The San Juan

MONUMENT.. to those who went before.

"And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it."

Thus wrote Isaiah centuries before white men or even Indians came to America. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that when Brigham Young looked out over the broad expanse of the valley of the Great Salt Lake and after serious contemplation said, "This is the right place," the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy began.

An entire Church, a whole people had migrated fifteen hundred miles and been transplanted in "the top of the mountains." The "Zion" of the Latter-day Saints had been temporarily moved from Missouri to the Rocky Mountains. Not since the days of Moses and the Children of Israel had there been such a migration. In point of distance history has never recorded another such mass movement.

It was on July 24, 1847, that Brigham Young and the Mormon Pioneers completed the second part of that memorable journey and entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake. The first leg of the journey had been from Nauvoo, Illinois, across Iowa to Winter Quarters (now a part of Omaha). This trek was made in 1846 after the Mormons had been driven from their homes in Nauvoo, a city they had built from a swamp in the big bend of the Mississippi River.

When Brigham Young, after viewing the Salt Lake valley intently for several minutes, turned to his companions and said, "This is the right place," the destiny of not only the Salt Lake valley and what is now the State of Utah were determined, but to a substantial degree that of the entire intermountain region and the entire western part of the United States.

From the Mormon migration stemmed the first Anglo-Saxon settlements in Arizona (Call's Landing), in Nevada (Genoa), in California (Yerba Buena), in Idaho (Fort Lemhi), in Wyoming (Fort Supply), and in Colorado (Pueblo).

With Salt Lake City as the "half-way" station and the point of supply and reorganization, immigration to every part of the West was stimulated. Thus Utah, in a sense, became the Mother State of the great Intermountain West.

These facts have seemed important enough to the people of Utah to justify the expenditure of nearly half a million dollars to commemorate that historic episode of July 24, 1847. On a hill east of Salt Lake City overlooking the entire valley, with a view of the Great Salt Lake beyond, "This is the Place" Monument is now under construction. It is to be dedicated July 24, 1947.

The site of the great monument is the mouth of Emigration Canyon through which the Mormon Pioneers emerged at the end of the thousand-mile trek of 1847 from Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to the Rocky Mountains. It is in the area where Brigham Young uttered his now history-making statement, "This is the place."

Mahonri M. Young, grandson of Brigham Young and noted American sculptor of New York City and Ridgefield, Connecticut, is the designer and sculptor of the monument. Its over-all height is to be 56 feet. The width is 85 feet. At the center pylon the width is 12 feet. Some 30 tons of bronze will be used for the 15 separate statues and groups.

Although "This is the Place" Monument commemorates primarily the coming of the Mormon Pioneers and the founding of Utah, in reality it is a sketch-history in granite and bronze of the exploration and activities of white men in the intermountain region from the advent of Fathers Escalante and Dominguez, Catholic priests and their companions, in 1776 to the coming of Brigham Young and the Mormon Pioneers in 1847.

Without regard to race, creed or color the men who made important contributions in whatever manner to the winning of this western area have been given proper recognition. People of all creeds and faiths have joined in the project. While the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-first, President Heber J. Grant, and now President George Albert Smith -has been chairman of "This is the Place" Monument Commission since its organization ten years ago, vice-chairmen have included heads of the other major religious groups.

Principal figures portrayed in the monument are the three men who played the leading roles in the historic drama of one hundred years ago. Brigham Young was the great pioneer leader. He was first in command of the Camp of Israel, as the company had been designated. Contrary to rather common belief, he was not President of the Church. He was President of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, which was the governing body of the Church pending a reorganization of the First Presidency. In December of 1847, at Council Bluffs, the First Presidency was reorganized and Brigham Young became President, succeeding Joseph Smith, first President, who had been murdered by a mob in 1844.

Heber C. Kimball, who later became first counselor to President Young, and who during the Pioneer journey was his constant adviser, is given second position of honor in the central monument group. He stands at President Young's right.

Third figure in the group that surmounts the main pylon is Wilford Woodruff, one of the Twelve Apostles, and who became the fourth President of the Church. Brigham Young, who was ill, was riding in Wilford Woodruff's carriage, which the latter was driving. This accounts for the attire of President Woodruff, who stands at Brigham Young's left. This group stands 1212 feet high, with the central figure directly facing the Salt Lake Temple, four miles to the northwest.

Forming an impressive assemblage at the end of the south wing is the Explorers group, consisting of Fathers Escalante and Dominguez, Catholic priests of the Franciscan Order, and their eight companions. Their presence in Utah in 1776 marks them as the first white men to traverse the present Utah area.

Seeking a shorter route from Santa Fe to Monterey than was then available, the exploring padres found themselves in what is now the Uintah Basin in eastern Utah in September, 1776. Far off their intended course and with winter approaching, they decided to return to Santa Fe. Father Escalante's diary is generally recognized as one of the best of the early-day records of the area he traversed.

Companion group to the Explorers is that called the Trappers. This group stands at the north wing. Led by General William H. Ashley, who started for the mountains from St. Louis in 1822, famous names of the early West shown in the Trappers group include James Bridger, Jedediah Strong Smith, William L. and Milton Sublette, David E. Jackson, Hugh Glass, Robert Campbell and Thomas Fitzpatrick. Members of this group left their names on rivers, valleys and landmarks all over the mountain country.

Other portrayals representing the period preceding the Mormon Pioneers are the Donner Party of 1846 and six individuals of outstanding historic importance.

The Donners (originally referred to as the Donner-Reed Party) contributed unintentionally but very effectively to the successful settlement of the Salt Lake Valley. Headed for California through the efforts of a "land boomer," they became one of several fragments of the original party which had left the East early in 1846.

A peculiar chain of circumstances led them to break a new trail from the Weber River valley through the Wasatch Mountains to the Salt Lake Valley. It took them thirty days to cover forty miles. Chopping through heavy willows for miles at a time, moving rocks and trees to make a road, the party reached the valley in August with men and teams exhausted.

The Mormon Pioneers the following year covered that distance in three and a half days. The importance that attaches to this saving of time is accented by the fact that the Pioneers were making all possible speed in an effort to reach the valley in time to plant potatoes and if possible to save enough seed for the following year. With the nearest source of supply one thousand miles away at the Missouri River and not only spring but summer too nearly gone, the saving of three weeks probably meant the saving of the potato seed.

The six individual statues with the reasons for their recognition on "This is the Place" Monument are: Etienne Provot, for whom Provo City, Provo River, Provo Canyon and Provo Valley were named, and one of the prominent members of the first Ashley group to explore the Salt Lake and Utah valleys. Some historians credit Provot with the discovery of Great Salt Lake, or at least with demonstrating that the huge body of salt water was a lake and not an arm of the Pacific Ocean as had been indicated by Jim Bridger who is credited with its discovery.

Peter Skene Ogden, who is honored in northern Utah as Provot is in the central part of the State, with a city, a river, a canyon and a valley carrying his name. Ogden was one of the chief officers in the northwestern part of the present United States for the Hudsons' Bay Fur Company. It was his exploration farther and farther into the interior that spurred on the American Fur Company in the struggle for supremacy in Western America between British and American fur interests.

Chief Washakie, a truly great Shoshone Chief who became a close friend of Brigham Young and a protector of the Mormon Pioneers. Born near the turn of the last century, Washakie saw the first white men come to this mountain area and lived to see his people driven on to reservations after having been deprived of their lands and hunting and fishing grounds. The old Chief lived the century out, dying in 1900 on the Wind River reservation in Wyoming near the site of the old fort which bore his name.

Captain Benjamin L. E. Bonneville, who became inseparably connected with Utah history when his name was given by Washington Irving to Utah's prehistoric lake. Bonneville had headed a scientific expedition into the mountains in 1833. He came partly to trade with the Indians, but more particularly to study their characteristics and customs for the Federal Government.

Father Pierre Jean DeSmet, a Catholic priest of the Jesuit Order, who twice figured prominently in Utah history. In 1846 he was at Winter Quarters on the Missouri River on his way east when he visited for a time with Brigham Young. During this visit, as he later wrote, "They asked me a thousand questions about the regions I had explored and the valley which I have just described pleased them greatly from the account I gave them of it."

In 1858 Father DeSmet again came to Utah; this time as chaplain with General Harney's division of Johnston's Army in the so-called Mormon "war." He came at General Harney's request and with the approval of both the Government and the Church authorities. Before he had an opportunity to render service the "war" was over and he returned to the East.

General John C. Fremont, then a captain, who came to Utah at the head of a Government expedition first in 1843. He made the first topographical survey and prepared the first map of the country in the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake. This map and the report which accompanied it were published by the Government in 1845. Both were studied by Brigham Young and his associates in the Nauvoo Temple in January of 1846, before they were driven from their homes in that city.

Returning to the main pylon and the bronze groups on the front of the monument, the "Hosannah" group occupies the honor position. Orson Pratt, head scout for the Mormon Pioneers for the entire trek, and Erastus Snow, who had just come up from the rear and joined the advance company, were the first of the Pioneers to see the valley they had looked forward to as the Zion of the latter days. As they reached the top of a steep hill and found the valley in full view before them, both shouted "Hosannah, Hosannah, Hosannah!"

On either side of the main pylon are groups of horsemen. In each group are portrayed men whose names became prominent in later years, not only in Utah, but in Arizona and other Western States. Acting as an exploring party, the nine men preceded the wagon train into the valley on July 22, 1847. Their mission was to make a general survey of the country and particularly to select a site for the "City of the Saints."

By nightfall this mission had been accomplished. On the following day, July 23, the first wagons moved to the chosen location. Subject only to the approval of their leader, the new headquarters of modern Israel had been established.

Two bas-relief designs extending across the entire front of the monument represent on the left side of the main pylon the main wagon train that entered the valley on July 22 under Willard Richards, and on the right of the pylon Brigham Young's company which entered July 24, making it the official Pioneer Day.

Granite for the monument is being taken from a quarry in Little Cottonwood Canyon, twenty-five miles southeast of Salt Lake City. The bronze is being cast in Brooklyn, New York. Dedication is planned for the morning of July 24, marking the actual centennial of the completion of a migration that has affected the lives of people in every civilized nation in the world.

"...ΤΟ THE GLORY OF GOD..."

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE compacting the mass until the whole section was perfectly solid. The story of this cannon pile-driver is another of the romantic stories of the West. According to Howard R. Driggs, this cannon was manufactured in France and was taken by Napoleon in his siege of Moscow and abandoned in his retreat from the burning city. From there it was dragged into Siberia, thence to Alaska, and finally landed at Fort Ross in California. When Sutter bought the fort, he acquired the artillery with it. Members of the Mormon Battalion, coming north after their historic march of 1846, were employed by Sutter to build a mill race, where gold was discovered. When these men decided to return to Utah, they accepted as pay from Sutter, along with other items, two brass cannon mounted on wheels. These they dragged over the northern route to Salt Lake City in 1848; in 1851 one was brought south to Parowan and thence on to St. George in 1861. Today it is mounted at the temple grounds as an item with a significant history. So one might go on. At the quarries getting out the black rock for the basement walls and the red sandstone for the building proper, 17,000 tons of rock quarried by hand, hauled by ox team, and worked into the massive building, were a faithful, resourceful crew. Walls twelve feet thick at the base formed a solid underpinning; sloped to a little less than three feet thick at the top, they were still solid and substantial. In a district where nothing taller than greasewood had grown, the problem of getting lumber was a major one. They had establishes sawmills at Pine Valley mountain where they had secured timber for their other buildings, but now they must have a supply of larger trees. These they found eighty desert miles away, on top of Mount Trumbull in Arizona. Besides the crews to cut and mill the timber, the business of transporting it in required hardy, resourceful men. They took seven days to make the trip, hauling out water and feed to cache for their return journey-seven days to bring in but one or two of the larger timbers. It is impossible to name the people to whom credit is due, so completely did all join in the undertaking. The family so poor that it could donate only a load of corn fodder to feed the oxen at the quarry, the women who bent over washboards to wash out the clothes of the workers free of charge, those sewing carpet rags or weaving cloth of which to make jeans for the workers-who shall compare the value of their contribution to that of the man who could hand over some cash and go about his regular business? Skilled workers had come here from distant points, and each gave freely of his skill. George Jarvis, for years a sailor in the English fleet, was able to make the scaffoldings by using green rawhide to splice together the uprights; Edward L. Parry, the chief stonecutter, had been trained in Wales; David Milne, the skilled decorator of the interior, was from Scotland; Robert Gardner had worked as a lumberman in the forests of Canada. This was a labor of love. They took pride in the fact that out of their own materials and skill they had created this monument to the glory of God, this tangible expression of their faith. "We intend to decorate it with the productions of our own hands," Brigham Young wrote to a missionary in 1876. "Provo Factory is making upwards of a thousand yards of beautiful lightcolored carpet for the building. Washington Factory is busily engaged making some, and the sisters of the southern settlements are busy making rag carpet for the hallways. Fringe is being made out of our Utah-produced silk for the altars and pulpits." Because other buildings were of red sandstone and this was very special, it was plastered and kept pure white. There is something symbolic in this whiteness, setting it apart from mundane uses and carrying with it an upward-reaching, ethereal quality. After seventy years it remains impressive as ever, rising like a block of light to stir the heart of the most skeptical with a feeling akin to awe. Let us not say simply that it cost nearly a million dollars; let us say, that it cost the reverent labor of a community for seven years.

The San Juan River in southeastern Utah is a tributary of the Colorado, little bad brother of a cantankerous old rascal. With its sharp tools it has carved deeply into the land, and its personality dominates the broad miles it drains. It has dug deep canyons in the red soil and in one place in its course-the Goosenecks-what it has created looks like the more inspired work of a mad artist with a hangover. Here the river travels eight miles to advance one mile in its journey to the Colorado, where it is carried down toward the sea. In that distance it runs east, north, south, west. Just can't make up its mind which way it is going. Not many people live along its path. In truth, it is quite a lonely river as far as human companionship is concerned, but the Creator has provided a lot of grand scenery to solace it in its lonely hours. This is country where there are still trails to be cut; where the roads, the few that there are, do not have much work to do. You'll never hear a train whistle but oh! boy! what country. You'll hear the wind song in the canyons and you'll see where the storm walked over the red buttes. You'll find the foot tracks of the sun burnt deep into the soil, and everywhere you look is the penmanship of the ages. Cloud shadows are ghosts, silent intruders in this land of color. You pass through the domain of the San Juan when you go from Cameron to Moab. From Monument Valley the country drains into the river. You'll find an old, old land but if you like places where too many people have not been before you, this is what you are seeking. This part of Utah is the most isolated part of America.