A New Beginning...

A New Beginning.... Morrisite Settlement. Claiming to have received "revelations" to warn Mormon leader Brigham Young that he was "wandering from the right course," a Welshman named Joseph Morris came under rebuke in 1862 for speaking out against Mormon doctrines. Growing hostilities prompted Morris to move to a site on Utah's Webber River where he and some 500 followers established a settlement. , Still sensing animosity for their reformed beliefs, many of the Morrisites chose relocation to a new military outpost on the north bank of the Bear River. One hundred and sixty men , women, and children from the Mormon dissidents founded the settlement of Morristown, in the spring of 1863. , By the 1870s, the loss of military protection and support, several seasons of successive crop losses, and a series of extremely cold winters began to take its toll. Many of the Morrisites moved away, while some were able to sell their parcels to miners and new Mormon settlers in the area. Today most of the old settlement is under the waters of Alexander Reservoir. , Touted as one of the oldest settlements in the state. Morristown and Camp Conner played an integral part in the early development of Soda Springs. , "Let me say again that the trail itself, those who immortalized it, the history of the town ... the band of refugees who settled the town and the associates of General Conner make for an combination not overshadowed elsewhere. -- Soda Springs Sun, May 30, 1931, at the dedication of the Memorial on U.S. 30 and Main Street.