In 1856, more than 1,200 people,
mostly from Scandinavia and the British Isles, began a journey
to gather to "Zion" in the valley of the Great
Salt Lake. For the most part, they were poor, necessitating
a more economic method of travel — pulling handcarts.
Five companies traveled that
year. Three arrived safely, but the last two, the Willie
and Martin handcart companies, left too late in the season.
More than 200 perished in the worst overland migration tragedy
in 19th century America. All would have likely
died except for a rescue effort launched by Brigham Young
in Salt Lake City.
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Eventually, more than 300 men
would be involved in one of the greatest rescues of the
century.
Documentary filmmaker Lee Groberg
had been fascinated with this story ever since he produced
Trail of Hope for PBS Television in 1997. Then,
the two hour documentary only devoted ten minutes to the
handcart chapter of the Mormon Trail, and Lee felt cheated
in never having told that story more completely.
Two years ago he set out to
make sure that story would receive its dues, in commemoration
of the 150th year since the tragic and heroic
events occurred on the high plains of Wyoming.
The production of Sweetwater
Rescue: The Willie and Martin Handcart Story spanned
a period of 18 months. Sweetwater Rescue was filmed
in five countries, and on location in Nebraska, Utah, and
Wyoming. It was filmed in two different winter seasons to
ensure ample snowy footage, a key to believability in the
retelling of the snowy and cold events in October and November
of 1856.
Groberg observed, “I personally
visited the Wyoming segments of that trail more than a dozen
times — and each time, it deepened my appreciation and respect
for those who came west and those who went east to save
them.”
The film crew experienced temperatures
of 40 degrees below zero on the top of Rocky Ridge. They
had to break through the Sweetwater River with a tractor
because the minus 34 degree temperatures the week before
had frozen the river in eight inches of ice.
In order to achieve believability,
more than 200 extras were used to pull handcarts and ride
in wagons over the plains of Nebraska and the wintry plains
of Wyoming. The men grew their beards for three months
in preparation for the filming. Many Wyoming residents
of Lander, Riverton, and other smaller communities made
up the hearty “pioneers” being filmed.
“The conditions were so harsh
during some film segments that the look and feel of struggling
handcart pioneers is very believable,” Groberg said. “They
struggled, they were cold, and the pain in their faces was
real.”
He added, “As we filmed more
than 20 men, women and children in the Sweetwater River,
trying to cross on a zero degree temperature late afternoon,
we all experienced a very brief taste of what it might have
been like for them when more than 600 members of the Martin
Company and the Hunt and Hodgett wagon companies crossed
over into Martin's Cove on November 4th. It
was a sobering experience to think that they did this to
survive. We did it to capture a visual moment for the film.”
Groberg said there are many
metaphors that can be drawn from this story. Some times
in our lives, we need rescuing. Some times we have our Rocky
Ridges to climb and our Sweetwater Rivers to cross. And
the struggles of the Wyoming plains in winter are just as
real today when we battle elements that they never experienced,
but that are just as deadly.
“If I could summarize my experiences
of the past 24 months, it would be a profound reverence
and respect for those 1,000 emigrants who survived, and
for the some 200 who did not — and for the 300 men and boys
who risked their own lives to go save their fellow saints,”
Groberg said.
A question that was asked often
by Wyoming extras and film crew members each day they filmed
in sub-zero temperatures was, “How did any of them make
it? Why didn’t they all die?” Groberg said that personal
experience reinforced for him that he was telling an amazing
tale of the triumph of the human spirit.
The film was originally broadcast
on Sunday in Utah. Nationwide broadcast is set for December
18 at 9pm EST, on PBS Television. The one-hour dramatized
documentary will also be shown at the Museum of Church History
and Art through January 2, 2007.
In addition, the documentary
is available for purchase on DVD.
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A
companion book by the same name was written in collaboration
with Heidi Swinton. In order to illustrate that companion
book, Groberg decided to invite some of the top artists
of the Church to paint new and original art to depict details
of the handcart experience. With the help of seasoned artists
and curators, he narrowed a huge list down to 35 names.
He contacted them with the hope that he might end up with
25.
Little did he know how much
enthusiasm his project would engender. Of the 35 artists
who were invited to participate, 34 said yes outright.
Some fell out because of other commitments and others got
involved, moving the number of artists up to 45.
Groberg
invited all of the artists who wanted to travel with him
and the film crew to photograph the filming shoots as an
inspiration for their artwork. “I went to a lot of expense
and trouble to make the people, horses, wagons, handcarts
and even the countryside look as it did in 1856,” he said.
“It was a wonderful opportunity for artists to get it right
and not guess as to how it might have looked.”
Readers who are interested
in viewing the artwork that was produced for this project
can read details here.
