Chickadee

 

The first wave of Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake valley in the summer of 1847. They immediately set to planting crops, because they’d have only the food they’d brought with them until their first harvest. But swarms of crickets descended on their fields the following May. If not for the hordes of seagulls that devoured the crickets, our ancestors might have pushed on and built Zion where San Diego or San Francisco are today. It’s a tale I’ve heard since I was a sunbeam. There’s even a monument to the miracle on Temple Square, or at least there was until the renovation project started. But if you try to find any evidence it really happened – a letter or diary entry from the time it occurred – you’ll just be disappointed. There have been several similar infestations since then, without any help from the gulls. Without any corroboration, this lovely story looks a lot like a faith-promoting rumor.