New monument honors Providence pioneers
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
PROVIDENCE UTAH
In 1947, President George Albert Smith dedicated a monument honoring the pioneers who settled Providence, Utah, from 1859 to 1862. Stone for the structure was obtained from the Rainbow Quarry in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. But after many years of freezing and hot weather, the monument deteriorated and was removed.
For more than 20 years Providence, located in Cache Valley in northern Utah, did not have a visual reminder of the pioneers who settled the area.
On June 6, President Boyd K. Packer dedicated a new monument, paying tribute not only to the early settlers, but also the Church president who dedicated the original monument.
President Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, called George Albert Smith "a great man who was known as 'the prophet of love.'"
"President Smith was a marvelous man," he said. "I knew him. He dedicated the Pioneer Monument in Salt Lake City in 1947. My wife and I attended that dedication just three or four days before we were married in the Logan Temple."
President Packer also received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from Utah State University in Logan. "So Logan, the Logan Temple and this valley have a great place in our lives," he said.
President Packer called Providence "a marvelous place."
"We feel close here," he said.
He blessed the monument that it would preserve the memories of the pioneers and that it would be undisturbed and not deteriorate.
President Packer also blessed the valley where the monument stands.
"In the world it is now getting so very difficult to find a place away from the terrible, degrading things of the world," he said. "We cannot keep them out of the valley, but we can keep them out of our lives....
"Bless this valley with strength. This community named Providence is properly a providential place for us to live in this day. Bless the pioneers who came here and founded it and went through the difficulties necessary to have this beautiful town in this beautiful valley and now this monument that commemorates those who went before us."
Other speakers on the program included 95-year-old Opal Chugg, Tinique Wigington and Gary Milburn.
The new monument is located on Main Street, 200 feet south of the site of the old structure, in the heart of the town. Hundreds of people attended the ceremony.
