Original subtitles

♪♪ [ trumpet ]

Howdy.

I'm the Old Ranger,

and Death Valley's my stampin' ground.

Many's the tale of adventure I'm going to tell you

about the Death Valley country.

True stories, mind you.

I can vouch for that.

It's the year 1861,

and the Mormon Salt Lake City, now 15 years old,

has grown from a struggling frontier settlement

to a city of real size.

Although to Wilhelmina Cannon,

who has lived here only since her marriage a year ago,

it still seems a far cry from Boston.

♪♪ [ humming ]

♪♪ [ humming ]

[ knocking ]

Come in.

Evening, Sister Wilhelmina. Sister Sarah.

David not home yet?

No, Brigham Young called a meeting

for some of the men.

I don't know what for.

I brought you some barley for the baby.

Barley water's good for him. Thank you.

If he wasn't asleep, I'd pick him up

so you could see him.

He's so darling.

Embroidery and hand tuckin' on a boy?

He's only three weeks old.

My first two children wore flour sackin'

from the day they was born,

and they was lucky to have that!

It must have been dreadful those first years out here.

Nobody will ever know.

I couldn't have stood it.

You can stand anything, if you have to.

I'm not so sure.

Of course I was raised to hard work, and you--

you was raised as a lady.

I've earned my own living.

As a nursery governess, in a fashionable family--

Yes, but--

Playin' the piano, doin' embroidery,

readin' books--

Speaking of books,

see what just came from home.

I sent back for them

when we knew we were going to stay here.

It's taken them the whole year to get here.

Poetry!

There are essays too,

and biographies...

I'd like to know when you think

you're going to have time for book reading.

There's still plenty of work to be done here

in Salt Lake City, and everyone's required to do his part.

Well, at least I can enjoy looking at the covers.

David's going to build me some bookshelves

along that bare wall there.

It'll dress up the room a lot,

all the different colored bindings

and gold lettering...

Boil some of that Barley up like I told you.

Oh, good evening, sister Sarah.

Brother David.

Take my advice and put that baby in unbleached muslin.

The sooner he gets used to uncomfortable things, the better.

[ giggles ]

Poor sister Sarah,

she makes such a grim business out of life.

How are you, darling?

And how's our boy been today?

Just wonderful.

[ coos ]

DAVID: He's growing like a weed, isn't he?

Not a weed, a flower.

Soon be able to travel, do you think?

What do you mean?

I have some news for you, Willie.

Sit down while I tell you about it.

The church is establishing a new colony

in the Southern part of Utah,

down near the Arizona border.

I've heard talk about it.

The Dixie Mission, they call it.

It's a-- It's a project

that Brigham Young has had in mind

for some time now,

a place where we could grow our own cotton and sugar.

You see, now with the war on,

there's even more reason for it.

The regular sources of cotton and sugar

will be cut off for many years, maybe.

What's all this got to do with us, David,

with you and me?

We've been called, darling.

We're one of the 300 families who have been chosen to go.

Oh, David.

It's a great privilege, Willie,

an opportunity to render real service to the church,

do some pioneering for it.

How far is this-- this place?

About 275 miles away.

What is there there?

Good soil for growing cotton and sugar.

Nothing else?

You mean, it's a wilderness?

Just like this valley was when the first company moved here,

and see what they've done in the space of a few years?

The words of the prophet have been fulfilled.

"The wildernesses and the solitary places shall be glad for them,

and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."

I wont go.

We can't refuse.

It's not fair.

We've been called, darling.

Well, let them call somebody else!

No, we just settled here in Salt Lake City, David,

just built our home and furnished it,

and the baby,

he's only a few weeks old.

Darling, we weren't picked by accident.

We were chosen like all the other 299 families

for a very good reason. What reason?

Every trade and occupation has to be represented in this new colony.

It's highly important.

And you?

I'll farm, of course.

[ coos ]

Sweetheart, I know how hard it is for you to pull up stakes

when you've just begun to get used to things here,

but, well, St. George won't be a wilderness for very long.

Well, that's what the new settlement is going to be called-- St. George.

I-- I like the name, don't you?

It has a certain ring to it.

David, I'm ashamed of myself.

Oh, darling.

I'm not a very good pioneer, I'm afraid,

or a very good wife, either.

You're the sweetest wife a man was ever blessed with.

And I love you.

I love you too, David.

Wherever you go, I'll go.

MALE NARRATOR: Six weeks it took them to make the journey

from Salt Lake City South.

Six long weeks,

creaking endlessly through desert sand,

bumping and swaying over rocks,

toiling up steep grades,

and sliding precariously down even steeper ones

until at last they lumbered through a mountain pass

and down into the Valley of the Virgin River,

a spot chosen by Brigham Young for the new Dixie Mission.

Here they camped in their wagons

until the city could be surveyed,

and then, on a certain day in February, 1862,

They drew lots for home sites.

Silas Aniston.

David Cannon.

BRIGHAM YOUNG: Ephraim Higgins.

BRIGHAM YOUNG: Thomas Carter.

DAVID: Willie!

Willie, look what we drew.

Block 36, Lot C.

One of the choicest locations. It is?

Well, an acre on the very Southeast corner of town,

near the river for hauling water

and only a couple of miles from the fields

where I'll be farming.

David, that's wonderful.

It's uh-- right down this street.

Street?

Well, in case you don't know it, madam,

you are now standing on the main street of St. George.

[ giggles ] The city of St. George.

It's like the city in the Bible.

You don't pay attention in church as you should, Darling.

"The city is great, people are few,

and the houses are not yet builded."

[ laughs ]

[ clears throat ]

Oh, sister Sarah.

What did you draw, sister Sarah?

Block 9, Lot A, off the public square.

Oh, I'd hoped maybe we'd be neighbors.

What are you going to do with those willows?

I'm gonna weave 'em to make a hut.

I'll fill in the cracks with mud,

and it will be snug as an Indian basket,

and if you two are wise,

you'd get busy on one for yourselves

instead of standing there,

making a public spectacle of yourselves.

I guess that's good advice.

How do you go about weaving a house?

Well, you leave that to me.

At least I can help with the mud pie part of it.

You'll do nothing of the kind.

You're going to stay down at the wagon camp with the baby,

and what's more, I'm not even going to let you see our house

till it's finished.

All right,

now you can open your eyes and look.

How do you like it?

[ gasps ]

David, you built that?

All by myself.

[ gasps ] You're wonderful.

I think that wood is better than willows and mud,

don't you?

Oh yes, much better.

Now come on, I want you to see the inside.

[ cries ]

Willie, this dirt will pack down very hard,

be almost as good as a wood floor,

and then after we move our stuff in,

it'll look a lot different.

I know you--

you can make any place look homelike. [ sighs ]

I'll try.

Do you remember when we moved into our first home

in Salt Lake City?

Yes.

It was the happiest day of my life.

The very first thing we did?

We knelt and dedicated ourselves to it.

Oh, oh yes.

Let us do the same thing here.

Here?

It's our home, darling, just as that one was.

Our new home.

"Oh, God of Zion, bless thou this home.

"May it always be worthy in thy sight

and in the sight of our fellow men."

NARRATOR: The Mormon pioneers went to work with the zeal

for which they are famous.

A new settlement teemed with activity.

Land was grubbed, irrigation ditches dug,

fields plowed,

public buildings erected.

Wilhelmina Cannon did her work like the rest,

but her heart wasn't in it.

I told you you'd have him in unbleached muslin.

Weeks passed.

Most of the folks in the new colony

were still living in their wagons,

or in temporary shelters,

so Wilhelmina kept telling herself that she was lucky,

but she couldn't quite convince herself.

[ crying ]

[ Wilhelmina crying ]

[ gasps ]

Willie!

What's the matter, darling?

Oh, everything.

I can't bear it, David.

I've tried. I truly have.

It's no use.

Pioneering is always hard work, sweetheart.

It isn't the work.

I don't mind that.

It's the place itself,

the emptiness,

the barrenness,

the awful ugliness of it all.

The colony is new yet. Give us time.

I just feel starved!

Starved?

You wouldn't understand.

I, uh--

I haven't forgotten about the bookshelves.

As soon as I have time, I'm going to make them for you.

Never mind.

It would help, wouldn't it?

It's not only the inside of the place, David.

It's everything outside!

I'm going to grub the brush off our land in the spring.

You can't change the color of the soil though.

That awful, raw, red--

Well, no--

Or the outlandish shape of the mountains.

It's strange country, I grant you.

It takes some getting used to, but,

well, in it's own way, I think it's rather beautiful.

Beautiful?

About as beautiful as an Indian in war paint!

Oh, David, I'm sorry.

I should be happy here,

having you and the baby ought to be enough.

But it isn't.

If you could show me

anything about this country that was lovely,

one single thing--

And if I could?

Then I'd feel it was worthwhile staying here and working

for the future.

One single thing of beauty...

CHOIR: ♪ We then are free

♪ From toil and sorrow, too

♪ With the just

♪ We shall dwell

♪ But if our lives

♪ Are spared again

♪ To see the saints their rest obtain ♪

♪ Oh, how we'll make

♪ This chorus swell

♪ All is well

♪ All is well

Yes, all is well.

All is well.

One and all, you have accepted the hardship,

rejoiced in the sacrifices,

and dedicated yourself

to the task of transforming this great wilderness

to the glory of God.

NARRATOR: April is melting into May,

the fields are being plowed, and planted the corn,

cotton, grain, and sugar cane.

Whoa.

Brother Nephi! Howdy, sister.

Where do you come from?

Salt Lake City, from the mail.

Mail? Any letters for me?

Well, most likely,

several sacks I have back there,

letters and newspapers.

Oh, I haven't seen a newspaper in five months.

Nephi, could I please-- Would you just?

I'm sorry, sister.

My orders is to deliver the whole kit and boodle

to Apostle Snow,

and he'll carry them off in the public square.

I'll be there.

All right. Giddy up.

"We danced to a real string orchestra

"until way after midnight.

"I wish you could have been there.

Love, Mary Anne."

If you read those letters anymore,

you're going to wear the paper out.

Territorial Ball must have been beautiful.

I can just picture Mary Anne in blue taffeta

with hoops.

I'll make you some hoops, darling, if you'd like them.

Out of what?

A barrel?

[ chuckles ]

David...

when can we go back?

Darling, we've only just started here.

Someday?

I don't know, honey.

You mean we might have to stay here for the rest of our lives?

Well, let's just take it day by day.

I believe you really want to stay.

[ grunts ] I have no choice.

Well, I guess I'll go to bed.

It gets to be morning before you know it.

David, suppose--

suppose you had to choose between this life here and me.

[ chuckles ]

Well, that's something,

fortunately, I don't have to worry about.

I'm here, I have you,

and I'm happy.

I think I'll go out for a breath of fresh air.

Willie!

Well, I'm off.

Got your noon meal?

Got it right here.

Well, I'll see you this evening, honey.

Bye.

What you doing, Willie?

Sister Sarah.

You're packin'.

Oh-- I was just getting some things in order.

Where are you going? You can't fool me.

You're going somewhere.

Yes I am.

I'm going back to Salt Lake City.

You and David, and the baby?

Just me and the baby.

What for?

For good.

Willie-- It's all arranged.

I've talked with Nephi last night.

He's picking us up in the wagon in a few minutes.

Are you crazy?

I've stood this place as long as I can, Sarah.

You unpack that trunk.

I will not! I'm leaving.

You can't.

Oh yes, I can,

and nobody's going to stop me.

I'll tell Apostle Snow.

I'll tell the heads of the church!

Tell anyone you want. I'm going.

I'm going, Sarah.

Do you hear me? I'm going!

You little fool!

Don't you know if you commit a sin like that, you'll be punished?

There couldn't be a worse punishment than living here.

Maybe you think the rest of us find it easy.

Maybe you think we like hunger and hardships and loneliness.

Well, let me tell you-- I don't want to hear!

[ baby crying ]

Let me by.

I warn you, Sarah Whipple,

If you don't step aside, I'll--

[ cocks gun ]

MAN: Sister Wilhelmina,

there's been an accident.

David's hurt.

Nice and easy.

Oh, David.

How did it happen?

He fell off a canyon wall and broke his leg.

He ain't come to yet.

We'll go fetch brother Kimball.

He'll fix that leg up good as new.

Here, let me do that.

Willie...

David.

They said you fell from a canyon wall.

I was after some flowers.

These?

I didn't know I still had them.

They're Sego Lilies.

Later on, the hills around here will be covered with them,

they tell me...

like the stars in the sky,

but I didn't want to wait a week, or even a day,

when it meant so much.

You risked your life to-- to--

Ever since you told me how you felt about this country

I've-- I've been trying to find something I could show you

that was beautiful about it.

WILHELMINA: Oh, David...

I'm afraid they got a little bit smashed

when I fell...

but they are pretty, aren't they?

They're the loveliest things I've ever seen.

WILHELMINA: Like-- like fairy bells,

butterflies.

[ sighs ] Oh, David, David...

how blind I've been.

Any place where a woman finds love like yours

is beautiful anyway.

NEPHI: Sister Wilhelmina...

Brother Nephi!

NEPHI: Sister Wilhelmina!

We won't be needing you, brother Nephi. Get along.

All right. Giddy up.

NARRATOR: David and Wilhelmina Cannon

have long since passed from this earth,

but the Sego Lilies,

now the official state flower of Utah,

still bloom each spring in all their glory

on the red hills around St. George,

and in the town, you will still find some folks

who knew and loved Wilhelmina,

and they remember her as a smiling lady

who always praised the beauty of the land that she knew.