( https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/sidney-rigdon-post-nauvoo ) . James Strang wanted to cheesehead on over to Wisconsin and then hop up to Michigan ( http://www.michiganradio.org/post/how-mormon-king-shaped-sleepy-island-lake-michigan ) . Lyman Wight said Smith told him to wagon train to Texas. ( https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fwi05 ) . Brigham Young, of course, had the distant Rocky Mountains in his sights. After Joseph Smith was murdered a whole bunch of people, I’ve heard as many as 15, raised their hand to volunteer themselves as the prophet’s heaven-sent successor. Sidney Rigdon is probably the best known second man. He wanted to take everyone back to Pittsburgh.. James Strang wanted to cheesehead on over to Wisconsin and then hop up to Michigan. Lyman Wight said Smith told him to wagon train to Texas.. Brigham Young, of course, had the distant Rocky Mountains in his sights.





But where did Joseph Smith want to go? He certainly had plans to leave Nauvoo. Joseph infamously crossed the river going west just before his imprisonment and death. That’s a clue, right?





Below is a big list of far more than clues. It’s a truckload of old pioneer commentary about the topic at hand. None of this would probably sway people one way or the other if they already have an opinion formed, but it’s interesting to hear this from so many witnesses. Joseph said the Rocky Mountains would be the next and final abode of the Saints:





1) Anson Call

“Joseph, as he was tasting the cold water, warned the brethren not to be too free with it. With the tumbler still in his hand, he prophesied that the Saints would yet go to the Rocky Mountains. Said he, “This water tastes much like that of the crystal streams that are running from the snow-capped mountains.”





“I had before seen him in a vision, and now saw his countenance change to white; not the deadly white of a bloodless face, but a living, brilliant white. He seemed absorbed in gazing at something at a great distance, and said, “I am gazing upon the valleys of those mountains.”





“This was followed by a vivid description of the scenery of these mountains, as I have since become acquainted with it. Pointing to Shadrach Roundy and others, he said, “There are some men here who shall do a great work in that land.”





“Pointing to me, he said, “There is Anson. He shall go and shall assist in building up cities from one end of the country to the other, and you (rather extending the idea to all those he had spoken of) shall perform as great a work as has been done by man, so that the nations of the earth shall be astonished, and many of them will be gathered in that land and assist in building cities and temples, and Israel shall be made to rejoice.”





“It is impossible to represent in words the grandeur of Joseph’s appearance, his beautiful descriptions of this land, and his wonderful prophetic utterances as they emanated from the glorious inspirations that overshadowed him. There was a force and power in his exclamations of which the following is but a faint echo: “Oh the beauty of those snow-capped mountains! The cool refreshing streams that are running down through those mountain gorges!”





“Then looking in another direction, as if there was a change of locality: “Oh the scenes that this people will pass through! The dead that will lie between here and there.”





( https://josephsmithfoundation.org/joseph-smith-prophecy/ ) “Then turning in another direction as if the scene had again changed: “Oh the apostasy that will take place before my brethren reach that land! But the priesthood shall prevail over its enemies, triumph over the devil and be established upon the earth, never more to be thrown down!””





2) Mary Field Garner

(Personal Glimpses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Andrus, P. 162) “I shall never forget the time when Joseph and Hyrum Smith crossed the Mississippi River and started for the Rocky Mountains…”





3) Wilford Woodruff (1/2)

Personal Glimpses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Andrus, P. 178 ) “In the pioneer journey, coming here, we had to come by faith; we knew nothing about this country. But we intended to come to the mountains. Joseph had organized a company to come here before his death.” (





4) Wildord Woodruff (2/2)

“Now, see this work, said he, that you have commenced, this little mustard seed, it is going to fill the whole earth. It will fill North and South America. And among other things, he said, "it will fill the Rocky Mountains; the Rocky Mountains will be filled with tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints, and they will stand associated with thousands of Lamanites of the blood of Joseph." I was thinking today, and when I arose to my feet, of the remarks of that prophet. Here I am, today, 54 years after that saying surrounded with my brethren in this Temple, built here in the Rocky Mountains by the people of God.” ( https://www.boap.org/LDS/Parallel/1834-38/Spring-of-1834.html )





5) Wandle Mace

“You have faithfully performed your duty, in preserving the lives of the people as well as mine. You shall be called the first Elders of this church....And your mission will be to the nations of the earth to preach the gospel, and you will gather many people to the fastness of the Rocky Mountains…” (Personal Glimpses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Andrus, P. 161)





6) Joseph Lee Robinson

“A pioneer company was organized to search out a land of promise for the Latter-day Saints in the West. The Prophet Joseph had been very anxious to get this people into the Rocky Mountains. He said at one time he wanted temples built all over the Rocky Mountains.” ( https://josephsmithfoundation.org/joseph-smith-prophecy/ )





7) Preston Nibley

“He founded colonies in the states of New York, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, and pointed the way for the gathering of the saints in the Rocky Mountains.” (Personal Glimpses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Andrus, P. 181)





8) William Byran Pace

“…for you will be called upon to go forth and call upon the freemen from Maine to gather themselves together to the Rocky Mountains and the Red men from the West and all people from the North and from the South and from the East to go to the West to establish themselves in their strong holds of their gathering places…” ( https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-circa-24-june-1844-as-reported-by-unknown-scribe/2 )





9) Andrew J. Stewart

"The prophet said he was glad I had come, but he wanted to change my mission, and take me with him to find a place for the saints. “For,” he said, “the Saints could not build up a Church in the States.” They would have to go and find a place in the mountains, where they could find a place to live in peace, and in five years they would not be disturbed or driven away again. He said he had a company made up, but he wanted me, especially, as I had been west on the Indian Land to the Missouri River.” (They Knew The Prophet, Andrus, P. 173)





10) Oliver B. Huntington

"No," said the old Patriarch (Joseph Smith Sr.), his whole being seeming to be alive with animation. "The Lord has told Joseph that when we leave here we will go into the Rocky Mountains; right into the midst of the Lamanites."





“This information filled our hearts with unspeakable joy, for we knew that the Book of Mormon and this gospel had been brought to light more for the remnants of Jacob upon this continent than for the Gentiles.” ( https://scottwoodward.org/josephsmith_prophecies_rockymountains.html )





11) Bathsheba W. Smith

“Joseph, the Prophet, said we would come to the Rocky Mountains, and he had a company of young men selected to hunt a location for a home for the Saints. Samuel Richards was one of that company. I heard of it when we were in Illinois, and I remember an old lady coming in and talking to mother about what Joseph, the Prophet, had said that we would be in the Rocky Mountains sometime. I said I would like the time to come soon, I would like to get away from our enemies. She gave me a right good scolding, saying it was terrible to think of going to the Rocky Mountains.” ( https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Joseph_Smith/Prophet/Rocky_Mountain_prophecy )





I do not believe that this is a complete list of Joseph Smith’s verbal Rocky Mountain intentions, but it is pretty big. We can glean a few things from it. Rigdon, Strang and Wight all would have taken the Saints to the wrong place. Lots of people stayed put when the covered wagons started west. None of those actions were what Smith said the Lord intended. Look at that first instance up there again, where Smith is caught up in a vision seeing the Rocky Mountains.





On a side note, this all really goes hand in hand with what Smith called "the key that will never rust":





“I will give you a key that will never rust, if you will stay with the majority of the Twelve Apostles, and the records of the Church, you will never be led astray. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/10/the-keys-that-never-rust?lang=eng)









The vast majority of the twelve, mind you, trekked out to the Rockies.



