Tag Archives: Echo Canyon

The Utah War – Diplomacy Prevails

29 Monday Jan 2018

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2018-01-05 07.37.33

The Utah War – Diplomacy Prevails

By February 1858, misunderstandings began to clear away. Colonel Thomas L. Kane, a friend of the Mormons, met in Washington with President Buchanan and tried to work out a peaceful settlement. Kane traveled via Panama and California to Salt Lake, where he met with Brigham Young, who agreed to let Governor Cumming enter Salt Lake without the U.S. Army. Colonel Kane then went to Camp Scott with that message. He was not well received by Colonel Johnston, who arrested him as a spy. Nevertheless, Colonel Kane was successful in convincing Colonel Johnston to allow Governor Cumming to travel with him to Salt Lake, without the Army.

Kane and Cumming were escorted through Echo Canyon by members of the Utah Militia. They were taken through at night to impress Cumming with the fortifications. Bonfires were lit along the mountain ledges to illuminate the high, overhanging walls. The scene was made more ominous by the sharply spoken demands, counter-signs, the clanking of arms, and a campfire. After a group of Militia at the first check point had engaged the incoming Governor, they were (unbeknownst to the Governor) directed to hurry down to the next checkpoint. The Governor was again confronted in military fashion by many of the same people. After a third similar confrontation, the group was allowed to move on to Salt Lake, arriving there on April 7, 1858. Later, Cumming was displeased about his having been deceived.

Governor Cumming was accepted by the people as the new governor and reported the true state of affairs to Washington. President Buchanan sent a peace commission of three men to Salt Lake City who arrived on June 7, 1858, with a pardon from President Buchanan. Brigham Young accepted the pardon. On June 26, 1858, 3,000 soldiers of the U.S. Army, commanded by Colonel Johnston, passed peacefully through Salt Lake and established Camp Floyd, 40 miles south of the City. By mid-1861, the soldiers of the U.S. Army had left Utah Territory to participate in the Civil War.

This is part of a cluster of S.U.P. Historic Markers, #185-A, 185-B, 185-C, 185-D located at the eastbound rest stop in I-80 in Echo Canyon.   For other S.U.P. Historic Markers see this page.

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The Utah War – Fortifying Echo Canyon

29 Monday Jan 2018

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2018-01-05 07.37.33

The Utah War – Fortifying Echo Canyon

By October 1, 1857, 1,300 men of the Utah Militia were stationed in the Echo Canyon narrows, and by December, the Militia had grown to about 2,000 men. During that brief period (about 2 months for most of the men), the Militia constructed breastworks up on the sides of the cliffs, dug trenches, dammed the creek, built mounds, and constructed “Wickiup City,” which consisted of a few log houses and some tents, but mostly “wickiups” made of poles, willows, and grass with dirt roofs.

With the U.S. Army wintered down at Camp Scott in Wyoming, all but 58 of the Militiamen returned to their homes until the following spring of 1858. Those remaining were to guard the outpost and watch for further movement of the U.S. Army.

Fortifications:

  • Breastworks: Stone walls were built on ledges of the cliffs to protect Militiamen from enemy fire. They were constructed of uncut stones without mortar, 2- to 4-feet high. At least 14 visible breastworks are located in a 1⁄2-mile stretch.
  • Entrenchments: Three impassable military ditches were dug across the entire bottom of Echo Canyon. The trenches were 350 feet apart, and when filled with water, were 12 feet wide and 6 feet deep.
  • Dirt Walls: Between the ditches were parallel dirt walls, mounds, and breastworks of rocks and dirt for protection and movement of Militiamen.
  • Zigzag trench: A large, 500-foot-long, zigzag trench was built high on the south side of the canyon to protect Militiamen from enemy fire.
  • The dam: A 30-foot-wide and 16-foot-high dam was constructed 1⁄2-mile down the canyon from the last ditch for the purpose of backing up the creek. The Army was forced to travel directly below the cliffs so rocks could be dropped on them.

This is part of a cluster of S.U.P. Historic Markers, #185-A, 185-B, 185-C, 185-D located at the eastbound rest stop in I-80 in Echo Canyon.   For other S.U.P. Historic Markers see this page.

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The Utah War – The Mormon Response

29 Monday Jan 2018

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2018-01-05 07.37.33

The Utah War – The Mormon Response

The U.S. Army was well along its way to Utah when Brigham Young learned it was coming. Church leaders held a council and decided to call out the Utah Militia. The first objective was to detain the U.S. Army in the Fort Bridger area over the winter. The second objective was to fortify Echo Canyon, and in the spring, stop the U.S. Army’s progress into Utah.

Major Lot Smith and others of the Utah Militia were dispatched to the area east of Fort Bridger to escort incoming Mormon immigrants and to disrupt the advance of the U.S. Army. While there, the Militia burned 74 U.S. Army supply wagons and their cargoes. They also burned Fort Bridger and Fort Supply, which were owned by the Mormon Church. Because of this opposition, the U.S. Army was forced to spend the winter at Camp Scott, which the army constructed near Fort Bridger.

The last 35 miles of the Army’s march from present- day Granger, Wyoming, to present-day Fort Bridger, Wyoming, were in a blinding snowstorm, with temperatures as low as minus 23° Fahrenheit. The Army lost 3,000 head of cattle, and 70 of 120 horses died. With such a shortage of horses, soldiers pulled the wagons 4 miles to gather wood needed for their fires.

This is part of a cluster of S.U.P. Historic Markers, #185-A, 185-B, 185-C, 185-D located at the eastbound rest stop in I-80 in Echo Canyon.   For other S.U.P. Historic Markers see this page.

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The Utah War – U.S. Army Sent West

29 Monday Jan 2018

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2018-01-05 07.37.33

The Utah War – U.S. Army Sent West

In May of 1857, President James Buchannan ordered a United States Army of 2,500 men to march to Utah. The army was commanded by Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston. His assignment was to quell reported difficulties between appointed government officials and Brigham Young, governor of the territory. The following spring, 500 additional soldiers were sent to join Colonel Johnston, giving him an army of 3,000 men to confront the Utah Militia. Sending the U.S. Army out west was a result of falsehoods concerning the conditions in Utah, lack of communication, and politics. Accompanying the army was Alfred Cumming, who had been appointed to replace Brigham Young as governor.

This is part of a cluster of S.U.P. Historic Markers, #185-A, 185-B, 185-C, 185-D located at the eastbound rest stop in I-80 in Echo Canyon.   For other S.U.P. Historic Markers see this page.

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Echo Canyon – Eastbound Rest Area

29 Monday Jan 2018

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2018-05-31 08.03.04

Echo Canyon – Eastbound Rest Area

This is the rest stop near the mouth of Echo Canyon for eastbound travel, westbound is on this page.

There is a restroom and a small hiking path, some friendly potguts who like to beg for food and a cluster of historic markers:

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The Echo Canyon Breastworks

26 Friday Jan 2018

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2015-09-22 17.19.03

The Echo Canyon Breastworks

The Echo Canyon Breastworks were constructed in August of 1857 under the direction of General Daniel H. Wells, commander of the Mormon Militia. They were set atop high cliffs where they would provide the greatest strategic advantage against possible attack by Johnson’s Army during the war 1857-58. This 2500 man force was sent to the territory by President James Buchanan to silence what was perceived to be a rebellion by the Mormons. The dry masonry walls constructed of uncut stones stacked in random courses without mortar were two feet above ground and four to twelve feet in length. These fortifications stretched some twelve miles along the narrowest sections of the canyon. These breastworks were part of a larger offensive network that included plans to dam the creek to force the troops against the canyon wall where the breastworks are located, and large trenches across the canyon to impede the passage of horses and men. More than twelve hundred men worked together completing the breastworks on the cliffs in a matter of a few weeks. However, the peaceful resolution of the Utah War in the early summer of 1858 rendered the fortifications unnecessary.

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Pony Express Station – Weber

15 Thursday Sep 2016

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Captain Albert Tracy on April 7, 1860 reported that the station at the mouth of Echo Canyon was being used for a system of relays known as the “Pony Express.”  The next day he was passed by Dave, the Express Boy, on his Kentucky Racer going east in a snow storm.  John Ridge in July 1861 stated that a good supper can be had at Weber Station.

James E. Bromley, division superintendent from Pacific Springs, Wyoming to Salt lake City for the Pony Express Company settled at this site.

Originally there were two wood buildings at the site, the station and the stables.  More substantial buildings were built later to serve the stage line and then the railroad.  These original two buildings stood at this site.  Later on Echo City was laid out by the Union Pacific Railroad.

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Castle Rock, Utah

23 Monday Nov 2015

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In 1860 a pony express station was built here which started the town. A school was built in 1872 and continued until 1937.

The site of the former town of Castle Rock and the former Pony Express Station is at N 41.11238 W 111.20466, a little down the canyon from the current junkyard and freeway exit with the same name.

Head of Echo Canyon(*)

The station at the head of Echo Canyon was also known as Frenchies and Castle Rock. It was a contract station on the Pony Express and Stage route. Jabusch believes that the station originally stood in the abandoned town called Castle Rock, which was located about a mile and a half down the canyon from the present junk yard site known as Castle Rock. The structure was apparently built of logs, and after being sold to a French trapper in 1867, was moved up to the canyon to the junk yard site, owned in recent years by the late Curtis Moore.Traveler and author Horace Greeley did not enjoy the ride through Echo Canyon. His description:

“The canyon reminded me afresh that evil and good are strongly interwoven in our earthly lot. Throughout the desolate region which stretches from the Sweetwater River nearly or quite to Bridger, we had in the main the best natural road I ever traveled…. But in this fairly-grassed ravine, hemmed in by steep, picturesque bluffs… we found the ‘going decidedly bad,’ and realized that in the dark it could not be but dangerous.”

Burton, who often found little to praise on the western frontier, seemed to be fascinated with the “picturesque bluffs.” Despite a team of unbroken and rather fractious mules he wrote,

“A whole Petra was there, a system of projecting prisms, pyramids, and pagoda towers, a variety of form that enabled you to see whatever your peculiar vanity might be; columns, porticoes, facades and pedestals. Twin lines of bluffs, a succession of buttresses all fretted and honey-combed, a double row of steeples slipped from perpendicularity, frowned at each other across the gorge. And the wondrous variety was yet more varied by the kaleidoscopic transformation caused by change of position: at every different point the same object bore a different aspect.”Echo Canyon has but one fault: its sublimity will make all other similar features look tame.”

Back to the southeast, and unfortunately on private land, one finds the well-known trail landmark called Cache Cave. The cave was a popular camping spot on the emigrant trail, and, high up on the cave walls where livestock cannot rub, the names of many Mormon Pioneers can still be seen.Information provided by Patrick Hearty, NPEA Utah, 2005.