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50 free Mormon Pioneer trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Between 1846 and 1869 some 70,000 Latter-day Saints crossed the plains to the Salt Lake Valley by wagon, handcart and on foot. These LDS pioneer trivia questions cover Brigham Young's vanguard company, the odometer William Clayton built on the trail, the buried piano, the ship Brooklyn's voyage around Cape Horn, the handcart plan and the Willie and Martin tragedy, and how July 24 became Pioneer Day. Every answer is sourced, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Roughly how many people made the pioneer journey to the Salt Lake Valley?
About 70,000
Advance parties left in March 1846; the organized wagon trains began in earnest in April 1847.
Q 02Which country governed the Salt Lake Valley when the exodus was planned in 1846?
Mexico
The valley only became US territory with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.
Q 03The Mormon Exodus is conventionally said to have ended with what 1869 event?
The transcontinental railroad
Those who came by rail afterwards are not usually counted as pioneers.
Q 04From which Illinois city did the Saints depart in 1846?
Nauvoo
Mobs burned the city's temple in 1848, two years after the exodus began.
Q 05Where were Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon imprisoned after the 1838 Missouri conflict?
Liberty
Rigdon got out on habeas corpus and rejoined the refugees in Illinois in 1839.
Q 06In which Illinois town were Joseph and Hyrum Smith killed by a mob in 1844?
Carthage
Their deaths made it clear the church could not stay in Illinois.
Q 07Which Missouri governor issued the order expelling Mormons from the state in 1838?
Lilburn Boggs
The so-called extermination order was not formally rescinded until 1976.
Q 08Brigham Young is sometimes called the American what, for leading the migration?
Moses
He personally reviewed every report on the Great Basin before choosing the valley.
Q 09Which non-Mormon Philadelphian won permission for the Saints to winter on Indian land?
Thomas L. Kane
The site was first named Kanesville in his honor; Young trusted him for life.
Q 10Which Jesuit missionary familiar with the Great Basin did Young consult?
Pierre-Jean De Smet
Young wanted a place no other colonizers wanted, and decided the valley qualified.
Q 11How did the vanguard company's Platte River route avoid Oregon Trail traffic?
It kept to the north bank
Leaders wanted to dodge conflicts over grazing, water and campsites.
Q 12How many men were in the 1847 vanguard company?
143
Three women and two children also made the trip, along with 73 wagons and one cannon.
Q 13How many wagons did the vanguard company take west?
73
They carried enough supplies to provision the group for a full year.
Q 14On what date did the vanguard company roll west from Winter Quarters?
Q 21How much did the Saints charge other travelers to use their Platte River ferry?
$1.50 or more per wagon
Nine men under Thomas Grover stayed behind to run it and raise cash for the migration.
Q 22Which mountain man met Young on June 28, 1847, to discuss routes into the valley?
Jim Bridger
Bridger favored Utah Lake for its fish, fruit and grazing but warned of frost.
Q 23Whose trail from the previous year did Young follow through the mountains?
The Donner–Reed party
The ill-fated California-bound group had cut the route through the Wasatch in 1846.
April 5, 1847
They started at 2 p.m. and made just three miles the first day.
Q 15What time did a bugle wake the vanguard camp each morning?
5 a.m.
Travel ended at 8:30 p.m. and everyone was in bed by nine, with Sundays kept as a Sabbath rest.
Q 16Who served as the vanguard company's scribe and later wrote an emigrants' guide?
William Clayton
His The Latter-Day Saints' Emigrants' Guide gave later travelers his distances and notes.
Q 17What device did Clayton and two companions build to measure distance?
A wagon-wheel odometer
The "roadometer" showed the company averaged fourteen to twenty miles a day.
Q 18Which apostle served as the vanguard company's scientific observer?
Orson Pratt
He logged geology, minerals, plants and animals, and later entered the valley first as a scout.
Q 19How many women were in the original vanguard company?
3
Harriet Page Young was chosen first because her husband feared leaving her behind in ill health.
Q 20Which trading post did the company reach on June 1, 1847, after six weeks on the trail?
Laramie
There they were joined by sick members of the Mormon Battalion who had wintered in Pueblo.
Q 24Which tick-borne illness struck Young and others after they crossed the Green River?
Mountain fever
The sick detachment lagged behind while scouts pushed ahead into the valley.
Q 25Which two scouts were the first of the company to enter the Salt Lake Valley, on July 21?
Erastus Snow and Orson Pratt
Pratt wrote that they could not hold back "a shout of joy" at the view.
Q 26What were the first crops planted in the valley on July 23, 1847?
Potatoes and turnips
Irrigation ditches were dug the same day the land was dedicated in prayer.
Q 27Who was driving the wagon from which Young first saw the valley?
Wilford Woodruff
Woodruff recorded the words "This is the right place, drive on."
Q 28Which summit did Young say he had seen in a vision before arriving?
Ensign Peak
A monument now marks the spot where he declared the valley the right place.
Q 29How soon after arriving did Young pick the site for the Salt Lake Temple?
Within four days
He chose the spot on July 28 and presented a city plan for approval.
Q 30Roughly how many pioneers wintered in the valley in 1847?
About 1,600
More than half were under nineteen, so the adult labor force was small.