Migration has always been a problem of major importance in Utah. During early days migration to the Mormon area was known as the gathering . The concept was unusual because it included not only the searching out of those believed to be the honest in heart from many nations through an extensive missionary system, but also because it possessed an idealogy of planned building of what was expected to be superior communities (Zions) to engage the efforts and strivings of such people when brought together. It is in the development of this idealogy--this method of building a superior culture with the religious motive as the dominant permeating one--that Utah\u27s early leaders centered their efforts. The result was a picturesque cultural configuration within the larger American mold that remains distinctive
