Today is Pioneer Day here in Utah. Completing a treacherous thousand-mile exodus, an ill and exhausted Brigham Young and fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints arrived in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. The Mormon pioneers viewed their arrival as the founding of a Mormon homeland, hence Pioneer Day.
The Mormons, as they were commonly known, left their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois and journeyed West seeking refuge from religious persecution.
Determined to settle in an isolated region, the pioneers made their way across the plains and over the Rocky Mountains to Utah. (The region was Mexican territory. Utah, the 45th state, did not acquire statehood until Jan. 1896 ) They lost many of their party to disease during the winter months. By the time that they reached Utah, the desolate valley was a welcome sight. Brigham Young and his party entered the Salt Lake valley on July 24, 1847. By December, of 1847, nearly 2,000 Mormons had settled in the Salt Lake Valley.
Over the next twenty three years, over 70,000 latter-day- saints would journey from foreign countries and the eastern United States to join the pioneers in the Salt Lake valley.
I give tribute to those pioneers who blazed a trail across the United States to the West… allowing many people to follow their trail… to settle the west. As a note of interest… the railroad coming from the East coast and the West coast joins in Utah….. just a few miles north of Salt Lake City.
On this “Only The Good” Friday… the 24th of July…. I wanted to share a bit of my heritage with you.
Have a Good Friday!
Kathy
Insightful Nana
P.S. If you want to join in the “Good” Friday posts… contact Shelly… she’s the host.
3 responses to “Pioneer Day In Utah – “Only The Good” Friday”
Another “good” thing about “OTGF”, I learned a bit of history here today! 😉 Great post, thanks for sharing!!!
Mine is all about choosing happiness today: http://bit.ly/WiONw
We spent a good amount of time in Salt Lake City in 2007 and really enjoyed the Pioneer Day celebrations.
Thank you for sharing and reconfirming the significance of this event.
There were a lot of brave people in history past who blazed their own trails into the unknown so we could our freedoms today…
Awesome video!!! Its a good thing to reflect back on the past to remember those who have given alot of themselves and their firm belief of a higher realm. May we all have such willpower and faith for our Lord God on High. The pioneers were a dime amongst pennies!