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Southwest Corner

Lehi City was incoprorated on 5 February 1852, making it Utah’s sixth oldest community.  The peopling of Utah Valley by Mormon settlers was followed by two decades of tumultuous relations with Native Americans.  The area was the ancestral homeland of Ute Indians.  For centuries they had dwelt around Utah Lake, fishing, hunting, and harvesting native plants for food.  Their way of life was dramatically upended by the arrival of white settlers.

Mormons believed that Indians were a “remnant of scattered Israel,” a fallen race whose ancestors history was outlined in the Book of Mormon.  Utah Territorial Governor Brigham Young initially viewed Native Americans as “people of destiny” whom Latter-day Saints were obligated to redeem.  But his position changed after unending disputes with Native Americans who were forced by starvation to raid white settlements for food.  Ultimately, Indians in Utah Valley fared no better than they did elsewhere in America.  All Utes were removed from the area by 1865.

During the Walker War of 1854 Lehi settlers were advised by Mormon church leaders to “fort up.”  Eventually the sixteen-block Lehi City was surrounded with a eight-foot high protective adobe wall 7m425 feet in lengh.  After 1858 the wall, no longer needed, began to deteriorate.  The last remaining section was demolished in 1905.

Interpretive markers at the other corners of the historic fort wall may be seen at 400 West/100 North, Center/100 North, and 300 South/Center.