After traveling for 1300 miles across the western frontier, at noon on July 24, 1847, the Brigham Young arrived at Emigrant Pass in Utah Territory. From the top of the canyon he looked over the Salt Lake Valley and made his famous statement: "This Is The Right Place." Over the next few years 60,000 Mormon pioneers would emigrate to the Salt Lake Valley from all over the world.
Today, "This is the Place Heritage Park" at the base Emigration Canyon contains numerous monuments and an entire reconstructed historical village.
In 1845, it required about six months to send mail from from the east coast to California, so on January 27, 1860 a group of entrepreneurs formed the Pony Express to carry mail from Missouri to California in only 10 days.
Using 200 riders and about 500 Mustang horses, the first mail run left Missouri on April 3, 1860. Although the Pony Express captured the imagination of people around the world, it only lasted eighteen months and was put out of business on October 26, 1861 when the Transcontinental Telegraph was completed. The reconstructed Pony Express station that was on display at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics has now been relocated to the Park.
One of the longest infantry marches in the U.S. history was made by the Mormon Battalion in 1846. President James K. Polk asked Brigham Young for 500 men to help with the Mexican War, so on July 15, 1846, 513 men, 33 women and 42 children left Council Bluffs (Iowa), for California - a 2,030 mile march. Although they suffered from lack of food, water, and raiment, they built the first wagon road from Santa Fe (New Mexico) to the Pacific Ocean, which opened the entire Southwest for settlement. On January 29, 1847, the battalion arrived in San Diego; but the war was over, so most of the battalion turned around and marched to Utah.
Not all of the Mormon Pioneers traveled overland to the Salt Lake Valley. On February 4, 1846, 70 men, 68 women, and 100 children boarded the ship Brooklyn and sailed 24,000 miles around Cape Horn to San Francisco (California). They then blazed the Mormon-Carson Trail across the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the Salt Lake Valley. The trail was later used by the Forty-Niners coming to California.
The Journey's End" monument is dedicate to the Mormon Handcart Pioneers who "exemplified sacrifice, courage, determination, and unwavering fairy" by pulling handcarts 1300 miles to the Salt Lake Valley.
The main monument entitled This is the Place contains a number of historic panels and statues that represent historical events and people that reached the Salt Lake Valley.
There is also a free museum in the visitor center that contains a number of interesting exhibits and a movie about the Westward migration.
In 1858 there was a rumor that there was going to be a Mormon rebellion against the United States, so President James Bucanan sent one-third of the U.S. Army to Utah Territory to build Camp Floyd and suppress the rumored rebellion. There was never any rebellion: but at its height of its growth, the estimated population of Camp Floyd was 7,000 people, making it the third largest city in Utah Territory and the largest military installation in the United States. Today, all that remains of Camp Floyd is the original Commissary Building (now a museum) and the cemetery.
Located across the creek from Camp Floyd in the community of Fairfield, which contains the Stagecoach Inn and the Fairfield District Schoolhouse. The Stagecoach Inn was constructed to serve travelers associated with Camp Floyd and is now part of the Utah State Park System. Our Grandchildren were especially impressed with the bullet hole through a bedroom wall. Apparently, a traveler's rifle accidentally discharged, just missing the head of the person in the next room.
The District One-Room School is similar to the one that I attended for grades 1-8, except this District School is much larger and nicer.
On the way back to Lehi we followed the Pony Express Trail, which is now a really nice paved bike path; so Sophia wants to follow the trail on her new bike. Next time I will have to bring my bike and hope that I can keep up with her!
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| Picture Courtesy of Sophia |
And not too far down the street in American Fork is a Stonehenge replica!
One evening we were privileged to attend the Lone Peak High School Commencement Exercises that were held at the Merritt Center on the Campus of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. I am just thankful that I did not have to compete with this graduating class when I went to high school.
Lone Peak is "A World Class High School" that graduates some of the best students in the State. The high school won the Best of State - K-12 Public School Award for the second year in a row and the 2017 graduating class was offered a total of $9,088,123 in scholarships.
We were also able to attend a production of Twelfth Night at the Renaissance Academy,
Although we wee not able to attend the ceremony in California, at the end of the 2017 school year Ashley received Certificates of Recognition from her school for: Outstanding Athlete Award - Girls' Basketball, Top Female Athlete Award, and Top Student Award in Physical Education. Way to go Ashley!!
Time to head north for more adventures!
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