Description

Miracle of the Seagulls

In the spring of 1848, pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley eagerly planted their crops. However, late frosts killed some of the plants and a lack of rain killed more of them. Then crickets came and attacked the plants that were needed for food to sustain them through the winter months. For two weeks, the pioneers did everything they could think of to fight the insects. The stake president finally asked the Saints to hold a special day of fasting and prayer. The answer to their prayers came on a clear summer afternoon, when great flocks of screaming seagulls descended.

Jesse Nathaniel Smith was a witness to this and wrote about what has come to be known as the miracle of the seagulls:

“Our corn and vegetables were large enough to show the rows nicely when the crickets appeared and commenced sweeping all before them in the way of [the] crops. We first turned the water in the ditches around the fields, but found that the crickets pushed boldly into the water without hesitancy or turning their course. Where the water was swift, they were washed down a long distance, but generally managed to reach the opposite bank. After lying in the sunshine awhile, [they] would fall to again, with as good an appetite as before. It seemed impossible to drown them, as they would recover after being a long time underwater.

They were very voracious, eating every green thing within their reach, but showing some preference for the dead or disabled of their own number….We endeavored to make headway against this new enemy, armed with sticks and clubs. All the people near us, male and female, turned out [to help]. We first went around outside the fields and killed enough [of the crickets] for the others to eat while we went over the patches, row by row, and killed all we saw. When we began again at the border, a little before dusk, the creatures went to roost upon the bushes or clustered under [dirt] clods for the night, only to renew the attack as soon as the sun appeared above the mountains. It was wearisome work contending against such fearful odds, but help was near.

We had thus fought ….[for] days, when great flocks of while gulls from beyond the lake appeared in our fields. Finding they made common cause with us against the crickets, we withdrew and left to them the honors. Their appetite for the crickets seemed as great as that of the crickets for our growing crops…., for when the gulls had filled themselves, they would seek the water ditches, and after drinking, disgorge themselves upon the ground and immediately return to fill themselves again…. In a few days, the crickets were exterminated, and the gulls withdrew toward the setting sun to return no more. Can it be wondered that we looked with affection upon our deliverers, with their pretty eyes and dainty feet? They saved the crops for the infant colony.”

In honor of this miracle, the seagull monument was erected on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1913. It shows two bronze seagulls on top of a granite column. On it are four raised panels that tell the story of the crickets and the seagulls. On one of the four raised panels it says, “Erected in grateful remembrance of the mercy of God to the Mormon pioneers.”

Prayers are not always answered in the way we expect. Even the most unlikely help, sent as common birds, can be an instrument in the Lord’s hands to help and preserve his children.

Source:

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWCX-4KH The Journal of Jesse Nathaniel Smith 1834-1906. Second printing 1997. P.13

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/crickets-and-seagulls?lang=eng