Joseph Smith last summer that he contemplated a removal west; and from what I learned from him and others at that time I think if he had lived he would have begun to move in the matter before this time. I would be willing to exert all my feeble abilities and influence to further your views in this respect if it was the wish of your people.
I would suggest a matter in confidence. now offers a field for the prettiest enterprise that has been undertaken in modern times. It is but sparsely inhabited and by none but the Indian or imbecile mexican spaniard. I have not enquired enough to know how strong it is in men and means. But this we know that if conquered from , that country is so physically weak and morally [p. [343]]
In late February 1844 JS assigned the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to oversee an expedition that would explore California and Oregon as possible sites of settlement. An objective in organizing the Council of Fifty was “to look to some place where we can go and establish a Theocracy either in Texas or Oregon or somewhere in California &c.” (JS, Journal, 20 Feb. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Mar. 1844.)