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Instructions:
Move the mouse around the left image to see different parts of the image.
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| Gift from A. Merlin and Alice Steed trust |
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Ottinger, an immigrant from the Milo Andrus wagon train, arrived in Salt Lake City in the Fall of 1861 with experience as a pioneer. G. Wright could have been referring to paintings such as this when he said, "Not a hundredth part of the intriguing tale has been told of the stirring drama enacted by stalwart pioneers and their stout-hearted womenfolk who carried American westward."
Ottinger has chosen to portray a Mormon pioneer train disappearing into the distance. They pass Chimney Rock in eastern Wyoming on their way to Utah Territory. To the left can be seen a buffalo skull raised on a stick marking a grave. Parents mourn the death of a loved-one. The painting is purposeful and entertaining as the pioneers "sing their way to Zion." With flute and accordion they sing the stirring Mormon ballad by John Lyon, "The Mountain Dell" as they steadily walk westward.
Away, away to the mountain dell,
The valley of the free:
Where faith has broke the tyrant's yoke,
That bound fair liberty.
We'll plow, and sow, and joyful reap,
The land our God has given;
To bless our friends, to bless our foes,
and make our home---a heaven.
No famished children there shall pine,
Not frantic mother wild,
Were seek to take that life away
She gave her infant child!
Where red men trail the buff'lo's track,
O'er mountain's desert sand---
We'll tell them of their father's acts,
Who once possessed the land.
Then while this hour of vengeance low't,
And sinners find no rest;
then hie ye home, ye Saints who roam,
Your hope is in the West!
(Millennial Star 1850, 80) |
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