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150 years ago
A camping trip, headed by President Brigham Young, was a big part of the Pioneer Day celebration of 1856, according to the July 30, 1856, Deseret News.
It reported: "On the morning of the 23rd, Prests. Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Jedediah M. Grant and many citizens from Great Salt Lake City and surrounding country, with wives and children, entered the mouth of Big Cottonwood Kanyon, on their way to the head-waters of that stream, to spend the ninth anniversary of the entrance of the Pioneers into the Valley of Great Salt Lake."
Personal invitations from President Young were required for families to get past the first of several lumber mills built in the canyon.
Those invited to attend the "pic-nic party at the Lake in Big Cottonwood Kanyon" enjoyed outdoor activities as well as speeches by President Young and others, a band and choir, prayers and the celebratory firing of canons.
