Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 7, p.230
They left Winter Quarters to begin the long trek on June 10th, traveling 10 miles out onto a large open plain, where they spent two or three days organizing into companies. Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor took the lead in the planning. They set up hundreds, divided into fifties, and the fifties were divided into tens. To each of these divisions a captain was assigned. Bishop Edward Hunter was captain of the hundred in which the Whitakers traveled. Joseph Horne was the captain of their fifty, and Abraham Hoagland captain of the ten, the other nine heads of families being: John Robinson, Joseph Harker, Samuel Bennion, Joseph Cain, George Whitaker, Ezra Oakley, Thomas MacKay and Thomas Tarbett. John Taylor traveled in their fifty. There were over 600 wagons. First plans called for them to go six wagons abreast, so the train would be only 100 wagons long. This proved disagreeable because of dust clouds and the closeness of other wagons, so they dropped to four wagons abreast, and after a few weeks to two abreast. Much of the journey lay through hostile Indian country, so they tried to keep as close together as comfort would allow. However, so many wagons proved very cumbersome, and some dissatisfaction was expressed, as well as the fear that they could never reach the Rockies at such a slow pace. After consultation, it was decided to assign a blacksmith, a carpenter and a wheelwright to each fifty, and move each company of fifty as a single unit, the fastest going first. All men who could bear arms were assigned to do so. This method of travel proved much more agreeable and more miles were covered each day. At night the wagons were drawn into a circle, with the oxen and cows inside. Occasionally at night dancing and singing helped relieve the weary travelers from the monotony. No traveling was done on Sunday. Through the plains country grass was abundant and the stock thrived on it. They reached buffalo country in July. A few animals were slaughtered to provide meat. George Whitaker wrote: "Buffalo beef is not as good as tame beef, being hard and tough. There were tens of thousands of buffalo, the hills were perfectly black with them."

Salt Lake Valley

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 9, p.263
     But the first Christmas in the Valley in 1847, though it was a time of thanksgiving that they had reached their mountain home, was a far cry from this delightful celebration of the future. From the Joseph Harker family history we learn of their first Christmas in the Valley.
     When they arrived in Echo Canyon, their fourth son, William, was born, September 26, 1847, said to be the first white boy born in Utah. Sister Harriet Whitaker took care of mother and child. It took five days to make the journey on down to Salt Lake, which they reached October 1, 1847. The company made camp by a spring near the fort. Their first Christmas in Utah found them living in a wagon surrounded by very heavy snows. This was the second winter away from their native land with its yule logs, Christmas boughs, the carolers, plum pudding and all the English Christmas cheer.
      Another group of faithful Saints spent the Christmas of 1847 far from the Valley, for on November 16, 1847, Jefferson Hunt and a small company of men had left for California accompanied by two young boys, John Hunt and Peter Neese. From the history of Jefferson Hunt we quote:
      It was a bedraggled, hungry party which came in at the Chino Ranch, San Bernardino Valley, on Christmas Eve. They were literally staggering from exhaustion. John and Peter, who were only fourteen years old, were so near starvation that they could walk only by hanging to the mules' tails for support. As they approached the ranch they saw fresh cattle tracks and just sat down and cried for they knew there would be real meat for them before long.

Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church…, p.939
WEST JORDAN WARD, West Jordan Stake, Salt Lake Co., Utah, consists of the Latter-day Saints residing in that part of Salt Lake County which is bounded on the north by the Bennion Ward, east by the Jordan River (which separates it from Midvale and Sandy), south by the South Jordan Ward, and west by Tooele County. The ward contains about 48 square miles of valley and mountain country. The ward meeting house, a beautiful white pressed brick building, is located on the corner of the Redwood Road and the Bingham Highway, and is about 12 miles southwest of the Temple Block, Salt Lake City. Within the limits of the ward there is a sugar factory a flouring mill, three stores, and fine private residences. There are also two brick school houses, and another was being built in 1930. The Orem Line of the Bingham branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad passes through the ward.
Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church…, p.939
The first settler in Salt Lake Valley west of the Jordan River was Joseph Harker, who built the first log house at a point opposite what later became known as the Church Farm, in the beginning of December, 1848. Early the following spring (1849) a number of other settlers, including Samuel and John Bennion, located farms along the river near the place where Bro. Harker had settled. An attempt was made to bring water onto their farming lands from the Jordan River, but the undertaking being too laborious, the settlers changed their location and moved south about a mile, locating near the bend of the river opposite the point where the Big Cottonwood Creek empties into the river (now Taylorsville). There the nine families, of which the little settlement consisted, made a farm co-jointly, conducted water on to it from Bingham Creek, and raised a small crop that year. Later in 1849 a number of Welsh saints, who had arrived in the Valley that year in charge of [p.940] Capt. Dan Jones, founded what was known as the Welsh Settlement (see Brighton). Not being successful in their irrigation operations, they finally abandoned their camp and moved away.
     In 1850 Archibald and Robert Gardner built a saw mill on the site where the West Jordan Mill now stands. They made a mill race 2 1/2 miles long, which was the first canal of any importance ever dug in Utah. The same year, a number of families located farms at various points along the river, both above and below the Gardner mill site. In January, 1852, the first ward organization was effected with John Robinson (ordained Jan. 19, 1852) as Bishop. Bishop Robinson was called on a mission to Nova Scotia and his counselors (John Harker and Reese Williams) took charge of the ward during his absence, calling John Bennion to their assistance. When Bishop Robinson returned from his mission, he again took charge of the ward for a few months and then removed to Ogden. After this Elder Harker once more presided over the settlement. In October, 1853, the West Jordan Ward contained a membership of 361, the settlement having been strengthened that year by a number of other families. In 1854 the settlers built what was later known as the North Jordan Canal, a continuation of the Gardner mill race. The same year a small fort was commenced near the mills, and in the fall another fort was started below on the grounds now occupied by the Taylorsville graveyard. This forting was done as a means of protection against the Indians. The upper fort was never completed while the lower one, containing about thirty rods square, was built within a short time of commencing it. A meeting house, an adobe building, 20x30 feet, was erected in the center of the fort, and the majority of the people (some thirty families) moved in from their farms and spent one winter within the enclosure. Previous to the building of the meeting house within the fort, religious services were held in private houses. About this time the name of North Jordan was given to that part of the ward now embraced in Taylorsville Ward. A post office was also established, but this was subsequently discontinued for a number of years and then reopened under the name of Taylorsville. In 1858 most of the West Jordan saints moved in a body to Pondtown (Salem) and Spanish Fork, Utah Co., because of the Johnston Army troubles, but returned to their homes on the Jordan River after peace had been established between Utah and the Federal Government. After the “Move” a log school house was built near the spot where the Jordan Mill stands. This served for all school and meeting purposes until 1866, when a more substantial rock building was erected. Elder Harker presided until the fall of 1858, when Archibald Gardner was ordained a Bishop to preside over the West Jordan Ward. Before this change in the bishopric there was a branch organization in the upper part of the ward comprising that tract of country now included in the West Jordan, South Jordan, Riverton 1st, Riverton 2nd, and Bluffdale wards.
     At a special meeting held June 17, 1877, the West Jordan Ward was divided into four wards, namely, Herriman, North Jordan, South Jordan, and West Jordan. Other wards were subsequently organized. By closer study it will be seen that the West Jordan settlement is practically mother of eleven organized bishop’s wards, including South Jordan, Riverton 1st, Riverton 2nd, Bluffdale, Herriman, North Jordan (or Taylorsville), Bennion, Granger, Bingham, Hunter and Lark.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 13, p.334
In the spring of 1848 with a group of other pioneers, the Mackays moved out of the fort and farmed land on the southeast in what later was called Forest Dale. January 9, 1849, Thomas Mackay, John Bennion, Samuel Bennion, Thomas Turbett, William Blackburst, William Farrer, John Robinson and James Taylor crossed the Jordan River on the ice and located near Joseph Harker at what is now about Thirty-third South and Fourteenth West. They made dugouts near the river on land that was later known as Little's Farm and in after years, was owned by Bishop McRae. They moved their families over [p.335] there and some who had log houses at the fort, moved them over, but it was too difficult to get water from the river onto the land, so they moved about a mile farther south.

Fort Lemhi Mission
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 7, p.183-184
Joseph Harker was born February 28, 1818, in the little town of Pointon, Lincolnshire, England, and came to Utah in 1847. Early in 1856 he went to the historian's office and consecrated his farm and all he had to the Church. The Saints had had such a bad crop year in 1855 that in January, at a bishop's meeting, every bishop reported not enough food in his ward to last until May 1st. In the spring of 1856 the people were again digging roots.
        On February 25, 1856, Joseph heard that he was to be called on a mission to the Salmon Kiver country in Idaho and the following day he traveled to the city and there Heber C. Kimball informed him officially that he was to leave for the Salmon Kiver settlement. The Church was growing and extending its boundaries, and in some of the settlements, such as the one to which Joseph was to go, the difficulties were legion. Without hesitation Joseph accepted the call and began to prepare his families for his absence.
        On April 6th, at General Conference, Joseph was set apart for his mission and eight days later he departed. At Ogden his tired horses were traded for a yoke of oxen and a cow, and on April 21st he traveled ten miles and then camped to wait for the company.
        The day after Joseph arrived at the mission he grubbed brush on the land allotted him and soon afterward sowed his first wheat. June 4th, "The grasshoppers are upon our fields eating them." June 5th, "We were all out killing grasshoppers." By the 22nd of June [p.184] the grain saved from the grasshoppers was heading out, but in the meantime Joseph was living on greens and fish. By August 7th he had harvested some barley and on August 8th wrote, "We have some new wheat for supper."
         Thomas S. Smith, leader of the settlement, knew Joseph had a large family and that Susannah, his wife, was again with child. He realized that Joseph was worried about his family's preparedness for winter and consequently gave him permission to go home. Three other men were granted the same privilege of staying with their families until spring. On October 15th they left Fort Limhi. On October 24th the returning men met a company of Saints journeying toward the fort. One of the group had a letter for Joseph informing him that one of his children, Sarah E. Smith Harker, had died during his absence and that his families were in straightened circumstances. He arrived home November the 4th after a long and harrowing journey.
         Joseph immediately went to work making things more comfortable for his family. He rounded up the livestock, cut and hauled wood, built sheds, etc. A little daughter, Isabell, was born on November 17th.
         On the 20th of March, 1857, he again loaded his wagon and started for Fort Limhi with a small company of faithful Saints. The oxen had not fared well during the winter and were so weak Joseph was forced to trade them and give an additional fifteen dollars for a fresh team. April 22nd, after an exhausting thirty-three day journey the company arrived at Fort Limhi and soon were building houses preparatory to bringing their families to this Latter-day Saint outpost. Meanwhile the colonists were becoming increasingly disturbed by the frequent skirmishes between the different Indian tribes. Mr. Harker was released from his duties at the fort and arrived home November 17, 1857, a few months prior to the abandonment of the mission.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 9, p.390
Archibald McFarland
In the fall of 1873 on October 20th, I left home for a mission to Great Britain, having been called at the conference held in Salt Lake City October 6th to the 10th. I left Ogden in company with William N. Fife and William Geddes of Weber County. Others in the party were Brothers Richard Morris, Charles Ransome, F. M. Lyman, John Squires, Joseph Harker and Henry Hughes. We traveled on the Union Pacific Railroad to Omaha October 23, 1873. Took passage for Chicago on the Rock Island Railroad, arriving at 6:00 p.m. the same evening. Stayed in Chicago over night, taking passage on the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne Railroad on October 24th, arriving in New York October 25th. On October 26th we held a meeting in Williamsburg with Saints of Brooklyn. October 27th we held a meeting and Richard Morris, W. N. Fife and myself were appointed a [p.391] committee to secure passage with some steamship company to carry us across the ocean. After visiting several agents of the different companies, we entered into agreement with the White Star Company for our passage at $40.00 per cabin. There were eighteen members in our company. The ship was called The Oceanic, supposed to be the most magnificent then afloat. I suffered considerable sickness during the voyage and was confined to my stateroom for several days. The brethren were in the habit of meeting in my room every night for prayer.

The Harker Family—Sheepmen
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 9, p.596-599
Joseph Harker, born February 28, 1818, at Pointon, Lincolnshire, England, wrote the following:
      My father lived on a farm of 110 acres. He was an experienced businessman and kept the best livestock in the surrounding country. He died leaving Mother and seven children, consequently my education was limited and my occupation became that of a shepherd. It was [p.597] with much delight that I labored with the sheep, for they were of a superior quality. When I was eighteen I took charge of Mother's farm. During my twenty-first year I took first premium at the Bowen Agriculture Fair for the best eighteen-month-old ewes. After I was married I stayed two more years with my mother, managing her farm and livestock. I received meadow land for my labor, upon which I kept my own livestock. In the month of March 1845, I heard the Gospel preached by Elder Hyde. My wife and I were baptized, and in August of the same year I was sent out to preach the Gospel. In 1846 we decided to go to America. When we arrived at Nauvoo the city and temple were deserted, so we joined the Saints at Council Bluffs. I met Brigham Young for the first time and he gave me a wonderful blessing and told me to join his company on the river bottom. In the spring we were organized in companies by Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor. We had many trials on the way but it was the happiest summer of my life. My wife drove the team and I would hunt for game along the way. While passing through the Black Hills, the company was very short of food. Apostle John Taylor took myself and James Horn in his carriage to hunt buffalo. We killed nine animals, cut the meat into large chunks and distributed it through the camp. It was very good eating. We arrived in Echo Canyon September 26, 1847. After we had been in the Valley three days, Brother Bower and myself were appointed to take the company cattle to a winter range. A covered wagon was a home for my wife, two small sons and myself. We moved the herd from Salt Lake to Bountiful. Before winter set in the herd was taken to South Cottonwood. The snow was very heavy that first winter, but it became warm in January and the cattle fared quite well. The Indians were a constant threat. They drove off many of the cattle and killed them. In the spring the cattle were returned and men plowed and planted their crops (end of diary)
      In the fall of 1848 Joseph built the first log cabin west of the Jordan River and sold it a year later for two pair of oxen, moving then to Taylorsville. For the next ten years he was kept busy as bishop of a ward that extended from Thirty-third South to the Point of the Mountain, as missionary to Fort Limhi, Idaho, and in helping to move ward members to Pondtown during the Johnston's Army invasion. In 1859 he was released as bishop and turned his attention to raising superior sheep, winning in 1859, two first prizes at the fair in Salt Lake for the finest bucks. Joseph hasn't recorded the date he imported his first thoroughbred sheep, fine Cotswold from Cotswold Hills Suffolk, England, but they were among the first purebreds brought into Utah. He also owned a dairy herd of Jersey stock. He and his wife, Susannah, took forty to fifty pounds of butter to market each Saturday, driving a team that at one time took a blue ribbon at the fair.
      In 1863 Joseph and several other men went to Rush and Tintic valleys looking for more extensive pastures for their ever increasing [p.598] herds. They found good pastures at the south end of Rush Valley and received a permit to graze sheep there. Joseph camped with his sheep on a creek north of Vernon, and Samuel and John Bennion, two of his friends and neighbors, camped just south of him. In 1864 he was out with his sheep most of the winter, his family spending the summer at the sheep camp. In the fall he was called to help settle southern Utah.
      During 1865 his sons William and Benjamin took charge of the sheep, and in 1866 Joseph stayed at home to care for the farm and livestock. In 1868 Joseph was asked to manage, on shares, 1,799 sheep belonging to the Church. He and his sons were to receive half of the wool and half of the lambs for the care and feed of the stock, replacing a certain number of the old sheep each year with young stock. The Church sheep were carefully branded and turned in with his own flocks. When Joseph turned the sheep back to the Church in 1871, the bishop was unwilling to receive them without taking at random the Church sheep from Joseph's flock. It seemed an unreasonable request for when Joseph received the sheep, they were inferior to his own. He had, as he later told President Young, replaced all old sheep with young ones and had fulfilled his contract in every way. Joseph's reply to the bishop was brief and pointed, "Do you think I am a fool?"
      In order to be certain that his actions were not misrepresented Joseph went to President Young, who asked him, "Is sheep-keeping good business?" Joseph replied, "Yes sir, according to the report I have given your sheep have paid over forty-two percent per annum in trust on the money." In Joseph's diary he states that the Church sheep were valued at $3.00 per head when he received them, and his own thoroughbreds were rated at $12.00.
      Job, the eldest son, moved to Rush Valley after helping to bring five emigrant trains across the plains. He herded his father's sheep and received sheep for his pay, building up a very fine herd for himself. But bad luck nearly wiped him out, for about five hundred sheep were drowned when they stampeded into Vernon Creek; poison dock took a toll of a few hundred: then two hard winters on the desert put him out of the sheep business. He then bought the second thresher in the region and one of the first binders in Utah. Job also bought a steam engine which was used to run the thresher, and a well driver which his son helped build.
      William, the second son, had his first experience with livestock as a barefoot boy when he herded his father's cattle in Harker Canyon, assuming a man's responsibility during the time his father was a missionary at Fort Limhi. While yet in his teens William and his brothers helped herd the Church sheep when his father cared for them on shares. Through hard work m the lonely country of the herds, he was laying a foundation for a very prosperous future. He acquired a 160-acre well-equipped farm, where he kept his prize-winning horses. As the Harker boys often said, "It is Harker competing against Harker at [p.599] the State Fair." Their stacks of blue, red and white ribbons mounted year after year. It was the delight of the Harker brothers to run horse races on State Street as they took their butter and eggs to market. When William's herd became too large for the amount of available rangeland, he moved to Wyoming.
      Henry, the third son, began his livestock career by herding his father's flocks on the prairie land west of the Jordan River while yet a small boy. Many summers he took the stock to Bingham Canyon to graze. Henry married Elizabeth Pixton when he was twenty years of age, and at that time started in the sheep business. He also owned a good farm and became a blacksmith, shoeing most of the farm horses in the region. He also took charge of conducting emigrant trains into the Valley. The profit from his large bands of sheep formed the foundation of his success in many fields. The Historical Record of Salt Lake states: "Among the native sons of Utah there are but few men who have figured more prominently and whose influence and operations have been so wide and far reaching in developing the vast resources of the state as Henry Harker." Henry lived on his 100-acre farm in Taylorsville where he kept his blooded stock, in which he took great pride. He always owned good race horses and often drove them in the races at the State Fair.
      Benjamin, the next brother, worked in Rush Valley with the sheep when he was a small lad. As a young man he was so successful that upon his early death at the age of thirty-three, his wife was left sufficient means to live very comfortably the rest of her life. Benjamin's three children became well educated, two of them teaching at the University of Utah.
     When Alberta, Canada, was opened for settlement, Ephraim Harker took his family to Cardston, then returned to Montana and trailed a large band of sheep to his new home. Two years later he returned to Montana and bought another large band of sheep, taking them to Alberta. During his early years in Canada he ranged 20,000 head of sheep, and for years was considered that country's largest sheep owner. In 1903 a blizzard swept the area, killing all his lambs and a large percentage of the sheep. When his youngest brother Levi came to Canada, the two became partners and spent a great deal of their time supplying the needs and overseeing their many camps, sheep and herders. Eph's family regretted his absence from home, so they wrote a petition asking him to sell his sheep and buy land, that he might be with them. Eph followed their wishes, sold his sheep, bought land, a threshing machine, a steam engine, plows and a flour mill. He was a lover of good horses and took great delight in exhibiting his livestock at county fairs where he often received many blue ribbons.
       Levi, the youngest son, was for many years a director of the Canadian Woolgrowers Association, a national organization. It was often said of him that he was a man who walked with the Lord and the Lord was always with him. He was called "The father of Mugruth." [p.600] He was the bishop for 32 years, the mayor, the president of Deseret Agricultural Society and a patriarch. Besides being a director of the National Woolgrowers Association, he was president of the Alberta Woolgrowers Association, and in the sheep business for thirty-seven years. The rugged Canadian winter of 1919 put Levi out of the sheep business. The snows came early in September while the great wheat fields were still in the shock. The snows covered the ranges. Levi bought up numerous wheat fields, had his sheep brought by train into the fields, but the snows continued and the winter was long and hard. When spring finally came, Levi had lost over 30,000 sheep and most of his worldly wealth. Bishop Levi Harker brought fame to the fairs and stock shows. He improved the breeds of animals in all the surrounding region with his purebred stock. He imported Percheron horses and French coach horses from France. He imported purebred Suffolk sheep and thoroughbred race horses from England, and Jersey cattle from the United States. He would attend the stock shows in Chicago, decide what he wanted and send for them. He brought shepherds with their trained dogs from Scotland to care for his sheep, and a gardener from England. Magrath was called the garden city of Western Canada. Levi Harker was a man of many talents, a financial success, a great church leader, a dedicated civic leader, primarily a great stockman, yet a very reverent, humble man. He was called "Bishop Harker" in the Wool-growers Association in Toronto with as much reverence as he received in his own congregation.—Stella H. Richards

Church
LDS Biographical Encyclopedia vol 4 p.708
At a conference held in Great Salt Lake City April 6, 1850, he[Simeon Howd] was appointed first counselor to Joseph Harker in the presidency of the Priests' Quorum, which position he held until he was called in 1851 to assist in establishing settlements in "Little Salt Lake Valley," Iron County, Utah.

Our Pioneer Heritage Vol 2 p. 435
In March, 1849, Mr. Chesney was called to act as a counselor to Joseph Harker, president of the Priests' quorum in Great Salt Lake City and was so sustained at conferences in Salt Lake City on April 6th and September 8th, 1850.