Extracted from LION of the LORD – Essays on the Life and Service of Brigham Young
Edited by Susan Easton Black & Larry C. Porter
Deseret Book Company – Salt Lake City – 1995 -- Pages 180-208.

Milton R. Hunter broke ground with his list of Mormon settlements in the 1930’s, but his resources were limited, and his period covered only Brigham Young’ lifetime. Lynn Albert Rosenvall took the list up to 1900 in his thesis of 1972. This writer, while doing research for the Museum of Church History and Art, found more 19^th century communities and others that were founded as Latter-day Saint colonies up to 1930. The inventory now stands as a total of 742 in the western United States, Canada, Mexico, and Polynesia. This figure may be incomplete, but nearly final.

Susan Easton Black
Larry C. Porter

Extracted and transcribed by
Richard Keller Preece
12 April 2007

The Mormon Colonies in CALIFORNIA
and when they were established

• New Hope Stanislaus 1846
• Natoma Stanislaus 1848
• San Bernardino San Bernardino 1851

• California 1848 09 Sep 1850
• Mexican Cession

When the US declared war against Mexico, on May 13, 1846, it took almost two months (mid-July 1846) for definite word of war to get to California. U.S. consul Thomas O. Larkin, stationed in Monterey, on hearing rumors of war tried to keep peace between the U.S. and the small Mexican military garrison commanded by José Castro. U.S. Army captain John C. Frémont with about 60 well-armed men had entered California in December 1845 and was making a slow march to Oregon when they received word that war between Mexico and the U.S. was imminent. ^[3]

On June 15, 1846, some 30 settlers, mostly U.S. citizens, staged a revolt and seized the small Mexican garrison in Sonoma. They raised the "Bear Flag" of the California Republic over Sonoma. It lasted one week until the U.S. Army, led by Fremont, took over on June 23. The California state flag today is based on this original Bear Flag, and still contains the words "California Republic."

Commodore John Drake Sloat, on hearing of imminent war and the revolt in Sonoma, ordered his naval forces to occupy Yerba Buena (present San Francisco) on July 7 and raise the American flag. On July 15, Sloat transferred his command to Commodore Robert F. Stockton, a much more aggressive leader, who put Frémont's forces under his orders. On July 19, Frémont's "California Battalion" swelled to about 160 additional men from newly arrived settlers near Sacramento, and he entered Monterey in a joint operation with some of Stockton's sailors and marines. The official word had been received — the war was official. The U.S. forces easily took over the north of California; within days they controlled San Francisco, Sonoma, and Sutter's Fort in Sacramento.

In Southern California, Mexican General José Castro and Governor Pío Pico fled from Los Angeles. When Stockton's forces entered Los Angeles unresisted on August 13, 1846 the nearly bloodless conquest of California seemed complete. Stockton, however, left too small a force (36 men) in Los Angeles, and the Californios, acting on their own and without help from Mexico, led by José Mariá Flores , forced the small American garrison to retreat in late September. More than 200 reinforcements sent by Stockton, led by U.S. Navy Captain William Mervine, were repulsed in the Battle of Dominguez Rancho, October 7 through October 9, 1846, near San Pedro, where 14 U.S. Marines were killed. Meanwhile, General Kearny, with a reduced squadron of 139 dragoons, finally reached California after a grueling march across New Mexico, Arizona and the Sonora desert. On December 6, 1846, they fought the Battle of San Pasqual near San Diego, California, where 22 of Kearny's troop were killed.

Stockton rescued Kearny's surrounded forces and later, with their combined force, they moved northward from San Diego, entering the Los Angeles area on January 8, 1847, linking up with Frémont's men and with U.S. forces totaling 660 soldiers, they fought the Californios in the Battle of Rio San Gabriel, the next day, January 9, 1847, they fought the Battle of La Mesa. On January 12, 1847, the last significant body of Californios surrendered to U.S. forces. That marked the end of the War in California. On January 13, 1847, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed.

On January 28, 1847, U.S. Army Lieutenant William Tecumseh Sherman and his army unit arrived in Monterey, California as U.S. forces in the pipeline continued to stream into California. On March 15, 1847, Col. Jonathan D. Stevenson’s Seventh Regiment of New York Volunteers of about 900 men started arriving in California. All of these men were in place when word went out that gold was discovered in California, January 1848.

The Mormon Colonies in NEVADA
and when they were established

• Genoa Douglas 1849
• Las Vegas Clark 1855
• Frankton Washoe 1856
• Call’s Landing Clark 1864
• Panaca Lincoln 1864
• Eagle Valley Lincoln 1865
• Logandale Clark 1865
• Mill Point Clark 1865
• Saint Thomas Clark 1865
• Simonsville Clark 1865
• Sprong Valley Lincoln 1865
• Sandy Town Clark 1867
• Junction City Clark 1869
• Overton Clark 1869
• West Point Clark 1869
• Clover Valley Lincoln 1870
• Pioche Lincoln 1871

• Bunkerville Clark 1877
• Mesquite Clark 1880
• Lund White Pine 1897
• Georgetown White Pine 1898
• Preston White Pine 1898

• Nevada 02 Mar 1861 31 Oct 1864

Area names which formed the state: Utah Territory (State o f Deseret); New Mexico Territory

• Douglas 25 Nov 1851 Nevada Territory
• Clark 05 Feb 1909 Lincoln
• Lincoln 26 Feb 1866 Nye
• Nye Feb 1864 Esmeralda
• Esmeralda 25 Nov 1861 Nevada Territory
• Washoe 25 Nov 1861 Nevada Territory
• White Pine 02 Mar 1869 Lincoln

The Mormon Colonies in WASHINGTON
and when they were established