By October conference 1849 the Church had been established in the Salt Lake Valley for over two years, and the Saints were prospering. There were few poor reported among them. Increased attention was turned toward the eight thousand Saints still on the plains and on the thousands of European members who wished to gather to Zion but were financially unable to do so. (By 1851 there were over fifty thousand Saints in the British Isles alone.)
During Conference $5,000 was raised toward creation of a Perpetual Emigrating Fund. The money was loaned to impoverished emigrants on the promise they would repay the amount so that otheres might benefit from the fund.
This painting, "Embarkation of the Saints at Liverpool," portrays the ship "Ellen Maria" preparing to sail from Liverpool, England for America on February 1, 1851.
The Perpetual Emigrating Fund was later characterized as "the only successful privately organized emigration system of the period." (W.S. Shepperson, British Emigration to North America, 1951)
