Kane County: the legend behind the name
What began as a road trip across the Midwest revealed a pivotal chapter in American history and unexpected connections between places separated by distance and time.
When I reached the Front Range, I had to decide - should I take the southerly route through Kansas crossing the Missouri River near St. Louis, or the northerly route across Nebraska crossing the river at Council Bluffs? Consecutive storm tracks were spawning deadly tornadoes from Oklahoma to Illinois, so I opted for Nebraska hoping to skirt the storms. At the time, it didn’t occur to me that Brigham Young faced a similar choice 180 years earlier when he led the Latter-day Saints out of Nauvoo and into an uncertain future.
Young chose to travel through Iowa Territory because the good folks of Missouri held a grudge and promised to greet them with violence if they crossed the state line. The exodus began in February and on June 14, 1846, Brigham Young and the advance camp arrived at Council Bluffs on the east bank of the Missouri River. The river was wide and deep, the current fast, and the ferry inadequate to transport wagons and livestock to the other side. Young needed a plan and a large flatboat ferry; the Saints needed time to recover from the journey and replenish supplies for the next leg of their epic journey.
Enter Thomas Leiper Kane–a well-connected lawyer familiar with the Mormon’s plight. Kane arrived at Council Bluffs in July with assurances from Washington that Young and his people could camp on federally- administered land in exchange for 500 men to serve in support of the war effort. The recruits received a clothing allowance, military wages and government support west to California; the Church received federal recognition of their loyalty to the United States which Young used to counter detractors.
Over the years, Kane remained an influential advocate, adviser and intermediary between Brigham Young and the federal government, and in 1864, the newly established Kane County was named in honor of his service. When I returned to Kanab on June 14, 2026, the connection between people and places over time brought to mind the words of T. S. Elliot, “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
