09 Friday Sep 2016
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized April 6th, 1830 and Missionaries first arrived in North Eastern Mississippi in 1839, here at Mormon Springs many converts to the church were baptized, using stones to dam the stream they made a baptismal font just to the east of the ford that crossed the stream…..
From this site the first Mississippi Saints left for their trek west…
02 Tuesday Dec 2014
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Emigration Canyon, historic, Mormon Pioneers, Parley's Canyon, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, utah
From the late 1840s through 1860s an exodus of more than 70,000 Mormons passed by here on their way to their “New Zion” in Utah. Starting from Nauvoo, Illinois in February 1846, the first group of at least 13,000 Mormons crossed into Iowa to escape religious persecution, then spent the next winter in the area of present-day Council Bluffs, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska.
In 1847, Brigham Young led an advance party of 143 men, 2 women, and 3 children along the Platte River. At Fort Bridger, Wyoming they departed from the Oregon Trail to head southwest to the Great Salt Lake. Thousands of other Mormons soon followed. Today, a marked 1,624-mile auto tour route closely parallels their historic trek.
Many Mormon emigrants wrote diaries to describe their experiences. After arriving, the Mormon pioneers set up communities and ferry crossings along the trail to assist later wagon trains going to and from Utah.
From 1856-60, many European converts walked more than 1,200 miles to Salt Lake City pushing and pulling handcarts loaded with 500 pounds of supplies. After 1860, the Mormon church sponsored oxen-drawn wagons to bring emigrants to the “New Zion.”
01 Monday Dec 2014
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Emigration Canyon, historic, Historic Markers, Mormon Pioneers, Parley's Canyon, Salt Lake County, utah
Camp Grant
Here, August 18-20, 1846, the Donner-Reed Party (87 in party) camped while cutting a road over Little Mountain and down Emigration Canyon because they found (Parleys Canyon) too rugged. The journal of James Reed states, “Lay in camp in neat little valley, fine water, good grass, while all hands this day (August 19-20) are west side of small mountain clearing road to valley.” Although the first company of Mormon Pioneers had to greatly improve the road for succeeding wagon trains, they acknowledged with gratitude the work performed by the Donner Party, cutting this road over the Wasatch range from Henefer to the Salt Lake Valley. This camp was later used by thousands. This camp is named after Jedediah M. Grant, whose company was the last one of 11 companies (approximately 2,095 pioneers) to arrive in the Salt Lake valley by October 2, 1847, the last of the season. He was also the first mayor of Salt Lake City, 1851 until his death 1856. This monument refurbished and dedicated September 5, 1984 by the Holladay and Potomac-Maryland Chapters, Sons of Utah Pioneers. Replaces the original plaque erected May 1958 by the “Mormon” Explorers Y M M I A.”
See other historic markers in the series on this page for SUP Markers.
28 Friday Nov 2014
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Emigration Canyon, Mormon Pioneers, Parley's Canyon, Pioneer Trail, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County
The last mountain pass on the Mormon Pioneer Trail near the end of a dreary thousand mile trek from the Missouri River to the Great Salt Lake Valley, can be seen northwest from this point. Thankfully called by the first company of Pioneers “Last Mountain” it was later known as Little Mountain pass and descended into Emigration Canyon from which they entered their Promised Land on July 24, 1847 under the leadership of Brigham Young. About 2,000 other settlers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley the same year. In all, more than 80,000 Mormon emigrants followed this old trail before the coming of the railroad in 1869. Of these, approximately 6,000 lie buried along the way in unmarked graves. The first road down Parley’s Canyon was opened in 1850 by Parley P. Pratt, but after a short time fell into disuse. About 15 years later it was reopened as the main eastern gateway to the Salt Lake Valley.
