the jurisdiction of the we are safe, for the present, and that is all we ask. But in regard to our final location, it was Josephs mind that the head of was the place for us where we could have commercial advantages, but he also proposed other places for our consideration, but that was his mind. As to the distance we have brethren in the church who have ships that we can have to bring the saints in from all parts of the world. As to suffering any more of the oppression and tyranny of the gentiles, he is just bent, and sworn to it, that just so soon as we can secure our women and children and put them where they will be safe, we will put our warriors into the field and never cease our operations untill we have swept the scoundrels off from the face of the earth. In regard to the course these brethren shall take [p. [140]]
In 1848 Brigham Young proposed that the Council of Fifty “plant a colony at the head of the Gulf,” referring to the Gulf of California (another name for California Bay). During the discussion that followed, Thomas Bullock likewise identified the gulf as the location favored by JS. Bullock related that “the first time he heard this subject touched upon it was by Joseph Smith He had his finger on the very place on the map. . . . Joseph said while his finger was on the map pointing to the Gulph he wanted to take this people to a place where they would live and not die.” (Minutes, 6 Dec. 1848, Council of Fifty, Papers, 1844–1885, CHL.)