Talk:John R. Murdock (Mormon)

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[edit] Down and Back Companies

This article needs to define what a "Down and Back Company" is. Without some sort of context, it's impossible to assess how notable this is. I would add it but I don't know what it is. –SESmith 04:56, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Down and back companies where 1860's era wagon trains that left Utah in the spring with exports to be sold in the East/Midwest and returned in the summer/fall with new migrants to Utah. Also called "Out-and-Back Companies" in some sources.

References:

• http://www.lds.org/library/pio_sto/Pioneer_Trail/20_Chimney_Rock.html
• http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/EstZion/zionch16.htm
• http://overlandtrails.lib.byu.edu/mtrail.htm
• http://mormonhistoricsitesfoundation.org/publications/studies_spring2003/MHS_Spring2003_Green%20River%20Drownings.pdf
• Hartley, William G. “Down-and-Back Wagon Trains: Travelers on the Mormon Trail in 1861.” Overland Journal 11 (No. 4, 1993): 23–34.
• Hartley, William G. “Brigham Young’s Overland Trails Revolution: The Creation of the ‘Down-and-Back’ Wagon-Train System, 1860–61.” Journal of Mormon History 28, no. 1 (2002): 1–30.

-- 159.182.1.4 16:20, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Also note that this effort is notable, as it was one of the primary modes of transport for Saints heading Utah, fitting squarely between the end of handcart usage & the subsequent arrival of the railroad. -- 159.182.1.4 18:46, 6 July 2007 (UTC)