in june 1847, brannan went to green river, wyoming, to meet with brigham young, who was the head of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. young was leading a group of mormons to the great basin area. brannan wanted young to bring the mormons to california, but young wanted to stay in utah. brannan wasn't happy about that, and went back to california. brannan was the only church leader in california, so the mormons paid him their tithes (a small part of their money). but there is no record of brannan sending the money to his church leaders in utah, so it's possible that he kept it for himself. many members stopped paying him and moved to the salt lake valley, where most of the other mormons were.