It was July 1856 somewhere in Wyoming, and the Bunker handcart company was running low on food. Twenty four year old Samuel Taylor Orton soon became too weak to pull his handcart, lagging behind the company and asking the Lord to let him die. All at once, he heard a voice say, “Sam, are you here?” He recorded in a journal entry, “I turned around and answered “yes” but could see no one, which surprised me very much.” However this small incident motivated the young pioneer to get up and keep walking.
He soon caught up with the company but began asking himself just what he expected to see when he reached Salt Lake City. Why was he out here pulling a handcart on this arduous journey to Zion? After thinking it through, Brother Orton made up his mind that “if the Father and the Son did appear to the Prophet Joseph Smith and reveal the gospel unto him, and Brigham Young was his lawful successor, I wanted to see the halo of light around his head, like there was around the head of the Savior on nearly all the pictures we see.” He then put the experience from his mind and pulled his handcart the rest of the way to Salt Lake City.
The Sabbath after he arrived in the valley, Brother Orton was sitting in the old bowery waiting for church services to begin. Looking around to see if there was anyone in attendance that he knew, he saw President Brigham Young walk in. As Brother Orton looked toward the stand, he instantly and distinctly “saw President Young with the rays of light around his head.” At that moment the same voice that had spoken to him on the plains said, “Now, Sam, if ever you apostatize, here is your condemnation.” Brother Orton recorded, “I looked around me to see if the people heard it, but, I thought they did not.”