Why Mormons moved to Salt Lake City?

Answer 1

Several years earlier, before Joseph Smith was murdered, he had prophesied that the Latter-day Saints would have to move west to the Rocky Mountains to flee persecution. Because of this prophesy, Brigham Young knew to lead them west. He had seen the Salt Lake Valley in particular in a vision, and insisted they continue traveling until God lead them there. When Brigham Young first saw the valley as they came over the mountains, he said "This is the right place." And once they got down into the valley, he put his walking stick in the ground and said "Here we will build the temple of our God." That very spot is now one of the corners of the Salt Lake Temple.

The Church members then and now believe that this Temple is a fulfillment of the prophesy of Isaiah in Isaiah 2:2 which says "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains..." The Temple is considered the House of the Lord, and the word "Utah" literaly means "top of the mountains" in the language of the native Ute indians.

You forgot to mention a key part in the decision to move to Utah. The Mormons were given information concerning the Salt Lake valley from Father Pierre DeSmet, a Belgian Catholic Missionary who traveled the west before the Mormons were ever even there. Through his description of the area the Mormons decided to move there.

Answer 2

The Mormons moved to what is now Utah because they had been kicked out of New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois due to their religious beliefs. In each of these places they faced severe persecution, and they were in search of a place where they could practice their religion in peace.

Answer 3

The Salt Lake Temple was built for several reasons, I suppose.

The first would probably be that the Saints had to abandon previous temples in Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois and temple sites in Missouri. They needed a place in their new home in which to perform the sacred Temple Ordinances.

Second would be because Brigham Young, the prophet at the time, directed them to. He saw the Temple in a vision and described to them how and where it was to be built.

Another reason could be because it was prophesied in the Old Testament. For example, Isaiah 2:2 says "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains..."