Two pioneers view 'grand and lovely scenery'
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On July 21, 1847, Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow were the first of the Mormon pioneers to view the Salt Lake Valley. The two men, along with about 40 others, had been sent ahead of the main group to dam a stream and start planting seeds.
In The Kingdom of God Restored, Carter E. Grant records Orson Pratt's description of the scene:"Mr. Snow and myself ascended this hill, from the top of which a broad, open valley, about twenty miles wide and thirty long, lay stretched out before us, at the north end of which the broad water of Great Salt Lake glistened in the sunbeams, containing high mountainous islands from twenty-five to thirty miles in extent. After issuing from the mountains, among which we had been shut up for many days, and beholding in a moment such an extensive scenery open before us, we could not refrain from a shout of joy, which almost involuntarily escaped from our lips the moment this grand and lovely scenery was within our view."
The two men, sharing one horse, rode down what is now called Emigration Canyon. President Brigham Young had told them to turn north after entering the valley and they would find the stream to dam up. They followed his instructions. But, in their excitement, Erastus Snow lost his coat from the horse's saddle. He turned back to find it. Thus, Orson Pratt was the first Mormon to enter the valley.
"I stood solitary and alone on this great city plot . . . ," he recalled years later. "I gazed on the surrounding scenery with peculiar feelings in my heart. I felt as though it was the place for which we had so long sought." (The Kingdom of God Restored, p. 425.)
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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)
Articles on this page may be used in conjunction with the gospel doctrine course of study.
Information compiled by Gerry Avant and Kellene Ricks
Sources: Profiles of the Presidents, by Emerson R. West; LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, by Andrew Jenson; Essentials in Church History, by Joseph Fielding Smith, and The Kingdom of God Restored, by Carter E. Grant.
