“The Upper California” was written by John Taylor and first sung at the 18 March 1845 meeting of the Council of Fifty. Though it originally consisted of only a single verse, Taylor possibly expanded the text during this meeting, as there was no mention of the revised lyrics when Snow sang it at the beginning of the session. The extended version was published as a broadside between 1845 and 1850 and was later included in Latter-day Saint hymnals. Another variation of the lyrics appeared in the 7 May 1845 issue of the Nauvoo Neighbor. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 18 Mar. 1845; Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:335; “Another Expedition,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 7 May 1845, [2].)

Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.