The miracle of the gulls

Latter-day Saint tradition holds that in the spring of 1848 flocks of seagulls descended on the crickets devouring the Mormon pioneers' first full crops in the Salt Lake Valley and saved them from famine.

1848 CE · 40.77, -111.89 · status: disputed

The account

The story became a cornerstone of Utah identity: the California gull is the state bird, and the Seagull Monument stands on Temple Square (1913).

The sceptical view

Gulls did eat crickets that year, but contemporary diaries treat it as welcome rather than miraculous, and the harvest was still poor; the miracle framing grew later.

Connections in the atlas

• The Three Nephites in Utah

Sources

1. Wikipedia: Miracle of the gulls