(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Maxwell, Dillon, author
In Mid-September 1857, a wagon train of 120 men, women, and children headed to California were killed by Mormon Militiamen in southwestern Utah. The Militiamen spared none except several small children. The discussion on Mountain Meadows has been focused on cultural and social causes, while the environment sits as a backdrop. Amidst these social tensions, drought and erratic weather helped push the violence at Mountain Meadows in motion. For this I used an interdisciplinary methodology which included secondary historic literature, desert ecological studies, rangeland studies, and PDSI index maps.
