Filed Under Replaced

UPTLA #24

Big Mountain

Dublin Core

Title

UPTLA #24

Description

Big Mountain

Creator

Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association and the
Vanguard Association of the Salt Lake Council Boy Scouts of America

Date

1933

Identifier

UPTLA-024

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Subtitle

Big Mountain

Story

Original Marker:

No 24
Erected July 24, 1933
Big Mountain

From this point Brigham Young and the Mormon Pioneers caught their first glimpse of the valley of the Great Salt Lake, July 23, 1847. Orson Pratt, leading the vanguard of the Pioneers had reached there July 19 and put up a guide board reading "80 miles to Fort Bridger." The ill-fated Donner Party, first wagon train to use this route, crossed this divide about August 23, 1846, between that date and 1861 this trail was the route of many of the California gold seekers, the overland stage, the Mormon ox-team and handcart emigrants and the pony express.

Curernt Marker:

On 19 July 1847, scouts Orson Pratt and John Brown climbed the mountain and became the first Latter-day Saints to see the Salt Lake Valley. Due to illness, the pioneer camp had divided into three small companies. On 23 July, the last party, led by Brigham Young, reached the Big Mountain. By this time most of the first companies were already in the valley and planting crops. Mormons were not the first immigrant group to use this route into the Salt Lake Valley. The ill-fated Donner Party blazed the original trail one year earlier. they spent thirteen days cutting the trail from present-day Henefer into the valley. That delay proved disastrous later on when the party was caught in a severe winter storm in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Mormons traveled the same distance in only 6 days. Until 1861, this trail was also the route of California gold seekers, Overland Stage, Pony Express, original telegraph line, and other Mormon immigrant companies, after which Parley's Canyon was used. 

Factoid

At some point marker was stolen, replaced by SUP in 1984, recovered and is currently in SUP headquarters storage.

Related Resources

Images

Plaque
Plaque Source: Sons of Utah Pioneers, Used with Permission
Plaque
Plaque
Marker
Marker

Location

Additional Info

Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association and the
Vanguard Association of the Salt Lake Council Boy Scouts of America, “UPTLA #24,” UPTLA, accessed November 4, 2026, https://uptla.tylerthorsted.com/items/show/24.