Illustration of a group of Mormons resting before travelling westwards across America. Mormon migration in the USA took place to where their church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) had settled in Salt Lake City, Utah. The most famous example of this migration is what is known as the Mormon Trail, a route over 2000 kilometres long from Illinois to Utah. The pioneering migrations took place in the 1840s, but wagon train migrations continued even into the early 20th century, as not all migrants could afford to use the railroads that had been built from the 1870s onwards. Reproduction of a print from the 19th century.