Text Information for “Breaching the Wasatch Barrier” MHA PowerPoint presentation, Casper, 2006

1) If a picture is worth a thousand words, then be prepared for a 60,000 word presentation. 2) Geography has always played a roll in where people choose to live, where and how they travel. 3) The Wasatch Mountains were loved and exploited by fur trappers, early in the 19th century, but avoided for good reason by emigrants heading west. 4) Aside from having to cross streams numerous times, at least five major obstacles were encountered. 5) The story of wagon travel through the Wasatch began in 1846 with 54-year-old James Clyman, a veteran mountain man, heading home to Illinois from California. With him as he crossed Utah was Lansford Hastings, 27-year-old promoter of Calif. settlement and shorter route to get there. 6) On June 2nd, Clyman renewed his acquaintance with Salt Lake Valley and this view of the mountains he was to transverse. 7) Wrote Clyman on June 3. “N. E. up the Brook into a high ruged mountain [Big Mountain] not verry rocky but awfull brushy with some dificulty we reached the summit and commenced our dissent which was not so steep nor Quite so brushy” Hastings parted with Clyman at Ft. Bridger, then began efforts to persuade emigrants to follow his cutoff, offering to be their guide. 8) One pack and three wagon companies succumbed to Hastings’ pitch of a shorter route. James Hudspeth, a partner of Hastings, left Ft. Bridger first. He chose to guide the Bryant-Russell pack train down Lost Canyon, but found the route down the Weber past Devil’s Slide too difficult and detoured to East Canyon and was almost stopped where the dam is now located. 9) Hastings guided almost 70 wagons, and over 100 persons, traveling close together in 5 or 6 groups, down Echo Canyon, intending them to follow Clyman’s route over Big Mountain. While he was off exploring, the emigrants were met by James Hudspeth, who persuaded them to continue down the Weber River. 10) For a week, the Harlan-Young company averaged only about a mile per day. Large boulders clogged the river and dense willows the banks. Three mountain spurs were crossed only by use of a windlass, which lifted the wagons almost bodily over the ridges. On Aug 11, a wagon and ox team plunged 75 feet to destruction, when a windlass rope broke. 11) The last passage through the mountains was 5 miles in length, the worst part being a horseshoe bend, appropriately named, “Devil’s Gate.” According to Heinrich Lienhard, one team of oxen remained hitched to the front, one at each rear wheel, and the rest behind to steady the wagon. Men on each side steered by pulling on the front wagon spokes. 12) In 1855, led by Thomas Thurston, a group of men created a primitive wagon road into present Morgan County. Isaac Canfield, captain of the smallest company in 1862, left his company at Echo and brought his family down the Weber River route. 13) When the Donner party reached the Weber River, a note from Hastings was found suggesting it not follow the Weber. “If we Came after him,” he wrote, “he would return and Pilot us through his new and direct rout to the South end of the Salt Lake.” The company remained camped, while Reed, Stanton, and McCutchen chased after Hastings and caught up with him 80 miles later at Adobe Rock in Tooele Valley. Reed persuaded Hastings to show him the way, which he did as far as Big Mountain pass. From there Reed followed the Clyman-Hastings trace alone back to camp. 14) Having traveled both routes, Reed told his company that the route he had blazed that day was fair, but would take considerable labor in clearing and digging. They agreed unanimously to take the new route if Reed would direct them in the road making. 15) The route would take them into East Canyon, up East Canyon Creek, crossing 13 times, 16) then 4.2 miles up Big Mountain, 17) another 6 miles down Big Mountain to Parley’s Canyon, averaging about 4 miles per day. 18) Parley’s Canyon being too difficult for wagon travel without extensive labor, the Donner Party chose to climb over Little Mountain to Emigration Canyon. 19) The thousands of pioneers that followed left trail evidence still visible today. 20) Including this satellite image. 21) Three more days brought the Donners to within a half mile of the Salt Lake Valley but were stopped by what became known as “Eagle Gate,” 22) a limestone spine or outcropping that obstructed wagon passage. 23) Virginia Reed Murphy, Reed’s 13-year-old daughter at the time, in an 1891 reminiscence, stated: “We reached the end of the canyon where it looked as though our wagons would have to be abandoned [it being impracticable to forge a wagon way any further].” 24) “It seemed impossible for the oxen to pull them up the steep hill ..., but we doubled teams and the work was, at last, accomplished, almost every yoke in the train being required to pull up each wagon.” 25) William Clayton, with the Brigham Young company the following year, wrote on July 22nd: “Brother Markham says a good road can soon be made down the canyon by digging a little and cutting through the brushes some ten or fifteen rods (165-200 feet).” About 100 men, working 4 hours, completed the task. 26) This lithograph, looking up the canyon, published in 1867, provides us a better view of how the pioneers viewed this section of road. Jean Rio Baker exited the canyon, September 28 th , 1851, and wrote: “Of all the splendid scenery and awful roads that have ever been seen since creation, I think this day’s journey has beaten them all. This was hard enough on our poor worn-out animals, but the road was completely covered with stones as large as bushel boxes, stumps of trees with here and there mud holes in which our poor oxen sunk to the knees. Added to this was the Kanyon Creek … interlacing our road in such a zigzag fashion that we had to ford it sixteen times at a descent of fifteen to twenty feet, and, of course, an equal ascent, and that in some places nearly perpendicular. In one spot the rocks had the appearance of a ruinous gateway through which we could pass. The opening was very narrow, only one wagon could go along at a time. 27) Suddenly, I heard a sound of rushing water …and sure enough there was one of the prettiest waterfalls I had seen yet. ...The cataract in itself was comprised of fifteen separate falls. Within a quarter mile, she passed 17 abandoned wagons, too damaged to complete the trip. 28) In 1848, Parley P. Pratt explored up Emigration Canyon, over to Big Kanyon), then east as far as Silver Creek, returning via Big Canyon Creek. Mormon authorities were impressed by Pratt's report and sent Pratt and two other men back for further exploration. From Pratt’s 6th of July journal entry: “...passed up the Canyon of Silver Creek and home where we arrived at sundown weary and worn, and some of us without shoes, and nearly without pantaloons. The Canyon [meaning Parley’s] having robbed us of these in a great measure, and of much of our flesh and skin, the first morning of our ride.” The lower four or five miles of Big Kanyon were "extremely rugged, narrow and brushy.” The next summer he wrote: “I devoted the fore part of the summer to farming; but, my crop failing, I commenced in July to work a road up the rugged canyon of Big Canyon Creek. 29) Ann Agatha Walker Pratt, the 10 th wife of Parley and mother of 5 children, recalled: “In 1849 I went to the canyons with my husband to cook for the men who worked under him building the road through Parley's Canyon, which bears his name. ...There were a great many men in the east who had the gold fever... Some of them stayed over to procure a little money wherewith to prosecute their journey; later on these were the men my husband hired to help make the road through Parley's Canyon. We would make camp in a shady place near the creek. We would stay there until about two miles of road were made, then move camp and make another mile or two, and so on through Parley's Canyon to the Weber River. 30) At the east end of Parley’s Park, a decision had to be made, whether to go through Silver Creek or Three Mile Canyon. Seven years later, Captain James Simpson of the U.S. Army at Camp Floyd, was surveying a new road from Ft. Bridger to Camp Floyd, through Provo Canyon, wrote this about Silver Creek Canyon: 31) “A road could be built through the first mile of Silver Creek with relative ease. For the remaining 5.75 miles, the canyon was "quite narrow, side hills up close to stream which is full of Beaver dams, forcing us along left slope up bank, along an Indian Trail —The route is scarcely admissable for packs, & is entirely out of the question as a wagon route—The labor to make it would be immense, & the greater part of it is rocky." 32) Though longer in distance, Pratt created his road down Three Mile Canyon. Heavy supply wagons for the U.S. Army created swales along this canyon route which they used exclusively between 1859-61. 33) Three Mile Canyon intersects the Weber River at what is now Rockport Reservoir. Work stopped the end of November, 1849. Wrote Ann Pratt: 34) Nov. 1849. When we reached the head of the canyon coming home, I said, "Now let me get out and walk over the bad places." He said, "No, I want to say a woman and baby came down in safety. (I forgot to say I had a babe a year and a half old.) I promise you no harm shall happen to either of you." I did as I was told, and he drove the two yoke of cattle with large wagons attached, to the mouth of the canyon and home in perfect safety. 35) Work on the road resumed the following March and finally was pronounced open and ready for business in a large advertisement appearing 5 weeks in a row in the Deseret News, beginning June 2nd, 1850. Pratt claims to have spent thousands of dollars in creating the new route, which has 6 miles of rough road at the end, but would avoid two big mountains and offers good grass. Golden Pass is not mentioned. 36) The Newark Rangers of Kendall County, Illinois, argonauts in a hurry to get to California, were the first to use the road and pay the toll. According to the July 20th Deseret News, the men declared: “The Golden Pass is good, for a new road.” This moniker, “Golden Pass” seems to have originated with them. 37) Captain Howard Stansbury, returning to the states on Aug 29, wrote: “Followed up Pratts golden pass all day. The …road is very crooked. ... Had to unload the wagon thrice & take out a part of the team a dozen times on account of the crookedness of the road. 38) Captain William Wall with 2/5 of the Warren Foote Company, followed Pratt’s route in1850. Mary Ann Weston Maughan, a member of the company, wrote: “Tuesday [Sep] 17th. This morning we entered the Canon and traviled on the most dreadfull road imagainable some places we had to make the road before we could pass it is full of large rocks and stumps. passed the toll gate and paid for passing over the road we had made the road to day has been the worst we ever saw” 39) Capt. Wall brought about 40 wagons over Pratt’s route. David Evans brought about 10 wagons over the same route about two days earlier. Mormons may have provided Pratt less than $100 of the $1,500 he reportedly received in tolls in 1850. A rough estimate of non-Mormons using this route would be close to two thousand. 40) Why was Pratt’s Golden Pass Route abandoned in 1851?

41) It was longer by about 9 miles.

42) Mormon emigrants unwilling to pay the toll, which could equal anything from a day’s to a week’s wages.

43) It was barely useable from the beginning. Remember, Mary Ann Weston Maughn claimed they had to labor on the road as well as pay for its use. 44) Severe weather in 1850-51 caused major damage to existing trails. The winter of 1850-51 was unusually wet, according to news reports. In 1851, the Elkhorn river was so swollen, Mormon emigrants had to detour north roughly a hundred miles in order to cross. 45) Wilford Woodruff, a member of the last wagon company in 1852, wrote: Sat. Oct. 12, Traveled [over Little] mountain and oh horror, what a road we had to repair the road near one third of the way torn out by the late storm. We were in danger of breaking our wagons.” 46) The Deseret News reported that “A terrible fire raged in the timber of Mill Creek Canyon,” which may have spread to and caused damage in Parley’s Canyon.

47) In this satellite image you can see Parley’s Creek zig-zaged through the canyon with little or no bench area to build a good road.

48) From 1847-1859, 174 emigration or freight companies used the Donner-Pioneer route. Heavy snow in the winter of 1856-7 accelerated road degredation as did the military’s use in 1858. 49) Distinguished author, Sir Richard Burton, riding to Utah in a mail coach in 1860, made the following observation: This steep pitch [up Big Mountain], at the end of a thousand miles of hard work and semi-starvation, causes the death of many a wretched animal. The road [in Emigration Canyon] was a narrow shelf along the broader of the two spaces between the stream and the rock. I could not but think how horrid must have been its appearance when the stout-hearted Mormon pioneers first ventured to thread the defile, breaking their way through the dense bush, creeping and clinging like flies to the sides of the hills. 50) With military occupation winding down, civil war threatening, and renewed efforts in Mormon immigration, attention and resources were now directed to road improvement. Early in 1860, the territorial government designated the Big Kanyon road a territorial toll road and allocated $2,000 to fund the improvements. 51) Road construction began that spring using poll tax labor or money. First passed in 1852, the poll tax demanded that every able-bodied male over eighteen years of age donate ten hours work per year to the improvement of roads or highways or pay $1.50 in lieu of labor. Workers installed a toll gate about five miles up the canyon, giving rise to the name Toll Gate Canyon. The charge was one dollar per wagon. By 1861 mule-drawn stages, hauling mail and passengers under U.S. government contract, began using the Silver Creek route. At least three emigrant or freight companies used the new route in 1861. After road improvements and use in 1861, the Silver Creek route was still almost impassable. That April, Col. Robert Taylor Burton, of the Utah militia, described the road: “At the head of Silver Creek Kanyon were three large land slides that made the road almost impassable. The first one we came to we got round it very well by taking the bed of the creek for a short distance. The other two had to be passed over which, after much labor, was accomplished without any serious accidents. . . . Silver Creek Kanyon could not be worse and got over it at all.” 52) By the fall of 1860, enough work was done, that at least 3 companies chose to use the military road up 3 Mile Canyon and down the improved Parley’s Canyon. In 1861, Joseph A. Young followed the same route out and by the time he returned, Silver Creek Canyon was opened and he and at least 3 other companies used this cutoff. More companies may have used either route in 1860-61, but no participant left a written record of such. 53) 30-year-old William Ajax, traveling in the Miller Company, the 12th to enter the valley in 1862, was not impressed with the new or old road. “As the road [up Silver Creek Canyon] was not constructed along the bed of the creek, but sometimes on the side of the hill and sometimes as low as the creek, it was a very hard one for the oxen to travel over.

Road bad through the [upper Parley’s] canyon – several men selected to repair the road, which they had been doing the last 5 or 6 days. Took route over Little Mountain because it was shorter” (but apparently not easier). “… had a very steep hill to ascend for 2 miles. It was the worst hill we had met on the entire route. It became our lot to descend a still steeper hill extending for a mile or so... The road through this Kanyon again was very bad, and it was a source of wonder to me why it was left in such a wretched condition.” 54) 1862 was another year of high water. The colored dates on the right indicate two date clusters, where overcrowded routes, bad road conditions, or poor camping spots may have been the deciding factor in choosing a route, or in Capt. Duncan’s choosing the longer, but easier, 3 Mile Canyon route. 55) In 1862, Ben Holladay bought and upgraded the Overland Mail Express which had the U.S. mail contract and was using the Silver Creek route. Also, William H. Kimball built his eleven-room sandstone hotel and stage stop on his ranch at the head of Silver Creek, a frequent journal mention. 56) Journal entries in 1863 indicate 4 companies definitely used Parley’s and 3 the Emigration Canyon route. Because of previous or subsequent documented choice of routes, I put “possible” next to Young, Preston, and perhaps Haight. If the assumption is incorrect, then the majority of companies went down Parley’s canyon. Notice the clustering, either way. 57) On January 19, 1866, the Legislature approved a bill entitled "An Act Establishing a Territorial Road From Great Salt Lake City To Wanship, Summit County" and also appropriated $6,000 to build it. Toll gates were to be located near Lambs Canyon and southwest of Wanship and convict labor from the State Penitentiary could be used for some of the construction. 58) What can we conclude from the journals? 1 - The primary route dominated through 1861. 2 - Once Silver Creek Canyon opened in 1862, all companies followed that route, avoiding East Canyon and Big Mountain. During 1862, 63 & 64, Emigration and Parley’s Canyon were both used, though hard to tell which was used most. 3 – 1864 & 1865 saw little immigration due to the Civil War. 4 – During 1866 & 68, virtually all companies took advantage of the road improvements made along the Silver Creek – Parley’s Canyon route. 59) In an address to the Utah Territorial Assembly, December 10th, 1866,Governor Charles Durkee expressed his concern: “The road from this city, through Parley's Park to the Weber river, is the avenue through which passes the greater portions of the imports for the Territory. The road is an extremely difficult one, and, although much labor has been expended up on it, it is still, for much of the year, almost impassable. … some further legislation would seem desirable, either in the way of additional appropriations, or a revision of the law.” The next year, tolls were doubled, more prison labor was used. 60) 59) 1) A century later, the final pioneer route was converted into I-80. 2) The road over Big Mountain was paved as part of the 1947 “Centennial” celebration. 3) Three Mile Canyon became a cattle ranch.