Spotlight on historic sites
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'Last pioneer' monument
Located outside city hall in Grantsville, Utah, at 429 E. Main Street, a life-size statue pays tribute to Hilda Anderson Erickson — who before her death Jan. 1, 1968, at age 108, had the distinction of being the last surviving pioneer to have crossed the plains. As a young girl, Hilda traveled to the Salt Lake Valley with her mother and brothers. They left what was then Wyoming, Neb., in 1866.
The statue — sponsored by Settlement Canyon Chapter, Sons of Utah Pioneers in Tooele County, Utah — was designed by Peter M. Fillerup and portrays Hilda seated sidesaddle on her horse. Hilda, who crossed the plains at the age of 6, later touched thousands of people through her work as a missionary, doctor and Relief Society president. The monument was dedicated June 7, 1997, by President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency.
