The initially favorable reaction to the valley was ignored as leaders maintained that the Wasatch Oasis had been a desert just like the desert areas the settlers were encouraged to occupy. To convince prospective settlers that they could successfully occupy the marginal sites of the Southwest, the leaders in their public statements transformed the Mormon perception of the Salt Lake Valley. Because the regions to the south were arid and only marginal for settlement, the leaders faced a constant struggle in convincing migrants they should attempt their settlement. Believing it was too cold for crops north of that boundary, Mormon leaders directed their settlement efforts southward from the Salt Lake Valley for three decades. The central feature of the leaders'perception was the idea that the division between the then Oregon and California territories at the 42 parallel marked a climatic divide. The leaders selected the Salt Lake Valley as a destination on the basis of reports of explorers, and their perception of the region was formed before they ever saw the West. The distribution of Mormon settlements in the Great Basin is the result of the environmental perception of the Mormon leaders.
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