For many people, the Intermountain West’s great pioneer trail is a significant historical event in their personal and family heritage. Many had ancestors who walked more than 1,000 miles from the Missouri River to these mountain valleys. Among those for whom that trail was particularly difficult were the children. In their tender innocence, they walked day after day, trusting in the faith of their parents. As great struggles make great heroes, so too have those early pioneers become legendary across the generations for their faith, courage, and determination. The price they paid for freedom, faith, and a new beginning is lodged deep in the heart of their posterity, who look back to them with reverence, respect, and determination of their own to be more like them. If those of us who live now forget what they did, we will lose a precious treasure. Many died before they reached the mountains; perhaps the most meaningful and poignant of those deaths were those of the many children who never made it to the end. This book is about the trail and those who sacrificed all to conquer it, especially the children. Editors: Dennis Lyman and Glenn Rawson