers camped. “As we traveled to the sites in Wyoming a cold snowstorm joined us, which brought conditions similar to what the pioneers experienced. As I got out of our warm car to photograph potential scenes it was about 20 degrees below zero. That gave me some appreciation of what these people experienced.”

Davis County schoolteacher Lester B. Lee is one of the artists commissioned to paint artwork for the project. Lee said he and a friend attempted a short October campout at Rock Creek Hollow to gain some context for his artwork. They fled the bitter cold halfway through the night, he said. “We headed for home about 3 a.m.,” Lee said, “but not before shooting some photo references for this painting, and not before we had both experienced the sweet temple-like feeling that is present at Rock Creek Hollow. Nothing so snowy, windy, dark, lonely, or bitter cold could overpower that beautiful feeling. Rock Creek Hollow is worth the visit even in the worst conditions.”
BYU Professors Robert Barrett and Robert Marshall are two of the artists commissioned to paint artwork for the project. The original works of art portray a variety of emotional overtones. One of Barrett’s works depicts the sorrow that seizes a woman as she realizes her husband died during the frigid nighttime. Marshall’s works, however, depict both sacrifice and optimism.

Marshall described painting one of the farms left behind in England. “I expect the journey West was very difficult, almost impossible at times, so I wanted to paint the farm how they would have remembered it. It looks very pastoral basking in the light of the late twilight hours.”Another of Marshall’s paintings shows the “ability of women and children to carry on,” he said.

Dixie State College professor, and well known artist, Del Parson is one of the artists commissioned to paint artwork for the project. Parson’s contribution to the book is a painting of two brothers. After carrying his younger brother in to camp on a cold stormy night, a boy named James Kirkwood died from exhaustion. Parson said he painted a scene from that story to show a genuine act of charity. “It always struck me as a really awesome story. It’s the type of thing the Savior would do.”

Plain City artist Lauri Eskelson is one of the artists commissioned to paint artwork for the project. “Being involved with the Sweetwater Rescue project has had a profound effect on me,” Eskelson said. “This has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for an artist, and one that I will never forget.”

Eskelson said a trip to Rock Creek Hollow gave her proper perspective for her artwork. “To be at that hallowed location near Rocky Ridge and experience the bone-chilling cold, the relentless wind, and the blowing snow gave me a new understanding, and a renewed appreciation. It is an absolute miracle that any of them survived.”

Layne Brady is one of the artists commissioned to paint artwork for the project. Brady said he gained a genuine understanding of the pioneers’ hardships by attending filming for the documentary. “I was dressed for the cold in modern clothing and within an hour I got chilled to the core. It was kind of a wake-up call to know how horribly tough it was for them physically.”

Brady said his piece, titled Willie Company, provides a brief look at how the Saints would have camped in their extreme conditions. “It shows an evening at the camp. It’s a moment in time that shows tents pitched in the deep snow and the people huddled around the fire.”

David Meikle is one of the artists commissioned to paint artwork for the project. Meikle said painting the pioneers’ story was an emotionally gratifying experience. He said because he served an LDS mission in England, he knew what the many English immigrants left behind. “I feel so honored to be a part of this project,” he added.

Miekle said he used his background in landscape painting to help convey the story. “I let the landscape tell the story. I wanted to emphasize the vastness of nature compared to the weaker human subjects. I wanted to show they were at the mercy of the elements.”